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#Post#: 6828--------------------------------------------------
JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28 Nov
ember 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:14 pm
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[img]
HTML https://i.imgur.com/u04xlmg.jpgp[/img]
Police found a teen-age boy in the early morning hours of
October 11, 1945, in Jacksonville, Illinois. Unable to
communicate, the deaf and mute teenager was labeled "feeble
minded" and sentenced by a judge to the Lincoln State School and
Colony in Jacksonville.
He remained in the Illinois mental health care system for over
thirty years. Deaf, mute, and later blind, the young black man
survived beatings, hunger, overcrowding, and the dehumanizing
treatment that characterized state institutions through the
1950s. In spite of his environment, he made friends, took on
responsibilities, and developed a sense of humor. People who
knew him found him remarkable. He had a straw hat he loved to
wear, and carried a backpack with his collection of rings,
glasses, and silverware with him everywhere.
Possible hints to his identity include his 'scrawling "Lewis"'
and his 'pantomimed, wild accounts of foot-stomping jazz bars
and circus parades.'
He died after having a stroke at the Sharon Oaks Nursing Home in
Peoria on November 28, 1993. Officials believe he was around 64
years old at the time.
After reading a story about him in the New York Times, acclaimed
singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote and recorded "John
Doe No. 24" and purchased a headstone for his unmarked grave.
Award-winning journalist Dave Bakke wrote God Knows His Name:
The True Story of John Doe No. 24.
#Post#: 6829--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:16 pm
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HTML http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/496umil.html
496UMIL - Unidentified Male
HTML https://i.imgur.com/u04xlmg.jpg
HTML http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/images/496UMIL_LARGE2.jpg
Image of the victim in 1945 and 1983; Headstone purchased by
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Date of Discovery: October 11, 1945
Location of Discovery: Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois
Estimated Date of Death: November 28, 1993
State of Remains: Alive when located
Cause of Death: Stroke
Physical Description
Estimated Age: Teens
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Black or brown
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unable to communicate: deaf and
mute. Mentally handicapped
Identifiers
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Circumstances of Discovery
Police found a teen-age boy in the early morning hours of
October 11, 1945, in Jacksonville, Illinois. Unable to
communicate, the deaf and mute teenager was labeled "feeble
minded" and sentenced by a judge to the Lincoln State School and
Colony in Jacksonville.
He remained in the Illinois mental health care system for over
thirty years. Deaf, mute, and later blind, the young black man
survived beatings, hunger, overcrowding, and the dehumanizing
treatment that characterized state institutions through the
1950s. In spite of his environment, he made friends, took on
responsibilities, and developed a sense of humor. People who
knew him found him remarkable. He had a straw hat he loved to
wear, and carried a backpack with his collection of rings,
glasses, and silverware with him everywhere.
Possible hints to his identity include his 'scrawling "Lewis"'
and his 'pantomimed, wild accounts of foot-stomping jazz bars
and circus parades.'
He died after having a stroke at the Sharon Oaks Nursing Home in
Peoria on November 28, 1993. Officials believe he was around 64
years old at the time.
After reading a story about him in the New York Times, acclaimed
singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote and recorded "John
Doe No. 24" and purchased a headstone for his unmarked grave.
Award-winning journalist Dave Bakke wrote God Knows His Name:
The True Story of John Doe No. 24.
Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Unknown
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: N/A
Agency Case Number: N/A
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: N/A
Information Source(s)
The New York Times: John Doe No. 24 Takes His Secret to the
Grave (December 5, 1993)
Southern Illinois University Press Archives
Admin Notes
Added: 3/23/06; Last Updated: 1/19/19
#Post#: 6830--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:17 pm
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John Doe No. 24
Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Lyrics
I was standing on this sidewalk
In 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
When asked what my name was there came no reply
They said I was a deaf and sightless, half-wit boy
But Lewis was my name though I could not say it
I was born and raised in New Orleans
My spirit was wild, so I let the river take it
On a barge and a prayer upstream
They searched for a mother and they searched for a father
And they searched till they searched no more
The doctors put to rest their scientific test
And they named me John Doe No. 24
And they all shook their heads in pity
For a world so silent and dark
Well, there's no doubt that life's a mystery
But so too is the human heart
And it was my heart's own perfume
When the crape jasmine bloomed on St. Charles Avenue
Though I couldn't hear the bells of the streetcars coming
By toeing the track I knew
And if I were an old man returning
With my satchel and pork-pie hat
I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon
And I'd hit every one on Basin after that
The years kept passing as they passed me around
From one state ward to another
Like I was an orphaned shoe from the lost and found
Always missing the other
They gave me a harp last Christmas
And all the nurses took a dance
Lately I've been growing listless
Been dreaming again of the past
I'm wandering down to the banks of the Great Big Muddy
Where the shotgun houses stand
I am seven years old and I feel my daddy
Reach out for my hand
While I drew breath no one missed me
So they won't on the day that I cease
Put a sprig of crape jasmine with me
To remind me of New Orleans
I was standing on this sidewalk
In 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Mary Carpenter
John Doe No. 24 lyrics :copyright: Mary Chapin Carpenter Dba Why
Walk Music
#Post#: 6831--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:18 pm
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HTML https://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/John_Doe_No._24
John Doe No. 24
John Doe Number 24 was found on the streets of Jacksonville,
Illinois on October 11, 1945. He was deaf, mute, and later blind
and was sent to numerous state wards throughout the years until
he died on November 28, 1993 of a stroke.
Characteristics
He was deaf and mute
He later became blind, probably from diabetes
He had brown/black hair and brown eyes
He often scribbled the name "Lewis"
He carried a backpack with rings, glasses, and silverwear
He had a straw hat that he wore often
HTML https://i.imgur.com/UOvd6qJ.jpg
John Doe in 1983
HTML https://i.imgur.com/coBOtzh.jpg
John Doe's Headstone
John Doe No. 24
HTML https://i.imgur.com/u04xlmg.jpg
Sex Male
Race Black
Location Jacksonville,Illinois
Found October 11, 1945
Unidentified for 73 years
Postmortem interval N/A
Body condition N/A
Age approximation Teen when found, died around 64
Height approximation N/A
Weight approximation N/A
Cause of death Stroke
#Post#: 6832--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:19 pm
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HTML https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EE2SHEG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
HTML https://i.imgur.com/4vuamnb.jpg
God Knows His Name: The True Story of John Doe No. 24
by David Bakke (Author), Mary Chapin Carpenter (Foreword)
#Post#: 6833--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:21 pm
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[img]
HTML https://www.google.com/maps/vt/data=8jjOPJ0S4KpDyMAFOMZ9Kut_QUlcBx7GUK9nFzexEzy2RiczUCIbtstMyY6QY5P2bU3M6aeOGXVWHtu6AsMYNH9zkhZVLcUzUkdJQT04X2qMKJ_uUAKyunvtekQfKpMkJlAomJONd5Sg2-f03D0gK3aJYF4MF-ifUVDCqrtkkAQy0O7ksIaVeniQasWouIYC1OMiCFgHYkxWNQgV7MIozqmILEYMJiodl08BEMjh8m9BydqJifrjsIwxtyJRjA7O5a9QHSuggTGquMW2gCAcCZojgrpdUvxNhRNicA[/img]
Jacksonville
Illinois 62650
#Post#: 6834--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:22 pm
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HTML https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/05/us/john-doe-no-24-takes-his-secret-to-the-grave.html
John Doe No. 24 Takes His Secret to the Grave
By The Associated Press
Dec. 5, 1993
The mystery of John Doe No. 24 outlived him.
There were few clues when he was found wandering the streets of
Jacksonville in 1945, a deaf, blind teen-ager. There were no
answers when he died last week.
He was unable to speak, his relatives could not be found and he
was put in an institution. He became John Doe No. 24 because he
was the 24th unidentified man in the state's mental health
system.
Officials believe he was 64 when he died of a stroke last Sunday
at the Sharon Oaks nursing home in Peoria.
