- Police/Fire - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- Mr. X - Man from nowhere baffled city police
- He was called "Mr. X." He strolled into town on
May 22, 1939, and became one of the city's
- most unusual guests.
- The young man showed culture, education and talent. He was
well-dressed and handsome. He
- had charm. And, he apologized to police.
- "I'm sorry to impose on you," the young man said.
"But really, I don't know my name."
- "Mr. X," later labeled a classic amnesia victim,
was housed in the Rock County Jail for about a
- month while befuddled authorities tried to determine his
identity.
- Three things were all they knew: The curly-haired man had
been picked up in Eau Claire the day
- before while hitchhiking and was driven here. He smoked cigars.
And he dressed well - a gabardine suit made in Chicago and leather
shoes from a firm in Massachusetts.
- They sent his fingerprints to Washington, D.C., to see if
that would help identify him. They sent
- pictures to police agencies and they checked out the Chicago
connection. Nothing brought results.
- All the while, officials also tried to help the mystery man
stumble onto his own identity. Their tactics
- resulted in widespread publicity.
- Rock County Undersheriff Jasper WEBB determined the
man could recall at least one thing -
- how to play cribbage. WEBB tried the mystery man out
for two games, and was soundly trounced, a newspaper story said.
- Later, it was determined that the ace cribbage player was
also a fine singer and musician, a
- basketball and football player, and a better than average
golfer. Still, he did not know his name.
- As a month of non-identity passed, "Mister X" became
restless "loafing" in jail. He applied for a
- job. "He wants to be a farmer," newspapers said,
eventually reporting that the man found work.
- About the same time he began doing chores on the Kenneth
PARKER estate in Milton, "Mister
- X" chalked up another accomplishment.
- "When the anonymous man remarked that he thought he
could pilot a plan, WEBB drove him out
- to the Janesville airport," newspaper accounts said.
"There, 'Mister X' crawled into a dual-controlled Cub monoplane
with Pilot Pete TUMELSON."
- Up in the clouds, TUMELSON turned the controls over
to the city's mystery guest. "He knew just
- what to do and he handled the ship beautifully, excepting
that he appeared used to a heavier ship," TUMELSON
said.
- "I've flown before," he told WEBB, looking
at him with a pair of dazed eyes that flicked
- momentarily with recognition. "It was a big airport.
There were six blacktop runways."
- Police began to check out the possibility that the mystery
man was, in fact, a commercial pilot.
- The city was bombarded with with newspaper reporters wanting
to know more, and stories about him cropped up across the midwest.
- Soon after, a man who read about "Mister X" in
a Minneapolis, Minn., paper showed up to claim
- his dazed son.
- "Mister X" turned out to be Ernest JOHNSON
Jr., 22, a law student from St. Paul, Minn., who
- never had flown a plane before and who failed to recognize
his father.
- The young man checked out of the Rock County Jail and became
a patient at Bradley Memorial
- Hospital, Madison.
- Doctors there first claimed JOHNSON was "sick
from a mental disturbance more deeply seated
- than amnesia."
- Finally, JOHNSON was given a drug to induce a convulsion.
The effort worked, and
- JOHNSON's memory was revived, intact. The prognosis
changed to a "true case of amnesia." He was, indeed,
Ernest JOHNSON Jr.
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