RAY: I failed to mention last week that this puzzler was submitted by someone named Michael LeWitt, and he's from somewhere out in AOL land. If the answer turns out to be bogus, we'll give you his full e-mail address.

Jimmy was born at the exact midpoint of the century, and died before the new century began. He was a teenager when Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States, right after the assassination.

He was born in the same house he died in... though he died in a different state than the one in which he was born. The house was not moved, and, in fact, was in the exact same location for the entire century.

Where was he born, and where did he die?

TOM: We know you want us to believe that this took place around 1950.

RAY: Right, and nothing works out if you do that. But it works out if it was 1850. There were two Johnsons sworn in after assassinations. Lyndon Johnson was sworn in, naturally, when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 -- but when Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson was sworn in. And that's the period of time that we're interested in.

He was born in the midpoint of the century, born in 1850 and died before 1900, and the reason he was born in the same house that he died in, and it was in two different states, is that Virginia became two states. Virginia became Virginia and West Virginia, and his house, even though it was never moved, wound up in West Virginia.

TOM: So he was born in Virginia and died in West Virginia. We got a winner, and his name is Ralph Sutter, from Parump, Nevada.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]