A new person of interest to Somerton Man researchers is Margaret Alison Bean (formerly Miss Alison Verco, and more usually referred to in the newspapers of the day as Mrs. Arnold Bean). She was a popular South Australian socialite, often mentioned by Australian newspaper social columnists such as “Lady Kitty”.
Here’s a picture of her at Joy Denbigh-Russell’s secret wedding in 1940 (she’s third from the left, in what the Daily Telegraph described as “a black angora frock and silver fox cape, and a small black velvet toque. Her corsage posy was of white hyacinths“):
The Time Line
The time period we are interested in is from Alison Verco’s wedding to Arnold Bean (Chief Inspector of Mines in Malaya) on 11th April 1947 through to her death on 5th July 1949.
9th July 1947
From Sydney comes news of Mrs. Arnold Bean, formerly Alison Verco, who has arrived from her home in Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States, on a visit. She plans to stay in Sydney until her husband arrives a little later to join her for long leave. Mrs. Bean is hoping also to visit Adelaide to see her many friends here.
17th July 1947
MRS. ARNOLD BEAN, formerly Miss Alison Vercoe, of Adelaide, is visiting Sydney from her home at Kuala Lumpur in Malaya; she expects her husband to join her in September.
She lunched at Prince’s this week with Mrs. Max Clark.
27th July 1947
IT’S grand to see Mrs. Arnold Bean again. She was the popular Alison Vercoe, of Adelaide, and since her marriage has been living in Malaya. Her husband will arrive in Sydney sometime in September.
4th August 1947
During a visit to Sydney to meet Mrs. Arnold Bean, formerly Alison Verco who has arrived from Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States, Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Verco stayed at the Hotel Australia.
31st October 1947
MR. and Mrs. Arnold Bean (she was formerly Miss Alison Verco, of Adelaide) arrived in Adelaide this week, and are staying at the Berkeley Hotel. On Monday week, Mr. and Mrs. Bean will leave to spend two months’ holiday with Mrs. H. O’H. Giles, at Victor Harbor. Mrs. Giles is Mrs. Bean’s sister.
By 30th December 1947, the couple were in Adelaide, having holidayed in Victor Harbor.
Yet on 24th January 1948, the news headline was that she was “Now Out Of Hospital“, and “living for the next few weeks in the home of her sister, Mrs. Alec McLachlan, at Pennington terace, North Adelaide. Iveagh Perry has come down from Southport, Queensland, and is staying with Mrs. Bean.”
When the McLachlan family returned from Victor Harbor a month later around 21st February 1948, the Beans moved to “Glenelg to stay with Mrs. H. P. McLachlan for a fortnight”.
20th March 1948
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Bean, who have been staying with Mr. and Mrs. Hew O’Halloran Giles at Medindie since their return from Glenelg, will motor to Sydney tomorrow. They will spend a fortnight there while waiting to sail for their home in Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States.
20th March 1948
TOMORROW Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Bean will leave for Melbourne, en route for Sydney and eventually Penang. Mrs. Bean, who was formerly Alison Verco, has been in South Australia for several months.
The first part of the vacation was spent in the family house at Victor Harbor, and later she visited members of her family in town.
21st August 1948
Mrs. Arnold Bean, formerly Alison Verco, will arrive next month from Singapore on a short visit.
13th November 1948
TOP — On their way to lunch yesterday (from left) Evelyn Scarfe, her Melbourne guest Miss Thelma Halbert, Mrs. Linden Wood, and Mrs. Arnold Bean, of Singapore, (formerly Alison Verco, of Adelaide).
26th November 1948
Mrs. Arnold Bean will leave on Tuesday to fly to Singapore, where she will change planes and go on to Kuala
Lumpur to join her husband. Mrs. Bean, who was Miss Alison Verco, of Adelaide, has been staying with Miss Evelyn Scarfe at Glenelg. She hopes to return to SA next September with her husband.
30th November 1948
Visiting Adelaide from Sydney are Mrs. Charles Lloyd Jones and Mrs. B. M. Stranger. Lunching at the South Australian Hotel with Mrs. Arnold Bean, they showed smart, new styles.
1st December 1948
Mrs. Arnold Bean, who has been staying with her sister Mrs. Hew O’Halloran Giles at Medindie during the later part of her visit to Adelaide, left by plane yesterday for Sydney on her return home to Malaya.
11th March 1949
News comes from Malaya that Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Bean, of Kuala Lumpur, went to Hongkong recently for a holiday. Mrs. Bean was Miss Alison Verco, of Adelaide and Sydney.
12th April 1949
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Bean, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, have arrived in Adelaide. They are in Mr. and Mrs. John Skipper’s flat, at North Adelaide, for a fortnight.
And then she died:
5th July 1949
BEAN.- On July 5, Margaret Alison, beloved wife of Arnold Bean, of 2 Palm street, Medindie.
6th July 1949
BEAN.- On July 5, Margaret Alison, beloved wife of Arnold Bean, of 2 Palm street, Medindie.
7th July 1949
BEAN.- On July 5, Margaret Alison, beloved wife of Arnold Bean, of 2 Palm street, Medindie.
17th November 1949
MARGARET ALISON BEAN Late of 2 Palm Street, Medindie in the State of South Australia. Married Woman, Deceased.- After fourteen clear days Arnold Bean of 2 Palm street Medindie aforesaid, retired mining engineer, the executor to whom probate of deceased’s will, dated 13th June 1949 was granted by the Supreme Court of South Australia in its Testamentary Causes jurisdiction, on 16th August, 1949, will APPLY to the Supreme Coutt of Victoria that its SEAL may be AFFIXED to an Exemplification of the said Probate.
J. COLIN STEDMAN solicitor 339 Collins street, Melbourne.
Have you see the National Archives file rating to Joy Denbigh-Russell?. There is a good photo of Alison in there. Could you please put up a link of possible I’ve been trying to send it through without success.
Nick – I left a comment and once again attempted to post a link (with spaces) showing a photograph of Alison at Joyce’s wedding but it was removed by your spam filter.
Friday, Aug 9, 1940
MARRIED YESTERDAY
“Major and Mrs Robin Stuart -French (left) photographed with Miss Alison Vercoe of Adelaide and Lieutenant Jock Pagan AIF who attended them at then wedding yesterday
afternoon…”
But Nick, how is this socialite related to the man found dead on Somerton Beach?
How was the “About People/Lady Kitty” column compiled? Did the subjects send in the notices, I suppose as a kind of self-promotion? Or did the Adelaide Advertiser have a full-time society reporter ferreting out this news-like substance?
Lucas – I have tried posting the link twice now and the spam filter knocks it out. I have posted a quote from the said article. I appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. You should be able to find it on trove.
Ken: society reports featured in many newspapers back then, so I would suspect that the ‘Tizer did employ someone who was paid a pittance to go to all the best parties. 🙂
Misca: my advice to replace each of the first ‘:’ and the last ‘.’ with a space seems to have worked for lots of other people, was that what you did?
Bdid1dr,
I don’t really get it either TBH.
So she was in Adelaide at the time SM died. OK. So were a lot of other people, I guess?
And she took a bunch of connecting flights via Singapore in the late 1940’s, which is where George Marshall, the other Tamam Shud-related dead guy, was from… I suppose she was not the only one on these flights?
For once BD, I agree with you. I don’t see how these “Real Housewives of Adelaide” episodes are relevant to the case.
