The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-20

was to make her raise her head ana 70
place her neck on the rail. The engine
and driver passed over her, seyering
the head from the body Anna Flynn,
domestic at Cedar Rapids, Ia, set fire
to her bed, and when burned almost to
a crisp jumped from a second-story
window. At Haute-Loire, France,
Zalie Sivar, after quarreling with her
husband over some small matter, heat
ed her outdoor bake oven red-hot,
crept into it and cremated herself.
Men have resorted to just as peculiar
ways of suicide as women. From long
list of cases collected at different times,
I will quote that of w. T. Day, of
Dubuque, Ia, who took a Ratchet,
went to the hog-pen and deliberately
cut off portions of his body and fed
them to the hogs. He was so shocking
ly mutilated that he died soon after be-
ing discovered. A quarryman at Roth
bury, England, came to the conclusion
that life was not worth living, so he
placed dynamite cartridge in fold on
the top of his hat, and, saving set fire
to the fuse, awaited tne result with
equanimiry. '.He was Regretted by all
his friends" adds the paper from which
derive my information of this case.
1t is remarkable how suicide by a
certain method or in certain place
will lead to another of the same kind.
"A writer in the Albany Express is re-
;sponsible for the statement that recent
" a surgeon of the Middlesex hospital,
London, went into barber shop TO be
shaved. The barber spoke Of man
who had been unsuccessful in an att
tempt to kill himself by cutting his
throat. she could easily have man.
aged it," said the surgeon, ''had he ac-
quainted himself with the location of
the carotid artery Where should he
have cut?" asked the ba<ben Tha
surgeon told him. He at once left the
room, and, not returning as soon as ex-
pected, the doctor went to look for him
and discovered him in the yard with his
head nearly severed from bis body.
No eminent American has ever de-
stroyed his c-gn life, and suicides among
the great men Of other nations have
also been comparatively rare. It Is an
historical fact that the great Napoleon
at one time,fn his meteoric career con-
templated to do away with himself, but
at the eleventh hour he allowed sober
second thought to prevail. Frederick
the Great, of Prussia, made VOW that
rather than be taken by his enemies he
would kill himself, and carried with
him constantly a dose of poison, prob
ably in imitation of the generals of
antiquity, who preferr.d death to cap
tivity. Among the Englishmen of note
who committed suicide Lord Give,
the founder of the Indian empire, is the
most eminent.
In some parts Of Europe suicide clubs
have lately been organized. The
avowed purpose Of these criminal so
cieties is self-murder. A certain num-
berof the membership must kill them
selves each year until the entire body
is exterminated. Tt was at first sup
posed that the reports of the existence
of such organizations was mere news
paper talk, but later events proved the
truth of the statements originally con-
tanned in Vienna Journal.
To the student of human nature the
subject of suicide must always be one of
unparalleled interest, and one which
more than any other will keep him
from losing the God-given instinct Of
self-preservation Men grow strong by
studying the weaknesses of their
friends and neighbors, but they grow
doubly strong by thoughtfully anal
wing the motives which lead SO many
unfortunates to throw away Gods
most precious gift to man-life.
G.. w. WEIPPIEBT.