"It's just sad to think that you could disappear, and no one
would miss you," said Glenn W. Miller, the nursing home
administrator. "You wonder how often it happens."
The man's caretakers believe diabetes made him lose his sight,
and records indicate he was severely retarded. But workers at
the Smiley Living Center in Peoria, where he spent the last six
years of his life, remember a proud man, more intelligent that
standard tests showed.
They remember the tantalizing hints to his identity -- the way
he would scrawl "Lewis" and his pantomimed, wild accounts of
foot-stomping jazz bars and circus parades.
"It was so obvious from what he pantomimed that he had quite a
life at one time," said Kim Cornwell, a caseworker. "Like a
grandfather, he could probably tell funny stories. We just
couldn't reach out enough to get them." Straw Hat and Backpack
After he was found in Jacksonville, John Doe No. 24 spent 30
years at the Lincoln Developmental Center, a state home in
Lincoln. He was then transferred several times before going to
the Smiley home in 1987.
He had a straw hat he loved to wear, and he took a backpack with
his collection of rings, glasses and silverware with him
everywhere. At Christmas parties he danced to vibrations from
the music.
Last Christmas the staff at Smiley bought gifts for residents
who did not have relatives or other visitors. They bought him a
harmonica.
"He just grinned from ear to ear," said Donna Romine, a nurse.
In August he had surgery for colon cancer. When he came back
from the hospital, he had trouble eating and was depressed. He
was transferred to the nursing home in October.
At a brief graveside service last Wednesday in Jacksonville, a
woman asked if anyone had any words to say. No one did.
#Post#: 6835--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:23 pm
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HTML https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Two-mysteries-still-unsolved-in-Jacksonville-12689447.php
Two mysteries still unsolved in Jacksonville
By Nick Draper Published 4:32 am CDT, Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Unsolved mysteries have a way of fading from memory over time,
no matter their peculiarity.
Illinois State Police lists 25 cold cases on its website, most
involving victims who were killed and their killer never found.
Some unsolved cases have stayed open for decades awaiting any
evidence to shed light on the dead or missing person.
Jacksonville lays claim to at least two unsolved mysteries.
The case of Bruce Campbell Sr. has gained notoriety in its
strangeness, having been published in books, spread through
social media and documented in newspapers across the United
States.
On April 13, 1959, Campbell and his wife traveled from their
home in Northampton, Massachusetts, to Jacksonville to visit
their son, Bruce Campbell Jr., then a chemistry professor at
MacMurray College. The couple stayed in the Sandman Motel, where
the elder Campbell was said to be “visibly exhausted” from the
trip, according to an Illinois Times story in 2004.
The younger Campbell described his father as being “rational but
disoriented.” His father reportedly had difficulty sleeping and
his son arranged for him to see Dr. Ernst Chester Bone. The son
later told police that he had been prescribed sleeping pills to
combat the restlessness.
Journal-Courier archives report that Campbell became fixated on
whether his car was locked that night, waking his wife late at
night to ask if she knew if it was locked. His wife, Mabelita,
assured him the car was locked and went back to sleep.
At 2:15 a.m., she woke on her own to find her husband was gone.
The car was in place and all of her husband’s belongings —
including his money, shoes, glasses, keys and all of his clothes
— were there, save for a bright-green pair of pajamas that the
57-year-old stock investment counselor had worn to bed.
Jacksonville Police Capt. Charles Runkel and Police Chief Ike
Flynn quickly launched a search for the man, who had seemingly
walked off into the night. A search by plane, helicopter, boat
and on the ground turned up no trace of Campbell. About 150
MacMurray students joined the search on the first day, and by
the third day classes were canceled and 235 college students had
joined in along with 50 Jacksonville High School students.
Radio stations broadcast the description of Campbell and police
took every lead they received seriously. Reporters at Campbell’s
hometown paper, the Hampshire Gazette, also searched for clues.
A search crew covered a six-mile radius to find the missing
6-foot-4 man in green pajamas but no traces turned up. Reports
of tall hitchhikers had come in from around the area, but none
was Campbell.
