OH OH - Cleveland, WhtMale 20-30, 121UMOH, decapitated, Jiggs/"Helen-Paul" tattoos, Jun'36

[madamx]

here is some more interesting info I found
http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/death-masks/
http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/torso-murders/




http://www.veterandoe.com/john-doe-ohio-navy-1936.html

some info from this link below:
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

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Does anyone have access to the Wiley online database? I'd like to read this article and see if it sheds any light on the tattoos:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1995.1801_69.x/abstract

 

[Irish_Eyes]

I wish there was a way to get a record of the ships that came into port in Cleveland the last week in may and first week in June 1936. I suspect he was a seaman.

 

[MarchingTwinkie3]

Bringing up an old idea, I remember I was messaged on a widely popular forum a few weeks ago. I couldn't copy the text, but I screenshotted it. Perhaps we may find some names in common with the initials?

Was also thinking, in the exceptionally slim chance it could be Eetu, maybe he adopted an "American" name, considering his would be highly unusual in an area not highly populated with Scandinavians.

The link on the screenshot is in Finnish. Google translate does a poor job working in Finnish grammar.

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Respectfully snipped the image.

My girlfriend is Finnish, so I can try asking her if she can translate/summarize it up through the point where Eetu is mentioned, and if anyone finds any other resources in Finnish. According to Wikipedia the comic didn't debut in Finland until 1929, so if this doe is Eetu and he immigrated in 1923 the tattoo probably would have come after that point.

Anyway, my comment didn't contribute much, but if any more Finnish sleuthing is needed I can possibly get some help with that.

 

[MarchingTwinkie3]

I sent my girlfriend the url from the screenshot (http://vuosikerta.fi/index.php/page/268 for anyone who wants to look as well) and she said that it's a bit awkwardly written, which probably exacerbated Google's difficulties translating Finnish. The two main things from the bit about Eetu are:

1. He went to America and was killed. She said it specifically says "killed" not simply "died".
2. Eetu was not the one sending money, rather he was sent money from his sister (the woman whose history the page is about) as part of an inheritance from their father.

I also asked her what it said about the people mentioned named Helena and Pauli. Pauli was a nephew of Eetu who died as a young child; Helena is the mother-in-law of Eetu's sister (the subject of the page), and is not related to him at all. There is also no mention of a Topias on the page.

Thunder Bay is (according to Wikipedia, admittedly not the most reliable source) the city with the largest Finnish population in Canada and is very close to Minnesota and across Lake Superior from Wisconsin and Michigan's upper peninsula, three areas with the highest concentrations of Finnish-Americans. This page https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/FinnsAmer/finchro.html also makes mention of Finnish-American settlements in Cleveland in the 1920s.

It's certainly possible that this Doe could be Eetu, though, imho, a bit unlikely. If anyone is doing any more looking into Eetu and his movements and life, Eetu is the Finnish form of Edward, so if he Americanized/Canadianized his name that's a possibility.

 

[ice190]

I sent my girlfriend the url from the screenshot (http://vuosikerta.fi/index.php/page/268 for anyone who wants to look as well) and she said that it's a bit awkwardly written, which probably exacerbated Google's difficulties translating Finnish. The two main things from the bit about Eetu are:

1. He went to America and was killed. She said it specifically says "killed" not simply "died".
2. Eetu was not the one sending money, rather he was sent money from his sister (the woman whose history the page is about) as part of an inheritance from their father.

I also asked her what it said about the people mentioned named Helena and Pauli. Pauli was a nephew of Eetu who died as a young child; Helena is the mother-in-law of Eetu's sister (the subject of the page), and is not related to him at all. There is also no mention of a Topias on the page.

Thunder Bay is (according to Wikipedia, admittedly not the most reliable source) the city with the largest Finnish population in Canada and is very close to Minnesota and across Lake Superior from Wisconsin and Michigan's upper peninsula, three areas with the highest concentrations of Finnish-Americans. This page https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/FinnsAmer/finchro.html also makes mention of Finnish-American settlements in Cleveland in the 1920s.

It's certainly possible that this Doe could be Eetu, though, imho, a bit unlikely. If anyone is doing any more looking into Eetu and his movements and life, Eetu is the Finnish form of Edward, so if he Americanized/Canadianized his name that's a possibility.