Nick, would you mind making it a bit more explicit for the Tamam-noobs?
Goose: the short version is that 56 letters linked to Alison Verco / Mrs Arnold Bean were recently found (though I haven’t yet seen or checked any of them myself), which I’ve been told include direct references to Jessica Harkness / Jo Thomson whom she had hired as a nurse (presumably in Glenelg, but I don’t know for certain) during that same time period. So the claimed link is a little more specific than you might otherwise think.
I’m not asserting that the letters are genuine or false: all I’m doing is collating references from Trove that make up some form of external timeline framework for the last two years of Alison Verco’s life. Hope that makes sense.
Nick – I don’t understand the spam filter re. links. When we comment, it always says “pending moderation” so why not simply “pend moderation” (which I assume is you approving a go ahead) regardless of whether there is a link or not. You pend, check the link, if it’s ok, the whole thing goes through…
I would post many more links if possible but do not do so as the spam filter subsequently prohibits me from posting anything until it has processed the link that it NEVER allows. Giving detailed explanations of those links with dates and key words to look up etc…is boring and time consuming. Typing in the link (with the exclusion of the two semi-colons) typically delays the link being posted for up to two days.
Quite frustrating.
My name is Jennifer and I’m a investigative Journalist. If at any time Jazz, Joel and Co would like to make contact please contact me through my link. I am currently putting together a great article for my readers and I have interest from a leading US current affairs programme. I will also make contact using the available resources I have so far. Kind Regards Jennifer
Does anyone have the link to the national archives on Joy Denbigh-Russell as I’m having real trouble locating it. Apparently there are allegations within this supposed file that she was an alleged Nazi Sympathiser? What is her connection to Alison Verco also.
Meh. I think you’re being scammed.
I remember a few years ago there was a person in south africa who claimed to have all sorts of evidence, photos, letters, etc. Then their blog disappeared just when people started to ask the hard questions…
I suspect this is another case of the same game. I may be wrong, but if Jazz really has anything that really proves anything, why not show it?
All these people are dead now, so IF these letters really exist and are relevant, where’s the risk in scanning the lot, setting up a blog (takes about ten minutes) or sending them to a blogger (takes one minute) so we can actually see what the fuss is about?
What is the excuse being given for withholding these? Fear for her personal safety?
Yeah right.
Goose: maybe, maybe not. For someone trying to scam or troll Somerton Man researchers, creating a long string of 1940s society letters where a particular nurse is (presumably) mentioned only peripherally would seem to me to be a fairly sophisticated and elliptical venture, though.
Misca: the link filter is designed to prevent spam from even arriving – I estimate that it alone has stopped upwards of 50,000 pieces of spam arriving here since I put it in place. (Akismet says that it has cut out over 330,000 spam comments to Cipher Mysteries, to give you some idea of scale). So the benefit is that I can spend my time doing research rather than continually scanning spam to eke out genuine comments: sorry if that seems one-sided.
Please just space out the semicolon and the final dot, and it should genuinely be ok.
I’ve just sighted a scanned copy of one of the letters today. One of the major problems is that some of the letters have been water damaged and are stuck together. The Somerton Man Case is still an open investigation and things need to be followed in the correct way. It’s just a matter of being patient. There are also legal side of things to determine a few things. Also people names contained in the letters may still be alive.
Absolutely Jennifer.
The investigation isn’t closed its open.
Quick question to everyone. Advice needed!
I saw a post today on another site.
Rachel Egan was given up for adoption at Birth by her mother Roma Egan and on her original birth it says ‘Unknown’ for the father. Legally Robin Thomson is not Rachel’s father and the same applies to Roman Egan being Rachel’s legal Mother.
Rachel is in fact: Jenny O’Neill
So as far as the attorney general is concerned Rachel is a member of the public just like her husband Derek Abbott.
Nobody has to answer to the pair of them.
I was thinking if any of Robins legal children applied to the attorney general to exhume the Somerton Man would things be different?
Hi Goose: Unless your a LEGAL family member, owner of letters, the Police or a Government Department it really shouldn’t worry you in the slightest and your opinion doesn’t count because they are ones that the matter concerns. Unless you are a family member?
Jazz: in Goose’s defence, the South African making Somerton Man-related claims (it was called “The Marshall Files”) a few years back appeared to be working from a curiously specific agenda, and it was hard to understand from the outside what was going on (even now, I still don’t know).
In short, given that we have already seen all manner of odd behaviours brought to bear on this cold case, there’s a very strong case that skepticism should be our collective first port of call when anything new pops up. I’m sure – given what you’ve already seen – that you’ll appreciate this. =:-o
I could just chuck all the letters in the bin and forget about all of this. But it would be constantly on my mind I think. I really hope it helps to identify Somerton Man. If not it will build a better picture of Mrs Thomsons life. Never heard of the Marshall Files Nick and to be honest im not interested. I do appreciate the above articles. I can’t work out why people have agendas and issues over something that happened in 1948!
I certainly don’t want to be the new Xlamb either.
And… You don’t need to comment at all.
If people are horrible to you Jazz or direspectful there is always the option of just ignoring them. I’ve been using the silent treatment for years and it works well. I believe the term is not to feed the trolls.
Jazz: all you need to know about The Marshall Files is that it claimed to have access to all manner of previously unseen evidence about the Somerton Man, then caused a whole load of kerfuffle for a period of time before abruptly disappearing. What is relevant to you is that it put a kind of template in place for how many people now expect (rightly or wrongly) something like this to play out.
Like you, I don’t properly understand quite “why people have agendas and issues over something that happened in 1948”, but it’s plain as day that they do: it’s a tide I have to swim against every day to run this blog. 🙁
I’m still hunting through the Internet guys!!!
Where do I find the Joy Denbigh Russell file?
Jennifer: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5426846 should get you her 10-page file – or if not, just search for Denbigh-Russell at http://www.naa.gov.au , it’s all there.
Nick! – Fabulous and Thankyou!
If there is a Somerton Man ending ceremony I’ll buy you a glass of champagne!
Jennifer: it’s… rarely that simple in Cipher Land, but I applaud your optimism. 😉
I didn’t enjoy having porn sent to me and having an army of fake Facebook accounts attack me but I’m over it now and I’ve moved on. I’ve learned a lot about the Internet and how it works. My big question is why would anyone kick up so much fuss about something that happened in 1948? – It has to be a family members/s because who else would bother!.
Jazz,
My peeps tended to migrate within the northern hemisphere, although it does appear that I have a distant relative in South Australia: the Cape Barren Goose.
The venerable Magpie Goose is often mistaken for one of us, but its not a true goose; rather something of a living fossil that branched off at least 68 million years ago, before the K-T extinction event.
But surely all of this must be of little interest to you.
If you think your “findings” concern only the family and the authorities, why do you keep posting about them in public?
It always strikes me as a red flag when a request for evidence is met with indignation and anger.
You could simply produce said letters and lift all doubt once and for all. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if you had.
Questions:
Are you contributing to an American Podcast on the Somerton Man Nick?
And what made you get involved with then Somerton Man Case in the first place?
Jennifer: I politely turned down Scott Philbrook’s request for various reasons, but Scott should have no shortage of Somerton Man-related claims to fill his/their podcast with. Whether or not all those claims make any genuine sense is another matter entirely, of course. =:-o
I’ve been writing and blogging about historical cipher mysteries (the Somerton Man is merely one of many that my blog covers) for over a decade now.
