Colin McEnroe Show: What To Do With Connecticut's Most Famous Hobo?
Do we leave the Leatherman alone? Or dig him up? (For science!)
Published: Mar 01, 2011
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Colin McEnroe Show: What To Do With Connecticut's Most Famous Hobo
As much as we romanticize the Leatherman, Connecticut's most famous vagabond, we should remember too that the post Civil War era -- his era -- was a time of tramp laws, meant to discourage exactly the sort of person he was.
A New York Times editorial from 1879 complains of "ragged, filthy, villainous-looking men, sneaking ruffians, the tramp nuisance."
The Leatherman himself was sometimes pelted with produce and rocks. Over time, people seemed to sort him out as somehow different from other vagrants. It became common to leave him food, money and scraps of leather. The man, however, remained a mystery. He was an American Kaspar Hauser -- a person with no back story. And now the world is once again impinging on the Leatherman.
His grave may need to be moved, which means there's a chance of unlocking some of his secrets. But should we?
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Let him be!
I believe the leather man should be left alone. Why now? I have not heard a good argument for his old bones to be dug up. Curiosity is not justification for science!
Leave him alone
Leave him alone and let him rest in peace. This is what he wanted.
The Leatherman
I agree with Mr. Johnson. Don't takes pieces of this man for scientific research. There is just no reason for it. If his remains need to be moved because of safety concerns, fine. I just don't see the need to dismantle what is left of this man. He had a very private life that should be respected.
Requiescat in pace
The "dig team" covertly secured a court order allowing them to excavate the OLM's remains. Why so secretive? I think it points to a future commercial endeavor. We not only need more public debate, we also need a full accounting $$$ of this project. If there is truly a safety concern, then move the grave (leaving his remains undisturbed). Otherwise let this poor defenseless man rest in peace.
I will say as I always do
I will say as I always do regarding this subject, leave him alone. No need to disrupt his final resting place - let's move on as he would. I am sure there are other projects waiting in the wings.....
leave him be
"Preserving his dignity" cannot be done by testing on him. Bellatoni seems to contradict himself. He wants to dig the LM up and move him and do tests on him (all disrespectful acts) in order to show him respect. This makes no sense. Why do we need to know his cause of death or whether he was left or right handed. That is strictly entertaining information for a future book. Let the guy rest. If you absolutely have to move him to a new gravesite, fine, but that should be the full extent of it.
Leave the Leatherman Alone
I don't see why we need to always turnover every rock. Can we leave some mysteries as they are? It isn't as if there are any practical reasons we need his DNA; how does our knowing if he was autistic help him now? If he wanted people to know more about him, he would have left more of a legacy at the time, a journal perhaps. The people of his era, who knew him best, respectfully kept a distance. Who are we to presume otherwise? My recommendation is to pay him the same respect and leave him alone.
Leather Man
Let the man rest in peace. He wanted nothing more from his life but be left alone.....
Mr. Johnson is very
Mr. Johnson is very passionate about leavung the Lman alone and I agree. Let him R.I.P!
"Ol' Leathery"
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the segment today.
On October 11, 1888 the Hartford Courant ran a Column titled "The Old Leather Man. HIs Hopeless Disease - The Propriety of Non-Interference" When it became obvious his health was rapidly deteriorating, it was suggested he be taken in to a hospital to spend his final days. The author of the column posed the following question: "And if he prefers to trudge on to the last and then lie down and die by himself as he has lived, then who should interfere?" The public who had walked alongside him, sat with him, and lived in his presence for 30 years, decided the "propriety of non-interference" was the course of action that should be taken, and he was found dead in one of his shelters a few months later. I believe as the stewards of his legacy, we should follow their lead and subscribe to the same policy. Let him be.
RE: Leatherman
I only caught the last 25 minutes of the show, and Like Don, I too am opposed to the petitioned actions by the Ossining Historical Society, Nicholas Beletoni, Et-Al... Having visited the grave site myself back in December, I seem to see a lot of gross overkill in the claims of the site being dangerous, except maybe from the ground maintenance crew, which appeared to have struck a stone pillar at the access road in question. The pillar has 2 large stone bricks knocked out from the inside corner, (north-west corner, facing inward at the access road.) Obviously struck by something low, perhaps a flatbed truck, leaving the cemetery, which is still in active use. (besides the countless civil war era graves, there are also many modern, and recent as well. Some seen, were dated 2007..) What irks me worse, is the callous words of OHS president, Norman MacDonald, in an article from the New Haven Advocate, in which he states that the exhuming, and extensive forensic testing described in the petition, is nothing more than the same as another autopsy. Mind you, we already known the Old Leatherman died from complications of Cancer.. Digging up his remains, for the purpose of further digging into his identity, is hardly an autopsy.
Another remark by Mr. MacDonald, saying that we lose certain rights when we're dead. Mind you, this is the same person who says he wants to move the remains to a "Respectful" section of the cemetery. What ever happened to the point, that cemeteries in a whole, not sectioned, are respectful to the memory of those who passes? Mind you also, the OHS has no actual location of the remains.. Only a 7-foot square section in front of the headstone, which it plans to dig, under a paved access road which itself has sunken in over time, Over the section.. Who's act really unconsecrated it? I'd seriously ask those who's bright idea it was, putting the access road where it is, knowing full well there were remains, not just the OLM's, buried in that corner. Yes, I imagine there are more than just the OLM's remains buried there.. Does the OHS plan on exhuming, and relocating their remains as well? More than likely, not. They're targeted in on JUST the OLM.. I guess they don't rate the respect Mr. MacDonald nor the OHS speak of.
I too, voice Don Johnson's creed, Map his footsteps, Not his DNA. there is no reason to extract the DNA. No crime was committed, no one (that we know of) has stepped forward, claiming to be a decendant of the OLM's family. As you said in the interview, From just your spittle, they are extracting more and more information about you. from the minute DNA sample it provided.. This same "Modern Day" tool, has no right to dig into a common man as the OLM.. He did not deserve to be picked over for information of where he came from, what was his nationality, and yes, Even his possible mental health (re: Autism) could be determined from that DNA. I think I went a LOT farther than Don's "Scoundrels", in one remark I made in another article, this is the modern day equivalency of Grave Robbing. Only, instead of picking the remains of valuables, Jewelry, or possessions, we now seek to take identity, value, and personality away from those who have passed.
I fear, that once they do this, the mystery of the OLM, will fade into the past.. No-one will ever speak of the stories of the OLM's travels. This has already happened.. How much is said in history now of "Michael Blassie"? (serious! Do a Google search for that name.. Aside from what is available on the internet, Nothing is spoke of him since.)
He may've been a hobo, but how many others are mentioned in history? The OLM was unique because of his clothing, his actions.. He was far more than just a unknown.
Digging him up, placing an identification, and burying him with the beliefs of others, not his own, will threaten to fade his story, until nothing is left... Would we do the same to a more famous person?
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