NY NY - David Mines, 41, New York City, Dec 22, 1961

[Murkywaters]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Mines was last seen while enroute by bus from New York to Toronto, Canada. His luggage arrived in Toronto but he was not on board. The bus had a scheduled stop in Syracuse.

 

[Murkywaters]

Demographics

Missing Age: 41 Years
Current Age: 99 Years
First Name: David
Middle Name--
Last Name: Mines
Nickname/Alias--

Sex: Male
Height: 5' 7" - 5' 8" (67 - 68 Inches)
Weight: 190 lbs
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last Contact: December 22, 1961
NamUs Case Created: October 31, 2018
Last Known Location Map
Location: New York, New York
County: New York County

Circumstances of Disappearance: Mines was last seen while enroute by bus from New York to Toronto, Canada. His luggage arrived in Toronto but he was not on board. The bus had a scheduled stop in Syracuse.

Physical Description
Hair Color: Black
Head Hair Description: black hair straight, widows peak short
Body Hair Description --
Facial Hair Description: shaven, peyos straight and short
Left Eye Color: Hazel
Right Eye Color: Hazel
Eye Description --

Clothing and Accessories
Clothing: was orthodox Jew so may have worn hat with kippah underneath it and a suit, he would have tzitzis on, bag of his clothing was recovered with his possessions which included his religious study/prayer books
Clothing: Grey plaid overcoat, grey suit, white shirt, red tie, black shoes.
Eyewear: round eye glasses dark frame

 

[dotr]

Adding this post from a new Ws member, HelpmefindDavidMines who has a connection with the missing man..
Meet & Greet for New Members
"We r missing our Uncle since 1961. He possibly had amnesia as reported by a relative of his and is also in syracuse post saying that. He was on medical pass from Brooklyn State Hospital on way to visit and stay for time with his sister (her birthday also) with a gift which was recovered for her 2 year old. Luggage arrived, not him. My husband's uncle. I woke up one morning feeling his presence although never met him, went to computer and found NOTHING, not even a mention of his missing although reported to police in person and letters to all the stations by family .....flyers everywhere.... I knew hardly anything and although reported to police, we have police paperwork (some) they could never find his file and didn't have him as a missing person which he has been,so it was all screwed up! no movement on ss supposedly....all his bros and sis and mom suffered not knowing. His move lived another 50 years thinking of him daily, they lived together. We are the many neices and nephews who have no answers. Was Never married, no kids, olive complexion light, smoked cigarettes, was a Jewish cantor, orthodox. He was pious. On the bus a priest was sitting next to him who was a witness. Family hired attorney's office (detective we believe) the trail was cold they wrote family.....at least where is his body or is he freakily alive today at 99? David Mines on Namus. You can write me with info.....he possibly got off at Buffalo, left home in Brooklyn to go on trip. The bus was rerouted, he had called his mom by phone and said he was ok."

HelpmefindDavidMines, Yesterday at 12:04 AM

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

tips and info can be sent to NAMUS site. Witnesses say there was a priest sitting next to him on the Greyhound Bus. He was missing on the 21st at 8:30 pm, not the 22nd. Do not know name of the priest and would not publisize that publicly either.

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

if anyone would like to assist in the search, helping me that would be great

 

[dotr]

if anyone would like to assist in the search, helping me that would be great

How/where will you search?
Wondering if David somehow got on a bus for Montreal or the NY Catskills, where there is a large O.J. community?
Any chance that Mr Mines wanted to leave his religious life behind ?
imo, speculation.

History of Borscht Belt Hotels and Bungalow Colonies in the Catskills
"As geography, the Catskills are a mountainous region of southeastern New York State. As synecdoche, they are a now-vanished way of life. For your parents and grandparents, the Catskills from the 1920s through the 1970s was the Borscht Belt, the Jewish Alps, “Solomon” County, the summer place to be if you were Jewish.

A blurb on the home page of the Catskills Institute says it well: “New Yorkers hungry for mountain air, good food, and the American way of leisure came to the mountains by the thousands, and by the 1950s, more than a million people inhabited the summer world of bungalow colonies, summer camps, and small hotels"
Jews in Montreal - Wikipedia

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

How/where will you search?
Wondering if David somehow got on a bus for Montreal or the NY Catskills, where there is a large O.J. community?
Any chance that Mr Mines wanted to leave his religious life behind ?
imo, speculation.

History of Borscht Belt Hotels and Bungalow Colonies in the Catskills
"As geography, the Catskills are a mountainous region of southeastern New York State. As synecdoche, they are a now-vanished way of life. For your parents and grandparents, the Catskills from the 1920s through the 1970s was the Borscht Belt, the Jewish Alps, “Solomon” County, the summer place to be if you were Jewish.

A blurb on the home page of the Catskills Institute says it well: “New Yorkers hungry for mountain air, good food, and the American way of leisure came to the mountains by the thousands, and by the 1950s, more than a million people inhabited the summer world of bungalow colonies, summer camps, and small hotels"
Jews in Montreal - Wikipedia

No, he was seen on the greyhound bus bound for Toronto which posessions arrived on. A priest sat next to him according to witnesses and family waited to greet him at the bus stop in Toronto that Thur. They also went back again on Sun after shabbos to greet him. This was December, not the summer! He didn't have money, he was in the hospital from a poor family, didn't drive and walked with a shuffle. he possibly was a victim of amnesia.