Hi Goose,
Copies of the letters are in the hands of the authorities as I keep on saying and repeating. Until I hear back from them (which should be very shortly). I won’t be posting anymore.
Jazz
Jazz: there are plenty of non-family members out there who are so attached to their Somerton Man claims that they feel compelled to attack all and sundry who disagree with them. And that really is the core of the problem: that, even though the genuine heart of the Internet is its toleration of diversity, many people online simply cannot tolerate disagreement of any sort.
My cousin used to claim (as a self-referential joke) that she couldn’t tolerate intolerant people, but it’s kind of getting that way online these days. 🙁
What kind of mines on Malaya/Malaysia ?
Is the “Marshal” being discussed, herein, any relation to the military officer George W. Marshall? The U.S. Government has a huge archive/library of his military status. Perhaps Misca is interested in this case. Once again I thank you for clearing up a fifty-some-odd-year-old mystery.
bd
My suspicious mind focused once more on the mention of “Glenelg”. ” Glenelg ” is where the developers of the nuclear device (Einstein being a regular visitor, besides “Somerton Man”) met to ‘hash out’ the details ( and to find a good source of uranium).
@Misca: Once again I say thank you for finding the missing ‘Shackelford’ scientist who was a member of the group of scientists at White Sands; which scientists were regular visitors to Glenelg.
I’ll be going back to the General Marshall’s Library to see if many ‘Top Secret” documents are now available on the WWW. Wish me Luck !
Not too long ago, I was able to find the source of the “Divine Fire’ book: Elizebeth (Smith) Friedman’s private diary entry ‘Divine Fire” was never published as a book.
Howsomever, you can now find her diary content online with the WWW.
Most of all, have fun!
@bdid1dr – you are most welcome. It makes me quite happy to know that the information I found is important and meaningful for you. : )
Jennifer – I see you have posted a link to cipher on 60 minutes (Australia). That’s wonderful…This case needs all of the publicity that it can get. You state that you are an “investigative journalist”. Do you work for media or are you independent? Usually, journalists like to state/promote the organizations that they work for but you haven’t made any mention of being affiliated with any media outlet.
Could you clarify your role as a journalist and on who you work with?
I’ve heard someone has a Somerton Man Trump Card.
Because when Derek Abbott least expects it this trump card is going to be pulled out and he is going to be a laughing stock!
Hi Nick: I’m working on a timeline with dates and links that relate to the NAA file. I’m not a journalist or writer but im giving it my best shot. One im done I’ll give everyone the Dropbox link. Lucas
Did Jestyn have any connection to the Crippled Children’s Home?
Parnia: not as far as anyone knows, no, sorry.
I wonder whether the astute reporters will have noticed that the only fingerprints taken where from Somerrton Man? No fingerprints were taken from the suitcase, the tools including the blade of the knife, the handles, the glass dish, the lighter, the copy of the book (Jimmy Durham had already shown he knew how to lift prints from paper the year previous) What about a forensic examination of the ‘Code’ page with all of its markings, miniature numbers and letters? What about the same for the ‘Laundry’ marked pocket? What about all the lead traces found in his hair sample? Finally what about the listening post supposedly set up by the Post Office in early 1949 just 500 metres from a certain persons home?
JAFO: fingerprints needed to be fresh in order to be gettable back then. The delay between the body being found and the suitcase being linked to it was presumably enough to make the fingerprints unusable.
JAFO: microwriting? Please don’t waste my (or indeed your) time on that.
Arnold Bean was the Chief Mines Inspector for Malaya, and Bdid1dr asked what sort of mines there were in Malaya. Well, Malaya pre and post WW2 mined much of the world’s tin. There were some other mineral commodities produced in Malaya but tin was by far the most economically important. And this tin was obtained in the form of the mineral cassiterite – tin oxide, from what are called placer deposits (alluvial, river deposits). As at March 1941 Malaya had 123 mining companies operating 1,016 mines including 73 bucket dredge operations. One hundred thousand labourers were employed. (The Japanese occupation of Malaya: A social and economic history. Paul H. Kratoska).
So what? Well, a common field test in those days for the mineral cassiterite employed small pieces of zinc, or a zinc plate. The suspected grains of cassiterite are placed on the zinc plate, or mixed with some small pieces of zinc, and a drop or two of acid is applied. If the mineral grains are cassiterite they become coated with a shiny coating of tin metal. Got that?
Cast your mind back to the contents of the suitcase found in the left luggage store at the railway station and linked to SM. There was an insignificant scrap (3-4 cm square) of tarnished and wrinkled metal sheet that was identified as “zinc plate” and it was claimed that stencils could be cut from this sheet. I ask you, could such a small piece of metal sheet be useful for making a stencil? No, and I think the piece of metal sheet is indeed a piece of zinc and the most likely use for a small scrap of zinc plate is for testing cassiterite.
So, SM could well have been somebody associated with mining or with primary metallurgy. And this neatly explains the high lead levels that were found in SM’s hair.
Could the high level of lead in SM’s hair be the result of extensive use of lead for soldering (using a soldering iron on some object made with zinc) ? Depending on the type of soldering being done machinists and/or persons working with alloys, probably absorbed quite a bit of lead in their lungs, liver, spleen, and circulatory system.
The other use of lead was for shielding the scientists involved in developing the first nuclear bomb (including Einstein) when they were searching for a source of uranium. Interesting enough is that uranium can be ‘shielded” — cobalt can’t.
Comment edit: I’m trying to recall the references made to Glenelg as being the meeting place of the scientists working on developing the first nuclear bomb. You may, by a process of elimination, be able to identify Somerton Beach Man. Thanks again, Misca! I’m also trying to remember who made the comment/reference that cobalt can’t be shielded.
The only reason I’m mentioning the shielding is because of my being subjected to ‘CO-60’ radiation to reduce palatal surgery scars (when I was approximately ten-years old. No shielding (no lead apron). Only a long piece of wire being inserted into my nostril and next to my uvula for about 10-15 miserable minutes (because my mother wouldn’t let me read a book).
Several years ago, I discovered that University of Chicago (the ‘other’ location where the “Atom Bomb” was being created) still keeps records (and updates) of the persons who were treated (first on the West Coast of California) with Co60 .
Bdid1dr, yes, solder could provide the lead, but the tin levels were only slightly raised. Soft solder is a 60:40 mix of lead and tin. Hard solder a slightly different ratio.
Yes, Cobalt 60 is a gamma emitter and no thickness of shielding can absorb gamma rays completely. Beta and alpha particles are totally absorbed by fairly thin objects of any sort. A little known fact is that uranium is only slightly radioactive. In fact, you can walk up to a 200 litre drum full of yellow cake with a Geiger counter with only a small increase in the reading. The radioactivity associated with uranium deposits comes from what are known as the daughter decay products. I have made a living from prospecting for uranium, and uranium geochemistry.
Incidentally, the plutonium that comes out of nearly all reactors can not be used to make a fission weapon, contrary to what everyone says. It contains the wrong mix of plutonium isotopes. Even professors of chemistry get that wrong, and a chemistry prof. at Adelaide did a few years ago.
