The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-18
routes taken by self-destroyers of 9TH

routes taken by self destroyers of 9TH
er days.
In the Bible Samson, Eleazar and
Judas Iscariot, tired of the things of
earth, and Hannibal and MiItiades.
sought death by their own hands rath-
er than be taken in battle. The list is
long. Socrates drank hemlock, Demos
themes committed suicide; and then up
the line of history they come-The-
mfstocles, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Di-
onysius, Lucretius, Chatterton, Give,
Blout, Hayden, Chateaubriand, Cow
per, Rousseau, and Lamartine fire.
quently made attempts upon his life.
Burns considered much the advisability
of remaining one apart from his Mary;
and George Sand admitted that
whether it is bile. that make me mel
ancholy, or melancholy that makes one
bilious, I am seized at times with al
most uncomfortable fits Of suicidal
frenzy" Even Abraham Lincoln, by
his own admission In after years, was
the victim of a constitutional melan-
choly that assumed threatening as
poets in his youth.
AS to the causes It would seem from
local researches that different reasons
are to be assigned for the manner in
which the victims of their own frenzy
seek to obtain transportation to wish
editor bliss.
Naturally enough, the source of the
prompting delusion, the convenience
of means, the influence of suggestion
and imitation, the customary occupa-
ton and the desire for notoriety and
publicity all play parts in the choice Of
instruments and means Of death.
For instance, physicians will invari-
ably choose aconite, morphine, lauda-
mum or chloroform, and the religious
fanatic generally something that sug-
IT,.
frenzy, as crucifix. 1t is mainly a
result of environment and habit.
Jim Younger's Suicide.
AS a. means Of illustration there is
the famous suicide of Jim Younger
All his life that had been spent out
side of Saltwater prison his playtoy
had been a revolver Of large caliber.
When the end came he chose 1t as the
method. Habit follows man to the
brink of the grave.
Thirty-one persons ushered into
eternity by propulsion! And
strange 1T is that the average of age
among those who seek this rash and
cowardly end is that Of the midst of
the prime of life. The average is forty
three years Of age. Just at the age
when life should mean most to all men!
OF the thiFty-one self stroyers
four were women Their ages aver
age thirty-seven years, the youngest
was nineteen and the Oldest sixty-f1ve
Three of them chose carbolic acid and
one was content with the painless end
provided by drowning. OF the entire
number two had recourse to the razor
and throat connection. Nine shot bull
let's into convenient portions of their
anatomy, and three danced on air in
their attics. twill probably never be
known what forms the strange fascina-
ton this part of the house has for a
man who has resolved to hang himself,
hut 1t is a facts worthy of note that 80
/ per cent of those who seek death by this
means are discovered in the attic Five
were recovered from the Mississippi
I river, and ten swallowed the fascinat-
ing carbolic acid. But two Of the num-
Der seemed to exhibit any degree of So
licitude for their last sensations, for
only that number had the good sense
to take an opiate. They drank NOR
phine.
1t Is shown by statistics that the pre-
dominance of suicides is among the
German, and the Irishman appears to
have the least inclination to leave the