St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-05
DE. GkaYi1s, SUICIDE.

1T Is verify true that conscience doth
make towards of us ALL" The suicide
OF DR.. THATCHER GRAVES at Denver
on Sunday is case in point. He stood
accused of the murder of a wealthy
widow, who died under suspicious cir
cumStanceS TWO years ago last April.
lie was tried, con yicted and sentenced
to be hanged. His case was carried to
the supreme court of Colorado. where
a supersedeaS was granted and a new
trial ordered.
Meanwhile the governor of the state
was besieged with petitions for his par
don. But the evidence OF the prisoners
guilt was too strong to admit of any
doubt, and the governor. to his credit
he it said, refused to extend clemency.
The new trial ordered by the supreme
court was to have taken place the
present month, and the doctor was kept
i'll the Denver Jail, where he was accorded
many privileges. When his cell was Wis
tied by the turnkey on Sunday morn
ing, DR.. GRAVES was found dead. He
had taken his own life, aud a number
OF letters written by him told of the
method employed and the reasons that
impelled the act. The latter are trivial
when weighed IN the balance against
human life-the rapacity OF lawyers and
the disgrace of being dragged before a
court of Justice, stared at by gaping
crowds. and being forced to see his
name dragged into unpleasant noto-
riety in the columns of the newspapers.
HIS protestations of innocence and
supersensitiveness to public criticism
are ridiculous in viewaof the testimony
and his conduct in his first trial. The
evidence on that occasion, as already
remarked, was convincing even to
those who desired to believe him inno-
cent. 1t showed cold -blooded premedi-
tation-a diaboliSm rarely equaled in
our criminal annals. His demeanor
during the trial was one of careless iu-
difference and heartleSs bravado, each
by turns. and manifested with a view
to effect upon the jury and the public.
He treated his conviction as a mani
festalion of the persecution of personal
and professional enemies, and when he
| applied to the governor for pardon it
was i'll an imperious mood.
1t is safe to say that it was not through
fear of meeting the public gaze, nor yet
to escape the rapacious lawyers or the
| inquisitive reporters that DR.. GRAVES
took his life. He doubtless knew that
since his first trial additional evidence
| had been procured by the prosecution,
| and that second rehearsal of the story
would inevitably lead to conviction, and
! that in that event no influence which he
| could hope to command would save him
from the gallows. He shrank-as who
| would not?-from such an iguominious
ending. and resolved to foreStall the
! operations of the law.
| If he had been an innocent man, the
| knowledge of his innocence would have
| sustained him during the trial and
awakened within him a faith in ulti
| mate vindication. But he was guilty OF
| the crime laid at his door, and his con.
| science told him that he deserved the
| gallows. His death by his own baud is
not. as he affected to believe it would
be, demonstration of his innocence,
but rather proof corroboratiye of his
| guilt.
Innocent men in the full possession OF
| their mental faculties do not seek q
refuge in suicide from such an accusa-
ton. They value their good name above
life, and will struggle against death II
the uttermost moment i'll the hope that
their innocence may be established and
their family inherit name untaruisheti
by crime. Cowards only-made towards