The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-08-11
FOR SUICIDE.
lngersolPs Eloquent Plea
for Those Who Take
Their Own Lives.
''The Wonder Is That so Many En-
dure and suffer the Natural
End-When the House of
Life becomes N Prison.
to Escape is Not
Crime"

gersoll's attention has recently been
attracted by prosecutions of persons
who have attempted to end their lives
and have failed. He condemns utterly
the law of New York which infiicts
penalties upon those persons who at
tempt to kill themselves. and breaches
the gospel of self-murder in a remarka-
ble letter. from which we take the fol-
lowing striking passages:
do not know whether self-killing is
on the increase or not. If it is. then
there must be. on the average. more
trouble, more sorrow. more failure,
and consequently. more people are
driven to desperation. In civilized
life there is a great struggle. great
competition and many fail. To fail in
a great city is like being wrecked at
sea. The man is lost in the multitude.
In the roar of the streets his cry is not
heard. Death becomes his only friend.
To Inc all this seems very natural.
The wonder is that so many endure
and suffer to the natural end. that so
many nurse the spark of life in huts
and prisons. keep it and guard it
through years of misery and want:
support it by beggary. by eating the
crust found in the gutter. and to whom
it only gives days of weariness and
nights of fear and dread. Why should
the man. sitting amid the wreck of all
he had. the loved ones dead. friends
lost. seek to lengthen. to preserve his
life: What can the future have for
him:
Undoubtedly there are many cases
of perfectly institiable suicide in which
not to end life would be a mistake.
sometimes almost a crime.
As to the necessity of death. each
must decide for himself And if d man
honestly decides that death is best.
best for him and others. and acts upon
the decision. why should he be blamed?
Certainly the man who kills himself is
not a physical coward. He may have
lacked moral courage. bat not physi-
cal.
Men who fear death 10 that degree
that they will bear all the pains and
pangs that nerves can feel rather than
die cannot afford to call the suicide
coward. 1t does not seem TO me that
Brutus was coward or that Seneca
was. Surely Antony had nothing left
10 live for. Cato was not a craven. ,
He acted on his judgment. So with !
hundreds of others who felt that they |
had reached the end. that the journey |,
was done. the voyage was over. and. |
80 feeling. stopped. 1t seems certain |
that the man who commits suicide. /
who Does the thing that stops all |
other deeds. that shackles accident |
and bolts up change. is not lacking !
in physical courage.
Seneca. knowing that Nero intended |
To take his life. had no fear. He knew |
that he could defeat the Emperor. He !
knew that AT the bottom of every |
river. in the coil of every rope. on the .
point of every dagger. liberty sat and |
smiled.
He knew that it was his own fault if |
he allowed himself to be tortured to
death by his enemy. He said: There |
is this blessing. that while life has but
une entrance it mas exits innumerable !
and as choose the house in which |
live, the ship in which l will sail. so
will / choose the time and manner of |
my death.
To me this is not cowardly. but man.
ly and noble. Without doubt many
suicides are caused by insanity. Men |
lose their property. The fear of the |
tuture overpowers them. Things lose |
proportion. they lose poise and bal
ance. and in a fash. gleam of frenzy. |
kill themselves. The disappointmed |
in love. broken in heart. the light |
fading from their lives. seek the refuge /.
"f death.
Life is not the same TO ALTO some ,
Il blessing. TO some a curse. 10 some
not much in any way. Some leave it
with unspeakable regret. some with
the keenest JOY and some with indif-
terence. When the house of life be-
comes prison. when the morrison has
>hrunk and narrowed 20 a cell. and
when the convict longs for tire liberty
"f death. why should the EFFORT to
escape he regarded as d crime:
As long as there shall be pain ana
failure, want and sorrow. agony and
crime. men and women will unite life's
knot and seek the peace of death.
To the hopelessly imprisoned. to the