JOHN ACKERMAN an old and respected citizen of Mt. Carroll, blew out his brains with a 32-calibre revolver at his home Monday [05/06/1901] afternoon at 2:20 o’clock. He had been ill for several years and this made him tired of life. He bought a new revolver that morning, saying he wished to shoot rats. When found he was lying on the floor of his bed room, face downward, with a bullet wound in the top of his head. The old man, after purchasing the revolver, took it home and tested it but could not make it work. He took it back to the hardware store saying he had had a chance to shoot a rat but the gun would not work. Squire, the hardware man, showed him that it was at half cock and explained the workings of it. (The Sterling Daily Standard, May 8, 1901, page 8, column 3)
John Ackerman, an old resident of Mt. Carroll, committed suicide Monday by shooting himself with a revolver. He had been making his home with his daughter, Mrs. E. Kentner, and had grown despondent by reason of poor health and failing faculties. He went to a hardware store and bought a revolver. Then going to his room he sat down on the bed and placed the muzzle of the pistol in his mouth pulled the trigger and the bullet went through his skull. He was dead when found a few moments later.
Contributed by Larry Reynolds - The Weekly Gazette, May 10, 1901, page 3, column 4