Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-07-14
pom.ns The solution must be sought

Romans. The solution MUS
perbans religious beliefs has somes
thing TO do with it. but it would DC naio .
IN nrove it. The fact, however, gl'es
nc q clew: Among the lowest races u
mankind and in the lowest intelleceuai
grades of any society suicide IS pr
ticaIlv Unknown, and among the hl2hes'
in race or culture it Is extremely rsIe'
while in the middle or lower mlouie
classes 1t is most common. 1t Is 'noos
VINO are midway on the course ~neehsi
as races or individuals, those who are IN
the struggle, who lose heart ana rush
unbidden into eternity. This Is only
another way of saying that where uhc
hattie is fiercest there are the mosV
wounds and sudden deaths; those VINO
have won the victory and those lying
idle in camp and designing no Struggle
are fairly we'll satisfied with the sItua-
tion. The cultured and well-to-do PM
adelphian is, on the whole, as Wiling ~
live as the naked Senegambian.
The causes assigned for suicide are W
the last degree curious. In many cases
wel-to-do suicides simply allege that
they are tired of life-the monotony OF
il is too much for them. An Engisn
gentleman left note to the effect that
he was tired OF looming in and gong
out. laying down and getting up, button
ing and unbuttoning. A London CAP,
man wrote that be had exhausted all
the pleasure Of driving in this woriu
and wanted to see how they drove III the
other. Strange TO say, love and poverty
furnish the smallest number of cases,
and mere bodily suffering the greatest.
But the saddPst cases are those In whlcn
a whole family dies together, ana OF
these the Stafford case, which occurred
some years ago, was the most mournlui
of all.
Stafford was druggists assistant,
threatened with the loss of position ana
poverty. He succeeded in gaining his
wife's consent, as his letter said, that
the ''whole family should go together,
but she did not want to know when the
fatal dose was given. SO he gave her
and the youngest child prussic acid In q
cooling drink as they lay down for the
night, and in few minutes they expired
without pain. One by one he disposed
of the other five children In the same
way-"all in peace and without pain,
thank God" he wrote. He then drew
up his will, went out and obtained the
signature of witnesses, returned ana
wrote four letters, and then swallowed
poison, and was soon corpse. Such a
case is beyond analysis by q healthful
mind. Yet we cannot say it was in
sanity.
1t is scarcely possible to conceive OF
any method Of suicide not already en-
ployed by someone; but whenever one
strikes a novel method he is sure to
have host of imitators. Hanging,
drowning, poisoning, stabbing, or other
forms of cutting, shooting and jumping
from high places are most common.
Many women have swallowed hot Goals,
powdered glass and other destructive
articles. Cleopatra applied an
asp to her bosom, and it is
worth noting that she had had
no imitators. Women have horror of
serpents, and they are not easily OBJ
tanned at the time desired. France
leads all other nations in suicide, as in
the last year for which We have the rec
ord PIG persons killed themselves in
each 100000 of the population, aad
the increase is rapid. OF 1872 suicides
in one year one-ffth were in Paris, and
smothering by charcoal fumes is the
favorte method. In London nearly all
suicides are with the knife and razor,
and it is plain truth that in this respect
the British are the worst ''cutthroats"
in Europe.