The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-24
CHOPPED HIS OWN HEAD OFF.
James A. Moons Elaborate Prepare
lions for Committing Suicide.
From the New York Sun

From the New York Sun.
Indianapolis, July 20.-The recent
suicide of former State Senator. and
Circuit Judge Sellar at Charlottesville
recalled to state officer the following
story of another suicide.
Sunday morning, June II, 1876 he
said, "I was stopping at the Lair
House in Lafayette when one of the
chambermaids rushed into the office
pale with fright and. said that the gen
tleman in room Al had been murdered
A number of us went at once to the
room and there / witnessed sight
that will never fade from my memory.
Strapped to the floor was the headless
body of a man. His head had fallen
into a box which was partly filled with
raw cotton and broad AK lay upon the
edge of the box. Rugged up near the
body was a strange mechanical device
and on one of the beams of this was
printed in large letters, 'Karikarl'
Patent Applied For,
THE dead man was James A. Moon
and he had taken room at the hotel
on the preceding Friday evening. IL
was at first supposed that a murder
had been committed. but a little inves-
tigation demonstrated the fact that
Moon had deliberately planned his own
death and had determined that 1t
should be brought about by an inVen-
ton of his own. He was So years of
age and was a crank on mechanical
construction. From the time he was 10
he and his father worked upon divers
impossible problems, among them that
of perpetual motion. Moon always
contended that he could make ma
chine that would eclipse anything ever
invented for taking human life, and 1t
is said that he once went to Europe to
study the guillotine and improve upon
1t. His 'Karikari,i as he termed the
machine, was the result of. years or
study, but he was the only one that
ever died by it.
1.-THE inquiry set on foot developed
these facts: On the Friday preceding
the finding of his body he was at home
and apparently cheerful. During the
day he had his beard shaved off and
from the barber shop he went to a
hardware store and purchased two
heavy bars of iron. He had purchased
a broadax some days before and this
he had ground to razor. edge. he
purchased three ounces of chloroform
and then left home with a trunk con-
tanning the things he had purchased
and a framework for his machine. He
went 10 the IduI llOuSC anu do 1ohSAA
to three rooms before he found one to
please him. %
"Karikari was an ingenious device
and was so well constructed that the ex
pected end was perfectly accomplished.
The two bars of iron had been fasten-
ed to the broadax to insure a sufii-
Gent weight when it should fall upon
its victim. This was mounted on
beam, the other end of which was
fastened to the floor. A hook had been
screwed into the wall and the suspend
ed ak was held in place by a cotton
cord which was fastened to the hook.
Immediately under the hook Moon had
placed small shelf and on this he set
a candle, which extended up above the
cord but which burned the string in
two when the candle shortened to it.
When the string was severed the AK,
weighted by the two bars of iron. came
down upon the box on which Moon had
placed his neck
Everything indicated the utmost de-
liberation and care and the plan must
have been studied out months. before
IL was carried into execution. After
placing the machine in position Moon
lay down upon the floor, his head in
such a position that it would fall into
the box when severed from his body.
Before doing this he strapped his legs
to the floor by means of staples on
either side and when he lay down he
drew another strap across his breast,
fastening IT with buckle, and thus
preventing the possibility of moving
in his sleep.
THE cotton in the box, into which
his head was to fall, was saturated
with the chloroform, and he inhaled the
fumes at once and was no doubt soon
asleep. The candle burned down to the
string, severed 1t, and the AK fell and
his head was severed from the body.
The calculations were precise in every
respect, and so completely was the
head severed from the body that not a
ligament was left to join. it to the
trunk.
There can be no question but Moon
wanted TO demonstrate the utility of
the machine as well as to put an end
to his own life, and there is little doubt
but he believed that some one would
eventually patent KaIikari and that
his own memory, as the man who had
demonstrated it's perfection, would be
perpetuated by the act"