This is awesome, thank you and your girlfriend x10! If anything this can help Eetu's MP case off unrelated.

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[Alleykins]

here is some more interesting info I found
http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/death-masks/

http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/torso-murders/

http://www.veterandoe.com/john-doe-ohio-navy-1936.html

some info from this link below:
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

Here's my take on the tattoos:
Helen and Paul are he and his gf/spouse - I'm thinking spouse because doves are popular wedding symbols, I had embossed doves on my wedding invitations. I do like the idea of it maybe being a memorial to his parents, hence also the dove.
WCG is either something that begins with W and Color Guard (hence the flags) or W - Coast Guard
Jiggs is his nickname. I looked it up, it was a popular nickname. It wasn't always a derivative of the person's name or exclusive to males when the comic had its heyday.
The butterfly is kind of an odd sort of tattoo for a guy, IMHO, especially in the 30s. I'm stymied by that. Does anyone know a guy who has one just to have one and not in conjunction with a memorial or kids, etc?
The anchor and cupid I attribute to the love of the sea and possibly means a girl in every port.
I could be way off, but this is how it struck me.
IIRC, they don't have this JD's case file anymore, do they? Didn't it get destroyed or lost a long time ago? Or am I thinking of another case?

 

[kdblaisdell]

The butterfly is kind of an odd sort of tattoo for a guy, IMHO, especially in the 30s. I'm stymied by that. Does anyone know a guy who has one just to have one and not in conjunction with a memorial or kids, etc

I was curious about that one, too. I did find this collection. Scroll down a bit and you do see some butterflies.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496240452661088344/

 

[Alleykins]

Thanks for posting those. I found some vintage tats that were moths, too. I wonder if that's what it was on the JD.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

I really do wish we had more detailed images of the tats!

I've tried to figure out anything connected to W.C.G. You wouldn't believe the crazy trails I wondered off on, but in the end, nothing made sense. I agree with Alleykins that my best guess would be coast guard or color guard related but I'm not even super in love with those ideas. I wonder if that tattoo reflects his initials (which conflicts with those of J.D.), or those of a parent or grandparent.

Paul and Helen - I've found that these names didn't become uber-popular until after the turn of the century, at least in the U.S. If those refer to his parents, it is possible that they were born in a country where those names were popular in the late nineteenth century. Also popular that they rose in popularity in some U.S. ethnic groups faster than others, I guess. But which ones? I thought that he could be Paul, and Helen could be his wife, ex-wife, fiancee, etc. I've thought that they could be the names of his kids, or possibly of younger siblings of his, or of siblings who had passed away.

I don't think the other tattoos offer as much potential for identifying.

 

[carbuff]

The guy looks so much like somebody from South Boston/Southie that I expect him to step off my screen and say, "Hi, how ya DOin'!"

South Boston is the heart of Irish Catholic immigrants in Boston, so I guess that means he strikes me as Irish and Catholic. The Jiggs character would tend to confirm that; Jiggs and Maggie in the strip were poor Irish immigrants who got rich and moved up. But they were popular with all immigrant groups, especially second and third generation like my father, so that might not mean anything.

 

[Alleykins]

The guy looks so much like somebody from South Boston/Southie that I expect him to step off my screen and say, "Hi, how ya DOin'!"

South Boston is the heart of Irish Catholic immigrants in Boston, so I guess that means he strikes me as Irish and Catholic. The Jiggs character would tend to confirm that; Jiggs and Maggie in the strip were poor Irish immigrants who got rich and moved up. But they were popular with all immigrant groups, especially second and third generation like my father, so that might not mean anything.

When I googled "nickname Jiggs" hoping to find someone looking for a long lost relative, I came up with a ton of hits for people who had that nickname, after the comic strip. This included the Marine's mascot bull dog. Originally, he was called Jiggs. From sometime in the 30s on, they changed it to Smedley, LOL. The trivial things you learn by surfing the net.

 

[carbuff]

When I googled "nickname Jiggs" hoping to find someone looking for a long lost relative, I came up with a ton of hits for people who had that nickname, after the comic strip. This included the Marine's mascot bull dog. Originally, he was called Jiggs. From sometime in the 30s on, they changed it to Smedley, LOL. The trivial things you learn by surfing the net.

