Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-10-09
VICTIMS OF SUICIDE.
How the Crime Of Self Destruction Is De
Tended by Various Glasses.

slrous OF ridding themselves of the burden
OF existence that they will commit even q
yenIal error by accomplishing their own re-
lease, says a writer in Biackwood's Maga-
zine 1t is simply useless to call it the crime
OF self-murder, or to talk of the sanctity of
hnman life which God alone can give, AMI
therefore He alone has a right to recall. In
the case OF prisoners who are suffering
punishment for the attempt there is some
tunes diplomatic endeavor, from mere pol
Icy, to give an assent to the moral refiec-
uons pressed upon them; but when driven
to speak their minds honestly they inva-
rlaoly repeat that they see no reason why
they should not divest themselves of an en-
barrassing possession, with which no one
but themselves has any concern whatever.
This mode of dealing with the subject Is
perhaps natural enough on the part of per-
sons who have never taken any serious
view OF their moral responsibilities, but 1T
Is less easy to account for the extraordinary
hght-heartedness with which, for the most
part, they are ready to plunge into the un-
known darkness of the last mysterious
change. AS we have already said, no
thought of what may lie beyond disturbs
their mind.
IF you had succeeded in your attempt to
kill yourself" the writer said to a young
prisoner who had been rescued almost life
less from the river where she had flung
herself, "you would have been lying now
cold and stiff under the coffin lid, unable to
see the light OF day or to hear the voice of
friend, and with no time left for repentance,
or even prayer for pardon. Are you not
thankful to be restored to life and the op-
portunity of amendment?n
NO." she SAID lightly; ''for if they had
let me alone should have been done with
1t all and had no more trouble or worry, and
that was just what l wanted Iwlsh they
had left me at the bottom of the river"
Sometimes the immediate causes which
lead to suicide seem strangely dispropor-
toned to the gravity of the STEP One girl,
who was ready to fling maledictions at her
rescuers, had several times done her best
to put an end to her existence. On two of
these occasions she had, so far as her own
will was concerned, practically succeeded
once by poison and once by strangulation.
She was to all appearance dead the last
time, and would very soon have been so in
reality but for the care and toll bestowed
on her by a kindly physician who was sent
for on the discovery of her condition and
who spent whole night in unceasing eff
forts to restore animation. He succeeded
at last, and she did not thank him. She
was given up to what she and her compan-
ions OF the same unhappy class term with
unconscious irony''a gay life" and she did
find fitful, hollow enjoyment in the ex-
cltement of evenings spent in theaters and
dancing booths, and in the extravagant
dresses and jewelry with which she adorned
herself; but there came to her sudden mo
ments when the whole brilliant phantasma-
gorla Of her existence would seem to roll
away from her and the reality OF her posi-
ton appear In its true colors, and straight
way, without an instantis hesitation, she
would take the best means In her power to
divest herself of it altogether.
While the reck lessness and indifference
with which suicide IS resorted to is almost
universal in the lower stratum of society,
the causes which lead to the impulse are
of course, very varied and often most pa
thetic. A poor old woman who had nearly
reached the Scriptural threescore years
and ten was sentenced lately to a short
term of Imprisonment for attempting self
destruction. 1t had very nearly been sue
cessful, and, in fact, was so IN the end, as
the shock to her system from immersion in
lce-cold water proved fatal, and she only
lived one week after her release from iail
She related her simple history with the ut
most cOmposure. She had lived most hap
PLY and respectfully with her husband from
the time Of her early marriage in youth
He had pension as retired soldier, which
supported them in comparative comfort
when he was too old to work. Their home
for twenty eight years had been the little
cottage In which he died at the commence
ment of an unusually severe winter ''Re
had been an angel the poor woman SAID
$50 good and steady, and so kind to her."
and when he was gone she clung with pas
sionate attachment to the little house in
which she had spent so many happy years
with hlnl--but she could not pay the rent
His pension had, Of course, expired with
him, and she was, in fact, without the
means of living at all
She began by selling her little possessions
one after another in order to obtain food
| and in this way she managed to live for a
few weeks. When every thing was gone
except the seanty furniture OF one room the
landlord appeared and claimed it for his
unpaid rent. 1t was all carted away, in
Guiding even the chest containing her cloth
ing; then he turned her into the street and
locked the door. There was but one refuge
open to her on earth-the work=house: but
that last abode of wretchedness seems to
hold place in the minds of The poor-unde-
servedly we think-equivalent in horror to
one Of the circles of Dante's Inferno The
idea OF gong to it does not seem to have
back for moment at the closed door of her
little earthly paradise, and then took her
way shivering through public park toward
the river. There, without apparently the
slightest shrinking or dread. she flung her
self into the water under cold, wintry skv.
Two men happened to be going past in a
beat They rescued her just as she was
sinking, and after consciousness had been
restored she was taken to the prison. She
passed the time of her sojourn there in
strange, dreamy state, talking only of her
husband and her hope of seeing him per-
haps again II she could only succeed In
| getting out of this weary world" This
! hope had only been suggested to her mind
by he he religious consultations afforded to
her in the prison, but II pif'ccvsed completely
impossible to persuade her that she had
not been perfectly justified in trying to die.
She would have been quite willing TO re-
peat the experiment if death had not mer-
cifully come to her pncailed and thus at last
her desire was granted.
Worth It's Weight In Gold.
The most valuable book in the world Is