The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-03-22
LETTERS OF SUICIDES.
Pathos and Flippancy Shown by
# Their Contents.
Tho Trines Which Havo Caused Soma
People to Tako Thoir Own Lives
cad Results of Mental I'm
soUnduoss.

Nothing in tho newspapers is moro
pitiful than the constantly recurr;ne,
paragraphs which contain the last LET.
ters of suicide The pathos of them
is not obscured by the absurd made
quaey OF the reasons which they only
too often advance for self-dcstruction.
In fact, says the Boston Globe, the
intensity Of the minds emotions 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 him
sell III Livonian watering-placc, and
his reason was that ''lifc was too mo-
! notonous;" and young man killed him
self last year in n Liverpool hotel. hav-
! ing written on the bncls of a map: .orhis
is all through love. God forgive me-
NGood-by.'
Infinitely more touching was the last
lctter OF girl ut Highfcld. She spoke
OF her premature and self-willed
DEATH" and said: 'i'eu
feel as though WANTED TO be far
away from everybody, and know very
wei they can see by my face how mis-
cradle am"
one .feit as though she were going
maj, but she tlid not forget others.
ieu - my last prayer was that he
would forget me and try to forgive me.
love him still with all my heart but
can never marry him in this state of
mind. Let him read this, and tell him
4 nope he viii get some brighter and
happier girl to be his wifa" STRANGE
I9orbid fears seemed to besct her. ana
to- escape them she died
an octogenarian general left . letter
lately defending the propricty of his
suicide. Said he:
W men an individual life has run its
fKcle and become waste of nature in
tnc body, overwhelming its mental and
physical qualities with weakness and
pain to an intolerable degree, it may
with all rT~Eicty, be removed.
ouch be e the case with the life of
the writerENk apology to the world is
oy these td3e + made through his most
beloved az ,chost intimate friends. who
nc trusts. appreciate the relief TO
1i.ih 1rI ssS useless distress, which. in
ms opiIoe ought to be brought by the
Pnys'ci9Sa 90 is summoned with his
for Gu snrd aess i0' '"a' purpose but not
care "a hanged himself and his
N'' ieVHte, fld: II have got to leave
l'etc' o'Sa I've no money to pay for
room aRpN lhcrc to lay my head"
AZ hcI "skMEey grocer had not SO deil-
mite Il rror Mas hopelessncss.
brcu Sentiy to my poor wife, he
"Fo,e' mot fight the battle of life
any iofb 20 Ny poor head is bursting.
h''Pe Of RI will provide for hcrnrd
INV pOOl}o 80
way ,sHYhirc tradcsman was "un-
aole TO 1essl any longer" but hi, let
ter refeoa y an accountant TO 200
through D. SSolss."
Bnt, fofSEfhst flppant Indifference
lew suicides letters equal that of M
English accountant, who tool, snlnhotn
OF morphia in o Chicago hotel three
years ago. lie wrote:
DEAR CHARLIE-Goodwin promiso,,
TO leave three dollars that he borrowcI
from me at the hotel, but did not do So
+ r@ii You tell him to pay Hallowell be-
tween State and Wabash, forty cents
ana Ncwfelt twenty-five cents. That
think, covers my whisky bills.
II will my carcass to some mcd;ca,
institute for them to try and fnd 49,.
why the mental and physical m,ct;n
Try OF my system did not pull together.
MN KIND regards to the boys. who
s'ieo so hard TO make bad egg good,
am yours In death, as well as in life.
DICK -"
lis sorrowful yet altogether pr,f.
1tiess branch OF investigation, this: and
II is sad fact that the opportunities
Tor it grow every year.