Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-11-27
sELF-MURDERERs.
NOTED PEOPLE IN ALL AGES
WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE.

Boulanger and Balmaceda had Many
Celebrated Predecessors-Samson
the First ON Record-Suicide
Fine Art in China.
Boulanger and Balmaceda, each of
whom played for high stakes and COM
mitted suicide when the game was lost,
had many noted predecessors. From the
days ct 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. Balma-
ceda, the would-be dictator of Chill, shot
himself when convinced that escape from
the victorious insurgents was impossi-
BILE.
Boulanger, after making brilliant
record as soldier in Algiers 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 head. A traitor to his coun-
try and branded as q thief, he was out
lawed. When ut last the woman who
was his companion in exile died, he end
ed his strange career by shooting himself
on her grave.
It is only few months since Prince
Rudolph Of Austria and Marie Vetsera
ended their Jason in q 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 Caesar,
and when Thermistocles was ordered to
lead the Persians against his countrymen
he took poison.
Hannibal and Mithridates poisoned
themselves to escape being made pris-
oners. Samson was the heroic suicide
Of the Scriptures, for, in order to be re-
venged on his enemies, he pulled down
the temple in which they were reveling
and persisted with them. Many of the
noted suicides of history are due to the
philosophy Of heroism rather than in
sanity.
Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, lived
until he was ninety-eight. 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 fishermans riddle"
Terence stabbed himself because he had
lost 108 translated comedies. Brutus
threw himself on his sword, Licurgus
took poison and Nero cut his throat.
In China suicide has been o fine art
for several centuries. If Mandarin is
guilty Of misconduct he is requested to
put himself 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 distinguished
manner 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 remarkable cases Of
i 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 impos-
sible, be assembled his family and prin-
cipal officers, and after addressing them
and intimating his determination never
to accept Mohammedanism, and inviting
those who did not agree with him to 20
away, he applied light to large guam
tity Of gunpowder collected for the pur-
pose and blew into atoms the palace and
all who were in it.
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 CONT
nents. He was one Of the largest landed
proprietors in England, immensely
wealthy and was seventy-two years Of
age. Lying ON 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 suicide was carefully
concealed from the newspapers, but the
secret leaked out after the body had been
cremated. Lord Congleton, who was
Mr.. Parnell's great-uncle, hanged himself
in 1912. In the same year the Earl of
Munster shot himself in the head. In
1869 Lord Cloncarry, the last of his
house, jumped from window and broke
his neck.
In 1873 the last Earl of De Ia War;
drowned himself, and in 1876 Lord Lyt-
tleton, tho insane brother-in-lawo Of Glad
stone, 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 Belgiums. The
youthful Prince loved beneath his station,
and finding 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 dis
grace as crime is to any other family.
This was illustrated by the recent at
tempts of Baron Gustav de Rothschild to
end his existence. His attempt at self
destruction followed close upon his loss
of $S,O0O,0O0 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.
Only last May Lord James Edward
Shelto Douglass, brother Of the Marquis