The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-07-05
S0ME FACTS ABOUT SUICIDES.
MANY MORE MALES THAN FE-
Males TAKE THEIR OWN LIVES.
Non Generally Shoot Themselves, and
womeu Take Poison. The Causes
That Lead to SELF Destruction.

Statistics of suicides in the United
safes during the year 1898 have been
,oIlacted and recently published by Mr..
rs Crum of Newark, n. j. They com>
nrise only the cases reported from day to
r., in the New York Sun, and, the
aonhtfnl ones being rejected, amount
orlr TO sos, while in forty-seven OF the
,oooino cities of the country 2,331 sui
' a;das we're officially reported during 1898,
and these cities contain only ABOUT one
Svth Of our whole population. While,
tbarefore, Mr.. Crum's sos cases repre~
cont nerhaps not more than 10 per cent.
- he total number of the suicides for
tLo pnar their analysis is of interest be-
oanSe the information is more detailed
than that usually found in official re-
ports GA,
o,J 1S7 were females. The method of
r,,cide most popular with males was
Sbootino. while with females poison was
hv far the most frequent means Of self
obstruction, While 40 3 per cent. CT the
male snlcides employed firearms as a
me,bod of self-murder, only 6 4 per cent.
~ the females resorted to that method.
Poison was adopted by 90. l per cent. OF
the female suicides, and was second IN
nopularity with the males, 32.2 per cent.
Of whom used that means to acc ampIlsh
their purpose. Illuminating gas was
more nopuIar with The females than with
the males. as was also death by drown
inc and leaps. Deaths by hanging and
bv cuts and stabs were nearly twice as
freouent among males as among females
in proportion to the total number OF sui>
cides of each sex. The poison most p"pu-
lar was catbolic acid, but paris green,
lsudanum, morphine and strychnine
were not infrequently employed. One
man prepared his poisonous drink by
soaking 200 matches in water, and as
climax to the gruesOme chronicle we
are told that one woman ate spiders with
fatal consequences.
The causes of these suicides. so far as
ascertained, we're, in the most numerous
cases, lack of work; then followed IN
their order love episodes, domestic at
fictionS, disease, business troubles,
crime, etc. Some of the particular causes
reported are most extraordinary. For
instance one woman burned herself to
death because she was displeased with a
hen-house built by her brother, and a
man hanged himself to the stairway be-
cause his wife was too busy to read TO
him out of the Bible.
Suicides, where they are not insane,
which is probably more often the case
than is believed appear to be physically
brave but moral towards. They have the
courage to face the pain involved in self
inflicted death, but quail before the bat
tie of life, which for some is bitter and
cruel indeed. They know that the one
will last but few moments, while the
other may drag on for years and years
They seem not To reckon with the here
after. Though the pain of deaths em>
brace, into whose arms they recklessly
fly, is but transient, what of the long, In
terminable hereafter? How do they
know that the ills from which they fly
will not still pursue them until they have
suffered enough to serve the purpose for
which suffering has been allotted to
mankind-the humble and contrite heart?
They imagine that they alone are vic
TINS, not knowing that suffering, in one
form or another, is universal. These very
statistics show that there are suicides
among the richest and apparently most
fortunate and happy. The old saying OF
solomon that every heart knOweth Its
own bitterness has been testified to too
often to permit of doubt Macon Tele~
graph.
.