Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1876 — Strange Suicides. [ARTICLE]

Strange Suicides.

J Samson, who peritoad amid the ruins; which crushed out tlie lives of his nerse-' ctitoiu, Is the first belf-mnyderter of Holy; Writ. Saul fell upon hit sword in afe last arid lost battle, and the horrid details of -Hazis’ suicide live witii evefj'reider of the Scriptures. Among the Greeks 'suicide was common, though usually resorted to for worthier purposes than lead to it to-day. Lycurgus, the fmaer of the famous Spartan laws, in order to secure their observance made his people promise to keep them inaiulate “ till his • retuiw,**’ and then withdrew to Delphi, after a consultation With the oracle he starved himself to death, thus enforcing the perpetual observanceoftoe National promise. Suicide was so common in ancient Rome as to be called ‘ “ the' Roman death. ’ ’ Pliny and Gicero Were advnbates of selfmurder. Brutus, after the battle of Philippi, called on liiff favorite slave to kill him, and the faithful se#vitor ( ' tu avoid the act, slew himself, leavpig Jus master to plunge his oWri ‘ sword into his vitals. Cassius was beheaded 1 at his own desire by his special freedman, and Luflan, whose poetry lives to-day,/ opened’ the veins in his arms and bled, to’ death ~ r * But by far the most famous suicides of ancient times were those of A rithonv and Cleopatra. After his fatal conflicts with Csesar, the unfortunate lover of the Egyptian Queen called on his attendant, Iwos, to dispatch him.' The loying slave refused, and at last, uhable to withstand the entreaties qf his,master, stabbed himself./ Tlie despairing Roman, thus left to himself, seized the blade still reeking With his servant’s Use, amj pl wed it into him Own boWels. He was found in this condi-. tion by Diomedee, thCcliief Buriufch of thri' Queen, and conveyed to her where he died witii .his paling fade pillowed on her dusky bosom and nis ebbing life defiling hen purple robe. A' tew days lajer, and when hep application to ,C«e»arl had prosed unavailing. Cleopatra sat down jto what was to be the last of Her many’ rbyal feasts. Th,e taple was stilLAgiow with the regal banquet when the Queen Jay stiff and dead, with the fatal serpbrit 1 sflll coiled upon her eo!d*-breast. A fit ’companion-picture to this roysfl' ftk>Hetet is thai'of Sardanapalus roasting amid his imperial jewels and amoughis concubines bn a fhrieral pyre Of‘sandal-wood and precious gems. In spite of the prevalence among the ancients, thelaws were stringent, and the practice pf sglfr' ddsttudtiori’was considered a iiepiotis crime. It has been reserved for mote modern times, however, to afford the historian of self-murder real subjects for his pen, and. the number on the list of suicides pas pein steadily on the increase since tlfe‘ beglm ning of the Christian era. ; ‘ „ It is a noteworthy fact thht tlie proportion of male to female suicides has becri’ rind is about three to' -one, * and that wlii 1 c among the females, taiaWfSd WtinfelPttiir widows seek the last resort tritwe frequently than single ones, tlie score of Unniarriedmate suicides predominates. Drowning is. the method most resorted tOin ihM; fern times. Firearms, are pexti’in favrir, and poison falls last The latter two are the most cwimm among .wemen. i But most singular of all is the tact matXy ac 3 curately compiled statistics mete-Crises Pr felo occur in the month of April than Sut, btsides ths vulgsr meais, these is apolitanr Author) »who threW* hittiself, in* imitation of the petal-,.,jato tlte crater of Vesuvius,‘ and the Austrian Captain who fastened hiniself to a signal rocket, offer perhaps tiw.mpst. inventive specimens of deadly novelty; but what can one say-’of' Pierre' lyfimartin,' wfib threw ffimself among the bears in the bear-pit of the Jrirdin des Plantes,,or pf the Greenwich pensioner, Peter Dfemns,* who, because his grog Rad been stopped, fdr some trifling misdemeanor, sharpened his spectacle legato a poiirt arid strilybea him,e 1 f with them- , . iuq •04 of the ~ .fish-pond her' mastertU garden and thrust her, head into the, water, so that 'When found, storie dead, her >ody. was ipiite dry; amd a womaU Whose husband was an apqtheeaiy, applied Jtibre than a hundred leeches to her pm»outo dramher blood.- r* I? " John Powers, ah employe at ftej’rede; gar ,Iron Works in Richmond, beffire the war, Sprang into the fnrnaae he WtafafcA self, faoe down; into a channel bf WMteh iron in which a gun was being run., ,j, A free negro employed 'at Tattle River, is but g sltort time since that the papers were fulhoff aqcounts oLa mani wUo ffiaid built a guillotine and himsejf. Deliberate mtentlori is also very frequently expressed. Creech!, 'tbe translator of Lucretius, wrote on the margm, of the manuscript: 5 * Remember. *T6 hang myself after my.transhuMn is flrlisiifed,” And

r darkb,^gahf S f df>t>KuVs 4 1 London, went out tov kill himireif’ and drowning- Tossiaag a penny to deeitle, it Among the more horrible curiosities of ssrta&io?£f&ism ! be made into, a candle for his to see Unit the flames were real nal - _ ■ - Is the Itoft ot woolen Itetohes, I MassasTort Urtrd. I» ®ta«, MuuaeMfcelw ehusette nmkreXwtdty-flve pbr cent-.of all York «e the g&Bt iron State*. « r ’ -.. . . »«- .'"■ ' n*«>*'* 1 ? I ,/*' . T Thu nights are growing cool, and for the first time in six months the front gate is gettingja rest