Just sent a copy of one of the letters to you Nick. Have you received it. Jazz
Jazz: thanks very much! Presumably you have also managed to work out precisely whom the three-letter abbreviation refers to? 🙂
Not yet! Loads of them are all stuck together so I’m carefully trying to peel them all apart.
Names associated with Somerton Man Case
Dr John Barkly Bennett: The doctor who pronounced the Somerton Man dead at 9:40am December 1st, 1948. Note that it was a quick examination while the body was parked outside the hospital in the ambulance. Bennett estimated the time of death at 2am based on a quick opinion on the state of rigor mortis (and at the time he didn’t consider the effect of poison) and he admitted that he made no written notes. Therefore the time of 2am is probably inaccurate. He did not measure the temperature of the body to estimate time of death more accurately.
Ken Brown: A dentist who is knowledgeable about the dental records of the dead man.
Leonard Douglas Brown: Len Brown was the detective, along with Lionel Leane, assigned to the case 6 weeks after the dead body was found.
Sir John Cleland: The pathologist who re-examined the body 6 months after Dr Dwyer, as part of the coronial inquest. Cleland only visually inspected the body in its embalmed state. He also carefully examined the clothing, suitcase, and its contents.
Thomas Erskine Cleland: The coroner that presided over the inquest. He was the first cousin of John Cleland the pathologist.
Errol Canny: The name of the detective that initially interviewed the former nurse Jestyn and knew her identity.
E. B. Collins: An inmate of Wanganui Prison, New Zealand, who claimed he knew the identity of the Somerton Man.
Robert James Cowan: A deputy government chemical analyst who’s findings agreed with Dwyer’s that the cause of death was unnatural. He also tested samples of the body organs for presence of poison and found none.
R. Craig: The station cloak room attendant who issued the Somerton Man with his luggage receipt and checked in the suitcase.
Brian Joseph Dittmar: The person who reported to the police that he thought the Somerton Man was Jack Thomas McClean.
Patrick James Durham: police employee who fingerprinted the deceased and took photos of the body.
Dr John Matthew Dwyer: The government pathologist who performed the post-mortem at 7:30am on 2nd Dec 1948 (his colleagues called him ‘Barb Dwyer’).
Lawrence A. Elliot: Embalmer that prepared the dead body for burial and arranged the funeral.
Anthony Elliot: A local funeral director who is an enthusiast studying the case, and nephew of the embalmer. He owns an original facsimile of fingerprint sheet of the dead man.
Gerry Feltus: A retired detective senior sergeant who has performed thorough research and is arguably the world’s leading authority on the case.
Edward FitzGerald: The book was the FitzGerald translation of Omar Khayyam.
Gray: the head of the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts who examined the brush and knives in the suitcase and suggested that it was stenciling equipment.
James Gillogly: an expert code breaker who believes the code is the first letters of words.
Edmund Leslie Hall: an employee of the Municipal Tramways who examined the Somerton Man’s tram ticket and was able to tell it was a tram that left Adelaide railway station at 11:15am. He was also able to tell the ticket was purchase somewhere between North terrace and West Terrace.
Sir Cedric Stanton Hicks: An Adelaide University physiologist who was called by the inquest to provide another medical opinion. He agreed the cause of death was unnatural.
Arthur Anzac Holdernesse: The tram conductor that sold the Somerton Man his tram ticket.
E. C. Hopkins: The Adelaide CIB officer in charge of looking into the claim of the Wanganui prisoner.
Jestyn: The pet name of the Adelaide ex-nurse who’s phone number was in the back of the Rubaiyat. She signed her name “Jestyn” in Alf Boxall’s copy of the Rubaiyat. Her name by birth has been kept under wraps by police. Though she passed away in 2007, and therefore her name is bound to emerge soon.
Frank Kennedy: The journalist who told the police, in 1949, where the words Tamam Shud come from.
Omar Khayyam: The poet who wrote the book that was linked to the Somerton Man.
Donald Laycock: A linguist who attempted to crack the code in the late 1970s.
Paul Francis Lawson: A taxidermist at the Adelaide Museum. He created the plaster cast of the Somerton Man. He was the also the person to notice the Somertan Man’s wedged toes and high calf muscles.
Stuart Littlemore made the 1978 ABC report on the case in a episode of Inside Story.
Raymond Lionel Leane: Lionel Leane was the detective, along with Len Brown, assigned to the case 6 weeks after the dead body was found.
John Bain Lyons: A jeweller by profession, who with his wife, alerted the police to the dead body.
Clive Mangnoson: 1 year and 11 months old infant who was found dead of unknown cause on 6 June 1949, about 20 km from Somerton.
Keith Waldemar Mangnoson: A person who tried to identify the Somerton Man, as Carl Thompsen, but received death threats. His son Clive,was found dead of unknown cause on 6 June 1949, about 20 km from Somerton. Keith was then shorty after committed to mental hospital. His wife collapsed and required medical treatment.
Joseph Saul Haim Marshall also known as “George” Marshall (aged 34) was found dead of poisoning in Mosman, Sydney, 3rd June 1945. It was believed to be a suicide. A copy of Omar Khayyam was found open next to his body. Mosman is between St. Leonard’s where Jestyn lived and Clifton Gardens where she met Boxall. The estimated date of death was May 21st, 1945.
Neil McRae: The person who discovered the body of Clive Mangnoson.
Kevin Moran: Homicide squad Chief Detective Sargent. With Ron Thomas re-investigated the case in the 1970s.
John Moss: The name of the police constable who came to the scene and took charge when the dead body was found. He was officially off-duty, normally stationed at Brighton, but nevertheless attended the body and summoned the ambulance.
Olive Constance Neill: A teenage girl, with her boyfriend Strapps, who reported seeing a body after it was reported by Lyons.
Harold Rolfe North: The senior porter at the cloak room in Adelaide Railway Station. He was able to figure out that the Somerton Man checked in his suitcase between 11am and 12noon on November 30th, 1948.
Stephen Orr: A fiction writer who referenced the case in his novel Hill of Grace.
Gordon Kenneth Strapps: A teenage boy, with his girlfriend Olive Neill, who reported seeing a body after it was reported by Lyons.
Ron Thomas: A detective who with Chief Detective Keith Moran, re-investigated the case in the 1970s.
John Harber Phillips: The Chief Justice of the State of Victoria and the Chairman of the Victorian Medical Forensic Institute. He studied the case in 1994 and came to the conclusion the poison was digitalis.[1]
Hugh Pozza: The tailor that examined the jacket of the Somerton Man and determined it was of American origin because it had a front gusset and feather stitching.
Dorothy Pyatt: A retired policewoman who works for the SA Police Museum and has written articles on the case. She rather strangely omits any reference to Jestyn and Alf Boxall in her writings.
V. A. Reynolds: A WWI signaler and amateur code cracker who came up with, “Wm. Regrets. Going off alone. B.A.B. deceived me too. But I’ve made peace now and expect to pay. My life is a bitter cross over nothing. Also I’m quite confident I’ve this time made Tamam Shud a mystery. St. G.A.B.”
John K. Ruffels: performed original research in the 1970s and interviewed a number of people connected with the case. He performed the initial background research on the case that prompted the ABC to produce the Inside Story documentary. He propagated the theory that it was a spy murder related to the Woomera missile base and Sir Henry Tizard.
Simon Singh and expert code breaker who said the Somerton code “doesn’t appear to be too complicated” and that the letters are likely to be acronyms.
