PA PA - Bedford, 'Mr. Bones' WhtMale 30-35, 585UMPA, 30-06 rifle, gold dental wk, camping equip, Oct'58

[TrustedTracker5097]

The Rifle was a Remington 721A which was chambered for, and loaded with .30-06 Springfield Ammunition.

Early reports were incorrect or somewhat misleading to state that the rifle was "a Springfield ". That 30 caliber rifle round was developed by the US government in1906 for use in the standard issue 1903 Rifle which was developed at Springfield Armory.

The confusion comes from someone referring to the Rifle by the Ammunition it fired. The 1939 date was clearly a typo.

The Remington 721A Rifle in question could be dated in two ways. First by its serial number, and secondly by what is called a Remington "barrel code". These are small letters stamped into the barrel just forward of the receiver and above the stock on the left side. Those codes can give you the month and year of manufacture.

I don't know what those markings are, and I don't know if police investigators checked them out. The Rifle had to have been made some time between 1948 and 1958.

It would be nice to have some photographs of the actual firearm provided by the police both to verify the serial no. and barrel code and to confirm it was in fact a Remington 721 and not an 03 Springfield. As I said in an earlier post, and please by all means correct me if I'm wrong, Richard, if it was a 721 it would support the commonly-held view that this guy was well-off financially. After all, if he had a limited budget you'd expect him to buy a cheap surplus rifle that was originally military issue. At least that's what I'd think. I guess he could've bought the Remington used or traded something for it too...

 

[rsd1200]

The Rifle was a Remington 721A which was chambered for, and loaded with .30-06 Springfield Ammunition.

Early reports were incorrect or somewhat misleading to state that the rifle was "a Springfield ". That 30 caliber rifle round was developed by the US government in1906 for use in the standard issue 1903 Rifle which was developed at Springfield Armory.

The confusion comes from someone referring to the Rifle by the Ammunition it fired. The 1939 date was clearly a typo.

The Remington 721A Rifle in question could be dated in two ways. First by its serial number, and secondly by what is called a Remington "barrel code". These are small letters stamped into the barrel just forward of the receiver and above the stock on the left side. Those codes can give you the month and year of manufacture.

I don't know what those markings are, and I don't know if police investigators checked them out. The Rifle had to have been made some time between 1948 and 1958

RBBM

Maybe not.
Article from Pgh Post Gazette dated 10/13/58 states:
Found beside the body was a Remington "721" rifle, 30/06 calibre.
and
A Remington Arms representative yesterday studied the gun in an effort to trace it.
(pertinent part of article attached)

link to clipping: Mr Bones Remington - Newspapers.com

link to entire page: 13 Oct 1958, Page 2 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at Newspapers.com

 

[Ozoner]

Yesterday afternoon, I spoke with the State Police Investigator by phone regarding this case. I asked him a few questions and forwarded comments from this thread.

. . .

Aparently, the man had quite a few other things not stated on the Doenetwork file.

This appears to have been a legitimate campsite, not a staged on, based on the fact that he had quite a few things, IMO.

He did not read the entire inventory to me, but rather looked through it to try to answer my questions. He said that the inventory is in a handwritten form, and was hard to read in places. He said that the man was well equipped to live off the land for a while, and obviously there were more items on the inventory than had been included in the news article.

. . .

It seems to be the opinion of investigators that this John Doe intentionally did not want to have any identification on him. Also, based on the poor condition of his teeth - after the expensive dentaly work had been done, that he had probably been "on the road" as a drifter for some time, maybe since 1955 or earlier. . . .

Some answers from LE...

I got an interesting e-mail today from the Pennsylvania State Police investigator assigned to this cold case. I spoke with him by telephone and then sent him an e-mail containing many of the questions posed in this thread. In the interest of brevity, I include below only the questions to which he provided answers. Here is his response:


It would be nice to know more accurately when this man died.
Q - How did police determine that it was between six months and two years prior?
A - The time of death is sometime during the spring of 1958. The estimated time of six months to two years was listed to generate as many leads as possible.

The Rifle and Ammunition:
Q - What was the make, model, and serial number of the rifle?
A - Model 721A


Q - Was it in military configuration - Or had it been sporterized/modified?
A - Not military


Comments on the books...

