Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The Jackson Daily Citizen Thursday, 13 January, 1870 Suicide A Drunken Man Takes Strychnine while surrounded by his Family - A sad and Disgraceful Scene. Yesterday a heart-rending but disgraceful scene was enacted at the residence of AARON B. DECKER, building mover, No. 11 Wesley Street, which came very near prov- ing a tragedy, the circumstances of the occurrence are as follows: JOHN DECKER, a brother of AARON'S, who is boarding at the house, and is well known in the city, from hav- ing a wooden leg and being a habitual drunkard, left his home yesterday morning, and was very soon under the influence of poor whisky. Shortly before 10 o'clock he entered Squier's drug store and purchased fifteen cents worth of strychnine, saying that he wanted it for the purpose of poisoning rats. He repaired with it to his home, and entering the house, he procured a tumbler of water and asked for his mother, brother and sister. He poured the strychnine into the tumbler, and holding it in one hand he held out the other to his mother and requested her to take it. She replied by saying "Go away JOHN, you're drunk." Upon being pressed however she grasped him by the hand, when he immediately raised the glass to his lips and swallowed the contents. He then told what he had done and bidding them all good bye he laid down as he thought to die. Some time was lost in sending for medical aid, but in about an hour, DR. BRONSON was in attendance, a powerful emetic was administered, and his stomach being full of whisky, he was soon relieved of both it and the poison. Strychnine does not dissolve as readily in alco- hol as in the gastric juices of the stomach, and conse- quently the effect was not so quick in this case as though the man had not been drinking previously, but it threw him into dreadful spasms, which continued all through the afternoon, and at this writing, although hopes are entertained by the family and the physician, yet his recovery is still somewhat doubtful. Some of the most disgraceful scenes were enacted, while the poor wretch lay in convulsions that can be imagined. His brother was also drunk, and making a dreadful disturbance, he ordered the doctor and several visitors from the house; brandished a chair and struck the physician and an old man named BACON, who was at- tending on his brother, and finally, in his drunken paroxysms, fell and split his head open on the stove. The drunken wretch, groveling on the floor, with the blood streaming from his face -- the crazy suicide, writhing on his squalid couch; the crying women and screaming children, presented a sight of horror more consonant with some of the miserable dens in St. Giles or Five Points, than with the usually quiet homes of our peaceful city. At about dusk, however, an officer had been sent for, and the disturbance had been abated; the unfortunate man was made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, and every means was being used to relieve the dreadful agony of his spasms. Later -- Death of the Suicide Since the above was in type, we learn that despite every remedy, and the closes (sic) attention, the miserable sufferer died between six and seven o'clock in the evening, from the effects of the poison. He had taken about seven grains and a half of strychnine, and although his stomach was relieved of a large por- tion, enough remained in his system to produce death. During the intervals between the spasmodic fits he was perfectly rational, and stated that he was tired of life and wished to die; that he was a cripple, poor and worthless, that he saw such trouble and misery around him that he could bear it no longer. He spoke of domestic troubles that he would not disclose, and expressed no penitence for his suicidal crime. JOHN DECKER was about twenty years of age, unmarried, and leaves a mother, brother, and two sisters. ===============================================================================