I learned that a "Jiggs dinner" is another name for corned beef and cabbage

 

[Alleykins]

I learned that a "Jiggs dinner" is another name for corned beef and cabbage

I read that, too! Now I want a boiled dinner! :laughing:

 

[the-littlest-sasser]

A new arrival to websleuths so pardon me if I make any mistakes. :scared:

I also think the W.C.G tattoo stands for coast guard of some sort. It would make a lot more sense to me than initials though that's not to say that the initials theory is wrong either. I did a search of American coast guard tattoos and found a few examples that honestly were not all that different from this particular tattoo- the initials C.G, an American flag. The Great Lakes is also full of coast guard stations so I wouldn't find it surprising if this man had been to one and/or been on one of the ships.

Everything is honestly pointing to some kind of nautical background for me as well. Tattoos are a huge part of the sailor subculture, they even have their own "class" of tattoos. Anchors are hugely popular themes amongst them and this man also happens to have had one as well. The tattoo of the bird may also be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_tattoo . "The swallow also represents love, care and affection towards family and friends, showing the loyalty of the person always returning to them. "

 

[ice190]

A new arrival to websleuths so pardon me if I make any mistakes. :scared:

I also think the W.C.G tattoo stands for coast guard of some sort. It would make a lot more sense to me than initials though that's not to say that the initials theory is wrong either. I did a search of American coast guard tattoos and found a few examples that honestly were not all that different from this particular tattoo- the initials C.G, an American flag. The Great Lakes is also full of coast guard stations so I wouldn't find it surprising if this man had been to one and/or been on one of the ships.

Everything is honestly pointing to some kind of nautical background for me as well. Tattoos are a huge part of the sailor subculture, they even have their own "class" of tattoos. Anchors are hugely popular themes amongst them and this man also happens to have had one as well. The tattoo of the bird may also be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_tattoo . "The swallow also represents love, care and affection towards family and friends, showing the loyalty of the person always returning to them. "

Welcome to Websleuths!

thanks for the original link to the Finnish webpage!

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[Irish_Eyes]

A new arrival to websleuths so pardon me if I make any mistakes. :scared:

I also think the W.C.G tattoo stands for coast guard of some sort. It would make a lot more sense to me than initials though that's not to say that the initials theory is wrong either. I did a search of American coast guard tattoos and found a few examples that honestly were not all that different from this particular tattoo- the initials C.G, an American flag. The Great Lakes is also full of coast guard stations so I wouldn't find it surprising if this man had been to one and/or been on one of the ships.

Everything is honestly pointing to some kind of nautical background for me as well. Tattoos are a huge part of the sailor subculture, they even have their own "class" of tattoos. Anchors are hugely popular themes amongst them and this man also happens to have had one as well. The tattoo of the bird may also be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_tattoo . "The swallow also represents love, care and affection towards family and friends, showing the loyalty of the person always returning to them. "

Yes, perhaps it was a swallow that they interpreted as a dove.

This is why I wanted to read that tattoo study that someone helpfully linked for me above. Apparently, some of these tattoo traditions are not as old as is assumed. The few existing databases of sailor tattoos from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries don't always show sailors actually having these tattoos in the times they were claimed to have them. It is possible that some of these symbolic interpretations didn't appear until World War 1 or even World War II. So the swallow did not have to mean that he had sailed more than 5,000 miles.

 

[the-littlest-sasser]

As for Eetu, his physical characteristics match up quite well to those of the deceased (brown hair, light eyes, 150 lbs or so and in the projected age bracket) but his height is off. I looked around and found this page: Canada's Missing | Case details

It states that "The date of Eetu's disappearance is uncertain. He disappeared sometime during 1935 to 1936. Since the exact date is unknown, the November 15 1935 should be viewed as an estimate only." I'm pretty curious as to why it's so uncertain when exactly he went missing. Did he travel a lot or not keep in contact with his family/friends? I'm going to try to see if I can find out any information about what his occupation was. I think it would be pretty helpful to know.

 

[the-littlest-sasser]

Thank you! :blushing:

And I owe you a thanks as well for posting it here. Regardless of what happens, hopefully there can be some spotlight on Eetu's case at least.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

I think the unidentified man is also said to have had hair that was such a dark brown that it was "almost black" and a more olive complexion. That did not seem to me to match up with Eetu just by going off the photo we have of him.