A- The Books: Research on the books was conducted by the FBI, which indicated the person with higher education, serious student of poetry, a teacher or graduate student in literature or related subject


Questions regarding The Brass Key (stamped "Active 195 Ave A"):
Q - Is this a door key?, a padlock key?, a mailbox key?
Q - Were thare any other markings on the key? Was it on a ring or chain?
Q - What make or pattern is it? (eg: a Cole, Dexter, Chicago, Schlage, Master, Quikset, etc.?)
Q - Is it an origional key, or a copy made on another company's blank?
Q - Is this a continuous stamping, that is all related, or is it stamped in several places, perhaps with different size numerals/letters?
Q - "Active" may be the name of the locksmith who made the key, or could be the name of a company that it was made for.
Q - "195" could be an address, and if so, is probably the address of the key maker. It could simply be a key code.
Q - What cities have an "Avenue A"? (Manhatten, NY - Bayone, NJ - Chicago east side - probably more)

Answers:
A - The key is a duplicate copied onto an Unger blank, cut by Active Locksmith, 195 Avenue A, New York City, NY

A - Keys of this type are used on some Segal 5-pin tumbler cylinder door locks, primarily mortised locks, night latches and deadbolt locks

A - No indications of heavy use or wear from key ring

All of the above posts from Richard were snipped for relevance to the current discussions.

It appears that LE was confident that Mr. Bones died in the Spring of '58, which would have been 7–10 months after Conner is known to have died.

In my opinion, the additional details about the camp site inventory rule out a staged scene and absolutely rule out a connection to Conner, IMO.

 

[Richard]

It would be nice to have some photographs of the actual firearm provided by the police both to verify the serial no. and barrel code and to confirm it was in fact a Remington 721 and not an 03 Springfield. As I said in an earlier post, and please by all means correct me if I'm wrong, Richard, if it was a 721 it would support the commonly-held view that this guy was well-off financially. After all, if he had a limited budget you'd expect him to buy a cheap surplus rifle that was originally military issue. At least that's what I'd think. I guess he could've bought the Remington used or traded something for it too...

We often have only what is released by LE to go on in our analysis or speculation.

In regard to the rifle, early news reports took information released by police and called it a .30-06 Springfield. This was in reference to the cartridge which the rifle fired and Not to the actual make and model of the rifle.

Similar references are often seen in news accounts, such as these examples:
.45 Colt, .38 Smith & Wesson, 9mm Luger, .243 Winchester, .300 Savage, 7mm Remington. All are the names of cartridges, and any of them could be fired in a number of different makes of firearm.

Mr. Bones was found with a Remington 721A rifle which fired the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, several boxes of which were also found at the site.

I do not know how old the rifle was. But it couldn't have been more than 10 years old since that model was not manufactured prior to 1948.

The Remington 721A was a very good quality rifle, predecessor to the Remington 700 - a very popular model still in production today. A person wouldn't have to have been rich to afford one, but you are correct to point out that there were many other cheaper options available at the time in the form of WW II military surplus rifles then on the market.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

We often have only what is released by LE to go on in our analysis or speculation.

In regard to the rifle, early news reports took information released by police and called it a .30-06 Springfield. This was in reference to the cartridge which the rifle fired and Not to the actual make and model of the rifle.

Similar references are often seen in news accounts, such as these examples:
.45 Colt, .38 Smith & Wesson, 9mm Luger, .243 Winchester, .300 Savage, 7mm Remington. All are the names of cartridges, and any of them could be fired in a number of different makes of firearm.

Mr. Bones was found with a Remington 721A rifle which fired the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, several boxes of which were also found at the site.

I do not know how old the rifle was. But it couldn't have been more than 10 years old since that model was not manufactured prior to 1948.

The Remington 721A was a very good quality rifle, predecessor to the Remington 700 - a very popular model still in production today. A person wouldn't have to have been rich to afford one, but you are correct to point out that there were many other cheaper options available at the time in the form of WW II military surplus rifles then on the market.

Richard,

I did some research on Stuart Gerry Brown, one of the authors of the "Reading Poems" book Mr. Bones seems to have had when he died. I found this collection on Syracuse University's Website: Stuart Gerry Brown Papers An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

It's a description for a collection of his papers, and it includes a brief Biography of the man.

