The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1891-08-22
Why DO MEN sUlClDE9
avail METHODS OF SELF MUIR
oee HAVE BEEN TRIED.

~ the Greeks and Romans.
~.~roes Have Ever Taken Their
r,e.-Reason Of One Man for Has
sbufle of the Mortal Coil.
.rominent physician who has made
a. ~ suicide said the other day:
ss WSy should man kill HIMSELF The
wi" answer is, Because he is crazyr
eoisutifc men easily disprove that, but
@ .till somewhat at sea in devlsing a
Iu - answer. Was the philosopher
go. crazy when he entered the warm
~ and opened his veins? We're all the
Snrdreds Of Romans who made happy
dispatch of themselves insane' Surely
nU %he Greeks rarely committed suicide,
80 At one time it was quite the fashion
!" Rome It is the rarest Of rarities for
.lsye to commit suicide, though a slave
.-ner often does. Extensive inquiry
s.;ls to develop a single case of an Ameri-
..r neoro's committing suicide, though
tbora have been few cases among mu-
lsttos and octoroons.
Sbsll it be said, then. that the superior
-.ce il the suicidal? Surely not, for the
craeks were at least the equals Of the
Romans The solution must be sought
elsewhere.
Perhaps religious belief has something
n do with it, but it would be hard to
urove it. One fact, however, gives us
clew. Among the lowest races of man.
hind and in the lowest intellectual grades
of any society suicide is practically IN
Known, and among the highest in race
or culture it is extremely rare, while in
the middle or lower middle classes it Is
most common.
STRANGE REASONS FOR THE ACT.
II is those who are midway on the
course, whether as races or individuals,
those who are in the struggle, who lose
heart and rush unbidden into eternity.
This is only another way of saying that
where the battle is fiercest there are the
most wounds and sudden deaths; those
who have won the victory and those
lying idle in camp and designing no
struggle are fairly we'll satisfied with the
situation. The cultured and well-to-do
Philadelphia is, on the whole, as will
ing to live as the naked Senegambian.
The causes assigned for suicide are to
the last degree curious. In many cases
well-to-do suicides simply allege that
they are tired of life-the monotony of
it is too much for them. An English
gentleman left note to the effect that
he was tired of coming in and going
out, laying down and getting up, button
ing and unbuttoning"
A London cabman wrote that he had
exhausted all the pleasure of driving in
this world and wanted to see how they
drove in the other. Strange to say, love
and poverty furnish the smallest num-
Der OF cases, and mere bodily suffering
the greatest
But the saddest cases are those in
which whole family die together, and
OF these the Stafford case, which occurred
some years ago, was the most mournful
oalL
MLFORDS COLD FLOODED DEED.
Stafford was a druggists assistant,
threatened with the loss of position and
poverty. He succeeded in gaining his
Wlfes consent, as his letter said, that the
whole family should 60 together" but
sne did not want to know when the fatal
ooSe was given. So he gave her and the
Youngest child prussic acid in a cooling
drink as they lay down for the night. and
IN Few minutes they expired without
PAIN: One by one he disposed of the
otner nve children in the same way
al! IN peace and without pain. thank
God, he wrote.
de then drew up his will. went out and
oOtalned the signature of witnesses. re-
turned and wrote four letters, and then
s"aliowed the poison, and was soon a
corpse. Such a case is beyond analysis
W healthful mind Yet we cannot sav
II was insanity.
It's scarcely possible to conceive of any
ue'nod OF suicide not already employed
" some one. but whenever one strikes a
novel method he is sure to have a host of
imtators. Hanging, drowning, poison.
lng' stabbing, or other forms of cutting
snooung and jumping from high places
are most common.
many women have swallowed hot GOALS
powdered glass and other destructive ar.
tlcles Cleopatra applied an asp to her
Uosom. and it is worth noting that she
uas no lmitators. Women have a horror
~ serpents, and they are not easily OBJ
'~neo at the time desired.
france leads all other nations in sui.
S'oes' as In the last year for which we
AVE the record 216 persons killed them.
'elves in each I. ZOO, 900 of the population
.ua tne Increase is rapid. Of 7,57S sui.
'.ues In one year one-ffth were in Paris.
.ua smothering by charcoal fumes is the
.~sorite method. In London nearly all
'ucides are with the knife and razor
= sno II Is plain truth that in this respect
.1e British are the worst "cutthroats" In
europe Chicago Tribune.