C. Ruston: A lighthouse keeper and amateur code cracker who sent police his attempt at cracking the code.
William (Bill) Owen Sheridan: A police superintendent who received a letter in 1949 from a Mrs P. Bailey asking if the Somerton man could be her missing husband. He also dealt with the claim that the dead man was Jack McClean.
Scan Sutherland: The name of the coroner’s plain clothes constable (PCC) who was present at the post-mortem carried out by Dwyer and sent the samples for poison testing.
Elizabeth Thompson: A witness who had identified the body as Robert Walsh, but later retracted her statement.
Sir Henry Thomas Tizard: The senior British defence scientist who was visiting Adelaide at the time of the death.
Douglas George Townsend: The ticket clerk who sold the train ticket that Somerton Man subsequently never used.
Em Webb: The Salvation Army captain who conducted the funeral service for the Somerton Man.
William West: An employee of the South Australian Railways (SAR) who testified at the coronial inquest reporting the train arrival times into Adelaide at the morning of November 30th, 1948.
Harry Dexter White: A US government official identified by Operation Venona. He died 16th August 1948 of a suspected digitalis overdose.
Jazz: the addressee would seem to fit neatly into the above timeline for the date given on the letter, which is nice. 🙂
I have no doubt that it’s Evelyn Scarfe.
If this other person was staying with Jessie it makes me think that perhaps the phone number in the book could be in relation to this person?
Jazz: possibly… but before stepping out onto the perilous Ledge of Speculation, better to identify that other person as convincingly as you can. 🙂
Jazz: a couple of pictures of Evelyn Scarfe for you from Trove: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55873815 and http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48695927 . 🙂
Jazz – I have done a bit of research on Evelyn and her family. I would be happy to help.
Jazz,
I don’t know if you’ve tried this, but I would suggest a moderate amount of steaming, then/or waxed dental floss, gently seesawed in between the stuck-together letters, to do the trick without causing damage.
This is the obituary for Evelyn’s father:
Mr. Alfred Augustus Scarfe, who died at his home, Pier street. Glenelg, on Friday, was the son of Charles Claxon Scarfe, and a nephew of George Scarfe, founder of Harris Scarfe Ltd. He was educated at St. Peter’s College, and afterwards engaged in pastoral
pursuits. (Adelaide Chronicle, 3 August 1944)
He was born 2 May 1969 and died on 28 July 1944. He married Emma Elizabeth Lyons (born 1874, died 17 Dec 1936).
Evelyn Lyons Scarfe was born 21 Oct 1906. Other siblings include Kathleen Lorna Scarfe, Keith Rogers Scarfe and Alfred Charles Lyons Scarfe.
The “Mrs. Linden Wood” pictured above in Nick’s Timeline (November 13, 1948) would later go on to marry Mr. Arnold Bean. She was Helene Lynch and is sometimes referred to as “Girlie” Lynch.
ENGAGEMENT -Wood-Lynch
The engagement is announced of Miss Helene Lynch. elder daughter of Dr. and
Mrs. A. F. Lynch, South terrace, Adelaide, to Mr. Linden Wood, third son of Mrs. and the late Mr. Peter Wood, of Toorak. (Adelaide News, March 5, 1929.)
After she marries Mr. Bean, she appears in the papers as Mrs. Arnold Bean so it can sometimes be confusing when searching for information on Alison.
I had left this message earlier but it didn’t post. It hand’t occurred to me until today that there might be a connection to/with John Bains Lyons. I will try to suss this out later.
@beady: is “Anthony Elliot” perhaps ELLIOTT? There still is an “Elliott Funerals” in Adelaide and suspect it might be the same….
Incredible but true:
Evelyn Lyon Scarfe’s mother Emma Elizabeth Lyons was first cousins with John Bain Lyons. Emma’s father Thomas William Lyons (1842-1904) and John Bain’s father John Henry Savage Lyons (1854-1913) were brothers.
@ Misca : You may want to read Mr Scarfe’s obituary (are the dates of birth and death inadvertent on the part of the person wrote and publishes the obit’s). ?
Once more I thank for your work on my behalf! bd (not Brian Devison)
bdid1dr
Misca: fascinating, thanks! Of course, I don’t know if it means anything but… better to know than not know, as always. 🙂
PS: sorry for the delay in moderating this – a WordPress plugin seems to have gone haywire during yesterday, causing the company hosting the Cipher Mysteries site to temporarily pull the plug(in) on the entire account for several hours. 🙁
Thanks for the advice Goose. The dental floss trick sounds like a great idea.
Stay away from JEstyn or your plugin malfunction will be permanent.
Only joking Nick. I wouldn’t know the difference between a thumb drive and hard drive. But it’s still a great idea that you all stay away from Jestyn. The Unknown man was JEstyns biological Father. End of story.
Joel: I think we want the same thing – closing the Somerton Man cold case and going back to normal life. But how can we do what everyone else has failed to do and identify the dead man? Or do you actually think we shouldn’t identify him at all?
Hi Joel – I’m glad that the majority of the letters are in your possession now. It was the right thing to do because if it was my grandma I would want them too!. I’ve scanned some more today after going through the process of steaming them and trying to get them apart. I’ll email you some more later. Out of the all letters only 8 are all stuck together so it’s not that bad. If I can work though the final 8 I can get them off the government agency that requested them. They have been badgering me for scans of the last 8 since I scanned the first lot. I’m glad things went well with the journalists today. I think the programme angle is the way forward. Hopefully the new information can give the Somerton Man a name. Jazz
Might be a good thing to identify him.
Hey Jazz,
Got your email this morning and thanks for the heads up as well. I’ve managed to link one of the addresses to someone on Derek Abbotts primary list. But to back this up I’ve been in touch with the State Library of South Australia. Ive asked them a question through their website and I’m waiting for a response. I like to test a theory on them. I do it loads!. No mention of letters or SM. I just asked who lived at X address during a certain year. Lucas
Letter number 36 by the way. The numbering of each scan is very useful thanks! 🙂
Nick, several months (years?) ago I mentioned the name “Oliphant” as being a member of the group(s) which met at Glenelg . I remember some ‘punny’ responses. Are you able to find any more about his disappearance? Or any family photos of the “Oliphant” Man ?
Just 1-dring and still b-d-eyed …..
Misca ! Help ! Please ! (If that’s OK with you, Nick?) TIA (thanks in advance).
🙂
@Bd.: I think the Oliphant they were referring to was Mark Oliphant (who was involved on the Manhattan project and has a fairly extensive Wiki page – and I doubt there was any suggestion he was a relative of SM, just possibly mixing in the same company….but you have to be of the Foreign Spy/Nuclear Testing conspiracy crowd to get on board that one). He was certainly an academic globe trotter with a dream of creating an Australian college/University that was world-renowned for its research (in fact he appears to have dreams of Canberra being the next Cambridge or Oxford). It’s not really clear whether he would have even been in Adelaide around the time…
He was Professor of Physics at Birmingham around that time, and he’s listed as publishing a paper in London the following year (1949), and the Wiki article talks about him “…returning to Australia in 1950” (and apparently making people sad, because the US refused him a visa in 1951), and while he was certainly no stranger to travel I’d imagine it was a far more lengthy and cumbersome process than hopping on an A380….
