Unanswered questions still surround Jerome.

To the Editor:

With the well-deserved publicity given the secret of Jerome by the film of the same name by Phil Comeau one local historian had said in this paper that there is no mystery concerning this Jerome. While it is true that we know how and why he was deposited on the beach at Sandy Cove there still remains a while lot of unanswered questions that this historian does not address and that no one has so far successfully solved.

So far no one has been able to determine the nationality of the castaway, nor his real name, for no doubt he had a name. No one has definitely established whether or not he could speak. It did appear that he said five or six words but only when caught off guard and witnesses of the time have all said that he went in great rages when he realized he had been tricked into divulging any information. And there is the well authenticated visit by two well-dressed ladies to Jerome at Didier Comeau’s at St. Alphonse. One eye-witness account was by George Blackadar and reported by Blauveldt in the Vanguard and the other was by a relative of the family. It seems that these two ladies closeted themselves with Jerome in his room and that an animated conversation went on in which Jerome actively participated. On their way out the two women did not say anything to the Didiers but seemed to say to one another in a foreign language: “He is well here let’s leave him here” or words to that effect.

And there is also the sealed letter given to Charles, son of Didier Comeau, with instruction to give to Jerome. This letter was from a woman from the southern states. When Charles returned home he did give the sealed envelope to Jerome who examined it carefully then threw it into the stove beside which he always sat in cold or hot weather.

To me it seems that there are still so many unexplained aspects of the Jerome story to make it a compelling mystery. If any historian has solutions to the above unexplained questions I and many others would be glad to receive them. Until then Jerome remains a mystery.

J.A. Deveau
Salmon River