Survivors' untimely deaths

[Jeremy Lee]

Don't shooting themselves end their misery faster? I mean, you can still survive on drug overdosing, if you are unlucky, but its 'sure die' for pointing a pistol to your head.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Don't shooting themselves end their misery faster? I mean, you can still survive on drug overdosing, if you are unlucky, but its 'sure die' for pointing a pistol to your head.<<

No-o-o-o-o-o-o....it really isn't. I won't go into any gory or gruesome details, but suffice to say it is possible to screw up a self inflicted wound to the head and survive said suicide attempt.

 

[Chris Dohany]

quote:

suffice to say it is possible to screw up a self inflicted wound to the head and survive said suicide attempt.

Take, for example, Dr. Washington Dodge, who shot himself but lingered for several days before dying.​

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Did he shoot himself in the head?

 

[Chris Dohany]

Indeed he did.
Dodge's death record

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Oh yes. I just read today's papers, and it reported that a Singaporean travelling to Malaysia was shot in the head twice in a robbery attempt and survived a few days until dying on last Saturday.

 

[John Clifford]

BTW, was it ever explained why Phyllis Quick chose to shoot herself?

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Because she wanted to die!

 

[John Clifford]

Thank you, Jeremy. That seems to settle the issue of all the survivors who took their own lives.

My question was whether Phyllis Quick was suffering some form of depression, or could have been diagnosed with a fatal disease.
Had she been estranged from family or friends? Had someone she'd known just died?
Or did she, like actress Clara Bandick ("Aunty Em") decide that "it was time to go"?

Did her sister Winnifred Van Tongerloo talk about it? Especially as Phyllis' parents both survived her.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

I don't think her sister ever talked about it, and I couldn't find any resources stating why she wanted to kill herself.

Most of the sources that I have read tried to evade the subject why she killed herself.

My guess would be marriage problems.

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Hi John,

George Behe knew Mrs. Van Tongerloo quite well, as you may know, and he would be the best source for answering your question.

Merry Xmas,
Randy

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Phyllis Quick's Biography doesn't point to any marraige problems, though in fairness, it's pretty sketchy. Suicide, like divorce, was one of those things that carried a substantial stigma with it, so I wouldn't expect the subject, much less the underlying reasons for it, to be a favourite topic for discussion, much less something her family would enjoy seeing speculated about in public.

Hopefully, George can offer some insights on this matter.

 

[Richard Coplen]

All this sounds like a scipt from one of the "Final Destination" movies - where death always catches up on those that escape it's clutches the first time...

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Death catches up to *everybody* sooner or later. It's not really all that shocking to see that some of these people came to a premature end. They were a lot like us in most any fashion that's really important, including a propensity for becoming victims of random chance.

 

[Mauro Zungri]

Somebody has knowledge of whichever survivors have committed suicide. Until which they went Mr. Thayer and Widener.
A warm greeting!

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Hello Mauro,

I moved your post to here, where it's more appropriate.

The discussion above should help.

 

[John Clifford]

Somebody has knowledge of whichever survivors have committed suicide.
Mauro, the following passengers and crew members committed suicide:
Washington Dodge (Gunshot)
Frederick Fleet (Hanged himself)
Phyllis Quick (Gunshot)
Jack Thayer (Razor Slits).

I will check the various threads to see which others took their own lives.

 

[John Clifford]

Mauro, here are some other surviors' suicides statistics, found on other threads:
1. Dr. Henry William Frauenthal--1927--jumped from his apartment balcony after months of depression partially resulting from the mental illness of his wife.
2. Johan (John) Niskanen--1927--gunshot wound to head and burns after he set his cabin on fire--depression over failure to strike gold on his property in California.
3. John Morgan Davis--1951--ingested poison during the Christmas holidays after his wife left him.

The person who originally posted this was Phil Gowan. My thanks to him for this information.

Also, some survivors were thought to have commited suicide; however, it can be reasonably determined that there were other factors that contributed to their deaths. A case in point was Madeline Astor. She was taking various medicines which would not be prescribed today; as a result it appears her heart may have stopped.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Has George Brereton been mentioned? There's also the case of Annie Robinson (stewardess) who was lost overboard as a passenger on the Devonian in 1914. Officers stated that she jumped, after becoming agitated by the sound of the ship's foghorn. It's debatable whether her intention was to lose her life or (in a state of confusion) to save it.

 

[Adam Tarzwell]

There was of course Trevor Allison... who died in 1929 at the young age of 18 years old. He died of ptomaine poisoning. Which is a very tragic death also.