University of Missouri Alis Ben Johns Urban Legend and Place Paper MUST BE 1.5-2.5 PAGESPrompt:This week, I want to really focus on how place influences a

University of Missouri Alis Ben Johns Urban Legend and Place Paper MUST BE 1.5-2.5 PAGESPrompt:This week, I want to really focus on how place influences a legend. In the case of Alis Ben Johns, or “Injun Joe,” the true events of his life were turned into a legend. How does place interact with this legend? Would the story be told differently if the events took place somewhere else? Why? For reference, here’s a map of the Ozarks. I add this because it’s a common misconception the Ozarks are only in Missouri. Even though the manhunt for Johns takes place in Missouri, it may be worth considering the boundaries of the Ozarks as a whole.RELEVANT READING ATTACHED SAVJjGE (IL)UTERACJES
Hunting the Realities
of Inju n Joe

J
Kevin Bill
Youngstown State University
ly April 1997, CBS rushed its 48 Hours newsmagazine crew to the
k hil ~ in southern Missouri to document the climax of Missouri’s
gestlJlaDhunt in recent history, a manhunt that had lasted more than 6
e-wra’clCingmonths while crisscrossing and backtracking through three
unties. [though the size of the manhunt-the number of law enforceni officials swelled to 400 at its peak-l-and its subject-36-year-old Alis
John~ a suspect in three brutal murders and a string of burglaries -perps arr~ted a snippet on national newscasts, the 48 Hours crew imago
a different slant on the story of a fugitive featured briefly on America’s
pJI Wanl~d,a story with a wider audience appeal.A scarce 7 minutes and
econds .into the broadcast that aired
. several months later, correspondent
oldDow’ ‘elicited, in an interview with Johns’ mother, the trope that perelilegthJmedia’s coverage of the manhunt. “He couldn’t read or write, so
e it-rough on him,” Johns’ mother remarked to Dow. “He can’t be
‘f he’s doing all what they sayhe’s done.” What fascinated the CBS
lists the most (and indeed, what intrigued members of both the local
tional media coveringthe chase), was not Johns’ remarkable ability to
the manhunt through his skills and cunningas a woodsman, but rather
.’
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362
SAVAGE (IL)UTERACIES,
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his lack of another more civilizedskill: “Johns has a sixth- or seventh.education and can’t read or write.”
Nicknamed “Injun Joe” because of his woodsmarts and an affi
for “playing Indian” as a child,Johns was caricatured immediately by,
media as the stereotypical hillbilly due to his inability to read or w
Becausethe assessment of literacyfrequently provides the framework
in which to evaluate cultural practices, Johns’ illiteracy also provide
obviouscultural marker of differencefor any reader of a newspaper, ali
ing Johns as cultural “Other”, The public obsession with literacy and its
in the creation and perpetuation of Otherness has been well docume
(see Giroux, 1987; Graff, 1987;Scribner, 1988; Street, 1995), For exam
in his essay “Representations of Literacy and Region: Narrating ‘Ano
America,”’ Mortensen (1994) analyzed popular literary sketches of the
teel Bluegrass to describe howpublic discourse narrates”another Arne
through its representations of literacy and region.’ This chapter exam
the modem day public discourseof newspaper and televisionjournalism
their narratives depicting Johnsas Ozark hillbilly, The nature of the “ske
es” differs, but the narration of “another America” through representati
of literacy and region remainsjust as ideologically insidious. What is Po
haps not so obvIOUSabout the use of the literacy trope to characterize Jo
are the differences in narrative representations of the manhunt between I
and national media coverage, The literacy trope was manipulated by v •
mediafor different purposes, each striving to reassure or reaffirm the val
of their individual audiences.’ This chapter explores what those distinc .
between local and national media representations reflect about public
courseand a culture that consumessuch narratives so voraciously.
Johns has a sixth- or seventh-grade education
and can’t read or writ
THE “REALITIES” OF INJUN JOE
On October 1, 1996, Alis Ben Johns shot and killed his former frie
Tommy Stewart, during an argument the two men were having 0
Stewart’s ex- and Johns’ currentgirlfriend, Beverly Guehrer. According
authorities, all three had been drinking at a party earlier in the evening; til
argument ensued after Stewart saw Johns riding in a car with his fo
girlfriend and confronted the two. Stewart’s body was found the next
lying beside the rural Pulaski County road. He had died from seven sho
includingone in the back of the head-fired from a .22-caliberrifle.
