John Doe Ohio Navy
Kingsbury Run Murders
Every so often I run through my listing of John and Jane Doe cases for updates on them. Today I found that this one seems to have been part of a series of rather infamous serial killings in Ohio. He is known as the "Tattooed Man" and Victim #5 of the Kingsbury Run Murders.
According to reports: Kingsbury Run (Cleveland, Ohio) was a dark, dreary and dangerous place in the 1930's. The dispossessed of the Great Depression lived in appalling conditions; trash and filth dominating the makeshift “hobo jungle” that occupied much of the Run. The text in this blog is taken heavily from the three reporting agencies: Cleveland Magazine, Cleveland Police Museum and DoeNetwork.org |
From the Cleveland Police Museum:
Thirteen people were brutally murdered over the course of four years beginning in 1934-all of them decapitated-most of them while they were still alive. Although then Safety Director Eliot Ness claimed to have solved the crimes, no suspect was identified, and no one was brought to trial. The murders ended as abruptly as they had begun. To this day the Kingsbury Run Murders remain one of the most sensational and intriguing unsolved crimes in our nation's history.
Many of the victims were unidentified, most likely homeless or transient. According to Cleveland magazine, the death of this victim was what convinced investigators that the Torso Murders were linked. View their article here.
Thirteen people were brutally murdered over the course of four years beginning in 1934-all of them decapitated-most of them while they were still alive. Although then Safety Director Eliot Ness claimed to have solved the crimes, no suspect was identified, and no one was brought to trial. The murders ended as abruptly as they had begun. To this day the Kingsbury Run Murders remain one of the most sensational and intriguing unsolved crimes in our nation's history.
Many of the victims were unidentified, most likely homeless or transient. According to Cleveland magazine, the death of this victim was what convinced investigators that the Torso Murders were linked. View their article here.
His head was found near the Shaker Rapid Transit tracks. His torso was found between the New York Central and Nickel Plate tracks by an old freight shed. The body was nude but unmutilated, and was found only about fifteen hundred feet away from the head.
There was no blood on the ground, indicating he had been killed elsewhere and his head and torso then flung into the wastes of Kingsbury Run.
He had six tattoos: One on the left calf was the character Jiggs from the comic strip Bringing Up Father. On the right calf was an anchor under a superimposed Cupid. On the right forearm was "Helen-Paul" over a dove. A butterfly on the right shoulder. On the left forearm was crossed flags. Also on the left forearm were the initials WCG with an arrow through a heart. The tattoos may have suggested a naval background of the victim.
There was no blood on the ground, indicating he had been killed elsewhere and his head and torso then flung into the wastes of Kingsbury Run.
He had six tattoos: One on the left calf was the character Jiggs from the comic strip Bringing Up Father. On the right calf was an anchor under a superimposed Cupid. On the right forearm was "Helen-Paul" over a dove. A butterfly on the right shoulder. On the left forearm was crossed flags. Also on the left forearm were the initials WCG with an arrow through a heart. The tattoos may have suggested a naval background of the victim.
This is the account from the Cleveland Police Museum:
June 1936: Early one morning in Kingsbury Run, two young boys discovered the head of a white male wrapped in a pair of trousers close to the E. 55 Street bridge. Police found the body of the twenty-some-year-old man the next day dumped in front of the Nickel Plate Railroad police building. Clean and drained of blood, the corpse was intact except for the head. |
Coroner Pierce again determined the death had been caused by decapitation, as with the previous victims. In spite of a fresh set of fingerprints and the presence of six distinctive tattoos on various parts of the body, police were never able to identify the victim.
I find it interesting that he has scratch type marks on the left side of his face. They almost look like scratching from fingernails of someone who is right handed and facing him. Although they could be post mortem changes, the death mask does seem to indicate some anomalies in that area. |
A plaster reproduction of the man’s head (death mask picture), along with a diagram (shown below) of the kind and location of the tattoos, were made to display at the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936. More than one hundred thousand people saw the “Death Mask” and tattoo chart. The “Tattooed Man” was never identified. (The original Death Mask, along with three others from the case are on display at the Cleveland Police Museum.)
The Cleveland police sent this illustration to police departments in other cities.
I find it quite interesting that a man who is in the later years of the Great Depression and theoretically would have struggled to find work for most of his adult life, has chosen to spend money on 6 tattoos. That seems to indicate that he had been rather steadily employed and without economic strains, such as a wife and children to feed. That crossed American flag tattoo with the initials W.C.G is a gold mine in my opinion. If I had to venture a wild guess, and I like wild guesses, I’d say Helen and Paul are either his parents or children. Either way the last names likely start with G. It should be noted though that he is reported to have undershorts with a laundry mark indicating his initials are J.D. Personally, I'd say the tattoo initials are closer to being him, or related to him. Underpants can be lost, found, or borrowed, and worn, tattoos....not so much. |
People migrated quite a bit in those years so it is unlikely he was from anywhere in Cleveland, but, the flags indicate American so I'd be curious to search this on Ancestry at some point.
So, why is he in Cleveland?
Well, according to the police museum link: "During the 1930s Cleveland was a city on the rise. The population continued to grow and became a melting pot of laborers needed to support our economically powerful steel and manufacturing base. Millionaire’s Row was in its heyday. The Great Lakes Exposition and the Republican National Convention were slated for 1936 as were many other conferences and conventions. Despite the effects of the Great Depression, many people were again doing well."
Maybe he came into Cleveland for work, with the fair, or came in for the fair. Nothing I found suggested that he was a regular in the area he was found in. I'd be curious to know if he worked on the great lakes in a nautical capacity. My understanding is that those lakes were quite heavily traveled for material shipping purposes. That would seem to indicate a fairly regular work life for the people in that field.
Here are some more links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer
http://www.grayco.com/cleveland/books/28191/sample.shtml#.VngyzPkrLcd
So, why is he in Cleveland?
Well, according to the police museum link: "During the 1930s Cleveland was a city on the rise. The population continued to grow and became a melting pot of laborers needed to support our economically powerful steel and manufacturing base. Millionaire’s Row was in its heyday. The Great Lakes Exposition and the Republican National Convention were slated for 1936 as were many other conferences and conventions. Despite the effects of the Great Depression, many people were again doing well."
Maybe he came into Cleveland for work, with the fair, or came in for the fair. Nothing I found suggested that he was a regular in the area he was found in. I'd be curious to know if he worked on the great lakes in a nautical capacity. My understanding is that those lakes were quite heavily traveled for material shipping purposes. That would seem to indicate a fairly regular work life for the people in that field.
Here are some more links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer
http://www.grayco.com/cleveland/books/28191/sample.shtml#.VngyzPkrLcd