Tall Tale or True Story: John the Baptist

You may think you know the story of John the Baptist from another book, possibly from Oscar Wilde’s Salome, possibly from somewhere else. You would be wrong. This is the story of the for real, for real, for real, bona fide, John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was born in Minnesota on April 4, 1880. At the age of 18, with the onset of the Spanish-American War, he was organized and mustered into service as a Private in Company A, 15th Regiment of the Minnesota Infantry. Along with 1,280 of his fellow Minnesotans, on July 9, 1898 he was sent to Camp Meade in Pennsylvania and then to Augusta, Georgia. Nine months later, he was mustered out of service without ever participating in any fighting.  

The Baptist was reorganized and re-mustered when the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Speculation abounds about what happened to him during the Great War. Was he gassed? Was he shell-shocked? Did he meet Lt. Col. John C.  Greenway? Did Greenway recruit the Baptist to come to Ajo and work for his New Cornelia Mining Company?

Topo map of John the Baptist Mountains

Whatever happened on the battlefields of Europe, in 1919, the Baptist, now discharged from the army with a pension, arrived in Ajo. He set up a "mechanic’s shop" also known as a junkyard in Ajo and made his new home about 10 miles south of the townsite on a desert trail near Bandeja Well and Cameron Tank. This was John Cameron land.

John Cameron was one of the largest ranchers in the Ajo area. His dominions covered most of what is now Bureau of Land Management land south of Ajo and parts of the current Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. In lieu of rent, the Baptist fixed well pumps and did other odd mechanical jobs for the ranch.

In his new desert home, John the Baptist was free to do as he pleased. He let his hair grow out, he went without a shirt, his wardrobe consisted of a brassiere, a gunnysack loincloth and a pair of sneakers and he sported a full beard, complete with mustache. Wait, a brassiere!? Why was John the Baptist wearing a bra? Well, he told people it was in place of a brace that he had to wear due to a gunshot wound he received in the chest during the Spanish-American war. We know that the Baptist’s Company never left Georgia, so this seems like a tall tale. Maybe he just liked it. Although having worn brassieres in Ajo’s 100 plus degree heat this seems like an equally unlikely explanation. Maybe, like many of us, he found it a convenient place to keep things like money, scraps of note paper, or even small nuts and bolts since his gunnysack loincloth probably did not have pockets? Yes, that must be it, let’s go with that.

To while away the time, the Baptist kept himself busy with some interesting pursuits…

He talked to the animals, the quail, the jackrabbits, the regular rabbits and even the rattlesnakes. Ajo historian, Charles J. Gaetjens, tells the story of a visit, an announced visit, lest we forget that unannounced visits were met with a shotgun shell, to John the Baptist’s home. Gaetjens was looking for ideas to construct a large rainwater tank for desert animals in Ten Mile Wash just east of Ajo. While he and the Baptist were talking, a giant rattlesnake slithered across Gaetjens foot and coiled up next to the Baptist. The Baptist smiled and said, “Relax, he won’t hurt you unless I tell him to.”

He was a huge fan of Joe Louis. A Louis fight was the only thing that could draw him out of his refuge and into the big, wide world. He could not go to all the Louis fights on a government pension, but he could drive to Phoenix and cach a flight to the prize fights. On June 22, 1937, the Baptist was in Chicago to see Louis become World Heavyweight Champion with an 8th round KO of James J. Braddock. His next trip to see Louis, to New York City on September 27, 1950, saw him return to Ajo a dejected and disappointed fan when Louis lost his title to Ezzard Charles in a 15 round decision.

The Baptist's plan for Aviola

He built a racing car. It had a Buick body on an old chassis and wheels. The car was named Aviola, possibly after Gaius Calpurnius Aviola. Aviola was one of the Roman consuls in AD24, during the time of another story about John the Baptist. The Baptist claimed that Aviola, the car not the consul, covered the dirt road from Tucson to Ajo at 75 mph. Ultimately his plan was to take Aviola to the Indianapolis Speedway and beat the speed record set by Barney Oldfield. This plan never actually materialized, but Aviola did allow the Baptist to make the 10-mile trip into Ajo and get his mail in approximately 8 mins, which is significantly faster than walking.

Bras, cars and rattlesnakes kept the Baptist’s mind active and made for great stories, but man cannot live on entertaining stories alone. Food, apparently, was a matter of indifference to John the Baptist. Who of us has not gotten so engrossed in building a car or talking to a snake that we have missed lunch and are about to miss dinner if we do not stop and pay attention to it right now? Who has not scarfed down a cookie or a bit of bread and cheese and called it good so they can go back to tinkering with an engine or petting a jackrabbit? John the Baptist suffered from these very human struggles. So much so that on July 1, 1861 he died of malnutrition weighing just 75lbs.

“When you gotta eat, eat, don’t talk…or tinker…or write…or…”

John the Baptist's grave at the Ajo Cemetery

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Is this a TALL TALE or a TRUE STORY? You decide in the comments below......