El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-29


" made public, no set of fig
ures will be scanned with keener inter-
est by the student of social science than
those relating to suicide. 1t is only
within the last few years that any
serious effort has been made in the
United States to gather authoritative
data on suicides, so that the study of
the extent of self-destructiOn in Amer
lea is a far more difficult task than
in European countries, where the NOR
tally statistics have been kept with
the utmost accuracy for more than
half a century.
1t is a deplorable but generally ac-
cepted fact that suicide grows apace
with the advance of civilization, and
in the most highly cultured sections
of the globe and the moss, enlightened
periods of the worlds history, the self
destroyer is and always has beer = con-
spicuous figure. -
This fact was nowP re more clearly
proved than IL lTeeee at the height Of
its fame = uere the state maintained a
somewhat contradictory attitude to-
ward self-destruction. Strabo, the his
torian, declares that in the country OF
Coos in 500 B. c. it was an established
custom to allow the act of self-destruc-
ton to persons who had attained the
age Of SO. or who had become incapaci-
tated through their infirmities-
Grecians Disapproved of Suicide.
In Athens, however, there was a very
strong sentiment against self-murder,
the ashes Of the victim not being al
lowed to be burned and preserved, as
was the custom for distinguished citi
zens and for those who persisted in bat
tie. The Spartans also disapprOved
heartily OF suicide. and it is related that
an honorable burial was denied the
body of Artemidorus, who sacrificed his
life needlessly in battle. On the other
hand. this hardy race venerated the
name of the great Iawgiver, Lycurgus,
who took his life from patriotic motives
when he made a set of laws and en-
Joined his people to abide by them I'M
til his return from a long journey He
then departed and killed himself, in
order that his injunction might be per-
petual. The sacrifice resulted in ad-
herence to his edicts for 700 years.
Epidemic In Roman Republic.
In the Roman republic there was
never q statute providing for the pun
ishment of those who attempted self
destruction. but at one period Of the
empire an epidemic of Self-slaughter
became such a menace to the strength
of the Roman army that measures were
taken TO check the tendency. This oc-
CURED during the reign of Tarquin l.
who ordered the army to eXcavate for
sewers. The soldiers, considering that
their honor and dignity had been
touched, began TO take their lives by
wholesale.
When the edict was sent forth that
the bodies of all soldiers who commit
ted suicide should be exposed to public
view nailed on crosses, the epidemic
suddenly died out. That this attitude
of Rome was one of expediency and not
Of moral conviction is proved by the
fact that in the colony of Massilia the
senate kept a supply of poison which
was distributed TO applicants for the
purpose of suicide if the senate thought
their reasons were sufficient.
The great philosopher. Marcus Au-
relius, is said to have declared that "a
nina had as much right to leave the
world IS to leave a room filled with
smoke" Throughout medieval and
modern times there has been an ever
increasing sentiment on the part of
governments to guard against self-de-
struction with the same zeal as against
any other form of murder. 1t should
be mentioned, however, that the great
Code Napoleon did not specify suicide
as a crime.
Many Ancients Ended Own Lives.
1t is a striking fact that ancient his
tory teens with the names of the most
distinguished philosophers. soldiers,
statesmen and poets who took their
own lives either in old age, when they
saw that their mental faculties were
failing, or as the result Of a defeat in
battle or in politics Three cases Of
patriotic suicide served 10 m &xe heroes
of the voluntary victims of classic
Greece and Rome. Codrus, the last
king of Athens, upon being informed by
an oracle that victory in the war be-
tween the Athenians and the Heraelidae
would fall to the nation whose king
died in battle, entered the camp OF the
enemy at night in disguise, provoked
a quarrel with two of the soldiers and
was killed by them
One of the most remarkable suicides
of all history was that of Portia, wife
of Brutus, who upon learning that her
husband had slain himself after the
defeat at Philippi, swallowed red hot
Goals. Another historic instance Of
double suicide was that of the rhetori-
clan Seneca, tutor of Nero, who opened
his veins and bled TO death. and his
wife, Paulina, who took her life in the
same manner and at the same hour.
Two Jump In Volcanoes.
History records two instances OF men