Semi Weekly South Kentuckian

FAMOUS SUICIDES.
A LIST OF CONGRESSMEN WHO
HAVE KILLED THEMSELVES.
Quite a Number of Washington
Notables, Including Two Ken-
tucky Representatives,
Who Have Shuffled
Off This Mortal
Coil.
Washington, Aug. 4-[Special]-
Congressman Culbertson, of Ken-
tucky, who attempted suicide a week
ago, and has been the subject of so
much comment, is on the high road
to recovery. He will soon be in Ken-
tucky looking after his iron manufact-
uring interests, which are quite large.
Mr Culbertson's rash act recalls some
interesting incidents of that nature
among men who have preceded him
in House or Senate. One of the most
prominent of those was the suicide of
the Hon. Preston King, who for many
years represented the State of New
York in the Senate of the United
States. He was a large man in fig-
ure and in heart, a sort of David Da-
vis in person at least, and, like most
persons of large weight, was appoint-
ed by President Andrew Johnson
Collector of the Port of New York
after his retirement from Senate.
The duties of that office and the an-
noyances of its administrations, par-
ticularly the appeals for positions,
bore upon the mind of Mr. King, and
one day he was found missing. Ef-
forts to find him were after a week.
successful, when his body was found
floating in the river. attached to
which was a twenty-five pound bag
of shot. The tender-hearted Collect-
or, driven to desperation by the ap-
peals of office-seekers had sought
death in this manner. The suicide of
so prominent a man in such a strange
way created quite a sensation at that
time, and it is well remembered by
old New Yorkers in Government ser-
vice here yet. Another suicide of
note was that of Hon. Thomas Jef-
ferson Rusk, of Texas. who was a
member of the Senate in 1855. and
who committed suicide just after his
retirement from that body, by shoot-
ing. Whether the story of Senator
Rusk's suicide is as accurate that ot
Senator King is uncertain. It can on-
ly be given as gathered here. and is
not a matter of historical record, as
is the case of Senator King. Senator
Rusk was very prominent in Texas,
which State he represented in the
Senate. He had been Secretary of
War in the Republic of Texas when
it was a republic, and had held other
prominent positions there. In the
early history of, Texas many of its
citizens' were, the story goes, men
who found it convenient to leave their
former residences on account of in-
cidents which law and good society
did not tolerate. The story that this
was the cause of Mr. Rusk's removal
from South Carolina to Texas has
never been verified,,but there is a
story of this sort. Anyway, be the
facts what they may have been, yet
it is alleged that his suicide was the
result of having this sort of charge
thrown against him in the Senate
during a debate. His suicide was by
shooting, and occurred at his home
in Texas soon after leaving the Sen-
ate. A Kentuckian whose illustrious
example Mr. Culbertson tried to fol-
low was Congressman Hise. who re-
resented Kentucky in the Thirty-
ninth Congress, and had been elected
to the Fortieth. He had also been
United States Minister to Guatama-
la and had likewise taken a promin-
ent part in negotiating a treaty be-
tween the United States and Great
Britian, immediately preceding the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. His suicide
was supposed to have been the result
of monomania, caused by overwork.
Still another Kentucky suicide was
that of James L. Johnson, who was
in the Thirty-first Congress. He sui-
cided at Owensboro, Kentucky, dur-
ing a fit of despondency caused by
illness. The case of a man more
prominent than any of those already
mentioned was that of Lincoln's most
prominent Cabinet officer, Secretary
of War, Edwin M. Stanton. He is
printed in history as having "died.
suddenly."Old residents of Washing
ton, however, who were here at the
time of his death, and who were in
position to know by reason of their
intimacy with men prominent in
public life, say that Mr. Stanton died
from an incision in the throat made
by his own hand in a fit of insanity
caused by overwork and the mental
strain of this, the most responsible
position in the greatest war this
country has ever seen. Whether Mr.
John Ewing. who represented In-
diana in the Twenty-third and Twen-
ty-fifth Congresses, committed sui-
cide is not stated in history; but his
death was at least a curious one. He
was found sitting in his chair at Vin-
cennes dead, and he following cou-
plet, freshly written, lay beside him:
His God, his country and Vincennes.
His death occurred in 1857. Felix
McConnell, of Miss., Was one of the
most brilliant orators in the Twenty-
eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses,
but Felix had a weakness for liquor
so the story goes, and after a long
spree cut his throat at the St. Charles
Hotel, in this city, and died. John
D. Ashmor, of South Carolina, was
in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and
was also in the Confederate army.
He blew out his brains in 1871, at
Sardis, Miss. WiHiamson R. W. Cobb,
of Alabama, was member of Congress
from 1857 to 1861, when he withdrew
on the secession of Alabama and
became a member of the Confederate
Congress. His death occurred from
a pistol shot, the weapon being held
in his own hand, through that it was
intentional suicide is not certain, the
supposition being that the discharge
of the pistol was accidental. There
have been rumors here of late that
the Hon. Heister Clymer, of Pennsyl-
vania who a few weeks since was
reported as having fallen a victim to
apoplexy, really died by his own
hand; this, however, has not been
confirmed. Jas. H. Lane, of Law-
renceburg, Ind., a son of Amos Lane,
who represented that district in Con-
gress and was a Senator from Kan-
sas from 1861 to 1866, shot himself at
his home, in Kansas, soon after his
retirement from the Senate. Sobeisk
Ross, who was in the Forty-third and
Forty-fourth Congress, from Peunsyl-
vania, suicided shortly after his return
from Congress, by shooting, in his
barn at his home, in Pennsylvania:
loss of health and consequent despon-
dence were alleged as the cause.
John White, of Kentucky who was
in the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th
Congresses, and was Speaker of the
House in the Twenty-seventh, and
uncle of John D. White, member of
the present Congress, committed sui-
cide at Richmond, Ky., by cutting
his throat. Jesse B. Thomas, who was
in the Tenth Congress from "Indiana
Territory," who was later on Senator
from Illinois, suicided in 1850 by
cutting his throat with a razor be-
cause of mental aberration. Alfred
P. Stone, who was in the Twenty-
eight Congress from the Columbus.
Ohio, district, was afterward appoint-
ed Collector of Internal Revenue,
and, having engaged in some con-
traband cotton speculations and be-
come a defaulter, suicided upon the
discovery of this fact by taking poison
and dying upon the graves of his two
children, at the cemetery near Colum-
bus, in 1865.