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"SICK OF LIVING, UNWILLING TO DIE"

8/23/2016

9 Comments

 
Sometime in December 1966 the inside of a folding desktop revealed a morbid poem, discovered by a  janitor at the Riverside City College Library. In the preceding two months, Cheri Jo Bates was murdered in an alleyway beside the library on October 30th 1966, and a typed 'Confession' letter was mailed, most likely by her killer, on November 29th 1966. The 'Riverside Desktop Poem' began with the title "sick of living/unwilling to die." The rest of the poem can be viewed here.
PictureClick to enlarge
Questioned Documents Examiner Sherwood Morrill, who validated much of the Zodiac communication, would verify this poem as having handwriting consistent with the Zodiac Killer.
The fact this was discovered in the RCC Library, the question arose as to the origin of the poem.
The Zodiac Killer seemed to draw inspiration from many sources of yesteryear, such as in the 408 Cipher, which contained the phrase "the most dangerous animal," believed to be referring to a short story 'The Most Dangerous Game' by Richard Connell first published on January 19th 1924. The Mikado, paraphrased in his Little List' and 'Exorcist' letters, first viewed by the paying public in 1885, and possibly Charlie Chan created by Earl Derr Biggers in 1919. His costumed appearance at Lake Berryessa and his use of words predominantly used by the British, made some people believe he may have been connected to the theater, in addition to being a well read individual. The RCC Library no doubt was well stocked and may likely have held the answer.
This poem, apart from the very short Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967, was effectively the preceding correspondence of any substance before the 408 Cipher arrived, mailed on July 31st 1969, some 2 1/2 years later. So can any connection be forged.
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England, was an English statesman and historian, and here is a catalog of English literary manuscripts with one important section "Naturally a substantial portion of Clarendon's surviving manuscripts comprises his personal correspondence — both letters received by him from numerous correspondents and his own letters, written or signed by him, whether drafts, retained copies, or the letters actually sent. Among many notable examples are his letters written in August 1646 to William, Lord Widdrington, and to Sir John Berkeley, announcing the beginnings of his History of the Rebellion, and the letter he wrote on 12 November 1646, to Sir Edward Nicholas, describing his plan for the work and stating that he had already completed sixty sheets of it. Some of his letters, particularly those dating from the Civil War period, are wholly or partly in cipher or make use of pseudonyms in both salutations and signatures. The codes to sixteen such ciphers used by the Royalists are written out in Bodleian, MS Clarendon 94, and see also British Library,"

PictureEdward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
​I noticed a very interesting article on Zodiac Killer Ciphers, highlighting the 408 Cipher, entitled 'Throw the book at him, Part 3', which featured Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and a section of his text from a book called 'The life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, lord high chancellor of England: Volume 2':
Dave Oranchak, the foremost expert on the Zodiac ciphers wrote "So, only one piece of text, from a vast collection of eleven billion pieces of text, fit into this chunk of cipher text. A one in eleven billion chance seems to suggest some significance. But don’t be fooled by this. Just because this rare event occurred, doesn’t mean it is anything more than a simple coincidence. If we didn’t already know the real solution to the 408, how do we know that this chunk of old and obscure text isn’t the correct solution? "
To read the entire article visit here.
This is when I noticed another piece of obscure text from
Edward, Earl of Clarendon and flew back to the last piece of notable text from the presumed Zodiac Killer on the Riverside desktop, the title of which was "sick of living/unwilling to die."  
One of Edward Hyde's quotes was 
“They who are most weary of life, and yet are most unwilling to die, are such who have lived to no purpose, — who have rather breathed than lived.” http://izquotes.com/quote/385232.
​Although not perfect, I couldn't help wondering if the Zodiac Killer was recalling from memory, as he did with 'The Mikado.'
Taking "weary of life, unwilling to die" to "sick of living, unwilling to die," and then somehow incorporating another of Edward Hyde's quotes into the 408 cipher, as a form of link between the two.
As Dave Oranchak said "Just because this rare event occurred, doesn’t mean it is anything more than a simple coincidence," and it just may prove the case, that we are the 'The Most Pattern-Seeking Animal of All."  

