Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Suicide of James A. Moon

My 3rd cousin, 6x Removed- James Aaron Moon


If you ever visit Lafayette, Indiana, make sure you visit a legendary hotel named the Lahr. AND, if you're daring, stay in room 41.



Side Note: (I really liked my beginning so I kept it, although, you cannot stay in room 41... the building that once was the Lahr hotel, is now an apartment building, sadly).

In this room, 143 years ago, 38 year old James Aaron Moon committed suicide in the most unique fashion-even by today's standards! James was a civil war veteran, a farmer, husband and a father. He also took his own life with a homemade guillotine!

This is James Moon, born on 04 Jun 1838 in Mill Creek, Indiana. He was the son of Enoch Moon (1806-1881) and Elizabeth Lewis (1807-1868). He married Mary Cox (1837-1913) on 16 Sep 1858 and they had 6 children. 



1. Arthur Tellus (1860-1925)
2. Adella C. (1862-1901)
3. John Luther (1867-1920)
4. William Aaron (1869-1941)
5. Frank Marion (1871-1931)
6. James Albert (1877-1926)

On Saturday, June 10, 1876, he checked into the Lahr Hotel and then went to a hardware store to purchase a 12 inch axe head and two pieces of iron plate. He purchased cotton batting and chloroform from a drugstore and retired to his room. By midnight he was dead. 

With all of these items and a soap box and a candle, he had created an auto-decapitation machine. 




His head lay inside the soap box which was lined with the cotton batting soaked in chloroform. The candle was used as a "trigger"- see pictures. 


It is unclear why he why he wanted to die, but his death was ruled an suicide. His body was found by a maid the next morning. Because his door was locked, she had to enter in the joining room next to his. 


How I am related to Moon: 

Mordecai Mendenhall (1713-1803)
(Common Ancestor)


Aaron Mendenhall      Siblings        Richard Mendenhall
Dinah Mendenhall                        Joseph Mendenhall
Enoch Moon                                Richard Mendenhall
James                                        Aaron Mendenhall
                                                Richard Mendenhall
                                                Marion R. Mendenhall
                                                Earl D. Mendenhall
                                                Harold E. Mendenhall
                                                My Mother
                                                Me-Carrie







4 comments:

  1. I am currently writing an article about James A Moon and would like to use the photographs in your blog with your permission. Kind Regards, Dan Keeble. UK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, certainly. Is it a blog post or something else? Take care.

      Delete
  2. Thank you. I will give you full acknowledgement in my article

    ReplyDelete
  3. We have turned the lobby of this hotel into a market and deli with a coffee bar. There are coffee drinks named after some of the famous guests...mark twain, John purdue...james moon.
    His is a DEcaf CAPpuccino... with dark chocolate.
    Next week, we're doing an event called "Toast Woth The Ghost"... where we'll have Bridgette and James moon as guests <actors in costume.
    Spooky!

    ReplyDelete