Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-09-22
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ARE SUICIDES INsANEr



Judges Have Decided SO. bat the Quss-
ticn u Still an Open One.
Is suicide evidence Of insanity? The
question involves Il discussion not easily
handled. The most vital instinctin man
Is the preservation of life. 1t would
seem therefore that an act which ira
verses the first law Of nature must ema-
nate from disordered brain.
Not long ago judge in one Of our
New York courts held that suicide per
70 was evidence Of insanity. On the
other hand, we have the examples OF
eminent men who have taken their own
lives under circumstance which appear
to leave no room for doubt as to their
sanity.
A dispatch from Rounania informs
us Of a suicide club, the members of
which are pledged to commit suicide as
soon as their names should be drawn.
The surviving members of the club have
all been placed in rigid confinement,
and will be tried on the charge Of hav-
ing deliberately aided and abettcd un-
justifiable suicide.
number of suicides are com united by
Germans. The form of death they
choose is usually poisoning.
In every country three-quarters of all
the suicides are of the male sex.
It is almost impossible to realize the
readiness with which the Chinese COM
NIT suicide. 1t requires the nerest trifie
to induce Chinaman to hang himself,
In other countries, when a man wishes
to avenge himself on an enemy he kills
him. In China he kills himself,
Suicides OF widows are very common
there. Many hang themselves publicly,
having given notice Of their intention,
so that those who wish may be present.
On the morning of the appointed day
the willing victim, dressed In CANDY
apparel and holding bouquet Of fresh
flowers in her hand, is carried in Be-
dan chair to the temple erected in MEM
ory of "virtuous and flial widows"
There she performs the accustomed re-
ligiops rites, with burning candles and
incense. In tho afternoon she returns
home and hangs herself before the null
titude. Suicides of this kind meet with
general approval in China. They do
honor to the families in which they oc-
cur.
The first instance Of suicide recorded
In Scripture is that of Samson (B. G.
111D. The second is that of Saul (B. G.
1850. Rather than fall into the hands
of the Philistines when hard pressed in
battle, he drew his sword and fell upon
it, and SO died. Judas Iscariot, through
remorse, went and hanged himself.
Among the philosophers of antiquity
Seneca stands pre-eminently forward as
the defender of suicide. He says: "Does
life please your Live on. Does it not?
Go from whence you came. No vast
wound is necessary; mere prfncture
will secure your liberty"
Two of the most distinguished men of
who sacrificed their own lives
were Brutus and Cassius. Marc An
thony, reduced to desperate extren-
ity, killed himself, Cleopatra was
taken prisoner by Augustus, who had
to exhibit her in a triumphal
in Rome. To frustrate this
design she killed herself by the poison
Of an asp. Cato, rather than live under
the despotism of Caesar, stabbed him
self, and when the wound had been
stanched tore Off the bandages and &C.
his purpose.
Demosthenes, fearful of being SUBJ
jected to slavery and disgrace, resorted |
10 self destruction. The prosecution to
which Hannibal was subjected by the
Romans impelled him to have recourse
10 the poison which he always kept
about him in a ring. Isocrates, the re-
nowned Athenian orator, starved him
self to death sooner than submit to the
dominion of Philip Of Macedon.
From instances like the foregoing one
might well query whether the act Of
iaking ones life is alone sufficient to in
iicate insanity. Albany Argus.