Here is the text from 'The life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, lord high chancellor of England,' and the portion of text found in the 408 Cipher has been highlighted below. I am not sure whether the figure 239 was part of the original document, but character 239 in the 408 Cipher is part of this highlighted text and the start of the 15th line (Letter N).
​  

1665 PROJECT ABANDONED 239 "his blessed father and himself as a subject can do from his prince, a nobleman of the best quality, the best allied and the best beloved ; to remove at such a time such a person, and with such circumstances, from his counsels and his trust." The King was not of a mould to resist plain speaking like this, and when not supported by the presence of those who made him their tool and instrument, he seldom managed to make way against the vehemence of Clarendon's rebukes. It could hardly be pleasant for a monarch to be told that what he designs is base ingratitude; that his throne is in danger ; the reputation of his Court in evil savour ; that both require such support as they may be able to get from men of reverence and station, and that he would be mad to alienate any support from such men that may be vouch- safed to him ; yet this was the plain meaning of Clarendon's words. But Charles hesitated to go back, repulsed, to those who had made him their mouthpiece. He remained " rather moved and troubled than convinced." But fortunately Clarendon found an unexpected ally in the Duke of York, who had joined the King and himself at the interview, with the intention, it appears, of supporting the King's purpose. To him Clarendon restated his arguments, and urged him to do the best service to the King his brother " by dis- suading him from a course that would prove so mischievous to him." For this once, the Duke was converted to Clarendon's view, and "prevailed with the King to lay aside the thought of it. "l Once more the Court conspirators 1 Charles not rarely showed a respect for his brother's opinion which was not founded upon any high estimate of his abilities. Clarendon himself remarks this when commenting upon the failure of any attempt to arouse jealousy between the brothers. Charles, he says, " had a just affection for him, and a confidence in him, without thinking better of his natural parts than he thought there was just cause for ; and yet, which made it the more wondered at, he did often depart, in matters of the highest moment, from his own judgment to comply with his brother " (Life, iii. 62).
https://archive.org/stream/lifeofedwardearl02craiuoft/lifeofedwardearl02craiuoft_djvu.txt

9 Comments
Greg H.
8/23/2016 10:59:22 pm

It sort of brings to mind this idea: that if countless monkeys are steadily banging away on a keyboard, one will eventually reproduce Shakespeare. Certainly it's interesting that this connection with Edward Hyde may bear fruit in two places -- the Riverside poem and the matched text within the cipher.
The mention of the discovered Riverside desk poem in Dec. 1966 by a janitor makes me think of a the backlash of accusations that have come against 408 decipherer Don Harden. I wonder why it is that no one has sought to learn who this mysterious 'janitor' might have been. Has his name ever been released?..If Harden has become a suspect I wonder why no one has yet to point a finger at the janitor...
"Sick of living, unwilling to die"...If The Cure or Joy Division had not come after Zodiac's time, my first suspicion would be that he was a serious goth...Truthfully, though, I'm interested in learning what business Zodiac had at Riverside College. I think this desktop poem suggests he spent time there, either as student or employee. It seems strange for an opportunity killer to be lurking around the campus long enough that he'd decide to sit down at a desk and scribble some cryptic verse. The Riverside link could, in fact, hold the key to the entire saga

Reply
Richard
8/24/2016 12:34:58 am

Assuming Sherwood Morrill is correct and the Riverside murder is Zodiac, then the library seems a good place to start. I know Michael Morford likes Ross Sullivan for the crime. My problem with him is his height and weight, particularly his 6'3" size. But that isn't the greatest issue. The police brought 64 people back for the reconstruction in the library and fingerprinted them all and eliminated them all. But considering the greasy fingerprints found on Cheri Jo Bates Volkswagen Beetle, the first thing police would do, as they would do in any case is eliminate friends, family and associates first, before venturing further afield. This is standard practice in any murder investigation. Mike Morford has done good work on his suspect and this is not a slight on that work. But Ross Sullivan knew Cheri Jo Bates and worked in the library. A letter on Zodiac Killer Site Forum received from people who knew and worked at the college Sullivan back then thought he was weird and capable of being Cheri's murderer. So effectively we have a physically imposing man, lots of people were wary of, who knew Cheri Jo Bates and worked in the library. Sounds great. Therefore we have to assume the police thought this also and took his fingerprints, which evidently couldn't have matched the greasy prints found on the Volkswagen Beetle, when the distributor was tampered with. Of course they may not be the killer's, but it's highly likely, this killer wasn't a mastermind of deception. Bearing in mind the Confession letter style and syntax, it is very likely this person was under 25, inexperienced and likely on the extreme fringes of the circle of Cheri Jo Bates. You certainly don't complain about the 'brush off's' you experienced with her in a letter after just killing her, that would be immensely stupid. This was obviously a tactic, albeit a youthful one, to draw police towards Cheri's close circle, something I doubt Ross Sullivan would want to encourage if he were the killer. I know the police have made some mistakes in the Zodiac crime scenes, but I highly doubt Sullivan's fingerprints escaped being taken and compared to the ones left on Cheri's vehicle. In my opinion when you accumulate copious circumstantial 'evidence' on a suspect, it is actually key to know if they were even in the area of Vallejo, Benicia , Napa and San Francisco at the time of the attacks. The nearest Ross Sullivan can be placed is Santa Cruz, nobody can place him anywhere in or around Vallejo at the relevant times. This should be your first port of call, instead of lining his photograph alongside the Presidio sketch and claiming the best likeness yet. Eyewitness identification is unreliable and this sketch should always be taken with great caution as an indicator of our suspect description.

