Bronislaw Chambers

Previously known as the Unknown Hitchhiker. White male, about 17 years old. He died 15 October 1935 at Pensacola Hospital, Pensacola, FL. He was buried 26 October 1935 in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Pensacola, FL, by Fisher-Pou Funeral Home. His funeral was held at the Fisher-Pou Chapel, with Rev. Fletcher McLeod and Rev. John D. Thomas presiding. His Cause of death: Hit by automobile on Mobile Highway (William’s Curve). Remark on the record: Thought for a while to be the son of John Chambers of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. There was no charge for the funeral. There is a note that $49.90 was collected and given to the Boy Scouts.

The Pensacola Journal, Tuesday, 15 October 1935: The young man was identified as 16 years old, lying “at the point of death” in Pensacola hospital. He was “found lying in the middle of the Pensacola-Mobile Highway near the Frisco railroad corssing about 3 o’clock Monday morning. He had apparently been struck by a passing vehicle. A part of tourists enroute from Miami to San Antonio, Tex., found the youth and rushed him to the hospital. He was unconscious at the time and last night attending physicians described his condition as critical. Sheriff H.E. Gandy said last night he had located the driver of a truck who said he gave a young man answering the description of the injured youth a ride from DeFuniak Springs to Pensacola Sunday night. He said the boy introduced himself only as a hitch-hicker from Broxton, Mass., and siad he was on his way from Miami to New Orleans. … The only clue to identification of the young man was an initialed ring bearing the inscription ‘O.A.C.’ found on his person.”

The Pensacola Journal, Wednesday, 16 October 1935: Described as about 16 or 18 years old. Authorities still trying to identify him.

The Pensacola Journal, Thursday, 17 October 1935: The young man died 23 hours after being found. Authorities telegraphed descriptions to Brockton, MA; Jacksonville, FL; and New Orleans, LA on tips that he might have been a resident at one of those cities but negative replies were received. Radio stations were asked to broadcast description in Pensacola, Miami, Clearwater, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Cincinnati. Description: Approximately 16 years old; 150 pounds; 5 feet 8 and 1/2 inches tall; gray-blue eyes; sandy hair; fair complextion; hands small and soft; long scar on left hip from operation; large round scar on left shin; long scar on left index finger and knuckles and vaccination scar on left arm; was wearing yellow turtleneck sweater, white duck pants and “rubber easy-walkers” and a homemade metal ring with initials O.A.C.

The Pensacola Journal, 20 October 1935: Authorities tentatively identified him as John Chambers of Bridgewater, MA. Funeral held with officers of the local police department, Boy Scouts as pallbearers. Burial was delayed pending word from relatives. The identification came from a rooming house operator in Miami, who reviewed morgue photographs. He allegedly stayed at the rooming house for several weeks. Authorities have tried to contact his brother with no success. The police started a fund to pay for the burial and a lot in St. Michael’s was donated. Fisher-Pou donated their services.

The Pensacola Journal, 21 October 1935: Boy was definitely identified as John Chambers of Brockton, MA within hours of the funeral. He was an adventure-hungry boy of 16 or 18 years old from a comfortable home in Massachusetts who had gone to Miami and was on his way to New Orleans or maybe Texas. The grave had been dug at St. Michael’s but the body remained unburied at Fisher-Pou pending instructions from relatives. John Chambers was the son of John Chambers of 69 High St., Brockton, MA, near Bridgewater. He went to Miami, where he worked for a while, then left. Trail picked up in Pensacola, where he told a woman who gave him dinner Sunday of the previous week that he was going to “New Orleans or maybe out to Texas.” This article says he lived on 2 hours after being found.

The Pensacola Journal, 27 October 1935: “Clue to Identity of Boy Proves to Be Futile.” The body was found “badly crushed” on the Mobile Highway. The body was “unclaimed and seemed destined for potter’s field.” $89 was raised by police for a burial; the funeral home donated its services. Fred Schad, local businessman, donated a lot in St. Michael’s. Assistant Chief of Police A.O. Godwin said a headstone bearing a suitable inscription would be erected to mark the grave.  No indication of how the clue proved futile. 

The Pensacola Journal, 27 November 1935: “No longer will the grave of the ‘Unknown Hitch-hiker’ in St. Michael’s cemetery be without an identification slab.”  He was definitively identified as Bronislaw Chambers, son of Michael Chambers, 56 Stillman Ave., Brockton, MA. The family was not financially able to send for the body and they were satisfied that he had received a proper burial so they left him in St. Michael’s. “John” was apparently an alias, though The Boston Globe on the next day verifies the body as John Chambers, son of Michael Chambers. 

I have been unable to find Chambers’ gravemarker in records of St. Michael’s Cemetery (including Lola Lee Bruington’s work), under Chamber or “unknown.” I wonder if the funds and will to have a marker made petered out after the identity came through.

A quick search of census records reveals Michael and Emma Chambers, both Polish immigrants, in Brockton in 1930 and 1940. They were indeed of modest means; Michael worked as a laborer, in a shoe factory in 1930 and in a junk yard in 1940. 

No leads on who “O.A.C.” might be. I have found an Olga A. Chambers listed in a directory index for Brockton, but there are no other details about her.

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SOURCES:

Fisher Pou Funeral Home Account No. 1939

“Seek Identity of Injured Boy Found on Road.” The Pensacola Journal, Tuesday, 15 October 1935, p. 1.

“Seek Identity of Dead Youth.” The Pensacola Journal, Wednesday, 16 October 1935, p. 1.

“Boy’s Identity Still Unknown.” The Pensacola Journal, Thursday, 17 October 1935, p. 1.

“Hitch-hiker Identified; Services Set Today.” The Pensacola Journal, 20 October 1935, p. 1.

“Services Are Conducted For Young Hiker.” The Pensacola Journal, 21 October 1935

“Unknown Youth is Given Burial.” The Pensacola Journal, 27 October 1935

“Hitch-hiker Identified; Body To Remain Here.” The Pensacola Journal, 27 November 1935, p. 1.

“Boy, Killed at Mobile, is Brockton Lad, 20.) The Boston Globe, 28 Nov 1935, p. 15.

Florida Certificate of Death No. 16407 and 16407 Supplemental, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.