A GHASTLY FAMILY COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1858, 26 February 1889, Page 3

A GHASTLY FAMILY COUNCIL.

On the list of those who ended their lives with their own hands during the last week of the old year (says the London Standard of Jan. 4), the case of a Frenchman residing at Gretias, in the department of Charente, is really remarkable. The individual in question, it seems, had been guilty of some trifling larceny, which had been found out, and it was feared he would he indicted. He was warned of this by his wife and son. A family council was held to discuss the situation, the result of the deliberation being that the delinquent had no alternative but to kill himself. Neither wife nor son appears to have been moved by the approaching and tragical end of the head of the household, the only point on which they were not agreed being the manner in which the suicide should be carried out. The son suggested that drowning was generally held to be a painless death • but the father objected it was “ too cold for that.” Thereupon his wife submitted her proposal that he should hang himself; but hanging not meeting with the approval of the husband, it was finally and unanimously decided that he should blow his brains out. On this comfortable prospect he went to bed and slept; but the next morning he got up early, went into a neighboring field, and there, with an old gun, blew out liis brains, in accordance with the decision of his affectionate spouse and offspring.