The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-01-14
THE SUICIDES OF BUTTE
How Vice Is Openly F1auuted and limo
rent YSuag Liwes w~r~ck~d-The num-
her 0f CssseA of Suicide aa Com
pared with Other Cities.
spccia, Correspondence Of the standard.

special Correspondence of the Standard.
BUTTE, Jan. 13.-At the Congregational
church last evening. Rev. MIR. Howell
preached an earnest sermon on "The
Suicides OF Butte" He said; EVERY fen
ture Of the social life of our city In OF es-
pecial interest To the Christian, and every
moral aspect Of life here is worthy of dis
cussion i'm the pulpit. A friend Of mine
said oncc that whenever anybody wanted
tn commit suicide he came to Butte to
do IL. Oe course he did not mean that,
hut il il true that the frequent number
has often shocked the community. Our
daily papers SO often notice suicides or
attempts at suicide. that only when there
IL an especially shocking case Is much at
tcntion commanded. The review OF
Ia events Of the past year
This does not include the attempts which
were not successful. This record is three
times the suicidal rate of Massachusetts.
resident af Butte takes his own life. l do
not desire to paint the morals of Butte
worse than they really are. 1 desire to
state nothing more than the facts. But n
dark picture requires dark colors. The
| preacher who would paint n morals Of
full to his ministry. The average numbcr
of suicides in Massachusetts il ~ to the
the million; i'm Connccticut, 10; i'm Europe,
LA; hut the suicide rate of Butte il 2:S3 tn
the million. The fact that there is twice
as great n proportion of suicides here as
morals. 1t is true that some Of Those who
commit suicide here would conn
nil ~h, suicide ;hc;ss,su "% ny srs.. as re.o MG,,;
from aberration of the mind
physical Distress or love affairs, Blu.
young men, just entering. the prime of
life, than any other city i'm the United
States.
"ricre is hardly n person who has lived
in Butte any length of time whose life has
not been sorrowed by the suicide of some
friend or acquaintance. Ii is easy tai point
ont different rtalSDlS for SlllClle-Ong
form of dcbaIch or another. The stories
of their fate are sad tales of increasing
shame and W of ever increasing
mis- .ry and depreciation. But the fishes
at the surface of the sea are only signih-
ocean. The few who starve to death rep.
which affiicts mankind. So the sin and
but:a small part of the sin and sorrow and
despair which exists in the hearts of men
cies that these suicides are signifcant.
"Butte cannot turn on these dead men
and say they are our bad men. A blast
occasionally reminds us of an under
foreground world here. But there is AT
under.night world i'm Butte. We arr
our young men are destroying iheinsclvc,
by one form of advice or another. an
inclined to think there are more OF .ou
young men who have not soiled tliei
characters than we realize. But some O
our young men are on the downward roa'
!, to death, and il is the wickedncss of Butte
, that is sending them there. Many yotni
! men have come here pure; their blood i
. OH the skirts of Butte. The city is dc
. bauching its own SONS. The maelstroU
n OF sin is destroying its young men. Som
, remark how frank and open is vice her
and how secret i'm the cast. Ii is perhap
Il true that IA greater number here ar
. willing to he known as abandone
roucs, but from that do n.
believe there is no sccrs
vice here. The pleasure of evil comrai
ionship is so great the young man doe
able. he will merely taste the sinful plea,
ures, he yields. Ii is only "a step, but il
a step downward. The young man VIII
has started down feels hat he has lost D.
self respect. Whereas before. lie Wa
Y. sin. Self assertion takes the place of Sc
~ respect; defiance OF moral courage. I'll
m path is always travelled with acccicratin
speed. Suddenly he becomes ~conscioi
of Tho utter sinfuiuess of his evil associ
tions. A picture OF his former innocenc
% of what he might have been. of what D
II is. presents itself. A mirror Of his utt.
n hopelcssucss and depravity dawns on hin
n and he il i'm the clutches of despair. Whs
v. n young man thinks he has nothing
N hope. for, he has nothing to live for. Tn
re- IL u history OF some OF orr young =,
cides.
"Suicide is a poor ending for N life
~ sin and worthless AS rspentancc. L
suicides of Butte prove that "a life of =
is u life of misery. The pleasure of wi
vi il IA delusion. Another truth illustrate
10y the suicides Of Butte is that IA you,
SION which may become his glory or !
,e shame. The suicide of Butte have n
been of low origin. They have had hi
.p conceptions of honor and conduct. TIL
II have fallen from AN eminence. Tn
i'm have not been of a criminal origin."