The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-06-13
Smlyof Suicide Causes
RHyEETT NOT THE LEADING REASON FOR
SEF-DESTRUcTIoN.
GM9EESMS Drawn by Charity Organization After d.
Ae<5ezdag Ferty-thrss Cases Of Attempted
Suieide-MentaI DsTaRgemsnt
is the Chief Case.

@A14 &A0@ NOAN0 0OLOASSALOA( OAOAOA
temporary or permanent, is the chief
reason, is the opinion advanced by
Orlando F.. Lewis, of the Joint Appli-
cation Bureau of the Charity Organ
1zatiOn Society. which recently made
- special study of forty-three such
cases as reported at Bellevue Hos
pJfal. Mr. Lewis suggests that there
may be a wide field for charitable
work an visiting persons who report
themselves in need of counsel and
advice.
The result of th- investigation is
gIFen by Mr. Lewis in the current
issue OF Charities. The arrangement
made with the Bellevue authorities
was that the bureau should be no.
<IfeG when a person who had at
9sz1pied suicide was brought to the
prison ward The observations were
conducted between April 81 and Sep
4emher I. last AS to how it was
dome MI Lewis says:
THE physician in charge of the
ward 8as first consulted by the Wis
Sto-, the >etEod of self-destruction
learned. with such other data as the
hospital authorities had secured. If
L physical condition of the patient
permitted an interview was held, the
EatIent being approached from the
standpoint of a friendly visitor.
While assistance f-Om the bureau
was always offered, no probing into
She patients life was done and few
details r. asked, on account of the
S~rat1ents general physical and mental
condition Emphasis was laid upon
the fzei that the visitor was there as
"A fr3eHd IN q time of need. AS a rule
9he patients expressed gratitude for
h IntBTPsI and often said they
would be CAD to call at the bureau
after their discharge. In practically
AN eases the lame and address of the
'SUTeaH were left with the patient or
8he keeper OF tf1 ward. The visitor
'ecaE well known to the authorities
I'M charge Of the prison wards; the
nurses and keepers showed a personal
Interest in tn cases, assuring the Wis
1t0r that upon the patients dismissal
8hEy woHld advise him or her to call
"a the bureau"
In spite of this invitation. Mr.
AeUSS says, not enc of the forty-three
PERSONS applied at the bureau after
~dIscharge
"A reasonable explanation" says
Mr. Lewis, seems to be that the ma
-30Tziy CT the patients were from the
seit-z7ppoTting c1aGs. Almost never,
81 a aS the visitor could ascertain,
T~eTe \ patients from the class
4A0Rn as down and out
II WAS impossible to learn whether
all b forty three persons had
GEaeHds OR relatives who could help
4neIH. but n fourteen or fifteen in
stances where friends or relatives
WeTe visited, it is stated, these per-
%1Ts said they could care for the
patient As to the causes discovered,
: SIR Lewis say:
< I@astltnticn seemed to play a very
small part in leaGing persons to at
GeXHpt suicide. In only two cases .7as
the ;1ttempt directly traced to pow
EE4J; in four cases the patient had
hRaH out.of work or employment, but
Ibis was not of itself a direct cause
aDf Che attempt. Melancholia, tenn
sP0raTy alteration, hysteria, more or
less violent insanity and alcoholism
seRmed to ca the attempts in thir-
&aReR cases. excessive jealousy in
Three cases In five cases the patients
claimed that the, attempt was acct
denial; in one case somnambulism
WAS given as cause; one woman was
driven TO attempt self-destruction by
~H~anm KrrChan6Sr 10@1~ . 49,
caused two attempts; four women
N~eOufessed that their immoral life had
Become too shameful and difficult to
bear
Poison seemed to be the f~avorite
method, perhaps because easily OBJ
&sA1ed and supposedly quick in its
action Thirteen persons sought to
HsRd their lives in this manner. Ten
persons were reported to have tried
Gas poisoning, but in several in.
stances 1T was claimed that the cause
had been accidental, the gas being
abaDWn out by the opening of a door
sGr window while the person was
asleep Six persons attempted sui
eide by submersion, four by shooting
EcAr by cutting throat, head or wrists
three jumped from windows, on
GhreE himself in front of a street car
and in two cases the method of at
1Empt was unknown"
Ont OF the forty-three cases clever
stayed but n day in Bellevue, 81,
Buf two days and the remainder from
1&hree days to several weeks. Seven
Aeen were sent to court and the blu
Eeau lost track of them; five wen
hack to work, six were sent home
two we're put in the psychopathi
ward and the rest were still at Be-
zeyue when the investigation wa
CLOSED Not one of the ~forty-thre
made the statement that he had al
sEeKpfed suicide because he ha
sought work for a long time an
Jailed In regard to the results show
6r. Lewis says:
This effort to render aid to would
ZOE suicides suggests that a muc
more. extended study of would-be su