Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-09-28
ARE SUICIDES INsANs'
Judges Have Decided So, hut the Ques-
tion Is Stin an Open One.

Judges Have Decided 50. but the Cues
tion Is sim an Open One.
Is suicide evidence Of insanity The
| question involves a 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 ena-
nate from a disordered brain.
Not long ago judge in one Of our
/ New York courts held that suicide per
Sc 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 Roumania 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 allotted I'M
/ justifable suicide.
II is worthy Of note that the greatest
number Of suicides are committed 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. It requires the merest trife
to induce a 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 a bouquet of fresh
flowers in her hand, is carried in Sc
dan chair to the temple erected in mem
ory Of "virtuous and flial widows"
There she performs the accustomed re-
ligious rites, with burning candles and
incense. In the afternoon she returns
home and hangs herself before the null
titude. Suicides Of this kind meet with
general approval in China. They dc
honor TO the families in which they oc-
cur.
The first instance Of suicide recorded
in Scripture is that of Samson (B. c.
IT'D. The second is that Of Saul (B. {.
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 you? Live on. Does it not?
Go from whence you came. No vast
wound is necessary; a mere puncture
will secure your liberty"
Two Of the most distinguished men of
antiquity who sacrificed their own lives
were Brutus and Cassius. Marc An
thony, reduced to a desperate extrem
ity, killed himself. Cleopatra was
taken prisoner by Augustus, who had
intended to exhibit her in triumphal
procession in Rome. To Illustrate 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.
complished his purpose.
Denosthenes, fearful of being sub
jected 70 slavery and disgrace, resorted
10 self destruction. The prosecution to
! which Hannibal was subjected by the
Romans impelled him to have recourse
~ The roisou which he ALWAYS kent
. about him in a ring. Isocrates, the re
2 nOwned Athenian orator, starved him
: self ~ death sooner than submit TO thu
? dominion Of Philip Of Macedon.
b From instances like the foregoing on
. might well query whether the act o
. taking ones life is alone sufficient 10 in
b dicate insanity. Albany Argus.