 

[dotr]

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13144919/the_poststandard/

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

please can someone find and post for me here Brooklyn Daily Eagle pg 12 Thur July 19 1962 article on him stating Rabbi David Mines Still Missing and the previous one and any in any jewish newspapers please to complete our collection of clues for his neices and nephews please?All we have is the above and we know there is more, the police lost their file so it is all helpful. You never know. He is my husbands uncle...

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

Here, easier for public viewing....thanks, sleuths

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

Just found this, no one in our family mentioned that there was a seen and heard by a Rabbi Chaplain of him....just that he was missing etc. etc...other details. However, my mother i law, David's sister was close Irene Kloss, publisher of both the brooklyn eagle and the jewish press...they might have even have known him, you never know. So I know the information should be accurate.

 

[dotr]

Just found this, no one in our family mentioned that there was a seen and heard by a Rabbi Chaplain of him....just that he was missing etc. etc...other details. However, my mother i law, David's sister was close Irene Kloss, publisher of both the brooklyn eagle and the jewish press...they might have even have known him, you never know. So I know the information should be accurate.

Very interesting, if i read the article correctly, it seems that Rabbi Mines was seen nearly a month after he went missing from the train to Toronto, Ont. in Dec. 22/1961 - back in Brooklyn, NY. Jan 19 1962.

 

[alb1on]

It is always useful to get information straight when looking into cases. That is the only reason I am following up what may seem like minor matters. Firstly, am I right in thinking that David Mines was the brother of Irene Klass (rather than Kloss), the wife of Rabbi Sholom Klass who founded the Jewish Press? Or am I misunderstanding #12 and David Mines sister was close to Irene Klass rather than being Irene Klass? The reason this is important is that Irene Klass was Polish and if David Mines was her brother this would eliminate some US records.

Secondly, do you have a birth date and birth location for David Mines (and names of parents)? This helps as records often hold such information and it helps to distinguish between individuals with the same name.

Thirdly, is Mines an anglicised name and, if so, what was the name before change? This is because alternative names sometimes are used and appear in records and reports.

Fourth (not a question). I think it was Rabbi Solomon Shapiro who saw him (rather than a Rabbi Solomon Chaplain). Rabbi Shapiro was chaplain of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Manhattan.

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

Thank u for any looking up u may do for us as we don't have subscriptions/experience, our Uncle David Mines sister Ruth Selevan was close with Irene Klass who was editor/publisher Jewish Press and Brooklyn Eagle something like that according to our historian relative....David Mines was ashkenazi obviously, born in USA likely in Brooklyn NY born may 6 1920 we think....he is in the census, brother Zecharyia Mines and has two more sisters aside from Ruth, there are newspaper notices in Brooklyn asking him to call home, his mother is ill........repeated requests......the Rabbi Solomon Shapiro was previously the chaplain I believe maybe for shorter time at the Kings County Hospital which amazingly was in like crown heights nearish where David's mom lived and his sister who lived on Balfour and Mom lived in an apartment I think on President Street. It is strange for perhaps him to be seen near his family......since it was in Brooklyn in the article where he was seen and heard. Perhaps he was at that hospital....and no one recognized him, he with his amnesia very possibly, he was known to be depressed and if he had shock treatments, that tampers with your memory especially close to the date of the sessions!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

Please do look him up and let me know, please send to me for our family...missing the Jewish Press article, the notices pleading for him to call home and ANY others....

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

DNA hasn't uncovered him either....

 

[Susikatze]

Hi! I was just invited to this conversation as I am an observant Jew as well.
I have to read more into the details of the disappearance.
It is a very old cold case and it will be really tough to find more evidence.
I still hope some more information can be dug up somewhere.

David must have gotten off the bus at some point, does anybody have more information on that? I guess a man on psychiatric medication and suffering from intermittent amnesia (if i understand his condition correctly) could easily get lost in the wrong place.
We had a few recent similar cases, actually i remember one of a frum young man in Toronto 2 or 3 years back or so. He also had a medical condition and disappeared into thin air after leaving a hospital. He was never found I think... and that is a very recent disappearance in the cell phone era...

I am afraid Davids case will not be an easy one.
I have no details but I doubt he wanted to leave the frum (observant) lifestyle.
He was supposed to arrive erev shabbos, correct? When he did not show up, his family went to look for him at the bus station again on sunday?

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

yes, his family showed up at the station Thur. evening and on Sunday, he was expected Thur. evening, his brother took the greyhound up also from NYC to Buffalo to find him..it is so sad, his sister he was going to visit...it was her birthday on Fri, he would have stayed for shabbos, a doll his mom wanted him to give his sisters 2 year old which was recovered...supposedly according to the Brooklyn Eagle he was in Brooklyn according to the Rabbi Chaplain.....who spoke and saw him. per Brooklyn Eagle article but no one in our family mentioned that, only that he was missing......tips were sent to Jewish Press but they are not answering me nor recovering their article on it.....hoping they would....where did the tips of the day go????? NYC police claim they lost the folder and the upstate police, who knows about them if they retained anything! I haven't given up but I feel so alone in this search!!!!!!!!!

 

[HelpmefindDavidMines]

Actually David had a relative in Toronto, no one knows if someone pushed him into the train or not...that is how he died, that was the family David was on his way to...