~63
After the murder, Johns avoided a warrant issued for his arrest by
u1askiCounty by disappearing into the ruggedOzarks forests. For the next
month!!;’Johns lived in the heavily wooded forests, crisscrossing from
iller, Oarrrden, and Morgan-counties and gaining a legendary reputation as
skilled3woodsman and survivalist. During that time, authorities say he
mmittell two more murders, a string of burglaries, a kidnapping at gunomt,ald~nring a gun when discovered duringa home burglary. Authorities
elieve olins killed his 57-year-old former employer, Leonard Voyles,and
tole his;lruck on February 27, 1997, while on the run from police. He is
alsoaccuSed of killingWilma Bragg, 69″and stealing her car. Her body was
ound in her home on March 9, I 997.1Both Voyles and Bragg were found
oundand-shot in the back of the head” with a .22-caliber rifle, the gun Johns
ortedlYhad masteredbefore he was 10 yearsold.
lllhorities say Johns survived by breaking into vacant cabins’and
ansackmg them for food, often cooking his food before retreating to the
woods. I”the largest manhunt in recent Missouri history, Johns managed to
de as JD;Ulyas 400 local law enforcement officers, national guardsmen,
ater p.atjolmen, military police, and members of the Missouri State
‘ghway,’Patrol, Missouri Department of Corrections, and Missouri Fire
arshal’l’·office. Officers on foot used search dogs to comb the heavily
ooded, Fdcky hill region, bringing in all-terrain vehicles and Humvees
en thefioads disappeared. Helicopters-and planes filled with human spoters and”‘infrared sensors hummed the skies overhead. Water patrolmen
earched the coves, docks, and lakehouses dotting the Lake of the Ozarks.
II
finally, on April 7, 1997, two state water patrol officers found
ohns hidomenwith a shot from his servicepistol.
‘~ a trial that lasted less than 3 days, a jury of seven women and
ve men ‘found Johns guilty of the first degree murder of Tommy Stewart.
Fria.ay,. January 22, 1999, the jury deliberated for less than 4 hours
fore sl;ntencing Johnsto the death penalty.’
For 6 months, many of the writers covering the Injun Joe manhunt
egan and ended their accounts with tales of his various “exploits” and
woodsInarts,” repeatedly contrasting those same woodsmarts with Injun
oe’s illiteracy and lack of schooling. The woodsmarts were presented not as
valued form of alternative knowledge, but as a marker of dlifference,proof
,a cu(tural degeneracy, and an assurance of a cultural chasm existing
tween all Injun Joes and the rest of society.It may have been Johns’ nicke, but it was the reporters who were constructing Injun Joe by writing
story.
by
·_———————~
SAVAGE (ll)L1TERACIES
364
365
BALL
s;
Johns has a sixth- or seventh-grade education
REPRESENTATION
AND IDENTIFICATION:
and can’t read or writ
“HE’S AN ANIMAL”
Invested in the story because of their membership in the Ozarks regio
sensitive to its representation, residents as well as local newspapers
their editors and reporters foundthemselves negotiating reflections of
selves in Injun Joe’s Otherness. Mentioned prominently in almost e
news story concerning the manhunt,Johns’ illiteracy thus served as an
ous and familiar marker for a lack of cultural sophistication and a jus’
non for dehumanizing him. Dominating the coverage of the manhunt
familiartrope functioned on multiple levels as a force for representation
identification for residents of the region being associated with Johns.
media’s representations of Johnsnot only reflect the values of the local
ture but reveal its members reconstructing themselves and their re •
throughlanguage ‘,Brodkey (1986)noted that through literacy tropes, li
membersof a society define the position and cultural roles of those dee
Illiterate.Use of the literacy trope in the Johns manhunt clearly dislalj;
Johns from the other residents. By excluding Johns, the trope provid
collective regional Identity for the area’s civilized citizens apart from •
the exclusion clearly distinguished them from Johns, who became cast
Other.
Reporters continued to figure Injun Joe in terms of his illiter
throughout Johns’ recovery in the hospital: “During his 8 days in the ho
tal, It was, who is illiterate, watched television news reports of his case
asked guards to read him newspaper accounts” (“Feeble,” p.
POignantly,It was reported that Johns saved a news clipping with his me
er’s photograph that accompanied the interview with her. Because he wou
be unable to read that interview himself, however, the clipping represent
prumtrve tahsman more than a personal momento.
Gee (1996) noted that although language is a large part of
makes us human and what distinguishes us from other creatures on e
literacy has seemed to many people to be what distinguishes one kind
person from another kind of person. “If language is what makes us h
Gee wrote, “literacy, it seems, is what makes us civilized” (p. 26). Us
the trope reassured local readersthat their civilization and local culture
mtact while reaffirming their civilized values and regional identity. At
same time, the trope. served as a public declaration to the nation, defmill
Johns as a different kind of personand not of their kind. This public deft
of the regron carries implied issuesof race and class. “Johns may live wi: •
region,” the representations seem to state, “but he is not of our classu
perhaps not evellof our race.” By continually stigmatizing Johns as the
iterate:fubject of a statewide manhunt, the media branded him as culturalinferior and uncivilized-renaming and refiguring him instead as Injun
e, as savage-with
his degeneracy defined by his lack of literacy.
ntually, the trope reduced Johns from a person to a subhuman level.
ed on interviews with local residents, an article in a local newspaper
ed the headline: “Like an Animal.” from a bar just down the street from
here Johns used to live, one resident offered his advice for the authorities
searchingfor Johns: “He’s just an animal. He’s thinking like a deer, thinking
. e an animal. … They need to think like a deer.”
