-James A. Moon - - -

On June 11, 1876 James Moon checked himself in to Room 41 of the Lahr House Hotel in Lafayette. Following dinner in downtown Lafayette he headed back to the room and began construction of an auto guillotine in which he had personally designed. After arranging the machine, he laid himself down upon the floor at right angles with the modern guillotine, buckled a strap around his thighs, which was screwed down to the floor, buckled another around his body, which was similarly fastened to the floor, put both his hands inside his suspenders—lying, of course, upon his back—and placed his head inside the box above mentioned. The box was filled with cotton batting saturated with chloroform. To keep the chin out of the way, holes were made in each side of the box and a wooden rod ran through, upon which the chin rested. It is supposed that, having his machinery arranged to his satisfaction and the candle lighted, the suicide laid himself upon the floor, arranged the straps, applied the chloroform to the cotton, placed his head in the box, and calmly slept until the axe descended. To accommodate his neck, three narrow strips were screwed to the floor, which operated the same as a pillow, and gave a good foundation for the axe to fall into. When the candle burned down sufficiently the cord was burned off and the axe fell, completely severing the head from the body. Mr. Moon was hailed nationally for the complexity of his design and he was seen as a mechanical genius. He had filed patents on the design before his death. His story appeared in newspapers all across America!