Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-02-26
CURIOUS SUICIDES.
HISTORICAL DEATHS THAT HAVE
BEEN SELF AFFLICTED.


pie Seeking to Fat,lo'a the a!Ts: cries
of the r..1-Eo.yn .yorl.i-.yia~mr:. Fall
Is Popular Place sor Des;,nn.lerts.
In a talk had few days ago with
gentleman who is well up On the sabiec.
of suicide, who has made it a life study al
most, he impaired to me some facts thai
were startling. There are many who say
that none but towards commit suicide
while others insist that it requires nerve
and bravery to suddenly terminate one:
own existence and enter into Il future st;its
that is paradoxical as to its being. Som
men who commit suicide are brave, cthe.
are towards and do not dare to face mis-
fortune. l think they are about evenly
divided. 1t is a disease in many instances
A work devoted for the most part t.
statistics on suicide was at hand, and i,
showed many interesting facts concerning
the subject under consideration. From ii
the fact was CLEANED that the United States
is considered an Al country in which to
shuttle off the mortal coil. Here the ratio
is to every 1900 inhabitants, while in gay
Paris it is to each 2,700, and in smoay
| London and chilly St. Petersburg | to each
g, 900 of population. In all Russia. how
ever, the ratio is as to "a 2246; in Sweden.
to a33 SO: in Sayony, l to 8,446.
In 'tti,e winter Of our discomfort" there
are decidedly more suicides than in the
summer time, and majority of them oc-
cur in the morning. Women appear to
love life more than men, for four men com
nit suicide where one woman takes her
own life, and the ratio is much smaller in
married life than in !vitOwerhood. Tht
early part Of the week claims more SUI
cistes than tic latter part. and the early
| part of the month more than the waning.
DEATHS AT NIAGARA.
In any one particular part of the United
States Niagara Falls has the call, and there
is 10 doubt that many disappearance
find last resting place tit this suicide
suggesting resort. Suicides are SO com
mon nowadays that the subject would hot
be worthy of extended comment were it
rot for the fact that the means used to rs
sure the desired result have in a number
of cases been SO remarkable.
The pistol, poison and the rope are gen
orally used in solving the great problem
and these are SO frequently used by the
man or woman tired of life that unless
there is some romance connected with the
suicide OF unless he or she may have been y
distinguished person very little space i
vouchsafed the story in the daily newspa
pers Here are few of the remarkable.
ones which have caused excitement during
the past score of years or so and which are
remarkable for the exceptional reasons
above referred to.
TWO WELL REMEMBERED DEATHS
Twenty years ago there was probably no
man better known among gentleman
drivers" than Mort Tuniscn, whose famed
hosiery was on the old Coney island road
Mort WAS known from Coney island tc
Canada as a jolly host and good fellow
His hotel was the stepping place, and Mort
grew wealthy. Suddenly the park com
missioners determined to construct new
210 foot boulevard about a quarter of a
mile west Of Coney island road Mort
kicked. The commissioners urged him to
move his hotel to new site on the PRO
posed boulevard. but he wouldn't have it.
He said that his place would draw the
crowds, boulevard Or no boulevard. The
new parkway soon became a fact, and new
hotels sprang up all along its line. The
old Coney island road became deserted
One by one Morris old customers left him,
as the new road was a beauty and was just
built for trotters.
Mort had plenty of opportunity to get in
the swim, but be was contrary and wouldn't
take advantage of it. One fine morning
Mort didn't appear at breakfast as had
been his wont. Investigation proved that
he would never appear at breakfast in this
world again During the night or in the
early morning hours he hat' committed
suicide. His old friends had left him. h.:
famed hosiery had become desolate ana
life had become Il burden to him.
- 1FC IL.
was an exception to the rule because OF
the fact that his name was world known
He was son of Commodore Vanderbilt
He had become spendthrift and in March
1882, he shot himself through the head j.
his room in the Gienham hotel in this city
Financial troubles were said to have been
tie cause of the deed. Several times Com
modcre Vanderbilt had been called upon to
pay his sons debts aud he finally became
Tired of SO doing. When the commodore
died he left young Cornell the interest OF
5000, 600. Cornell also received Il large sum
to withdraw from the contest of the com
modore's will. These amounts he soon
squandered and he died almost penniless
AN UNCANNY SUICIDE.
Another case of interest at the time OF
it's occurrence was that Of Nine. Restel,
wealthiest women in the country, hcl
wealth having been accumulated in hel
practice. She owned and occupied a pala
tial mansion ON Fifth avenue One morn
ing she was found dead III her hathtub,
and few sorrowed, as she was said to hold
many secrets concerning scandals in high
life which died with her.
Probably the most uncanny suicide that
bo oe11 to
the facts of was that of Philip Truschel,
which occurred in Clarkson street, Flat
bush, l.. l.. in the summer of 1880 Truschel
was employed by his uncle, Louis Schmutz,
who was florist in the village named.
Truschel became respondent and frequent
ly threatened to take his own life .
One morning as the other employees en-
tered the greenhouse they smelled an odor
as if of something burning. Upon investi-
eating they found Truschel with his body
wedged half way through the furnace door
way. His head and part of his body were
completely burned away. He left letter
inviting those of his friends who were as
unhappy as he had been to do as he had
done.
In 1880 Paul Hines committed suicide il.
Lake Michigan in novel way, whic.
showed that he was determined fellow
In order to guard against rescue he tied
life preserver to his feet SO that he would
be sure to float head downward and thus
drown before assistance could reach him.
He succeeded.-New York Herald.
Our Atmosphere.
Our atmosphere is composed of air "a
mixture of seventy-seren parts by weight
OF nitrogen and twenty one parts of oxy
OPnl wit llle in.r Of