Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-12-14
LAsTLeTTERs OF SUICIDES.
Pathos and Flippancy shown by Their
Statements of Reasons.

BOtb1n bloBts
Nothing in the newspapers is more pitt
ful than the notwithstanding para
graphs which contain the last letters OF q
suicide. The pathos of them IS not OBJ
scured by the absurd inadequacy of the
reasons which they only too often advance
for self-destruction.
In fact. the intensity of the minds emo
tions is often greater when the troubles
are small, so curious Is the mental state OF
those bordering on alteration. ..
Not very long ago baron shot himself
in a Liyonian watering-place. and his
reason was that life was too mOnoto-
nous: and young man killed himself
last year in a Liverpool hotel, having writ
ten on the back of a map This IS all
through love. God forgive me. GOod-by."
Infinitely more touching was the last
letter of a girl at HIghheld. She. spoke OF
her premature and self-wllled death"
and said:
- feel as though I want to be tar away
from everybody, and L know very well
they can see by my face how miserable IL
am."
She felt as though she were going
mad. but she did not forget others.
Tell - my last prayer was that he
would forget me and try 10 forgive ne.
love him still with all my heart, but can
never marry him IN this state of mind.
Let him read this, and tell him | hope he
will get a brighter aud happier girl TO be
his wife" Strange. morbid fears seemed
TO beset her. and TO escape them she died.
An octogenariar general left letter late
ly defending the propriety OF his suicide.
Said he:
When an individual life has run its
cycle and become a waste OF nature IN the
body. overwhelming its mental and physl-
cal qualities with weakness and pain to an
intolerable degree, 1t may, with all pro-
prlety, be removed.
such being the case with the life of the
writer, his apology 10 tho world Is by these
terms made through his most beloved and
most intimate friends. who. he trusts, will
appreciate the relief to him from ceaseless
distress, which, in his opinion, ought 10 be
brought by the physician who is summoned
with his drugs, surely for that purpose,
but not for cure"
A caretaker hanged himself, and his last
letter said: Il have got TO leave here, but
have no money 20 pay for room and no.
where to lay my head"
A BermOndsey grocer had not so definite
q reason as hopelessness
Break 1t gently to nv poor WIFE," he
wrote. Il cannot fight the battle of life
any longer. BY poor head is bursting. |
hope the Lord will provide for her and my
poor boy"
A Warwickshire tradesman was unable
to bear it any longer" but his letter re-
quested an accountant to 90 through his
books"
Bat, for almost fippant indifference,
few suicides letters equal that of an Eng
llsh accountant, who took sulphate of
morphla in a Chicago hotel three years
ago. lie wrote:
Dear Charlie-Goodwin promised TO
leave SO that he borrowed from me at the
hotel. but did not do so. Will you tell HIM
TO pay Hallowell, between State and Wa
bash. 40 cents, and Newfelt 25 cents That.
l think, covers my whlskey bills.
j wall my carcass to some medical insti-
tute tor them to try and find out why the
mental and physical machinery of my sys-
tenn did not pull together. With kind re-
CARDS to the boys who tried so hard to
make a bad egg good, am yours in death,
as well as in life, DICK -.
1t IS sorrowful yet altogether proftless
branch of investigation, this aud 1t is o
sad fact that the opportunities for it grow
every wear.