On March 11, 1880 the Pantagraph told the story of a suicide brought on, in theory, by the abuse of alcohol. John McKenzie was a tailor who had worked in Bloomington for Norris & Howard as a "busheler," or the person who alters ready made garments. He left Bloomington for Leroy, which at the time had a reputation as being wide open to all sorts of depravity. Liquor was consumed there in great quantities, according to the grapevine. Gambling on horse races was also a pasttime in Leroy, which was disapproved by the good people of Bloomington. In Leroy it was reported John McKenzie was "quite dissipated" in Leroy. He threw himself down in front of the I. B. & W. 9:40 from Bloomington on March 10 and thus ended his existence. The train stopped and gathered up the body parts and took it into Leroy for the authorities. The Pantagraph did not report on any grieving family members at all.
In 1898 Isaac Von De Gazelle of Hudson was distressed over his life in this country. He had come from Holland 24 years earlier and worked as a laborer all his time in this country. His wife, however, refused to sign the papers to sell their property so that they could return to Holland. At the age of 61 Isaac went to his barn and hung himself out of grief and frustration. In preparation for his death he had always kept a locked valise with instructions and a suit of clothes for his laying out. He left a wife and six children, the youngest being 12 or 14 years old.
William Alexander Havens, age 44, had prepared his breakfast for the morning and was reading in bed (as was his custom) before shooting himself in the head with a hammerless 32 calibre revolver the night of February 6, 1901. He lived with his uncle, E. Callahan at 621 E. Mulberry and was a tinsmith. Although not lacking in work, at the same time he was not without problems. He had married in 1892, but his wife had two weeks after giving birth to their only child. His little five year old daughter lived with her aunt, Mrs. A. C. Rodgers in Bloomington. His mother and two sisters lived in Bloomington as well. No reason could be found for his suicide. He had never spoken of suicide, and the evening before this act had been spent playing "cinch" at a friend's house.
Today suicides are not the subject of newspaper reports very often. We feel that we are more sophisticated and sympathetic to the grief of the family or the privacy of the individual. But perhaps these reports served a purpose other than sensationalism. It would bring home the finality of such an act, and the fact that personal troubles are not unique.