Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-01
WOMEN SUICIDES.
Prefer Poison or Drowning to Knife or
Pistol.
washington Star.

W dSAAAA6 9NoA-
''The recent suicide Of woman by
shooting herself in the head at her home
near the district line" said an old head
quarters detective sergeant this morning,
"calls up the fact that this instance is the
only one can recollect in a service of
over twenty years on the force where a
woman took her life by blowing out her
brains.
Suicide by means other than by swal-
lowing poison, or by drowning. by women
is extremely rare all over the country. 1
recall but three cases in Washington dur
ing my service, and they were all by cut
ting the throat. On Capitol Hill. some
years ago a woman murdered her husband
in this manner and then turned the blade
upon herself. There was another similar
case of suicide in South Washington, and
the remaining case was in the northeast.
Women do not like to die by drawing
blood Women of all classes and degrees
cannot bear the sight of blood nor endure
the thought of ending their lives by shoot
ing themselves or by slashing their art
cries. Usually in these very rare in
stances of the suicides Of females the vic
tins are of unsound mind "A woman will
freely talk Of dying By poison or by
drowning without a culver, but viii shud-
der when the suggestion be made that she
cut her throat or sever the arteries in
her wrist. The first thought OF the aver
age man is to put a pistol to his head.
Such is the marked and interesting diff
ference in the sexes.
"a woman who, from whatever cause,
believes her future life and the world as
dry and barren as she feels her heart TO
be, sentimentaily fees to the river and
throws herself complacently and willingly
into the dark gurgling waters, or calmly
opens her lips and swallows poison po-
ton as readily as she drinks an ice cream
soda upon a hot day when she feels blithe-
some and gay. But knife or a revolver.
Ough! The wound hurts so. too, and they
are so dreadfully bloody and disfigurfng.
There have been many suicides and at
tempts at suicide of women here since
have worn the star, and at times among
certain classes as high as three or four
a month. In many of these instances we
save their lives by hurrying them post
haste to the emergency hospital, where
the every-ready but terribly wrenching
stomach pump is brought into requisitiOn.
Sometimes there is almost an epidemic of
attempted suicides in the section to which
I refer, and then II subsidies for weeks.
eat any rate, from the time of Cleopat-
ra, dying by the poison of the asp, TO the
present day, women abhor the idea OF
dying a violent death by blood letting.
Morphine, chloral, opium, bichloride of
mercury and carbolic acid are the favorite
poisons used, the last named mainly be-
cause IT is easily and cheaply obtained.
1t burns the mouth, throat and stomach
terribly, however, and while the subject
lives she suffers intense physical pain.
"Chloral is the prize poison used by fe-
males with suicidal intent. as it puts the
patient into a quick, deadly, paralyZing
sleep from which they are never aroused
unless the serviceable stomach pump is
brought into speedy use. Opium and NOR
phine are overpowering, sleep-of-death
producing poisons though sometimes the
Respondent women take too much and
their systems are in such condition that
nausea is produced, which saves their
lives with prompt attention. Strychnine is
the poison that hurts, as it produces
highly painful muscular and organic con-
vulsions and the patient suffers much
before death relieves her of her agony, or
she is saved by antidotes
Upon the whole, however, Washington
may be said to have less than the usual
number of suicides of both male and fe-
male in proportion to the population as
compared with other cities. This may be
attributed to climatic influences, to the
absence of that terrible strenuOusness Of
life seen In the metropolis, to the absence
of those frequent and distressing in
stances of miserable poverty and squalor,
to the absence of nerye-racking noise
and the hurly-burly metropolitan wear
and tear and to the absence Of the riff
raft of the ragged edge of society which
we do not see here. Be the causes what
they may, our suicides are less in pro-
norton and upon the whole the condition
may be said to reflect the quiet, even life
of the capital"