Born April 13, 1912, in Buffalo, New York, to Charles H., Jr. and Edith (Brown) Brown, he received his A.B. degree from Amherst College in 1934 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1937. In 1937 he became an English instructor at the University of Wisconsin. In 1940, he went to Grinnell College as an associate professor of English and was a full professor of English when he left Grinnell in 1947 to become a professor of Citizenship and American Culture at the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. During 1961-1962 and 1964-1965, he was visiting professor at the East-West Cultural Center at the University of Hawaii. In August of 1965, Mr. Brown resigned from Syracuse University to become graduate professor of American Studies at the East-West Center.

IDK about you, but this sounds like the Stuart Gerry Brown we're looking for. Get this though. The collection includes letters and papers he received from students. If this guy taught Mr. Bones, he might have an assignment or letter from him here in this collection.

It looks like we need to reach out to the University in advance to schedule an appointment to review the papers. I'm not sure if you or anybody else has followed this lead yet, but if not, I suppose anybody whose able to make the trip ought to go and see if there's a clue in these papers.

 

[rsd1200]

Just a thought. I noted a stranger was questioned, in the area, and he mentioned traveling from Ky through PA and onward to Canada, earlier the prior year.

Maybe Mr. B. worked on the rails, or was riding the rails and working along the way. They weren't direct routes to where you were going, many times, but it was a way to travel.

His style of dress (warm, heavy boots, heavy leather m/c style jacket), and he'd possibly purchased the camping equipment more recently, because of moving on foot/rail in the future.

Bedford County's railroading past

Throughout this year, the Bedford County Sestercentennial Celebrations Committee will be presenting a series of articles by means of the kind assistance of the Bedford Gazette (itself, a gem in

www.bedfordgazette.com

 

[Richard]

Richard,

I did some research on Stuart Gerry Brown, one of the authors of the "Reading Poems" book Mr. Bones seems to have had when he died. I found this collection on Syracuse University's Website: Stuart Gerry Brown Papers An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

It's a description for a collection of his papers, and it includes a brief Biography of the man.

Born April 13, 1912, in Buffalo, New York, to Charles H., Jr. and Edith (Brown) Brown, he received his A.B. degree from Amherst College in 1934 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1937. In 1937 he became an English instructor at the University of Wisconsin. In 1940, he went to Grinnell College as an associate professor of English and was a full professor of English when he left Grinnell in 1947 to become a professor of Citizenship and American Culture at the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. During 1961-1962 and 1964-1965, he was visiting professor at the East-West Cultural Center at the University of Hawaii. In August of 1965, Mr. Brown resigned from Syracuse University to become graduate professor of American Studies at the East-West Center.

IDK about you, but this sounds like the Stuart Gerry Brown we're looking for. Get this though. The collection includes letters and papers he received from students. If this guy taught Mr. Bones, he might have an assignment or letter from him here in this collection.

It looks like we need to reach out to the University in advance to schedule an appointment to review the papers. I'm not sure if you or anybody else has followed this lead yet, but if not, I suppose anybody whose able to make the trip ought to go and see if there's a clue in these papers.

The Syracuse University possible link might be a a good clue.

Consider first looking through school year books for photos of someone matching Mr. Bones' physical appearance, and in areas which might match his interests.

With names obtained this way, or from names found in the professor's papers, perhaps some potential matches can be made.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

The Syracuse University possible link might be a a good clue.

Consider first looking through school year books for photos of someone matching Mr. Bones' physical appearance, and in areas which might match his interests.

With names obtained this way, or from names found in the professor's papers, perhaps some potential matches can be made.

I did some searching for yearbooks from Syracuse. All the stuff online seems to be just outside that mid to late 1950s period Mr. Bones's time in school would probably have taken place in. I contacted the school's research department, and they told me they do possess copies of the books we'd probably want (I specifically asked for books printed from 1955-1958). They prefer patrons to schedule appointments in advance.

So let me run this strategy by everyone: Somebody here who lives close to the University sets up a time to review the yearbooks and letters. An appointment would have to be made to review both because the letters need to be transported from a separate facility to the University. This person should first try to look for people in the yearbook who resemble Mr. Bones. Bonus points if there's any photos of these candidates in a motorcycle jacket. Keep a list of all candidate names or make note of any photographs in which the subject is unidentified. Compare list of names to the letters to the professor. Look for anybody expressing dissatisfaction with their academic and/or personal lives, especially if an individual mentions that they are considering running away, disappearing, or committing suicide. It may also be advisable to look at letters from people clearly not Mr. Bones just to see if any of them mention a classmate who went missing or suddenly stopped communicating with them.