Not really being involved with Academia, I’m not sure how common it would be for a professor to decide to go to the other side of the world on the cusp of end of year exams unless it was rather important. It’s worth noting that while a lot his research in the preceding decade had helped develop the nuclear bomb, his realisation at the power of such a weapon had made him question the morality of using them and I think (again if you believe the spy theories) while he was heavily involved in the Manhattan project I’m not sure he would have been mixing in the same crowds by 1948…..
Does anyone know the origin of the surname Delsar?. It came up in one of the letters and I’ve never heard of a name like that before. Jazz
A Frederick Edward Delsar died in Dec 1948 and is buried in the Cheltenham Cemetary in The suburbs of Adelaide. Mary Eliza Delsar was buried in the same cemetary in 1968. Apparently the name Delsar is found pretty much only in Australia.
@ Milongal — Thank you for the quick response in re “Oliphant” . He was a member of the group of scientists ( Einstein being one) who were involved in creating the “Atom Bomb” — when they met at Glenelg. Oliphant disappeared right about the time the “Somerton Man” was found on the beach (Somerton Beach). So, there may now be possible (by process of elimination) to identify that poor (so far nameless) man who may have been one of the scientists.
bd
Lewiansto, You are correct and the surname Delsar is only found in Australia, with 46 people bearing this name in 2014. The name could be an Anglicised version of the Belgian name Delsaer, the Spanish name Del Sar, or the Indonesian name Delsari. These three surnames are very rare with only 113, 21 and 34 people respectively bearing these names in 2014.
See Google: forbears.io
The first reference to anyone bearing the name Delsar that I have been able to locate is the marriage of Frederick Delsar to Eliza Jane Turner at Adelaide in 1882. They had three childre; Lilly May born 1883, Frederick Edward born 1885 and Bertie Olive born 1887. All registered at Adelaide.
Frederick appears to have died before 1891 because Eliza Jane Delsar married Mntie Benjamin Shephard at Adelaide in 1891.
I note that Trove brings up about two thousand references to Delsar, and 96% of these are in South Australian newspapers.
I note that Frederick Edward Delsar b. 1885 had the nickname Fritz, which, combined with the name Frederick for both father and son suggests that Frederick senior was of Belgian extraction.
@ Milongal (and anyone else who may be interested in Mark Oliphant’s experiences with (Univ. of Cambridge/Cavendish Lab (Nuclear Physics) : His later work at Univ. of Birmingham – and still later visit (1939) to the U.S. (Berkeley, California) to visit Ernest Lawrence’s (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory today) cyclotron.
If you ever visit the U.S./ California, you may be able to visit that area. Thanks again for your ‘follow-ups’ / ‘look-ups’ on my behalf ! And, of course, I thank you, Nick, for being a most hospitable host !
beady-eyed-wonder-er
@bdid1dr
“Oliphant disappeared right about the time the “Somerton Man” was found on the beach (Somerton Beach).”
???
Lewiansto – Yes. A very respectable guy who made good on a hard beginning. A teacher who gave to his community. He saw another man die the very same day he was killed on Christmas Eve. Lots of info but don’t want to step on toes if irrelevant.
Jazz – Some context would be most helpful.
Hi everyone. Received an email from Lucas this morning and he said that there is a guy called Xlamb saying that all the letters are about his great-grandmother. I am just confirming that they are not. And Xlamb has no relevance to the letters at all. I wish him all the best with his research.
Misca: I’m very concerned about what Pete Bowes and Xlamb are writing. It’s been suggested that I get a protection order today. I see you have been commenting on his site too. I’m not looking for trouble in anyway but the safety of my children are extremely important. I’m hoping that those who read this will stop because it’s really not appropriate and unnecessary.
Xlamb said this on Websleuths today:
“Hi Makar…The name Delsar has popped up as the next name from Jazz’s letters, curtesy of Cipher Mysteries. Rather than you or anyone else considering spending their precious time researching this, I can tell you that one of those already mentioned is my Great Grandmother Lilly May Delsar and she’s now buried next to her only child, my Grandfather James McIntyre jnr.. I have all that’s needed covering the Delsar family on pages 15 to 22 of our Family History book already, so I can answer anything that’s of relevance.”
I will confirm again that Xlambs great grandmother is not in the letters.
Just ignore the pair of them Jazz! They are not worth the time of day. 🙂
I just requested to Websleuths that they delete my account and cancel my membership. Xlambs predatory behaviour today was shocking. He has even managed to get hold of my email. Xlamb seems very desperate for the limelight and attention, I find it very sad indeed.
Pete Bowes and Ruth Collins are a pair of scumbags. I don’t know why the pair of them haven’t been taken to court and locked up. The pair of them come out with absolute rubbish. My advice to you Jazz is stay well away.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience Jazz. Xlamb has been around for years on blogs and websites. She is one of those people that you going to have to ignore. She is convinced that she is connected to every single cold case in South Australia. Her latest fantasy is that she thinks she has a picture of Robin Thomson on a Jetty with her diving. The photo doesn’t even look like Robin. It been shown to all the Thomson family members and they are all saying its not him. From ID Cards to photos to memories that she dreams up she never gives up. She rings the police up on a daily basis hassling them and she has been in touch with all the media outlets trying to sell her story. Nobody will give her the time of the day because nothing she says is true. It now looks like she is trying to latch on to your letters and its contents. Please don’t release too much into the public domain because Xlamb will twist it and make up a story. By the looks of it she has already attempted this claiming that the letters are about her great grandmother. Your right about some of the contents of Pete Bowes blog, it can be used to get a successful protection order. Please take care and look after yourself.
I’ve just had a look at Pete Bowes site and it’s absolutely disgusting and vile. I’m sorry that you have been subjected to this Jazz. Pete Bowes and this Xlamb character (Ruth Collins) seem very close. Are they a couple or live together?, their comments are really similar and they look like they are coming from the same person. Weird! Definitely a pair of weirdos!. This is a good site and Nick is a decent chap. Good luck with your letters and sorry to hear your leaving Websleuths. Julian 🙂
Julian: Pete Bowes and Ruth Collins are two completely different people.
Well I’ve not had anything to do with them yet and I fully intend not to in the future. Considering I have never contributed to Pete Bowes site he has been stalking me across the net and writing about me. What he is doing is stalking and I’m actually really scared right now. I had another good cry tonight over all of this. I just wish Pete would stop. I’m a young mum with three children under the age of 8 and I really don’t need this.
Also…
As a result of Pete Bowes and his stalking I’ve has 6 people message me on Facebook. I can’t even repeat what was said in the emails. I am a member of Derek Abbott group and I assume people found me through the member list.
Jazz: I’m sorry to say that until such time as (a) you can demonstrate that the cache of letters you have is genuine, and (b) what little information in them that pertains to “Sister Thomson” (which I’m not personally expecting to stretch to more than half a page) has been extracted and made public, this nonsense will probably continue in one form or another.
But the good news is that both of those things are in your control, not anyone else’s – the rest is just noise.
That’s a fair comment Nick. When I get the go ahead (once I’m done with media) copies are all yours! 🙂
Could the Somerton Man have been a homosexual or transvestite. It might explain his legs. That area was also a well known gay beat in those days.
Balthazar: we’re not short of candidate explanations, but why not throw another log on the fire? 🙂
Its never been explored. I asked a drag queen about the Somerton Man and she agreed that he could of dressed up. There are many indicators there.
