WAVE OF DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1927, Page 9

WAVE OF DEATH.

SUICIDE EPIDEMICS.

States and South America

Affected

MURDER TRIAL SEQUEL. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) BUENOS AIRES. February 2". -V wave ot suicides is sivoopm; Argentina. fifteen died from jv»i«on to-day. Over 300 people have poi-oned themselves in the past four months, of whom 200 were in Buenos Aires. Cyanide pcitns>ium was the onlv poison ti-ed in all cases. The epidemic date*- back to a murder, at which it was brought out that the victim died from cyanide potassium. Much publicity was given the trial and sensational newspapers even described how it was administered and what were the symptoms. The suicides comprise people of all apes and all cla*-e-. and have been committed in parks, 011 the streets and in cafes. The police are trvin<? to influence tVip

The police are trying to influent* the newspapers to give the suicides !*-« space. The Conservative journal i* publishing antidotes and telling how t(» administer them, and is also urging control of the sale of cvanide.

FOGGED REASON.

JAZZ AGE BLAMED

NEW YORK. February 2.'5. | The suicide epidemic among school ' children and young people in the United States has now resulted in 20 deaths. The epidemic, which has assumed sensational proportions, has resulted in! inquiries being made of noted educators j and ministers of the gospel. 1 I They variously ascribe it to the so- 1 called "jazz age,"' or to the lack of I beneficial parental influence and religious 1 training. During the past week 11 suicides oc- I curred, three being committed to-day. To-day's cases includc that of a gifted young violinist in New York, who took gas. His parents ascribe his act to too much study of the pessimistic philosophers. Another case is that of a girl of 19 in Alabama, who killed herself because she was tired of life, and a third that of a 17-year-old boy, who shot himself for 110 known rear-on Another boy, IS years old, who lives at Chicago, .-tabbed himself, and is in a critical condition. The ages of those who have taken their lives in the last two months range from 14 to 23 vears.

i i A message from New York on February. 1.3 said that the epidemic or suicides anions young students during the past eight weeks had shocked the nation. Kleven had occurred among high school students alone, most of them members of prominent families, and living in comfortable citcum stances