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En anglais, John Doe (version féminine : Jane Doe) est une expression pouvant désigner une personne non-identifiée


John Doe No. 24 Takes His Secret to the Grave
Published: December 5, 1993


JACKSONVILLE, Ill., Dec. 4— 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.



youtu.be/qFyfY7D9LDE


"John Doe No. 24"

I was standing on the 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 Louis 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

Well 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 tests
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 crepe jasmine bloomed
On Rue Morgue 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 porkpie hat
I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon
And I'd hit everyone on Basin after that

The years kept passing as they passed me around
From one state ward to another
Like I was an orphan shoe from the lost and found
Always missing the other
And they gave me a harp last Christmas
And all the nurses took a dance
But lately I've been growing listless
I've 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 dad
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 crepe jasmine with me
To remind me of New Orleans

I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945
In Jacksonville, Illinois

_________________
Nous vivons une civilisation,une époque, inspirées par la prééminence de l’émotionnel
«Des esprits étroits,sans aucune imagination et très intolérants.Les thèses déconnectées de la réalité,les termes vidés de leur sens,les idéaux usurpés,les systèmes rigides.Voilà ce qui me fait vraiment peur.»
"N'essaye pas de connaître le sens de la vie.Hormis celui que tu lui donnes il n'y en a pas."