28th May 1906
Father commits suicide by slashing his own throat
John Moignard was determined to kill himself. He first drank a bottle of ammonia and, when the pain that caused became too great, he slashed his throat with a razor blade. It wouldn’t have been difficult for him to source the weapon: Moignard was a well-known barber working in St Helier.
In his mid-seventies at the time of his death, Moignard left a suicide note that detailed the pressure he was under. By then living with his fourth wife, and being the father of 32 children, he was still working when he should have been enjoying his retirement. He cursed his two brothers for not helping support him and his family and explained how worried he was that if anything should happen to him, his wife and children wouldn’t be able to support themselves.
How they were to support themselves following his suicide, he seemingly hadn’t considered.
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Other events that occured in May
Jersey’s open-air swimming pool opens
- The Jersey Times described the outdoor swimming pools opening as “one of the most brilliant functions witnessed in our island for some time”.
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St Brelade’s Church is consecrated
- Although the church at St Brelade was consecrated in the 12th century, evidence suggests a building had resided on that spot for some time.
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Measles outbreak at the boys’ home
- Measles infected 35 residents of the Jersey home for boys in what came to be described variously as an “epidemic” or “plague”.
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Jersey’s last ever death sentence is passed
- The last man sentenced to death on Jersey had his sentence commuted to life in prison, as had become customary, in 1984.
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