SALISH

#41 Suicide by Hanging
     (W. Cline, 1930)

Some data on suicide was obtained from Johnie Louie which may be added here. The pattern for suicide seems to be by hanging. No one was ever hung for punishment. Suicide was rare among men, but common enough among girls. For instance, if a girl was angry she might kill herself, or if a wife was beaten on unfounded suspicion of adultery she might hang herself. If a girl got a reputation as loose, her father might whip her; she, feeling hurt, might kill herself. A child who suggests something important to its parents, which the latter refuse, has good cause to kill himself for shame. Thus, sixty years ago a man was sent by the priests to convert his family. His father disagreeing, the son shot himself through the mouth. Cecile Brooks said that suicides were more frequent in early days than at present. Women particularly were given to it on such provocation as a parental scolding, a disagreement over betrothal, or the like. They would hang themselves with a pack rope. Men also killed themselves, for example, because of jealousy. “They rigged up some sort of arrangement by which they could release an arrow with their toes.”

[#41] Salish: W. Cline, R. S. Commons, M. Mandelbaum, R. H. Post, and L. V. W. Walters, The Sinkaietk or Southern Okanagon of Washington. L. Spier, ed., General Series in Anthropology 6,:1-262 (1938), p. 127A.

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