Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-12
Life'S Tender Thread Seems So Value
less That Six People Break 1t
Within as Many Days.
MYSTERY SURROUNDS EACH CASE.
rillie Lang, the Latest Self-Sacrifice. Dis
cards Her Bridal Robes for Cup
of Poison.
EVA BLOCH HEADS THE GRIN LIST
OF uufOrtunetss Who Havs Risked Their Fortunes in
the Great Beyond

The history of the last six days is an awful
commentary on life in Pittsburg. A mania
for suicide seems to have struck the two
cities. Within that time six people have
assisted themselves out of the world; have
cut loose from the worries and trials of the
present to meet the unknown terrors of the
great beyond.
From the case of the beautiful Polish
girl down to the terrible fate of the girl who
took her own life after having seen the mir
rors reflect back the beauty of her bridal
gown, each one is shrouded in mystery. No
cause save that the depressing atmosphere
has SO preyed on the spirits of the people
that 4 general feeling of disgust with all the
world and its attributes has taken hold of
the minds of the populace of the two cities,
and created desire to escape from every
thing mortal.
A Year of Suicide.
In fact, the year seems to be bad one,
and the hold on life is only light. In the
short span since 1891 came on the stage
about % people have weighed life in the
balance, and the scales nave dipped in favor
OF the next world. Last year the whole
number of suicides in the county did not
number so. but within the last six days
there has been an average of one for every
p hours.
Tie awful record com merced on the Fri
day when the Polish beauty. Eva Block,
hanged herself with towel in the Union
station. The sad story Of her desertion was
only at its height in the minds of the people
when on Sunday little Harvey Bankard
ended his life unintentionally with pistol
bail while in a boyIsh dispute on Mt Oliver.
The same night Charles j. Gunter. weighed
down with wears and family and hnan-
cial troubles, hanged himself at his
home, No. 73 South Nineteenth
street. He was old, his family had left him,
creditors were pressing, ruin stared him in
the face: then came the AWFUL westher-that
muggy, solid atmosphere that crushed
spirits out and hastened the determination
20 quit life.
Sought SIumber in the Grave.
Richard Tunney was the next on the list.
Death came to him at his own invitation,
together with the persuasive influence of a
pistol ball, on Monday. He lived in
l4aNIcNCtN4llG. hC WIS d nOIhSE
II Mcintosh, Hemphill & Co.'s mill A flying
belt cut him or the head and he could not
sleep. He existed for time and then bought
poison. HIS friends took it from him and
served notices on all the druggists not to sell
him anything. Then the effects of the weather |
added their strength to his resolution to fee to |
the beyond, and buying pistol he escaped |
from life. Following this John Schmidt, a |
der OF the late war, took strychnine at the |
Bismarck Hotel on Chestnut street. Allie
Eheny. He was 90 years old and had ever since
the war been a pensioner, but all his friends
had LETT HIM and he took his life and the world
will never know why.
Last and most mysterious is the suicide of
Barbara Matilda Lang who took poison I'M
medately after having tried on her bridal |
dress Tuesday night, and who died shortly after |
O'Clock yesterday morning. She was to have ]
married Jacob Snyder on March 81 The we'd |
ding was TO have occurred on December 8, |
but was postponed from time to time, |
aud it could not be told which |
one had kept back the ceremony. The girls |
father blames the young man for the delay. and |
Mr Snyder says the wedding was put off be- |
night he had again agreed to marry her. So |
far the Coroner could learn she had no |
other lover.
Trying on the Bridal Robes.
The facts as brought out at the Coroner's in |
quest yesterday afternoon were that Bar |
bara Lang was % years old and /
lived with her father George c. Lang,
gheny. She took poison. /: is supposed, at the |
house of Wilhelm Studel on Concord street, |
AZ O'Clock Tuesday evening, and wednesday |
morning she was dead. All day Tuesday she |
seemed TO be IN the best humor. and did not |
seem to have any trouble on her mind. AT $50 |
in the morning she went to the butcher shop of |
H, Locher, and induced that gentleman to buy |
her box of rough on rats.
In the afternoon she called on Mrs, Voight, |
a friend Of hers, ana asked her to come up to /
SueydeI's that evening to help her try on her |
wedding dress. Leaving there she went home,
and then she went out to where her lover |
worked and brought him to her home. She |
talked pleasantly both with him and her father /
until o'clock. when she went to try on her |
uress at Mr.. Streyders. Miss Voight met her |
there, and both Mr.. Snyder and Air. Lang joined |
i5e party soon after The girl went into an
other room soon after her lover arrived, ana /
when she came back the party returned home.
Miss Lang very much excited, and on /
reaching her home she went to her room. Soon |
after she came down laughing and holding a |
lineup in one hand and an empty rough-on-
lats box in the other Going up to her father |
She said: Il have taken all there was in the |
box"
Believed Her Too Late.
Her father did not believe her, and OILY |
threw the box in the fire. She seemed in |
perfect health, but at II o'clock the poison |
began to take effect and she became very sick. |
Sotlyuer WAS sent TO telephone for DIR, Hardt- |
meyer. He returned soon after and said he |
had telepLoned. The father and lover watched |
over the girl, but no doctor came. because DR.. |
fdrUGEneNer DaO DeeD kept out all nlght at the !
bedside of j friend. AT q o'clock Jacob Snyder /
again went out and found DR.. Schinkle. but |
when he arrived there at Z o'clock the girl was
dead. The doctor said her life could have been |
saved If lie had been called earlier
Jacob SNYDER in his testimony, stated |
that he willing to marry the girl,
and had told her SO on the previous |
night. He admits, however, that three months |
ago he said ne did not have to marry her. The |
girl was not known to have any other lover.
The verdict found in the case was that Barbara |
Lang came TO her death from taking rough |
on rats, and severely censured her father and |
Jacob Snyder for not calling medical assist
ance. The Jury also recommended that the
L gIslature pass laws regulating the sale of |
rough rats.