Metcalf, Max Edward

Date of Last Contact: October 7, 1958

From: Princeton, Green Lake County

Age: 33 Years

DOB: 3 AUG 1925

Sex: Male
Height: 5' 5" - 6' 3" (65 - 75 Inches)
Weight: 190 - 220 lbs
Race: White

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Blue

Clothing: a blue Air Force shirt and Wrangler brand blue jeans. Maroon canvas shoes.

Parents: Walter & Jessie Hall Metcalf

Exclusions: 58

Details of Disappearance

The Portage Daily Register, Fri, Jan 23, 1959, Page 4, stated Metcalf was from the Town of Brooklyn, near Green Lake, 8 miles east of Princeton. NOTE - THIS IS NOT THE CITY OF BROOKLYN IN DANE COUNTY.

Left home after speaking with his wife. He stated he was going to a local tavern for a few beers. He never returned. His Dodge pick up truck was seen the same night between 11p-12a in Oshkosh parked behind a building. Some articles reported he was deeply in debt (in fact, the farm was being sold at auction) and others said he had no such problems. The Websleuth's thread has all the articles. 

The Green Lake sheriff Leo Bartol reported him missing to the newspaper but “didn’t know the details.”  The local sheriff was in the middle of an election campaign and did not take a great interest in the case; he was defeated and the new sheriff had even less interest in the case, this could all be related to an underlying assumption that the authorities may have thought it was a simple domestic dispute.  The family always thought there was other business going on.  No finger prints were ever taken from the truck.  Everyone knew that the parking brake on the truck didn't work and so it was never used.  When the truck was found on a street in Oshkosh the parking brake had been set. The Green Lake sheriff got a tip that a part of the farm had been newly dug. But they were “too busy” to get to it. (Seriously, if someone did kill Max, they could have moved the body because of this warning). The "grave" was about a mile NW of the home, and interestingly, it had stones laid on top of it. It was by the roadside. They found nothing directly under it. 

Max employed a hired man on his farm, Clarence Johnson.  A few days before Max's disappearance he and Max had a very vocal argument, it is not clear what the topic was.  Also just before Max's disappearance he had taken in a whole barn load of hay for the winter.  The day after Max disappeared it was discovered that nearly all of the hay had been stolen, an entire barn's worth, only the front row was still there to make the barn look like it was full. Again, there may have been no follow up to this theft, however Clarence Johnson was arrested on 6 Feb 1959 for a theft at the Metcalf farm. If it was for stealing the hay, it is not clear. The auction ad also states that for sale were 60 ton baled hay, 225 bales of hay and 200 bales of straw. That's a lot of hay for it having all been stolen except for one row.

Action

Have NaMus update owner.

More Information

Whereabouts Still Unknown

Websleuths thread

NaMus

Doe Network

His FindaGrave