The Jersey City news., 1902-10-25
our SUICIDE
RECORD.
Statlsticians Declare the
Rate Of Increase in Self
Murder Is Rapid.
NEW JERSEY IN THELEAD-
Hob oken First. Newark Sec
ond in Rate Per 100, 900
Population for 1901

So rapid has been the increase of sui
cides in the last decade that the matter
has become a question of almost world
wide interest. Statisticians of all the
large life insurance companies are max
ing the methods and causes the subject
Of special study. The growth of sef-
destruction is matter of vital inte- est
to the insurance companies, as by the
terms of most life policies, after the in
sured has paid the premiums fer
stated period the companies are OBLIGED
to pay the face Of the policy, whether
the death of the insured be natural, acci-
dental or by his own hand, says the
Newark Sunday News"
The problem which present conditions
raise is of great Importance in Newark.
for the city's rank among others of the
United States is far higher, when figured
by suicide statistics than when fixed ac-
cording to population. According to sta
tistics for fifty of the large cities, COM
piled by Frederick L. Hoffman, of the
Prudential Insurance Company, the rate
of suicide per 100000 population for the
year 1901 was 29.7, higher than that of
any other city in the country excepting
Hoboken, which was 1854 In actual
number Of suicides in that year, seventy
five, Newark was the seventh city in the
country. ranking such cities as Cincin-
natl, Buffalo, New Orleans, Detroit, st.
Paul, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Mil
waukee, Pittsburg and Washington.
FIGURES FOR NINE YEARS.
In Mr.. Hoffman'sa figures relating to
the years from 1891 to 1900, Newark
ranks twelfth in the list of cities in ac-
tual number of suicides, 1853, and eight
in rate per 100000 with a record of 16.2.
The first seven cities ip point of rate
per 100000 are St. Louis, Chicago, Ho-
boken, Oakland, New York (Manhattan
and the Bronx only, Milwaukee and
Cincinnati.
The record of Hoboken for 1901 is
truly remarkable. The high rate means
that in city of population of 59.364
and an area of little over mile, there
were twenty-five suicides within the year.
An illustration of the rapid increase of
suicides in New Jersey may be found in
the following figures concerning Essex
County. The population, according to
the figures of the United States census
of 1900, was 256,O9e. According to the
figures of the last census the population
is 359,053, an increase of 102.955 or
forty per cent DR.. J. I. Wrightson,
who was county physician in 1892, in his
report to the Board of Freeholders. men
tions forty suicides during the year. In
the report for the year ending May l.
presented by DR.. W.S. Washington, the
present county physician, seventy-seven
persons committed suicide by various
methods. These figures show that while
in ten years the population of Essex
County has increased forty per cent the
percentage of suicides has increased at
the rate of 92.5 or nearly 100 per cent.
CARBOLIC ACID MOST USED.
The Il unfortunates who ended their
lives in Newark in the year included in
DR.. Washington's report adopted the fol-
lowing means:--Carbolis ac.d. 81; pistol
and gunshot wounds. IA; hanging, IL;
Illuminating gas, Z: jumping from
heights 2; phosphorus. /; arsenic. /;
cyanide of potash, L; opium, 1; wood al
cohol, 1; cutting throat l. stabbing, /,
and unidentified poison, /.
For the year, ten years ago. many of
the present methods were not apparently
in vogue. and but four methods are re-
ported, as follows:-Gunshot wounds. 5;
hanging, IL; drowning, g. and by various
poisons. 49,
In all localities, more Germans and Bo-
hemians take their own lives than those
of any other nationality. The iatio of
suicides is three men to one woman. The
average age among male suicides is forty
four years. among females TWENTY-FIVE
years. Married people are less liable to
commit suicide than those who are sim
gle, and especially in advanced If, single
men and widowers are more apt to end
their own lives than married men.
The present probable population of til.
United States is estimated by experts at
79,000,000. On the basis of the figures
given the number of persons who COM
init suicide in the Unitei States annual
" would reach nearly 10000.
In 1901, in the fifty American cities in
Mr.. Hoffman's list. there were 10,409093
inhabitants. OF this number / 400 com
mitted suicide. Last year the total popu-
lation of the same cities had grown to
14,014S0S. and the number cf suiei9es
was 1922 The suicide rate increased in
ten years from IA to 1876 per ceat. for
every 100000 Of population. This indi-
Gates that the epidemic of suicide is con-
fined to no particular locality.
FEW SUICIDES IN ENGLAND.
In the New England States there are
comparatively few suicides. Fall River, |
Mass. with a population Of 1o4.SG3, had |
but three suicides last year, or a rate of |
IS to every 100000 inhabitants. A COM |
parison of the two sets of figures CON
cerning Haverhiil, Mass, however, shows /
an odd condition. For the Yeas from
1891 to 1900 the rate per 1000 was 1873,
which placed it eighteenth on the list of
cities. The rate for 1901 was % 2, which |
placed it fifth. The city is SO small,