The Red Cloud chief., 1888-08-03
1Tr fh;S or

- i'fp t'ttIi.lcuJ HDuSto IONCIS lAClA
v..-.; md nervous tone. and makes sui
eide easy 10 happen among them. The labor
wars. the unsuccessful strikes, the worri-
M, nd disasters which trades unions
b~Ting-tliese are causes of suicide among
the poor as patent, just Eow, as any that /
know. In the upper ranks it is the cOntin.
Ual speculative scheming, the hurry and
worry and strain of trying to get rich quick
". that brings on suicide like the night at
tie close of every business day. The causes
which tempt men to commit suicide must DO
removed by the statesman and the ccOn0.
mist rather than by the physician"
Another very eminent physician Of the
city, who did not want the reporter q
any circumstances TO mention his name,
sad that he agreed entirely with DIR. Ham,
iiton'S statement that hot.
weather was the weather which suicide
Claimed IS its own.
~"Iilianeuvc. from when we get a largo
share Cf our Information in this PARTICULAR"
said the physician. tells us that during tho
seven years IN which he gathered statistics
IL Is-;;r", in the spring there were ?G1 SUI
s.dc,: IN tic uInnler 4S1; il tho autumn.
ca. ard in the winter, Gas. Niliancuvc also
declared that in London, Hamburg, Concn-
hen and EouCn. TIE maximum number Of
sl!cidcs occurred in July. and tie minimum
number in October and November. It has
been proven, l believe. that on the continent
of Europe suicide dininlSheS with the latti-
tide. the Danes committing suicide the
most and the Portuguese the least. The
difference between the prevalence Of suicide
il Denmark and Portugal is as 81 to I.
People should always kill themselves
more in large towns than III the country,
because in The former places the great
cals"s Of suicide. poverty and vice, are
most abundant. Suicides take place, too,
FIR more among civilized than among bar
barOus people; among people instructed and
well read more than aI1OrS the ignorant.
Intelligence raises the aspirations Of men,
and when these aspirations are crushed by
the great movements Of our compile: civil
zaticn suicide follows naturally. Cue:eict,
theogrea:est s:atisticiaI that ever lived,
proved that Wherever crimes against the
person arc rife and ratio CT suicide IS COM
para:ivciy small, but thu: where crimes
against pOper:y were abundant the RAID Of
suicide was Duch higher. These arc Singh
lar facts, too, that SO few suicides taEe
place in the night time. that three tIr,es as
many men commit suidijc as women. and
that the fayorite age at which people kill
themselves is in middle Ike"
The theory Of the learned doctors received
strong confirmation by data furnished tho
reporter b.; DR.. john I. Mage. the City;s
Registrar Of Vital Statistics. DR.. Magic
told the reporter that while il this city,
Gcrrl::as committed suicide far more than
uny othcr race OF people, the Irish COM
I2it.e ! cuic:Gc far less.
Il bc!ie-c." said the doctor, that tcn-
permanent and the national characteristics
scd pecu!iarities Of peopcc have q good deal
moro to do with suicide than religion or the
weather, that is speaking absolutely. 1t is
SAID that Germans kill themselves here out
Ct ho.ccs:cEness, but there arc % 02nyI Irish
'eoplc hoco - Ca.u27
Nov. rs people killed themselves here
last year. and of these ia werc Germans.
The number of suicides. by months was as
follows: January, 10; February. 1j: March,
-: April. IS; May. -; June, Is; July. 90;
August. -: September. 10: October. 20;
November. II; December. Is. So You sec
the greatest nu:alcr of suicides were il
May. July and August. in the hot.
months. OF the 30 sui .idci !: were men
ind ). .Icrc vvoC.ca. Only one of ihcIc 81
was Il colorcd person. 1t is an exceedingly
rare thin: for y cO,orcd person TO cOI.lit
suicide. In ISL l made q comparison ~ tho
suiciI:l statistics for the past eleven years,
and discovered the almost incredible f:ct
that Of l,5.l deaths by suicide IN this city
only three Gf the number were among the
cclOrcd population. The statistics for
these eleven years showed q state of things
precisely similar to that of last year. Six
hundred and twcnty-six out Of the ISL
suicides were Germans. More suicides were
committed in the hot months than in the
cold; SOB people Of the 1,a.l took poison. and
over 200 Of the SOB took arsenic in the form
Of Paris green. After poisoning, shooting
and hanging were the favOrite llcars of
self-murdcr. The proportion Of men and
women held curiousiy the sGnc-l,lB men
to s..S women.
"At the same time that l dug oat these
~clcvcn-ycar statistics I sent inquiries to
cities all over the world asking for statistics
of suicide in the past ycar-lSS0. Here is q
statement which shows the suicide rate per
lOO,O 900 inhabitants in some of the prominent
cities. l don't think New York fares very
badly"
DR.. Magic handed The reporter the s.at,-