SHOCKING SELF-MUTILATION.

Evening Star, Issue 4081, 25 March 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHOCKING SELF-MUTILATION.

{Melbourne ‘ Age,' 14</i March.)

A fearful case of self-mutilation, while under the influence of religious mania, occurred yesterday morning, Charles Erskine, a cabinetmaker in the employ of Messrs Solomon and Co., with whom he has been for four years, was observed by his benchmates to be more than usually taciturn, and to be constantly referring to a small pocket Bible which he carried with him. Suddenly he turned round from h J s bench, and leaving his work, walked rapidly across the workshop to the circular saw, which was at the time being driven with great rapidity, and before any one in the room had time to comprehend what he was about to do, placed his wrist against the rapidly revolving instrument, which instantly severed his hand from the arm, and left it hanging by a thread of muscle. The blood gushed out with alarming force, and the man was taken to the hospital. When asked what had prompted him to commit such a rash act, Erskine replied that his right hand had oflended him, and, in accordance with scriptural injunction, he had cut it off and cast it irom him. On examining the Bible the unfortunate man had been perusing the leaf containing that command was found to be turned down, and the page was much worn, showing that it had been frequently referred to. Erskine was a man of peculiar temperament, and his reserved manner, and the distant relations he kept between himself and his shopmates had been the subject of frequent remark, and had given rise to the soubriquet by which he was known of “ the silent member.’* His mind has on several occasions shown symptoms of aberration, and he has been seen to stand for a long while looking at the wall in front of his bench with a vacant stare, neglecting his work in the meanwhile, and appearing to be un conscious of what was going on around him.