The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-21
THE SUICIDE SEASON.

The hot summer months Of the year are
generally fruitful Of suicides, and me pres
ent season Is no exception Oh this eoess'
the Atlantic sea board Or n Europe In
two weeks Of last month there were 10
suicides in Berlin. The rough poplar
criticism Of q suicide Is that the VICTIM
was either crazy or coward, oGt 700
many persOns conspicuous for strengta OF
mind and moral courage have cC-anlsss1
suicide 70 justify the sweeping statement
that every suicide i either crazy o.
coward. The destruction Of the impulse
Of self-preservation not seldom takes place
without the destruction Of the general
sanity d the man OF his moral courage
The man, either through grief. misfortune,
physical pain. poverty, linked 70 degrzd-
ing associates 50 disgusting IS 70 Be dag
gers daily 70 a man Of honor and spirit,
grows absolutely Indifferent 70 lie. the
seIfpreservatige irapulse or instinct sinks
20 zero, and the man dies Of sheer indiii@r-
ence 10 life, because Of is utter hops-ess-
ness Of decent outcome.
AZ the battle Of Williamsburg, fought
fought with peculiar desperation and Feck-
Iessness born Of the fact that they had
slept the night before IN 2 cold, soaking
rain. which never ceased 20 fzI Until the
night Of the following daT. and nz1 been
without food for twelve EOu-s o~Ing 20
the Sailing Of the wagon train n tae md
far Il the rear. The men were 50
thoroughly miserable IN holy through
rain, hunger and fztigue that they had the
indifference Of a starved 1Olf % DANCE;
that is, the instinct u selSpreserva,ion was
go Low that death o. danger vas regarded
with the comparative uneonee-n or de-
fance that IS born Of ? suffering mans
ugly mood.
Lord Give. gree. and powerful mind,
sank, under what seemed gloomy and
hopeless prospects 70 a youth d towering
ambition, 70 the point whose next registry
is suicide, but when ne had his pistol %
his ear, an Indian instruction h-oke
out which diverted him from his pGrposs,
and he rose to position 81 vast power and
illUstrious usefulness. Then when a little
past fifty, rlch. covered with honors, the
inactive life Of prinoeIy leisure 50 d.
pressed his active spirit that the suicidal
impulse arrested az = returned in his de-
cIiniDg days and be died By MS own hand.
Suicide has been actually committed. az
tempted, Or deliberately planned for execu-
ton under certain contingencies by
Hannibal. DeEn0sthenes, Antony, Bruins,
Cassius, Cleopatra, Napoleon, Frederick
the Great, Lord Ca.tlereagh, Sir Samuel
Romilly, the poet Chatterton. the great
geologist Hugh Miller, Hayden. Al English
painter Of distinction. the Duke OF Bed
ford; Vslaze, Roland ana Condorcet,
French Girondists; Wolfe Tone, the Irish
patriot; Provost Paradol and probably
Emperor Nicholas Of Russia.
Notable suicides IN America have been
few and include Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Miles
o'Reilley General Halpine), ex-United
States Senator Preston King; DR.. Horace
Wells, dis-oyerer ofether as an anssthetic;
William n. Hunt, famous artist; Will
iam North, a writer Of fiction; William
Henry Herbert (Franklin B. Gowen). Any
man. who from youth up has led life Of
sorrow and bitter struggle before belated
success came With the meridian Of his
days. II be IS honest with himself, can re-
member many moments Of utter indiffer-
ence as 70 whether he lived or died, 80 that
the weight Of hair Of further depression
would have broken the camel's back of his
endurance.