“We have looked every place that has been suggested and have run
out of ideas on what to do next,” Flynn told the
Journal-Courier. “A fortune-teller told us that Campbell was
seven miles from Jacksonville, either northeast or northwest of
the city. We have even looked there.”
Mabelita returned to Massachusetts after two weeks, but her
search did not end. The Campbell family spent their savings on
private investigators and the case was turned over to the FBI,
but none of them could locate Campbell.
Mabelita died in 2004.
Runkel was pessimistic that the case would ever turn up any new
information. As of today, his suspicions are correct.
In 1967, Bruce Campbell Sr. was pronounced legally dead.
Another mystery never to be solved in Jacksonville is the odd
case of “John Doe No. 24” that was outlined in the book “God
Knows His Name: The True Story of John Doe No. 24” by Dave
Bakke.
John “Doe” Boyd, whose headstone was bought by Mary Chapin
Carpenter — who had written a song about the mysterious teenager
— was found by police in October 1945 standing on a Jacksonville
sidewalk and was committed to the Lincoln State School and
Colony.
Boyd was a tall black man who was deaf, mute and was later
believed to be blinded by diabetes. He made his way through the
Illinois mental health care system and was described by staff as
being pleasant. He loved to wear his favorite straw hat and
carried around a backpack with a collection of knick-knacks
wherever he went. He loved to dance at Christmas parties.
Caretakers at the Sharon Oaks Nursing Home, the last facility at
which he stayed before his death in 1993, said he seemed far
more intelligent than tests had led them to believe, according
to an article in the New York Times.
Though nobody discovered anything about the man’s history, clues
did arise. Caretakers said he would pantomime accounts of jazz
bars and circus parades and would scrawl the name “Lewis.”
When he died from a stroke following a surgery for colon cancer,
a brief graveside service was held in Jacksonville, during which
those in attendance had no parting words.
The mystery of John Doe 24 was never solved; his identity
remains a mystery to this day.
He lives on in the texts that speculate his origins and
Carpenter’s song, which tells his haunting tale.
“While I drew breath no one missed me / so they won’t on the day
that I cease,” she sings in “John Doe 24.” “Put a sprig of crepe
jasmine with me / to remind me of New Orleans.
“I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945 / in Jacksonville,
Illinois.”
Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on
Twitter @nick_draper.
#Post#: 6836--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:24 pm
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HTML https://www.songfacts.com/facts/mary-chapin-carpenter/john-doe-no-24
John Doe No. 24
by Mary Chapin Carpenter
HTML https://i.imgur.com/hVN75UV.jpg
Carpenter based this song on a true story. In the early hours of
October 11, 1945, a scantily dressed black youth was found by 2
police officers rummaging in an alleyway in Jacksonville,
Illinois. He was believed to be mentally retarded, and because
of his bizarre behavior he was committed to an institution later
that month where he became known as John Doe No. 2. John Doe (or
Jane Doe) is the generic name given to unidentified bodies,
including, apparently, live ones. In spite of attempts to trace
his family, John Doe No. 2 - later John Doe No. 24 - was never
positively identified, and he would spend the rest of his life
being cared for by the state. In 1976, his name was changed for
social security reasons to John Doe Boyd (date of birth
unknown). He died November 28, 1993. Carpenter read his obituary
in the New York Times while sitting in a Starbucks café in
Washington, and wrote the song from his perspective.
In 2000, a biography of John Doe by Dave Bakke was published by
Southern Illinois University Press; it was called God Knows His
Name: The True Story Of John Doe No. 24; Carpenter wrote the
foreword and also purchased the headstone for his grave, a
photograph of which appears between pages 92 and 93 of the book.
#Post#: 6837--------------------------------------------------
Re: JACKSONVILLE JOHN DOE: BM, deaf mute found in 1945 - died 28
November 1993
By: Akoya Date: June 17, 2020, 1:25 pm
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Jacksonville, Illinois
HTML https://i.imgur.com/zi6B93S.jpg
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