Re: Pete Bowes
[[[[…REMOVED BY MODERATOR, SEE FOLLOWING COMMENT…]]]]
I hope this helps Jazz! – It’s publicly available information from Pete Bowes domain registration. What he has done to you is horrific (Letters or Not).
Balthazar: sure, you can get Pete’s home address from his tomsbytwo.com domain registration (e.g. from https://who.godaddy.com/ ), but international law isn’t quite that simple. The blog on tomsbytwo.com is currently hosted by Automattic (so is probably a wordpress.com site) in San Francisco somewhere, so the content on Automattic’s servers would be subject to US defamation laws etc.
OK, Nick, I suppose you won’t like my saying this, but I just went over to Pete’s blog and had a look at the chronology he shows in his “jazz tracks” post.
If you can get past some of the more bilious aspects of his writing and pay attention to the timeline he has reconstructed, he actually raises some serious inconsistencies in this story.
I have suggested some techniques for separating papers that are stuck together as an act of good faith, because obviously I would like jazz’s claims to turn out to be true and eventually helpful to solving this case.
But honestly, I find this whole batch of posters fishy as hell, and as much as I want to believe, my gut’s been telling me from the get-go that this whole thing reeks of BS.
After reading Pete’s timeline, I’m ready to go back to trusting my instincts on this one, until proof of the contrary.
Today’s a good day to remember the words of GWB:
“fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again”
😉
Goose: the timeline on Pete Bowes’ site that you’re referring to is (as normal) based on a long list of assumptions, aspersions and inferences (all arranged in no particular order), a mode of presentation that (in my opinion) leaves the reader knowing less at the end than they knew when they started. Maybe he’s right, maybe he’s wrong: but it’s so hard to tell what’s what that I for one quickly lost all interest.
For me, I trust the evidence and the evidence alone – the rest is just smoke (and occasionally mirrors).
The point is:
If jazz claims to have managed to scan the letters and send them to the authorities on march 25th (“I have spent ages having them all photocopied and scanned and they are being examined first” – note she says “all” and uses the past tense) , then why is jazz still claiming on the 29th to be still trying to peel them apart?
Nick – I think Goose has a point, Pete’s timeline does indeed highlight some inconsistencies in this current saga. I suggest you go back and re-read it because it is not based on assumptions, aspersions & inferences. It is based on comments copied and pasted from here, Websleuths & tomsbytwo. You also state it is in no particular order. I think you’ll find it is actually in chronological order (kinda the whole point of a timeline, after all), which is what makes the inconsistencies stand out.
Lewiansto: I hear what you’re saying. But just because you format something as a timeline doesn’t mean you’ve captured the truth… things can be a little more complex than that.
“words are like a certain person / don’t mean what they say / don’t say what they mean”
@ Brian Devesen (spelling? There has been so much “Jazzy” interruption between your fascinating followup of my query in re Malayan mines (tin) and my (today’s) apology/follow-up — I’m hoping you will understand that I spent the time investigating the ‘geology/chemistry’ of zinc : “Rocks and Minerals — A guide to Familiar Minerals, Gems, Ores, and Rocks” by Herbert S. Zim — Paul R. Shaffer (Prof. of Geology, University of Illinois), Illustrated by Raymond Perlman, Professor of Art, University of Illinois. Publisher: Golden Press – New York (copyright 1957).
I’ve been a ‘rockhound’ since my first adventure into the Mojave desert with my ‘rockhound” parents (when I was three years old). In more recent years, my husband and I have visited the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelley, parts of the Arizona, Nevada, and California deserts. So, it probably is no surprise to you that this old lady has had a lifelong fascination with not just gems, but just as valuable rocks such as can be found in Australia (Ayers Rock), Mojave Desert (turquoise), and Magnesite (which Pomo people made into small flat beads for use as currency: one magnesite bead was worth ten of clamshell beads. The beads were used to decorate the gorgeous coiled baskets (as opposed to woven baskets).
Thanx again ‘B.Dev….
bd
.
Balthazar – re your drag queen suggestion, it has been suggested before but I have not seen much followup. The basis for the connection was not just his calf muscles, but that in the 1930s and 40s there was a fetish magazine called Bizarre, which among other things apparently featured men in high heels along with Omar Khayamm quotes.
In re “Pete Bowes” supposedly being the ‘bad guy’. How about doing a little more research and identification of Pete’s girlfriend (x-lamb) ?
@ Petey: Get well soon! I miss your ‘quirky’ humor !
bd
Only six or so letters were stuck together. I scanned and emailed the first lot to the authorities that requested them they then subsequently wanted copies of the remaining letters.
Due to the abuse and comments that are going on I’m not going to be contributing to any online forums anymore. The matter is now in the hands of the police and the authorities.
Once my job is done by the way of getting the information across I’m not having anything to do with this anymore. There are far too many weirdos and freaks online circulating around this and it’s scary.
I’m still a member of the Someton Man Facebook group and its got some great people in there. Once I’m able to release scans I will so to them also the media have picked on the new information.
Thanks everyone and take care 🙂
There are other sites apart from Cipher Mysteries, Websleuths and that other one run by the madman Pete Bowes. The Somerton Man Websleuhs forum has now been made private and members kicked off due to Pete Bowes and his behaviour. Is anyone here members of the Facebook group?. It was only a small percentage of the letter that were stuck together. I think if Jazz had known she was going to have every word analysed by a group of Aspergers researchers she would have been more specific. Grow up everyone and get a life!
Is it all any of your business in the first place Goose?
Roast Goose has never my favourite it’s always been roast Lamb. Perhaps I should give Goose another go.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/973574846029271/
bdid1dr: xlamb is not Pete Bowes’ girlfriend, and she has managed to make her identification known many times over.
I KNOW everyone’s real name here. People may think they safe hiding behind a fake name but they are NOT. TJ
Xlamb is a Mrs Ruth Collins nee McIntyre
Can I join your group Jazz?
I promise to be good!
I might be a member already. TJ
Oh dear, Nick ! I’d like to suggest that you close down this particular discussion page, NOW. I suspect that “Jackal” is “what’s her name’ who supposedly is PB’s ‘girlfriend’.
Take care! I’d hate to lose contact with your great website!
bd
TheJackal: an anonymous commenter deriding people for their anonymity, really? Whatever Pete Bowes might claim, I do genuinely hope for better from people than that. 🙁
Listen in TJ, I’ll tell you a story:
In the grasslands of Africa, lone jackals sometimes contemplate feasting on the wild spur-winged geese they hear honking nearby.
These powerful geese are among the fastest birds in the world, known to reach speeds of 142 km/h, while the earth-bound canine trails behind at 56km/h.
The hunt is thus doomed to failure.
Should the foolish jackal ever succeed, this meal is likely to be its last: due to their own diet of blister beetles, the flesh of these geese is poisonous, containing high levels of cantharidin, a corrosive chemical which can cause death even in humans.
The moral of this story is:
Stick to scavenging rodents, Jackal. I’ll honk as I please.
Nick & friends: I sincerely suspect that it is NOT Pete who is posting some of this latest nonsense. I would not be the least surprised to eventually find out that his GF has had him locked away ‘somewhere’ and that she is a troll.
Ah, Pete ………tsk, tsk!
bd (again is asserting that this note is NOT Brian D.) Sorry, Brian, for my earlier refs to the similar initials.
