There is a similar reference in _Tom Sawyer_ concerning a death wish on
Tom's part.

He "contemplated the dreary vastness of the stream, wishing, the while,
that he could only be drowned, all at once and unconsciously, without
undergoing the uncomfortable routine devised by nature."
 I don't know if you'd care to characterize this as contemplating
suicide or not.  It would be an even greater jump to categorize this as
autobiographical.

Regards,

John