Show SELF SLAUGaTER I 1 Conditions Under Which People Take Their Lives A PRETTY TYPEWRITERS DEED A Condemned Murderers Unsuccessful Attempt At-tempt The Explanation of a Minnesota Minne-sota Assassin i I The stern philosophers of ancient Home agreed that the proper ending for an unsuccessful i un-successful life was suicide If a man suffered suf-fered from incurable disease he did a service serv-ice not only for himself but to his friends TJJ ending an intolerable existence The unfortunate or the disgracel paid in full the debt to their fellows and retrieved Via r s M f r r t l r r a s MISS CORA G SICKLES their honor by self obliteration and the advocates of suicide under such circumstances circum-stances displayed to the world the shining examples of Cato Brutus and Seneca Modern times and modern sentiment are not in touctf with ancient views regarding regard-ing euthanasia and under some conditions in certain portions of the civilized world the person who takes his own life is not accorded Christian burial but is given sepulture only in the most disgraceful form Despite this statistics show that the despairing and despondent people of today are as prone to self slaughter as the philosophic pagans of 2000 years ago the only apparent difference being that they do not announce their intention to their friends and relatives in advance of bidding farewell to life Innumerable reasons appear in postmortem post-mortem accounts of these tragedies why the principals have dared to seek the unknown un-known in preference to braving the consequences conse-quences of further existence in this world Some die and make no sign however while others hurry hence laden down with the terrible burden of remorse fear sorrow sor-row or utter disgust Classed among those for whose self slaughter there is no apparent excuse must be num ifj r 4 I b l o = 1 I j I o a y ob I i I S 1 S 1 = ai aiJOSEPH JOSEPH ov Alt bered Miss Cora G Sickles a beautiful beauti-ful and accomplished young woman who had her life before her who numbered friends by the score and in association with whose name no whisper of reproach could be uttered 4 he l lived in St Louis and was employed as a stenographer by one of the wholesale firms of that city She received re-ceived an excellent salary and was well thought of in religious and social circles One morning not long ago she asked permission per-mission to leave the office for half an hour Her request was granted and she walked out Going to a drug store she purchased a quantity of carbolicncid Returning to her desk she sat down and wrote this note to her employers I could not help it please forgive and think the best you can of me Then she swallowed the poison and a few moments later fell to the floor dying in horrible agony Close inquiry revealed no reason for her rash act and the only tcna bletlleory s ems to be that life hud lost its charm and that she Lad found the struggle strug-gle ior existence beyond the powers ofher endurance = A case in which there appears much stronger motive lor self slaughter is that OiJoseph Novak who recently made an I J i 1 l r GEORGE ROBARGE Ineffectual attempt to batter out his brains on the floor of his stone cell in the county jail at Joliet Ills Novaks case is a peculiar pecul-iar one Last spring he had an altercation with his brotherinlawAnto Sokoloski The two longht and the combat became murderous in its tendencies Novak secured a pistol leveled it at Anto and pulled the trigger His aim was bad the bullet flew wide of nits mark and instead of killing his assailant assail-ant pierced the brain of his 14yearold daughter It was for this that he was arrested ar-rested tried and sentenced to death and it was because of remorse for his unintentional uninten-tional crime mat he attempted the suicide which was prevented only to save him for execution on the gallows A recent suicide atSt Paul was in quack expiation of a terrible crime Two young men named Benjamin and William Rogers bent a lad in their employ to look after a herd of cattle belonging to them and which had strayedupon the premises of a man named George JJobarge Robarge assaulted as-saulted the boy and drove him away He reported the fact to the Rogers brothelS immediately sought Mr Robarge and attempted to adjust the difficulty A fight instead of a peaceable understanding foU kI lowed Rob rge attacked his visitors with an ax and when that weapon vas taken n s t from him ran into the house and came out armed with a double barreled shotgun He fired first at William Rogers the charge taking ect in the victims rightshoulder He then sent the contents of the second barrel through Benjamin Rogers head killing him instantly A witness of the tragedy ran to the stock yards not far distant and soon returned re-turned with a number of men on horseback who carried ropes and who were determined deter-mined on ending the affair lynching Ro barge But the assassins fear remorse or whatever one may call it had anticipated anticipat-ed their vengeance for he was found lying dead in his barn It would appear that he I liatl reloaded his gun gone into one of the stalls taken off his shoes and stockings placed the muzzle of the weapon to his head and pulled the trigger with his toe I His skull was entirely blown away and the corpse presented a terrible sight I A case hardly iu the same line with the I I above ended not in tragedy but in happiness i happi-ness some time ago because of the wise and merciful conduct of one of New Yorks I best known judges Recorder Smyth A prisoner brought before him for trial was accused of burglary and being called onto I on-to plead said that lie was guilty There I seemed to be something back of the case I i and the recorder continued it for a week i in order that he might make inquiries j While in the Tombs pending Judge I Smyths investigation the prisoner attempted at-tempted to destroy himself but fortunately i fortunate-ly did not succeed i It came out that he was an industrious I hard working man ambitious only for the advancement of his daughter who was I possessed of considerable musical ut I 1 c p I i F tt1 n 11 k t t 4 j f I r y lit I RECORDER SMTTH She had told her father that all that was necessary for her success was another course of instruction Unable to provide means for this course the man stole goods from his employer pawned them and went home triumphant and happy with money sufficient to insure his childs future Questioned Ques-tioned by his wife as to the means by which he had procured the desired sum he confessed his theft and in obedience to her entreaty told his employer all and turned over to him the money and the pawn tickets The merchant was one of the relentless sort however and instituted a prosecution Recorder Smyth with aX the facts before him thought it just as well as merciful to sentence the man to a term of years in prison and then suspend sentence The result has justified his sagacity sa-gacity for the exthief is now an honored and trusted servant of one of the great steamship lines while his prosecutor is serving a term in the penitentiary because of fraudulent practices in business F X WHITE |