The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-04-30
A Sedalia Physicians Opinions
on the Subject of Self
Murder.
Reasons of Some People for
Wanting to leave the
World.

llDeIaDe SUICIDE OF OeOTge w eSten Der
ger in this city ON Thursday last has
bad the effect of evoking considerable
comment and argument upon the
never-to-5e settled question as to the
state of the mind which prompts sui
eide.
In speaking to a BAzoo reporter a
prominent physician of Sedalia, who
does not wish his name to appear in
print said:
81 wonder if there is any country
in the world where suicide is accom-
plished with the SAME calm resolution
that it is in France, and also in such
eccentric WAYS and for such odd rea-
SONS. For instance, / have heard
lately of man who killed himself be-
cause he had stolen a pair of socks,
and was oppressed by remorse for the
theft. One would imagine that a
more practicle way of proving his re-
pentance would have been fer him TO
have saved up his earnings to pay for
the purloined articles. In another
instance a man hung himself because
one of his comrades owed him ten
cents and would not pay him. and he
was in consequence tired of life. Not
long ago a husband and wife, finding
themselves in the last stages of cou-
sumption, and perceiving that their
four children were all threatened with
the same malsdy, hired a horse and
carriage, the mother and children oc-
cupyiDg the vehicle while the hus-
band drove. He made straight for
deep and rapid river near his home
and drove the horses headlong into it,
so that the whole party were drowned.
The unhappy parents left behind them
a declaration which both had signed,
setting ferth the reasons which had
impelled them TO the desperate deed.
"What are the most popular ways
of committing suicide, doctor ?"
The water divides with the rope
and the asphyxiating fumes of char.
coal the honors Of popularity as a
means Of getting out of the world.
These are not so numerous or as easy
to obtain in France as they are In
England or America. No apothecary
can sell a poisonous preparation OF
any kind except through the medium
of a physicians formal and signed
prescription. Laudanum, morphine
anG chloroform are not to be obtained
by the casual purchaser any more
easily than are strychnine or arsenic.
The only poisons within the reach of
the would.be suicide are such as can
be prepared at home, such as phos.
phorus, which is obtained by steep.
ing the heads of matches I'm water,
and verdigris, made from copper coins
by covering them with vinegar and
letting them stand for some days. But
both these poisons are slow in action
and extremely painful in their effects,
especially phosphorus, which causes
death by infaming the coats of the
stomach and The intestines. The
trouble about a suicide by charcoal
lies in the fact that it is difficult
matter to make q room perfectly air
tight, so as to render the iumes effec-
Lual. and there is also the danger OF
the odor being noticed from without
und help being rendered to the in
tended victim before the death-deal-
ing process is com pleted. 1t is, how
ever, a painless fate. The self-slayer
sinksinto sound sleep, which deepens
into insensibility, and from thence
passes into death. But of late this
once favorite mode of suicide mas been
neglected in favor of hanging or of
drowning"
During what seasons of the year
are suicides most common
ut would naturally be supT 1sed
that the gloomy months of winter,
with their cold. gray weather and
short days, would be those in which
prhappy people would the most readi-
ly quit the earth. Such is not The
case. December is the month in
which suicides are less frequent, and
July is that which furnishes the great |
est number. Can il be that the bus
leland gayety of the weeks imme-
diately preceding the holiday season
produce a favorable effect ON the |
minds of those vino are weighed down |
by cares and woes that are rapidly as /
suming intolerable proportions: Per.
laps, too, the possibility of some
alnelioratien arriving to the doleful
lot of the sufferer, through the med |
ium of that time of gifts and generos-
ity, may cause postponement of the
fatal hour. But why should mid
summer, with its bright sunshine, and |
its comparatively easy conditions of
existence, when neither extra cloth |
ING or incl are necessaries of life. he |