Evening star., 1901-06-15
UNCONSCIOUS SUICIDE.
A Man Can Commit Se1f-Murder With
out knowing 1t.

From the Chicago Tribune.
Several night police reporters of the Chi
cagO morning papers sat in their den at
Central station one night last week dis
cUssing a mysterious suicide which they
had written UP earlier in the evening. One
of the reporters who has been on the Job
a dozen years. was laughed to scorn by the
others when he asserted that it was possi-
bic for person to commit suicide uncon-
sCiOuSly or accidentally.
such remarks as smoke up and your
pipe is OUT Were hurled at him from all
SIDES of the room. Any who has never
listened To the gentle. insinuating repartee
ot the night police gang has lived in
vain They fight one another as if deadly
enemies in the gathering of news. torment
each other with vicious sallies of wit when
one is 'sCOOped,' but when the clock
IS no kindlier heart for his felow-man
than that which beats in the breast of the
night police reporter.
You fellows can make all the fun you
want to. said the reporter who caused the
outbreak of hilarity. but l tell you again
thdt a person can commit suicide uncon-
sciously or by accident. I'll prove 1t to
you by relating a little story in which
WAS the central figure. My paper called
me into the office one night some years ago
aFid the city editor told me to catch the
first train for Des Moines. There had been
a mysterious murder committed in small
town near there and the local correspond
ent up against the real thing. l was
thera two or three days. and it was while
returning to Chicago that l had the Strang-
fest experience of my life.
ION account of long years at night work
II is hard for me to change my sleeping
hours. and when l occasionally take a flyer
out of town never ride in the sleeper. On
the night | was coming back from Des
NDiu"s | WIS in the smoking car. \ day
or two before that there had been a train
holdup somewhere in Missouri. and as
fell into a doze about , o'clock in the
morning was thinking what would do if
robbers should attack the train. l always
carry a revolver in my hip pocket. but
removed 1t to the outside pocket of my
ovcrCOat just as l dozed off At a station
further back two rough looking men got
oI the train and came into the smoker.
They sat few seats in front.
Il don't know how long l had slept. but
il couldn't have been more than half an
hour when | dreamed that the two men in
front of me We're train bandits. In my
dream l saw them masked and each had
Two big revolvers They were walking
'iGwu the aisle of the car making the ter
Tifed passengers hand over their valuables.
As they drew near to me / reached into
my pocket where the revolver lay Mind
you. this was a dream I pretended to be
asleep. and just as they got to my seat
pulled the gun out and tried to discharge
IL at them. Something seemed to be wrong
with the trigger. and l pulled until l
Thought the blood would burst in my veins.
Il was aroused from my troubled dream
by the brakeman opening the door of the
smoker and shouting out the name of the
next station. As l awakened l saw l was
leaning forward with my head resting on
something cold pressing against my tenn
pie 1t was the muzzle of my revolver In
my dream / had taken it from my pocket
and was trying to send a bullet through
my own head when the brakeman's shout
aroused me. My fingers Were not on the
trigger. but We're twined around the guard.
and To that fact I owe my life 1t was
double action pistol. and if my fingers had
ever pressed the trigger l would have been
brought home in a box.
What would have been the general YER
dict II | had killed myself in the manner
which have described? Everybody would
have said that l committed suicide"