Does this sound like a productive strategy to everyone? My only concern is the possibility of a large number of false positives being produced by the yearbook photos. Mr. Bones's sketch is somewhat generic, and I'd imagine many of the photos wouldn't give a good idea of a subject's height.

 

[Ozoner]

I did some searching for yearbooks from Syracuse. All the stuff online seems to be just outside that mid to late 1950s period Mr. Bones's time in school would probably have taken place in. I contacted the school's research department, and they told me they do possess copies of the books we'd probably want (I specifically asked for books printed from 1955-1958). They prefer patrons to schedule appointments in advance.

So let me run this strategy by everyone: Somebody here who lives close to the University sets up a time to review the yearbooks and letters. An appointment would have to be made to review both because the letters need to be transported from a separate facility to the University. This person should first try to look for people in the yearbook who resemble Mr. Bones. Bonus points if there's any photos of these candidates in a motorcycle jacket. Keep a list of all candidate names or make note of any photographs in which the subject is unidentified. Compare list of names to the letters to the professor. Look for anybody expressing dissatisfaction with their academic and/or personal lives, especially if an individual mentions that they are considering running away, disappearing, or committing suicide. It may also be advisable to look at letters from people clearly not Mr. Bones just to see if any of them mention a classmate who went missing or suddenly stopped communicating with them.

Does this sound like a productive strategy to everyone? My only concern is the possibility of a large number of false positives being produced by the yearbook photos. Mr. Bones's sketch is somewhat generic, and I'd imagine many of the photos wouldn't give a good idea of a subject's height.

Before deciding whether this strategy is production, I would want to try to get information on the print runs of that textbook that's connected to Syracuse. If it published in limited numbers and only used at a few schools, then the strategy might be worthwhile. If it was popular textbook used at dozens of colleges throughout the region, then the strategy would be a definite long shot.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

Before deciding whether this strategy is production, I would want to try to get information on the print runs of that textbook that's connected to Syracuse. If it published in limited numbers and only used at a few schools, then the strategy might be worthwhile. If it was popular textbook used at dozens of colleges throughout the region, then the strategy would be a definite long shot.

I definitely agree that other universities ought to be checked if this search doesn't amount to anything, but remember what Richard said in an earlier post:

"The two schools which I would check first would be the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and the State University of New York Teachers College at Cortland, NY. Those are the schools where the "Reading Poems..." book authors taught, and it is very likely that the book was used at both schools as a text book. Other New York schools which received shipments of the three books in the mid 1950's could also be checked for students in their 30's who dropped out, graduated, or disappeared around 1957-58."

Since Richard seems to be the most intimately familiar person with this case on this forum, I'm inclined to take his suggestion seriously in terms of checking out the Maxwell and State Universities. But I think you raise a good point in terms of saving time. It might be better to coordinate as many searches through university records as possible so we can cover the most ground in a given period.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

Just a quick update to my previous posts: I did confirm with Syracuse that they do possess student and faculty directories from 1955-1958 (that was the date range I asked for in my email). I've also contacted State University of New York to see if they too possess yearbooks for those years as well as any records from Wright Thomas. Anyone have any suggestions for tracking down other universities that used the books Mr. Bones had?

 

[Richard]

The libraries might have college course catalogs or files which list required books.

Book stores would get listing of required text books, prior to the start of semester classes, so that the books would be in stock and available to students.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

The libraries might have college course catalogs or files which list required books.

Book stores would get listing of required text books, prior to the start of semester classes, so that the books would be in stock and available to students.

Right, but if we want a comprehensive list of all colleges at the time that had classes using those books, wouldn't we have to look through the records of every college in the country, or New York State at the least? I wonder if the publishing company has records of the schools it distributed books to. Or maybe the schools bought their books from a wholesaler?

 

[deadfoot13]

Right, but if we want a comprehensive list of all colleges at the time that had classes using those books, wouldn't we have to look through the records of every college in the country, or New York State at the least? I wonder if the publishing company has records of the schools it distributed books to. Or maybe the schools bought their books from a wholesaler?