Reply
Greg H.
8/24/2016 11:24:23 am

Yeah, The Confession Letter is definitely quite unlike the style he came to adopt in his writings 1969 onward. It contains a far more violent, threatening and hateful tone. Even though he did try to incite fear in his main body of letters, it didn't come across as direct as in Confession '66. Sick, perhaps, but not insane. You make a good point about the author possibly trying to misdirect the police with his comment about the 'brush offs' he'd received. I had always assumed he was speaking symbolically about a general misogyny on his part, but read literally he does seem to be referring Cheri specifically. But sometimes I wonder if we overthink things. Often these killers are too caught up in their own madness they will give away easy clues that we subsequently as researchers view as bluffs..That's to say, maybe the line about her brush offs is entirely accurate and it was far too important and personal for him to exclude from the letter.
I agree about Sullivan.. Too massive a man to fit the descriptions of Zodiac...

Reply
Greg H.
8/24/2016 11:38:40 am

Do we know that the desk was found in the library or was it perhaps located on some other part of the campus? The fact that it took over a month to discover suggests to me it was hidden away somewhere. Had it been out in the open the investigators would have noticed it immediately, when they were doing their reconstruction and so on...Bit of a discrepancy there, I think. If it was stored away this suggests either the killer / author may have deliberately stuck it in a library closet with the hope that, as occurred, it would be dug up after the crime and augment his actions. Or alternatively, the desk could have come from another part of campus and the poem may have been written at any time--month prior perhaps--indicating the killer / author used the college regularly and was a student or employee...

Richard
8/24/2016 11:44:10 am

I believe it was found in a library storeroom.

Richard
8/24/2016 01:03:42 am

Also Ross Sullivan was a dishwasher at the time of his death, was living in an apartment in St Cruz at some point prior to 1969 and possibly up to 1974 and various mental issues. It appears he didn't exhibit the sort of traits of the Zodiac Killer, who although wasn't a master criminal, he had means, likely a standard 9-5 job, access to multiple weapons, likely vehicles, and the time and patience to write copious letters to the newspapers, something that Ross Sullivan from what I have read doesn't portray. The problem with this suspect, it is quite easy to find as many, if not more things that negate Sullivan as a suspect than incriminates him, which is a problem. When it all boils down, we have a man who knew Cheri Jo Bates, who was a bit unnerving, who left shortly after the Bates letters and ended up in Santa Cruz, and the story goes cold. This constitutes very little, in fact far less than Arthur Leigh Allen, who was subsequently ruled out.

Reply
Alex Lewis
8/24/2016 06:30:28 am

That very phrase has a personal meaning to Myself. A friend of mine who I was in school with I noticed had written this phrase 'Sick of Living, Unwilling to Die' on His Facebook profile. I remember almost messaging Him to ask was everything OK and why He had written this comment. I didn't bother after and it's always been something I regret not doing as a few day's later word came that He had passed away. I attended His funeral which made the news because He was a huge Dr. Who fan and His friends had constructed a Tadris Style Casket.

I never forget them pushing His blue Tardis Style casket right by Me at His funeral, really Hit home that someone so young My age (Late 20's at the time) who I knew had passed. I had last seen Him in one of the Local pubs a couple of Months before where we had a game of pool. His Name was Sebastian Wolfe Neale, He was Autistic but His talent for building replica things from movie sets was second to none. It was uncanny in how much Seb resembled Dr Who star David Tennant.

I remember walking into the Crematoria and instead of biblical verses being played on the speaker's system, or religious hymns, the Dr's words were being repeated over and over echoing around the packed room: "One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye" R.I.P Seb. my Friend.

Seb Made the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1191224/Dr-Who-lookalike-sent-Tardis-style-coffin.html

Reply
Greg H.
8/24/2016 11:11:47 am

Thanks for sharing that, Alex...Bittersweet story, and belated condolences on your friend.

Reply
Alex Lewis
9/11/2016 05:37:38 am

Thank you Greg, much appreciated.




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