The Nation - News from Dec. 29, 1986

Boston police were investigating the death of a homeless man whose clothes caught fire as he was trying to keep warm in near-freezing weather. The man, identified as John (Dukey) Griffin, 55, was known to Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, whose teen-aged son had given him food. Police said that Griffin had taken shelter under a staircase behind a bathhouse on Dorchester Bay, and may have lit a cigarette or built a fire there. His body was found about 40 feet from the water. Boston shelters have been inadequate for a growing homeless population this winter.