Peeples, Rudolph Van – d. 1962

PEEPLES

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:28

'Unknown’ Marker Placed on Grave Of Rail Victim
There is a small steel marker on a new grave out at the County Home cemetery Wednesday, marked simply: “Unknown.”
The marker was put there Tuesday evening after the Rev. Philip Biblehimer read a commitment service over the remains of a man found badly mangled Monday on the Rock Island Railroad tracks near Metz.
The minister, undertaker and his assistants, and several men from the home formed the burial party, held after two days of intensive search and investigation had failed to establish either the man’s identity or the exact manner of his death.
Meanwhile, agencies concerned, including the Jasper County sheriff’s office, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, railroad officials and other agencies continued to seek a name to replace the caption on the marker.
Fingerprints sent to Washington, D.C., thus far have not been identified nor have officials been able to establish the name of Rudolph Van Peeples as belonging to the dead man or someone else. An envelope addressed to Van Peeples was found on the body and is virtually the only clue.
A team of pathologists made an extensive examination of the remains Tuesday with inconclusive results.
Source: Newton Daily News; May 23, 1962, page 1

Killed On Tracks
Identify Body Of Dead Man
A grave out at the burial plot by the Jasper County Home, now bearing a marker stating simply: “unknown” may get a new marker soon, Sheriff Ray Gaylor revealed Thursday after receiving a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C.
The grave is that of the man whose dismembered body was found on the Rock Island Railroad tracks south of Newton on May 21.
The victim’s fingerprints were taken during an autopsy performed at a Newton undertaking establishment and, when a check of Iowa sources turned up negative, were sent to Washington.
After extensive research, the FBI matched the fingerprints with a name found on an envelope near the body, that of Rudolph Van Peeples.
The man was a native of Estill, S.C., 49, and has no known survivors, according to the FBI report. Identification was made from an arrest report in New Orleans dated in January, 1954.
Source: Newton Daily News; June 7, 1962, page 1

Several Relatives There
Train Victim’s Mother Calls From Estill, S.C.
A radio report from information put on the wires by the Daily News Thursday, has produced a long-distance telephone call to Sheriff Ray Gaylor from Mrs. Van Peeples, mother of the previously un-identified victim of a railroad accident near Newton May 21.
Previous investigation, which had revealed the man’s identity, had indicated no known relatives. The mother, who still resides in Estill, south Carolina, told the sheriff that there also are several cousins of the dead man living in the Estill area. One, Earl Peeples, operates the Peeples Funeral Service in Hampton, S.C.
Mrs. Peeples told Gaylor that Van was the dead man’s middle name, not a prefix to his surname of Peeples. His father’s name was Van, and the rail victim was given the names of Rudolph Van.
According to the phone conversation, the father had died only two days before the date of the son’s tragic death in Newton, and was buried about the same time as the son.
Identification of the body here was established from comparison of fingerprints with those in the files of the New Orleans police, showing an arrest there in 1954 for a minor misdemeanor.
Peeples’ body, dismembered and very mangled, was discovered by a Rock Island engineer early on the morning of May 21. Autopsy revealed that it had been on the tracks for approximately 14 hours when discovered.
The body of Rudolph Van Peeples was interred in the burial plot at the Jasper County Home after the autopsy in Newton, and a marker placed over the grave saying: “Unknown.”
According to Mrs. Peeples’ conversation with the sheriff, a member of the family chanced to hear an account of the identification on a local radio newscast, and informed the mother.
Mrs. Peeples told Gaylor that the family was discussing whether to remove the body to South Carolina for a reburial and would inform Jasper County officials when a decision had been reached.
Source: Newton Daily News;; June 8, 1962, page 1
Found on findagrave.com that he was disinterred and reburied at Lawtonville Cemetery in Estill, Hampton Co, SC