Other journalists soon adopted this animal theme, weaving it into
theirstories and the folklore of Injun Joe itself.In another article describing
al reactions, one resident described himself as an “experienced outdoors” (in contrast to johns as “woodsman”) who had lived in a cave for sevralyears in Colorado. “He’s probably using deer skins to cover himself and
over his scent,” the outdoorsman deduced. “That kind of odor is strong
nough to throw off the dogs. Also, if he knows anything about plants,
ich he. probably did, he knows which ones he can eat” At no point in the
iele di,d the reporter address any questions about why this man had lived
a cave’ for several years, choosing instead to regard his experiences as a
urce of authority. The choice of terms to differentiate between the two
en is especially revealing, as if the shift from woodsman to outdoorsman
eflecte4 a refinement of culture that elevated him above his less “civilized”
ounterpart. Normally a marginalized figure, this outdoorsman found himself momentarily valued for his background and experience hiding in the
ocds aIld living off the land. A way oflife that would typically have stigatized him as an outcast in this case served as a credential, enabling him to
eak authoritatively and to pronounce judgment on Johns.
“They made a big deal about that raw rabbit he supposedly ate,” the
outdoo~sman added. “I’ve eaten raw groundhog and raw porcupine. If
ou’re desperate enough, you can eat anything. Shoot, he’s nothing but a
ild animal himself.” His willingness to condemnJohns’ behavior as that of
animal illustrates the ways in which authorityand credibility were crafthy the media to facilitate Johns’ representation.
Like many local residents, one woman mourned the idyllic days
efore the manhunt intruded on their lives and their town was a wonderful
ot for sharing a drink with friends. “You drankbeer by the gallons and the
bOgeymanwasn’t sitting out there waiting for you like he is now,” she remiisced, By early April, local residents had clearly ceased to think of Johns
human. He was a savage, a bogeyman, and the media’s representations
Aect’that perception.
366
SAVAGE (IL)UTERACIES
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An interview with AlbertaJohns in the Jefferson City Post-Tribune
a regional newspaper centered in the state capital, revealed some of th
underlyingracial and class tensions. Condensed from the Associated Pr
tbe story’s headline read: “Johns’ mother says her son ‘cracked ull.
Alberta’s first quote, one of the few quotes included in this article, depic
her son as “cracking up” after he was denied his monthlydisability ck
“I don’t know if he cracked up or what. It doesn’t sound like him, killia
peopleexecution-style the waythey say. I can’t picture him doing it. I
Joe was a good shot and could shoot you between the eyes from aero s
room ifhe wanted. Why wouldhe do it execution-style?”
The authors and editorsof this particular story relegated the t2
of the checks and their origin in a slight mental retardationfrom early chi!
hood seizures to a paragrapb along with other seemingly trivial backgro
information. Instead, most of the article was devoted to the colorful foIkJo
of Injun Joe, how his father was one-half Cherokee and how, as a chil
Johns began learning wilderness tricks that would baffle police durinJ
l60-day manhunt. Such a focus diverts attention from any question 0
causes of and social responsibility for Johns’ illiteracy and’subse$1e
behaviorwhile mflatmg the racial stereotypes of the Indians and sava
dimestore pulp fiction.
“Sometimes Joe wouldcrawl on his stomach through the woods
sneakup on deer,” his mother recalled. “He kind offavored the Indians.
did tbe rain dance sometimes when we had a garden and it wouldn’t .
couldhide in the water and breathethrough a reed.”
“He’d try anything,” she added with a laugh. “I can’t get over ho
he could evade so many people,” Alberta’s evident pride in her son is fol
lowed immediately by a depictionof her life as an abused spouse and.he
work in low-skill jobs since the age of 15. The parade of details surroundin
her beatings and mistreatment at the hands of her husband,coupled with h
unstinting labor in menial tasks,types her as representative of a lower SOCI
class, SOmeoneeligible for readers’ pity but not their sympathy or empath
She isjust too different from her readers.
