Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-09
SUICIDES OF HISTORY.
Romans and Athenians Who Set the
Example for Gen. BOulanger.
SAMSON THE FIRST ON RECORD.
Men Usually Called Great Who Preferred
Destruction.
SOME CASES OF A MORE MODERN DATE

BOulanger and Balmaceda, each OF Wnom
played for high stakes and committed sui
eide when the game was lost, had many
noted predecessors. From the days of the
Roman Empire down TO the present time
men who had staked their all and lost have
capped the climax of their defeat by self
destruction. Rather than endure disgrace
| they have acted as their own executioners.
Balmaceda the would-be Dictator of Chile,
shot himself when convinced that escape
from the victorious insurgents was impossi.
BILE.
Boulanger, after making brilliant record
as soldier in AIgiers and in the Franco
Prussian war, and being idolized by his
people, aspired to overturn the Republic
and found an Empire, of which he would be
the head. A traitor to his country and
branded as a thief, he was outlawed. When
at last the woman who was his companion
in exile died, he ended his strange career
by shooting himself on her grave
1t is only few months since Prince Ru-
| dolph of Austria and Marie Vetsera ended
their liaison in manner that shocked the
entire world. In the days when Romans
| believed it disgrace to be killed by foe
in battle suicides were common. Cato
stabbed himself rather than live under the
despotic reign of Cesar, and when Thermis-
tocles was ordered to lead the Persians
against his countrymen he took poison.
! REFUSED TO Be PRISONERS.
Hannibal and Mithridates poisoned them
selves to escape being made prisoners.
Samson was the heroic suicide of the Scrip
lures for in order to be revenged on his
enemies, he pulled down the temple in
which they were reveling and perished
with them. Many of the most noted sui
cides of history are due to the philosophy
of heroism rather than insanity.
Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, ,ived.until
he was 9S. Then, when he fell one day and
put his thumb out of joint, he decided that
he had lived long enough, so he repaired to
his dwelling and hanged himself Homer is
said to have hanged himself because he
| could not solve the 'ffsherman's riddle
Terence stabbed himself because he had lost
los translated comedies. Brutus threw
himself on his sword. Licurgus took poison
and Nero cut his throat.
In China suicide has been fine art for
several centuries. If Mandarin is guilty
of misconduct he is requested to put him.
self out of the land of the living. There
is distinction, too, in the manner in which
the Oriental may die. If he is of exalted
rank, and entitled to wear the peacock
feather, he is privileged to choke himself to
death with gold leaf
This is regarded as a distinguished man.
ner of ending life. If the Mandarin is only
of the rank that is entitled to wear the red
button he must be content with strangling
himself with a silken cord. Such are the
distinctions of caste. One of the most re-
markable cases of suicide was that of the
King of Falaha on the west coast of Africa.
The King was attacked by Mohamme-
dan force, and, finding resistance impossi-
BILE, assembled his family and principal of
fcers,, and after addressing them and inti-
mating his determination never to accept
Mohammedanism, and inviting those who
did not agree with. him to go away, he ap-
piled a match to large quantity of gum
powder collected for the purpose and blew
into atoms the palace and all who were
in it.
IN ENGLAND's ARIsTOCRACY.
Suicides among the aristocracy in Eng
land are rather numerous. The suicide Of
the Duke of Bedford in January last
shocked society circles of both continents.
He was one of the largest landed proprie-
tors in England, immensely wealthy and
was 70 years of age. Lying on a sick bed,
from which he had no promise of immediate
recovery he succumbed to the agony of the
moment and sought relief in death.
The fact that It was a suicide was care
fully concealed from the newspapers, but
the secret leaked out after the body had
been cremated.
Lord Congleton, who was Mr.. ParnelPs
great-uncle, hanged himself in 1912. In the.
same year the Earl of Munster, one of the
illegitimate sons of King William w., shot
himself in the head. In 1869 Lord Clon-
carry, the last of his house, jumped from
window and broke his neck.
In 1873 the last Earl of De la War;
drowned himself and in 1876 Lord Lyttle-
ton, the insane brother-in-laW of Gladstone,
escaped from his keepers, threw himself
off the staircase of his own house and was
killed.
A story of suicide in which sentiment is
mingled is that of Prince Bandouin, heir to
the throne of Belgium. The youthful
Prince loved beneath his station, and find
ing that love could never be realized, sought
peace in the eternal silence of the grave
Commercial disaster to any member of
the Rothschild family is as great disgrace
as crime is to any other family This was
illustrated in the recent attempts of Baron
Gustav de Rothschild to end his existence.
His attempt at self-destruction followed
close upon his loss of 100000 900 francs on
the London market. The attempt was
failure, and in that respect resembled his
speculation. His was not the first affair Of
the kind in the Rothschild family. Baron
James de Rothschild, crazed by i'll luck,
some time ago blew out his brains in the
presence of his mother.
LORDS SUICIDE.
Only last May Lord James Edward Shelto
Douglass, brother of the Marquis of Queens
bury, committed suicide by cutting his
throat with a razor. He had been travelling
from ireland during the night and behaved
in such strange manner that the railroad
officials ordered one of their employees to
accompany him to London.
Upon arrival in that city Lord Douglass
put up at a hotel, and when the attendant
was not looking he cut his throat. The
tragic death of Lady Brassey, who plunged
into the sea from her yacht while suffering
from fever, will be long remembered. She
was one of the most ambitious of women and
remarkably talented. When she jumped
overheard last year her husband dived after
her, and it was with some difficulty that he
was rescued from sharing her fate.
Suicides are common among defaulters as
preferable to facing the charge of dishonor
and irving to live down the record. Poll
ticians smarting under the sense of defeat
have ended all with a bullet. Disappointed
lovers by the score take their lives when
Tilted by the object of their choice, and so
The category runs. Disappointment of
every character has prompted all kinds Of
people to end this brief existence with q