AN EPIDEMIC OF SUICIDES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1807, 25 October 1888, Page 4

AN EPIDEMIC OF SUICIDES.

Melbourne, Oct. 16. Several, suicides and., attempted suicides with peculiar features have taken-.place. At : .Brighton, an : ol d man of eighty-five: hanged himself in the house of his son-in-law. He was suffering from religious mania. At N orth Melbourne railway station a man jumped off an overhead footbridge,- but instead of Tailing in front of the train he dropped between two lines; and lay with bis arms extended over the rails. The whole length of the train passed over his right arm, crushing it terribly, and almost severing it from his body. He is now in the hospital. The most extraordinary case was that of a young woman who committed suicide in a most determined manner, by jumping off the bridge over the Yarra, at the bottom of Johnston street, Abbotsford,Three young men fishing saw the woman come from the Abbotsford side, and, after reaching the middle of the'bridge, divest herself of her hat and ulster. They did not actually see her jump, but they saw her body parsing through the air. They ran round with the intention of endeavoring to rescue her when she reached the water, hut instead; of falling into the river she struck the bank heavily, and evidently broke her , back, for when they reached her she was quite dead. She was lying stretched out, her body being on the bank, while the back of. her head was in the water. It was several days before the body was identified, when it was found tc be that ,of Mrs Mary Morris, who had been living in Carleton.- The same yoinan, on the 18th .September, attempted to commit suicide by jumping .off the Victoria street bridge, but was prevented by some ladies who were passing. She was brought before-the Collingwood bench and discharged on the 31st ultimo, and on the same day her husband was found drowned in the Kororott creek, near the Williamstown racecourse. Mr and Mrs Morris were then living ,in Fitzroy, but after her husband’s death she went to live in .Carlton. The Magistrates expressed surprise when- she came before 1 them that her husband did not appear, but it. was afterwards found that he had committed suicide on that very day. He had been drinking, and it is .understood that it wa< his having struck; his: wife which led to her attempting suicide on the first occasion.