Omaha daily bee., 1909-07-04
Euthanasia is
Still Practiced
by Alaskans
Eskimos Aid Aged and Helpless in
Shutting Off Unwel-
come Life.

WAINWRIGHT, Arctic Alaska, March 2
-(By Reindeer Mail Service -That the
custom among the Eskimos of making
away with helpless invalids and the aged
to whom life has become a burden is MOI
yet altogether abandoned. is proved by al
least two instances during the present year,
The last case has just been reported from
the Colville river country.
An old man by the name of Tillemut
was the willing victim Of this custom
which runs through centuries OF the dim,
legendary history OF these people. Tile
NUT was a very old man. For years he
had suffered from tuberculosis. The won
derful vitality Of these people enables them
to resist this disease for many years, some.
times for half q century.
But II was telling on this old man. He
lay on his bunk and coughed miserably
He knew tina he would never be well
again. So he called his children around
him and said that he wanted to die.
He reached for the Hudson Bay gun that
he had carried since boyhood. He cooked
It and handed 1t to bis eldest son, telling
him to put him out of pain. But the boy
had been told by the whites somewhere
that 1t was a sin to kill In this way and
tx FCAubou 10 grant MS IdIn6T = last re-
quest. The others also refused. Then the
aged Tillemut took the weapon, placed the
muHxle in his mouth and touched the trig-
ger with his toe.
On the Russian Diomede, an island in
Boring strait, another old man met death
in a somewhat similar manner. In this
Diomede case, however, the sons obeyed
the father implicitly.
1t was the regular old Eskimo death.
There was no shooting. 1t was in a large
igloo, the roof of which is supported In the
middle by q stout beam.
To this beam the boys fastened a strir
Of walrus skin. at the end Of which dangled
a moose. They helped their father to the
edge of the bunk, fastened the moose abou,
his neck and let him swing off his high bed
and strangle to death.
These people are not cruel. No more az
fectionate people can be found In the world
than the Eskimos. Blows are seldom
struck; harsh words are seldom uttered.
But until recently the ending OF hopeless
suffering by suicide or by killing the pa
tient was the rule all over the Arctic world.
To kill a suffering relative or friend was
considered an act Sf d and mercy,
just as we consider 1t an act OF mercy 70
kill animals that we know cannot recover.
This may recall the Spartan parents who
left their weak or deformed children on
the mountain side to die. But such cruelty
is unknown In Eskimo society; the chill
dren here are sacred and the most I'M
fortunate and mis-shapen receive the ten
derest care.
Nevertheless, when death was plainly ap-
preaching and the sufferer asked to be re-
lieved his request was always granted.
Even infants were thus put out OF pain.
Although there is none Of the conspicuous
demonstration OF grief that characterizes
the saddest moments Of a more impulsive
people, the sorrow for the dead In an Es-
kimo household Is just as bitter as It Is
in any home In the world.
In spite OF the white ruling mans ideas
concerning the taking OF life In this way,
the EskiinoS still more than half believe
in It. The ordinary death is reported as
follows: He died himself" This means
that he died without the affair being hur-
ried along either by his own hand or that
Of q friend or relative.