The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-23
FREAK METHODS
 IF SOME SUICIDES Queer Methods of "Shufling
 Off Sometimes Used RESULT OF BROKEN MINDS.
Strange Fancies of Mentally Unbal- anced Minds Which Have Puzzled Alienists-Hermit Thompson's
 Funeral Pyre-Moon's Idea.
From the 1ndlanapolIs Star.

1 From the Indianapolis Star.
 Whether a person. who has taken his own life must necessarily be considered as having been deranged is a question
 over which alienists differ. but there
 are many cases of suicide recorded in
 which there is no doubt that insanity led
 to wanton self-destructlon Yet even when the mind is to an extent unbal-
 anced, 1t may act with such deliberate
 ness as to later puzzle those who seek motive for the act committed. Students of the human mind will find
 perplexing case in the recent suicide
 of Mrs Samuel Dukes at Frankfort. So unusual were several features of the sui eide that at first the police of Frank fort had no thought but that murder had been committed. Now that Coroner G. W. Brown has returned verdict of suicide, Mrs. Dukes taking Of her own life must go on record unusual example of the "freakishness of a de-
 ranged mind.
 Mrs. Dukes body was found lying on
 the porch of house which she owned, 1 but which she had been renting for some
 time, with d bullet wound at the edge of the heart. Her feet were bound
 with a strip of blue calico and another i strip of the same material around her
 head held a handkerchief in place over
 each of her eyes. Her clothing was in no way disarranged and her hands were folded across her breast. The body 1 had the appearance of having been care fully arranged by some one.
 1 To end her life, Mrs. Dukes had left 1 the home of her sister, a mile distant, l at o'clock in the morning, after
 dressing in her best clothing. The
 coroner finally discovered that Mrs.
 
 l had threatened to end her life at the i place where she did, and, in the absence
 of any possible motive for murder he
 decided that the woman had shot her | self
 l Why she bound her feet together and 1 blindfolded herself does not appear, ex- 1 cept as the fancy of disordered mind. ] It may be supposed, however, that the | woman had desire to take away from ] the grewsomeness of the deed by mak- 1 ing preparations which would give her 1 body an appearance of repose in death l She had even hidden the wound by fir
 ing the revolver after pushing 1t under l the lapel of her jacket The coroners sup l position is that the folding of her hands
 on her breast was merely accidental, or
 death came slowly enough to permit her 1 to complete this final preparation of her l body.
 Another Remarkable Case.
 On January 36, 1906, the discovery of the | charred bones of John A. Thompson, an | aged recluse, near Hammond. Ind. | brought to light remarkable case of | suicide. Thompson, who was said to have 1 been soldier of fortune in many lands
 had lived on a small farm in Lake coun- l ty for some time, but had fallen in ar rears with the owner of the place, Miss | Helen Fritsche, spinster. Miss F'ritsche finally sought to obtain possession of her
 property, and officers were sent to | ThOmpsons house to forcibly eject him, i If necessary. Knowing the old mans ec- | centricity, they thought 1t best to pro ceed carefully. Consequently. when he | failed to answer a knock at the door, l they gained entrance by window. This l saved their lives, for running from the
 door to a pile of dynamite on the floor
 was a wire wllcn would have touched off 1 the explosive, and there was enough of l il to have blown the house to splinters. l The barn and other buildings had been l similarly converted into death traps. | Thompson was missing and 1t was sup | posed that he had committed suicide. The l country about was searched for his body, l but no trace of the man was found.
 Two months later a fire destroyed the
 barn on the Fritsche place. week af- 1 terward a man discovered a foot in the
 debris of the barn. The other bones were found with Thompson's gun. load of
 shot had plowed through the skull. Fur 1 ther investigation revealed that Johnson