My sister-in-law works for a SUNY school (BU) and I sent her a message asking her if there was a central records database for this stuff. She's on a cruise right now, but she did tell me that records are purged regularly (she sent me this link, but I didn't really see anything helpful: https://system.suny.edu/compliance/records/records-retention/records-retention-schedule/) She is not aware of any historical database that would allow for cross-reference of course textbooks for both state and non-state schools, but she manages research grants and said a librarian would know much more about the textbook side of things.

Her recommendation is to contact the publisher; depending on how many times the company has morphed over the years they would be a better source for info about where they distributed their textbooks.

 

[wary]

Right, but if we want a comprehensive list of all colleges at the time that had classes using those books, wouldn't we have to look through the records of every college in the country, or New York State at the least? I wonder if the publishing company has records of the schools it distributed books to. Or maybe the schools bought their books from a wholesaler?

Considering that the publishing industry is based in New York, do we have the slightest reason for thinking that colleges that used the textbook were particularly New York colleges?

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

Considering that the publishing industry is based in New York, do we have the slightest reason for thinking that colleges that used the textbook were particularly New York colleges?

Personally, I don't have a whole lot of reason to believe this. We do have the connections to Chicago, Indiana, Kentucky, and Canada from other evidence in this case, but I do have this comment Richard made earlier in this thread:

"I think the most likely theory is that this man was a college student, who perhaps had studied in New York City. He was most likely traveling west in the spring of 1958 by motorcycle or possibly auto. Police origionally believed that he had been murdered, but some now think that he committed suicide. I have not seen the physical evidence which would support either conclusion."

Considering Richard's familiarity with the case and its investigators, I'm inclined to say he may have a point in focusing on New York. With that being said, I have seen to it that the publisher of the Reading Poems book has been contacted. I'm hoping they can provide a list of all schools nationwide who used the book in their curriculum or at least lead as to wholesalers who may be able to provide a clue. It will be a challenge narrowing down the results assuming we do get results at all though...

 

[Richard]

The Poetry and Philosophy textbooks give something of an insight on Mr. Bones' interests and possibly courses he had taken or taught recently.

The Books themselves could contain other clues, such as a name or address (possibly on an inner page) , hand written notes, or finger prints. Even knowing the print edition date could be helpful.

Besides some of the book authors being New York College professors, the key made by a known NY lock Smith tends to give him a connection to New York.

 

[TrustedTracker5097]

The Poetry and Philosophy textbooks give something of an insight on Mr. Bones' interests and possibly courses he had taken or taught recently.

The Books themselves could contain other clues, such as a name or address (possibly on an inner page) , hand written notes, or finger prints. Even knowing the print edition date could be helpful.

Besides some of the book authors being New York College professors, the key made by a known NY lock Smith tends to give him a connection to New York.

I just wanted to clarify my previous post here; I do not deny a possible link between Mr. Bones and New York. I was only commenting that there seems to be reason to believe he may have gone to other parts of the country for school as well. Given the contacts from Chicago, the rifle from Indiana, and the account of the man police encountered claiming to be traveling from Kentucky to Canada, I think it's fair to say that we might want to see if other schools used these books for their classes.

There's also another point I thought I should make: I wonder what condition those books were found in. I'm not sure if Mr. Bones had them in his backpack, but it seems like they would have been exposed to the elements for a significant period of time. I wonder if the reason police haven't gone through the books in more detail is because the pages are too messed up to read. Was this something that was ever brought up in conversation, Richard?

 

[Magnum P.E.]

You'd lose. The theory is asinine.

I never was sure that Conner was Mr. Bones. I kept looking for reasons to rule him out, and never found any except the improbability of RF driving hundreds of miles to dispose of a body. Conner was the only candidate I could not discount. Saying it is possible that Conner is Mr. Bones is a far different thing that saying that he is.
This was all a decade ago now! DNA analysis has come light years since then. That is how we will find out who Mr. Bones is.
I have no idea why LE is so resistant to doing the test that could identify him.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Could Dwane Roy Dreher be a possible match for "Mr. Bones"?

Duwane Roy Dreher – The Charley Project

5486DMIA - Dwane Roy Dreher

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

IA - LA - Duane Roy Dreher, 34, Mason City, 7 Nov 1955

Family still searching for answers in 1955 disappearance of World War II veteran Leanna, 65 now, was only three years old in November of 1955, and doesn’t remember anything from that time. But she does know that on November 7, 1955 her father Duane walked out of their family home in Mason...

www.websleuths.com