The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-03-28
SOME REMARKABLE SUICIDES.
.nge and Ingenious Plans Adopted BIZ

Strange and Ingenious Plans Adopted By
Persons Bent eIf-Destruction,
VI have made strange and unusual sui
eides study for years, said gentleman to
a party of friends, among whom was a New
Eord Graphic reporter, land L believe
can, without reference to my scrap book,
tell of more extraordinary cases from
memory than any man in the party.
You all probably remember" he con-
tinued, ''the ingenuity exhibited by that
young man in Connecticut few years ago,
who beheaded himself. 1t is one of the
most remarkable cases in my recollection.
The lad was mentally unbalanced, but
possessed of an inventive brain, which
took q horrible form after melancholia
sat in, and made him determine to end his
life. He rugged up a guiIlotine, using q
sharp bladed broad-ax for the knife, which
he placed between two uDrights, and
weighted it on top with 800 pounds OF
scrap-iron. To the top of the AK (the
broad side) he attached a rope, which ran
up to the roof OF the barn, through
q pulley and down to the floor, where
1t was made fast, holding the ak in
place about seven feet from the base OF the
uprights. A watering can was placed
within eight inches Of the rope, and be.
tween uprights and delicately balanced.
In the nozzle OF the can he put lighted
candle and under the nozzle, and fastened
to il, two-pound weight. He bored q
small hole in the bottom OF the can ana,
after filling ii with water, tied sponge
saturated with chloroform under his nose
aud put his neck under the ak. In about
fifteen minutes the water run out OF the
can, which tilted forward, owing to the
weight under the nozzle, aud the flame OF
The candle touched the rope. In five min.
utes more the rope was burned through,
the strands parted and down crashed the
ak. The insensible victim was instantly
beheaded.
"a case OF great elaboration was that of
German shoemaker in Philadelphia, who
barred his breast, located his heart by the
pulsation, and, placing the handle of an
RTl against the wall, slowly pressed his
body sgsins: the point until the instru-
n,ent punctured the vital organ and caused
death.
marie BODheur, q French woman, in
New Orleans. drowned herself in a small
pail of water in 1876 She placed the
bucket on the floor, sn0, stretching herself
face downward on bed, put her head in
the water and remained ia that position
until she oied.
"On Black Friday q broker crossed in
an East river ferry boat. When in mid
river channel he took from his pocket two
grains of strychnine, which he swRllo we'd.
lEe1 lie TIC Idu, dDu, do no
jumped into the river, he blew out his
brains with q bulldog revolver.
1T is very rars thing to hear OF col
ored person committing suicide, but down
in Charleston q mulatto KILLED himself by
eating nearly half poand OF powdered
glass.
up in the oil country in Pennsylvania
an investor who had lost all he possessed
in trying to start paying well, became
respondent and determined to end himself
etfectuallv. he got six pound can of
nitro-glycerine and pounded it with a
hammer. There wasn't enough of him
found to put ia a pint measure.
"a crazy farmer in South Carolina had a
terribly vicious horse and conceived the
novel idea of using the animal as the agent
of his self destruction. He lay down in
the stall and was kicked 70 death a ten
min utes.
Emil Schoer, a prospector in the Black
Hills, became tired Of semi-star Tation and
no gold, and begging all the money he
could, msde his way to big log mill near
Denver. he deliberately cut himself in
hslf with huge buzz saw.
A remar liable case was that OF a French
aroDaut canned Pallle, who left a note with
his affianced telling her to meet him at a
certain place, from whence he intended to
make an ascension. She was at the rem
devious, and, after kissing her good-by,
Paille cut the ropes of the balloon and was
soon soaring upward. At an elevation of
| 1000 feet he was seen to Chamber over the
edge of the basket and kiss his hand to the
crowd. A moments pause and he leaped
out and was dashed TO pieces.
You all remember Lingg, the anarchist,
| who blew the top of his head of with q
| lighted bomb which he placed in his
mouth, and the English officer who thrust
a red hot poker into his stomach and
Enough" exclaimed one of the party
81 don't wsntto see your scrap book. Let
Us llcker."