The Suicide Season.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 143, 27 February 1886, Page 6

The Suicide Season.

How is it that the Christmas holidays are invariably marked by the commission of a series of singular crimes. Casualties seem inevitable. The explosion in the Rhondda Valley was, of course, an event which might have happened any day, and the shocking doath of brave Miss Maud Fitzroy was the result of an accident which might be repeated at any moment, though it will probably help to make English people more careful in the use of lighted candies. The catastrophe at the hospital in Chicago on the evening of Christmas Day should have a similar effect upon Americans. But crime is not inevitable, and the particular crime which has prevailed in an epidemic form least of all, There has been a murder at Lowestoft, and there have been burglaries, robberies, assaults, and much drunkenness. But murders are not uncommon, burglars and thieves are always with us, the assaul 8 were not in any way remarkable, and it is stated that the Christmas Day charges at the metropolitan police coucts on Saturday contrast favourably with those on past Boxing Days. The number of suicides has been above the average. There is the case of John at Sheffield, who first attempted to murder his wife and then cut his own throat. This was on Boxing Day, and the crime may safely be attributed to the dissolute habits of the man. The cause is not so clear in the case of James Whitehall, of 5, Drury-lane, who likewise tried his hand on his wife before taking away his own life, and also selected Boxing Day for the enactment of the tragedy. A more extraordinary case is that of Robert Sprigge, a foreman in the employ of a firm in the city, who committed suicide by hanging- himself. This too was on Saturday, but the atrangest thing wai that it was on the day after his wedding. As Sprigge, who was 45 years of age, is described as a total abstainer and a man of good character, the presumption i 3 that the second marriage affected his head . On Christmas Day a very pad case occurred at Nottinghill, tho suicide being Di|Watton who|took poison, and was collected enough to call at a house of a friend and inform him what he had done. But though advice was obtained the poison effected its work in a few minutes, and the evidence at the inctuest was conclusive as to aberration of mind. Yet more remarkable 1 is the case of the Rev. William Hulton, who "-PS found dead in his bed on tht morning of Christmas Eve with a revolver by his side. In this instance no one can apparently suggest a reason for the crime. Mr Houlton, who lived at Lancaster-gate, was a rich man, occupying a high social position, with a happy home, a wife, and a young family. His name appeared in the list of preachers for Christmas Day. What could have induced him to destroy himself ? The suicide of a humble layman is dreadful enough, but the suicide of a prosperous clergyman is not only more inexplicable but more terrible. It is charitable to assume that when Mr Hulton shot himself he «lid not know what he was doing, for deliberate self-murder by a sane man in holy orders, who must be fully aware of the magnitude and meaning of the crime, could not admit of palliation. In his treatise on Suicide, Dr. Wynn Westcott says he believes that if a calculation could be made of the proximate causes of suicide in England, the most common causes would be found to be misery, despair of success in life, and remorse for crimes, misdemeanours, and follies. It would not be rash to attribute most of the crimes at Christmas to some of these causes, but there is no evidence that Mr Hulton's death is due to either of them. No attempt on a large scale has ever been made to tabulate English cases as to causation, but an eminent Frenchman drew up what is called a complete table. Yet, M. Lisle had to wind up his dreary list with the startling admission that674spersonskilled themselves from unknown causes. This ia a large percentage on 52,126, seeing that almost every possible cauae is given in the classifications In an English table, the case of Mr Hulton would be included among the unsolved mysteries, though it ia certain that, like the others, if he did not fear death he was afraid to live—From London ••Figaro."