The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-09-29
SELF MURDER IN BATTLE
MODERN AND ANCIENT INSTANCES
or TRAGEDIES or THIS CLASS.
Suicide of Soldiers in tho Wars in Greece
and Chna-IustanGes Related in Sacred
and Prornne Mlstory-Eenr of Torinre.

and China-IustanGes Related in Sacred
and PrOfane History-Fear of Torture.
Self-infiicted death on the field Of bat
tie is a tragedy within tragedies. Hav-
ing existed from very ancient times, it
has continued until the present, Dur
ing the recent war between China and
Japan some attention was drawn to
this little-known aspect of war. Mes
sages came to us in regard to the sui
eide of Chinese officers in order to pre-
vent capture and torture by the enemy.
II became known that all Chinese off,
GERS went into battle prepared with
prussic acid or opium to kill themselves
In case there was danger of capture.
1t was also made known that Chinese
officers who are defeated in battle are
expected or commanded by their gov
eminent to suicide In order TO avoid
disgrace and torture by their own peo-
pie, and that in case of failure to car
ry out this behest they lose standing
that war was the suicide of Admiral
Ting, one of the greatest and noblest of
modern Asiatics, man who, in his per-
sonal qualities and attachments, COM
pared well with any man of his time
After the battle of Yalu he had the
choice between capture by the Japa-
nese, torture and disgrace by his own
countrymen, or suicide. He chose the
| last.
During the recent Graeco- Turkish
| war reports have come of the suicide of
a number of Greek officers, who, when
they found themselves unable to es-
| cape otherwise from capture, have
killed themselves rather than submit to
probable torture The reports contain
some terrible announcements. 1t is
stated that the Turks burned Greek
wounded in church at Kurtzivoli.
They lighted fires under the bodies of
wounded beasts. Many of the Greek
wounded inplored their comrades to
kill them; Others committed suicide.
During the retreat Of the Greeks from
the Milouna Pass, Captain Tagaras,
who had been wounded in the struggle
| to hold the block houses, committed SUI
icide to avoid falling alive into the
hands Of the Turks. The Princess So
phia, in an interview with the Athens
| correspondent of the London Daily
| Chronicle, stated that while she was in
i the hospital the wounded Greeks told
how the Turks treated the wounded
who fell into their hands. They built
fires around some of them and roasted
them to death, and inflicted horrible
tortures upon others of their prisoners
before dispatching them. Another re-
port, dated April 10, said that the Turks
had killed the Greek irregulars who had
been recently captured at some of the
points on the frontier. On April sd it
was stated that stories of Mussulman
atrocities We're current in Arta. One
eyewitness said that a number of wo-
men who were captives in the hands of
the Turks were marched in front of the
Turkish lines in the hope that their
countrymen would not fire lest they kill
! the women On the other hand the
| Greeks treated the Turkish wounded as
they treated their own. Turkish pris-
oners in the Greek military hospitals
express themselves as amazed at re-
ceiving attention instead Of being shot
Our old-time Indian fighters made it
a point to not fall into the hands of
the redskins alive. Their maxim was
Never fire your last cartridge at the
enemy; keep it for yourself" These
| words give a hint of their dread of the
i mutilation and tortures known to await
those who were taken, and make plain
their conviction, that under the circum-
| al c11ipida ilrcfifan1a IA
was preferable. Our Indians however
took another view of the matter. They
tortured their captives, but in the fight
they did not seek to avoid by self
slaughter the fate that they knew
awaited them on falling into the hands
of enemies of their own kind When Ar
Indian realized that capture was inevf-
table, he prepared for the event by get.
ting ready his scalp lock for the HAND
of his foe. If he We're not killed anG
scalped on the field, he made 1t point
of pride to endure the tortures to which
he was subjected stoically, and with 6
!; show of indifference, and thus to deny
: his enemies the qualification of seeing
, signs Of weakness,
. These facts indicate that among un
, civilized peoples the torture Of enemies
taken in battle has long existed ant
still continues. and that there is a fixet
idea among soldiers who oppose tn,
hosts among whom such customs exis
that it is not unsoldierly to prefer sui
eide to otherwise inevitable torture
These are ideas that have not beer
publicly advocated. that are not gene
rally known to exist; but it Is eviden
that they are currently known anon.