Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-07-26
A SUICIDE CLUB.
A CHEERFUL DISSERTATION ON
A GRUESOME SUBJECT.

Unless some very tall hustling il
done by the few remaining membsr
of the Yorkville Suicide Club, thi
unique band of men and women will
like many of the members, meet {
sudden and untimely end, says tn.
New York Morning ADVERTISER.
Since last March the wheel of fate
has demanded the death of six of the
devotees CT suicide, and as the turn j.
called twice month the available
candidates for death are growing
beautifully less.
The question of membership is what
is concerning the suicideites. and il
was for the purpose of discussing this
momentous subject that special
meeting was called one night in the
rear OF dingy Bohemian saloon in
Seventy-second street, near Second
avenue. Hans Obek presided. Only
half a dozen members were present.
| One was woman. Just what trans
pired behind the closed doors that
kept an inquisitorial public from
learning the closely-guarded secrets
of the club only the members know.
But one of the members volunteered
the information that the wheel of fate
had been whirled, and as a result
i there will be one member less within
the next two weeks.
The Yorkville Club is also known
as the Robin and was started by half
dozen Bohemian cigarmakers last
February. 1t has never been clear
what the precise objects of the club
are except that at the opening OF each
meeting, held every two weeks. the
fate of one of the members is decided
by the wheel or tee-to-tum, and the
event is made general jollification.
The club was started as a social
body, but one night the subject of a
modern means of suicide was dis
cussed, and it was suggested that the
club be transformed from social Or
der to the more useful article for ex-
perimenting upon upto-date means
of shutting off this mortal coil. !"
The idea was novel, if not particularly
joyful, and was eagerly adopted.
1--WE are not proud to live," said
Henry Pfluger, of No. 1907 Second
avenue, yesterday, "and We consider
that the successful experiment OF one
OF us, by which mean his death by
original means, is an advantage to
mankind. We do not believe that
! suicide is sin, but rather a benefit at
times, and one of the objects of the
club is to end happy and painless
means OF ending our lives. We abhor
and shun such unscientific methods as
rat-poison, hanging, drowning, shoot.
ing, and all these common, everyday
ways. We lean toward the original.
"Of course, we are all poor, SO the
loss Of the single man matters little.
If he has a sweetheart, we admit her,
90 that she may take her chance at
the wheel and await her turn. We
have several women on our list of
members, and, strange to relate, they
are highly enthusiastic over our way
of doing things. They have no fear of
death. Just at present we are expert
encing some difficulty in obtaining
new members, for the general public
does not take kindly to our ways.
Most of our members are Bohemians,
and they have no special love for life,
but at the same time am sorry to
see . growing disinclination on the
part OF semi-monthly winners to full
fill their compacts.
at has been suggested that we
move the obligatory clause in our con-
stitution, giving the lucky man
the privilege of taking another chance.
Some indignation was raised month
ago when Hugo Schmitt drew death
number and promptly refused to die
We expelled him, but he established q
precedent that has had a bad effect
upon the other members. There il
talk of joining issues with the German
Club, of South Harlem, whose pro-
cesses are similar to our, except that
the person whose fate it is to put him.
self out Of the way can ask for an ex.
tension of time and renew it indefi'
nitely; so you see it is only Suicide
Club in name.
"We are opposed to this amalgama'
ton, but it will likely 60 through, fol
we cannot continue making our owu
death-rate much larger, for the good
and sufficient reason that there will
be none of US left. We always have Q
good time at our meetings. We sing
drink beer and discuss the leading
questions of the day.
Zone of our most interesting for
malities is the reading of all the clip
pings of suicides, taken from th'
daily papers from the time of the pre-
vious meeting. We keep these clip
pings on file, and they often furnish
ideas for q novel method of suicide
iOur great trouble is obtaining meeting