Positioned strategically as the last paragraph at the end of the
cle is the sentence, “Johns has a sixth- or seventh-grade education and
read or write, his mother said.” Seemingly trivial and almost an
thought,.the line reminds readersof the cultural differenceseparating th
from Injun Joe. The tr?pe comforted them, raising them above Inj
and there IS nothing trivial or careless about its presence or positioning”!
the article to elicit those responses.These final words speak of anirreconc’
able Otherness, a difference stemming from and founded on litera
(indeed:Injun Joe would not even be able to read the news stories prill
abouthimself). Yet even these words offer inherent contradictions. Wo
367
a sixth- or seventh-grade education enable an individual to read and write, at
ast on a basic level? What kind of formal education did he have if he
could not read or write? The newspapers uniformly ignored these troubling
inconsistencies, avoiding messy distinctions by simply labeling Johns as
‘illiterate” or as “a barely literate Ozarks woodsman.”
Johns has a sixth- or seventh-grade
education and can’t read or write.
WHISKEY AND BEATINGS (OTHER DETAILS ARE SCARCE)
~
othe: prime example of the public discourse within which Injun Joe was
itnultalleously being portrayed and constructed by outsiders-by
reporters
om outside the region-is the interview with Johns’ mother conductedby
taff
iter from the Kansas City Star in mid-April while the manhunt’s
oosewas tightening.
. The visual layout of the front-page story creates a powerful covert
btext.Foregrounded beneath the headline, “He is my son, my baby son,”
a close-up of Alberta’s tearful face. FrlllfllingAlberta in the background is
e flln¥!Y, room wall covered with pictures of Native Americans, coyotes,
f!ldpanthers. The writ~rmakes a point of mentioning that Alberta weepsfor
er son “alone except for her collection of cheap art, ceramic animals and a
ew family photos,” The patronizing and condescending photo and story
. deedmake the wall hangings appeart’cheap,’ tawdry, and lower class. The
ubjeclS:of these wall hangings-the
Native Americans, coyotes, and panerS—;jU1d
their inclusion in both. picture and text contribute to the deliberateconstruction oflnjun Joe and his family as wild, as untamed, as animals.
In the upper right-hand comer are the cliched “before” and “after”
otographs of Johns. On the left, a small picture Alberta keeps in a box
ith other family photographs shows her son as a young boy, his hair
o pe~ short, posing stiffly as if for a school photo. Although he appears
co~ortable in the neatly buttoned dress shirt, he smiles at the camera,his
Ii s curled slightly at the edges to reveal evenlyspaced baby teeth.
. f’ On the right, the more recent photo used by police in their search,
y ~d out of focus, captures a contrast of time. In this photo, the barehested, unshaven Johns slouches with his eyes shifted off to one side, his
ead h~ered
down into his shoulders as if for protection. His hair is long
d tangled and greasy, and a black baseball cap sits askew on top of his
d. His lips are half-open, frozen somewhere between a smirk and a
urse.’This second picture captures not only a contrast of time but a contrast
f cultures: Juxtaposed with the criminal pose, the icon of childhood inno-
SAVAGE (IL)L1TERACIES
368
369
BALL
cence documents difference visually, illustrates Otherness, and makes
identityof Injun Joe that much more menacing, evil, and frightening.
Beneath the picture of Alberta in a lower right insetbox is a harri
picture of Montana McGowan, Alis’ sister, her eyes shifteddown and aWll
from the camera, with her quote in bold: “He was all right on the beer, b
once he got on the whiskey, look out. If he was liquored up, anything
possible.” McGowan’s quote and shifty-eyed stare completethe subtext
the entire story, painting a garish picture of Injun Joe as hillbilly, alcoholi
and cultural degenerate, “We all knew the woods well growing
McGowanadded later in the sameinterview, “but he lived in them.”
And everyone knows thatreal humans do not live in the woods.
The staff writer chose to lead his feature story with an often rep
ed tale of the 14-year-old Johns making himself invisible under a bush;
hide from the sheriff. The writerthen summed up Johns’ entire early’
•
one brief paragraph. Tied together by ellipses are the sickly 4-yearstricken with seizures, the IO-year-oldwho wept every night after sc
because of knowledge beyond his grasp and mocking peers, and a teena
who coped by fleeing into the timberand away from humans.
Continued on the back page, is the explanation of how Johns c
home from the hospital after his seizures wetting himself and u’nable t
himself.After that, he was alwaysa slow leamer, a condition on whic
peers preyed. The feature writer apologizes to the reader for,the pauc’
detail at this point; after all. heexplained, “family history is orlll, and
are scarce,”No follow-up. No explanation.
Alberta Johns’ life story is portrayed in the same folklorish tr
tion as her son’s under the boldfacesubheading “Whiskey and beatings!
a youngwoman with an eighth-gradeeducation, Alberta married Alis Jo.
a member of an Ozarks family that for 100 years had named one boy
each generation Alis. Her husband drank whiskey, carried a pistol in
boot, and demanded that Albertagive birth to a child each year. Ale
on most nights he would get drunk and beat her, often threatening III
her and throw her body in a…
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