John Doe who inspired a song

QUESTION

Is Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song John Doe No. 24 about a real person? The song was written about an African-American man who, on October 11, 1945, was found alone and walking down a street in Jacksonville, Illinois.

he was a deaf mute and had no form of identification.

Because of his seemingly bizarre behaviour he was committed to a mental institution for the ‘feebleminded’, becoming John Doe No. 2 (John Doe or Jane Doe are the names in the U.S. given to unidentified people or dead bodies).

Despite attempts, John Doe No 2 was never positively identified, and he spent the rest of his life in various state institutions.

In 1975, John was transferred to Jacksonville Developmental Centre and became John Doe #24. his name was changed for social security reasons to John Doe Boyd and he died on November 28, 1993.

Mary Chapin Carpenter read his obituary in the New York Times and wrote the song about him.

The obituary had a photograph of the grave with the inscription: ‘Unknown since 1945, John Doe takes his secret to the grave.’

Later, Mary bought a new headstone which read: ‘John “Doe” Boyd, Life’s a mystery, but so too is the human heart. Unknown — November 28, 1993.’ A book, God Knows his Name (a quote taken from one of his nurses when he died), written by Dave Bakke and including a foreword from Mary, was published in 2000.

The song John Doe No. 24 can be found on Mary’s Grammy-winning album Stones In The Road. Michael Brooks, Kendal, Cumbria.

QUESTION

Is there any contemporary reference to a Roman vomitorium, where Roman feasters would supposedly make themselves sick so they could eat more? FURTheR to the earlier answer, while Lewis Mumford was perhaps the first to incorrectly describe the vomitorium in a historical treatise, he was not the first to do so.

In Antic hay (1923), Aldous huxley also believed the vomitorium once represented a Roman lavatory used for purging during lavish feasts when he said: ‘There strode in, like a Goth into the elegant marble vomitorium of Petronius Arbiter, a haggard and dishevelled person.’

T. Edmondson, Bristol.