CA CA - Colton, WhtMale 2389UMCA, 40-60, Suicide, May'1915

[Migmuu]

Very unlikely to ever be identified, but this is interesting if you're into historical UID cases. I was able to find a couple of newspaper articles about his discovery.

2389UMCA - Found May 13, 1915

DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 40 - 60 years old
Race: Caucasian
Height: 5'11 - 6'2
Weight: 145 - 155 pounds
Postmortem Interval: 3 weeks (contemporary articles)

CIRCUMSTANCES
Location: Santa Ana riverbed 2 miles southwest of Colton, 1/4 mile from Rialto-Riverside Road, San Bernardino County, CA
Circumstances: A rancher rounding up his cattle found the body hanging from a tree along the Santa Ana River.

PHYSICAL/MEDICAL
Hair: Chestnut brown, balding. Dark brown or sandy mustache.

CLOTHING
Clothing found hanging on tree: Tan Ransom & Salsbee, San Antonio, Texas overcoat or raincoat, a gray Joske Bros. Co Department Store, San Antonio, Texas, and a shirt with collar and tie. No description of pants or shoes.
Coarse grey suit (according to newspaper article)
A hickory cane/walking stick

 

[Migmuu]

Article 1
Article 2

Some shades of Lyle Stevik here with the unusual "low-lying" hanging.

 

[physco219]

Pretty sad no one ever came forward. With a height of 5'10" you'd think someone like that back the would stick out a little more.

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[DaisyChains]

The world's fair was going on up in San Fransisco that year from Feb-Nov. SF is very far from where this body was found, but maybe he was attracted to CA from somewhere far away initially to attend The World's Far. I will check and see what events were going on around that time in Riverside/Colton (if any). It was mostly just boonies ranching land back then and railroads. Railroads could have a connection to this case maybe. His clothing was from TX it seemed like. Could have hopped a train out to CA from TX - though he had a cane so not sure how great his mobility was.

Very interesting case! Thanks for sharing.

This is the earliest case in the index I could find. From 1915. Went missing en route to CA from NV. I will say that it is geographically desireable. However, he is too young to be this UID IMO, but you never know. Just wanted to note he is the last listed missing person in the index Nampn. His missing date exceeds the date the UID was discovered, but that doesn't concern me so much as I'm not sure missing persons reports were promptly filed back then. It was so long ago maybe specific dates could be mixed up as well.

http://www.nampn.org/cases/davis_noel.html

 

[Coffee56]

1915 Colton John Doe - Defrosting Cold Cases

 

[YaYa_521]

Article 1
Article 2

Some shades of Lyle Stevik here with the unusual "low-lying" hanging.

Thanks for posting these, @Migmuu.

 

[PropaneYeeter]

Super interesting, yet tragic, case. 106 years without a name. That's crazy.

I found another article that I don't see linked here:

 

[John/Jane Doe]

2389UMCA

 

[John/Jane Doe]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Unknown (unknown-1915) - Find a Grave Memorial

 

[John/Jane Doe]

San Bernardino County John Doe (1915)

 

[cheemsg]

Thanks for posting these, @Migmuu.

Are we sure he's *not* M.F. Dean or Harry Williams? All they had to go off was that his friends didn't think it was him. He'd been dead for weeks so he was probably in rough shape and they wouldn't recognise him.

 

[lightofmine99]

His NamUs was last modified in October 2023.

 

[Pseudonymph]

Are we sure he's *not* M.F. Dean or Harry Williams? All they had to go off was that his friends didn't think it was him. He'd been dead for weeks so he was probably in rough shape and they wouldn't recognise him.

My first thought. The only way to solve this would be by forensic genealogy at this point, for which an exhumation would likely be required. Since nobody who knew him is around anymore, this would be a very low priority to solve. What a shame. Poor guy.

 

[Pseudonymph]

Unknown (unknown-1915) - Find a Grave Memorial

A county cemetery for indigent people, with mass graves.