@ Goose: That is the scariest bird story I have ever read ! Poor jackals. Keep in mind that jackals feature prominently in the works and hieroglyphs of some of the most famous Pharoahs .
bd
These comments provide very little adornment to ciphermysteries. I think Pete Bowes over eggs things to some extent, but the remarks above are peurile and some are slightly sinister.
I’m not interested in you stupid stories you idiot.
I read and hack everyone’s emails all the time and when I ready a Wikileaks style website will go up. Nobody will be left out. Until the next time. Goodbye
The Jackal
Nick, is there some reason you allow remarks like this to be published on your website?
Montika: personally, I try to draw the line at abusive / racist / sexist / homophobic / anti-religious / inflammatory.
Where would you have me draw that line instead?
@ Goose; I’m still laughing. Have you any more goosy/gander stories for us?
Hysterical !
bd
@Goose : Besides jackals, do you have any stories to tell about hyenas? I vaguely remember a news item, of several years ago, where a young mother was accused of killing her baby (which baby just disappeared). Apparently there was a pack of hyenas in the area.
BTW: I noticed a familiar name in Jazz’ last itemization of the Somerton Man case:
Jim Gillogly. I was flying by at top speed. I shall go back and read her list again.
bd
Jazz also mentioned Gerry Feltus (spelling?). Very interesting list of names. I’m thinking that Jazz is/was genuinely researching in hopes of enabling the ID of the Somerton man. Actually it is more than just a list — she mentions their skills and occupations. I see nothing in her last post to suggest scurrilism.
An earlier post slightly misquoted an expression:
“Fool me once — shame on you. Fool me twice — shame on me !
I think Jazz was genuine — and genuinely made her findings easily read, because she listed all of the various teams or individuals — correctly spelled and listed in alphabetical order. Meticulous!
Having been a records management specialist for the last 15 years of my employment with various government offices (and the US Government Public Health Service facility) , I feel that she deserves recognition for her efforts, instead of suspicion. Go in good health Jazz !
bd
bdid1dr: the good news is that the commenter was accurately quoting a former US President. The bad news is that that particular president was George Dubya Bush.
Perhaps the Jackal can remind me who I am. I hide my identity so much I’ve forgotten….
Re Jazz and the letters – I don’t think much of PB’s site; I find it curious that a fiction writer continually attacks other opinions based on what they stated as “the facts” (that is, when it suits he’s a fiction writer, when it suits he’s an investigator that will only listen to fact). While he appears to have a point about inconsistencies I’m reluctant to immediately dismiss it all as a hoax – largely because I don’t really see the purpose of the hoax (it almost appears very deliberately detached almost to the point of uselessness) – which means it potentially has no value whatsoever.
That said, there’s other things that I struggle to resolve in my head, but probably have plausible explanation (like how someone on the other side of the world who apparently knew nothing of SM manages to resolve the address to this case). Time will tell (and relatively speaking not much time, I guess).
Cautiously reserving judgement for now…
Oh yes, George Bush , Jr. A real piece of work. Making deals with the Canadian government for developing the ‘oil sands’. Many of the oil fields and pipelines which were subsequently developed (Canada AND the United States) were were constructed across our Native American lands, and their sacred places. So, guess who profited from from all that desecration.
bd
I think the line could be redrawn to include posters threatening to hack other posters’ e-mail accounts and publish the contents on the net. Pretty sure such acts are illegal in both the United Kingdom and Australia, and yes, even in the USA where ‘anything goes’.
Montika: for me, threatening to do something that is practically impossible is not genuinely a threat. 🙂
Did you accidentally kick the lid of pandora’s box whilst killing a chinaman, Nick, or was it the other way round?
Robert: I think it was SAPOL who opened Pandora’s suitcase in December 1948, the rest you already know. 😉
Jazz’s ‘link’ is a lovely little group on Facebook. The letters and information is in there. Lots of people all working together and putting their research skills to use. It’s as it should be. Let’s stop the arguing and find the name of the Somerton Man. Come on everyone the drama needs to stop.
Bruce: I’ll go and have a look at it this evening, see if it is as you say it is…
Just been reading Pete Bowes site.
It’s Scary with capital S
Between him and Xlamb it’s worrying.
A pair of very deranged and mixed up people.
People are just plain right STUPID
The amount of people I watch through their cameras on their computers and they don’t even know I’m doing it.
I see and hear everything everyone.
I’ve also planted many cameras in many places.
I have to go…
I’m cooking a Roast Goose. It’s my obsession now.
The scaries are all on here. This latest letters claim is trash.
Montika: sadly, the scaries are everywhere. And until such time as we manage to collectively prove or disprove the core claim, they’re probably not going anywhere. 🙁
Does anyone know the link for the Facebook group that has been mentioned by many posters? I’ve sighted a few of the 1940s letters today that have been circulating, and I’m very keen to see more. The ones I have seen already are very interesting indeed!.
Cheers
Ben
Ben A: the link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/973574846029271/ but I don’t know anything about it, so caveat lector etc.
I thought Joel Leahy was not keen to have Jestyn discussed and identified? Why the SM paintings?
Montika: a link would be helpful. 🙂
Joel produced a series of SM paintings which were subsequent sold through various charitable outlets. The money was donated to Cancer Research. Robin Thomson died of Prostate Cancer and these were his reasons for the project. Have you ever lost anyone you loved to Cancer Montika?
Nowadays it is all about oil wells, petroleum products, and destruction of previous sacred lands, huge tracts of grain fields. More recent controversy is about the enormous housing tracts in the deserts — and dry wells and rivers, with or without dams, So there is definitely a severe shortage of grain fields, vineyards, fruit trees…….
Back to Alison — who probably died of zinc poisoning. Just think of the millions of tin cans which, when emptied, got tossed into the local garbage dumps ‘everywhere’.
And then there was Key West, Florida; many tourists could not understand the restrictions placed on bath and shower usage. Fresh water was supplied by the summertime daily deluges which emptied into storage tanks, The local Naval Air Station had a desalination plant – which dumped the salt into a nearby ‘salt pond’.
So, picture a five-year-old boy, thigh-deep, in what could have ‘pickled’ him to death. Fortunately, a local air force guard escorted my son to home.
bd
Can anyone tell us where Alan Turing is buried? I know there are a lot of homophobes in this world. Where would we be today without his amazing machine/invention ? It is interesting to me that, so far, there are no photographs of him pre-hormone treatments and/or after his suicide.
I cry.
bdid1dr
Yes, Lucas. However if my grandmother had been connected to a famous probable murder case and I were adamant about keeping her name unsullied, I would probably be disinclined to create artwork about the matter. Seems counterintuitive. I don’t understand Joel’s angle.
Nick: What did you make of the copied letter you received 29th March?
Byron and bdid1dr: I thought your observations re tin mining sharp (as usual) and deserved more attention . Sorry, I am too ignorant to ask searching questions. Bd(id1dr) good on you for taking it up and setting a good example re relevance and civility.
Robert Nowak: the letter looked plausible enough, but the pressing question is more about whether or not it’s genuinely of its claimed period (e.g. or hacked together by someone with a period typewriter bought on ebay etc), and this is something that would be hard to determine reliably from a single image.
[note to self]: perhaps someone somewhere has a separate letter from Alison Verco / Bean that we can compare typewriters with. That would be a reasonably good starting point. 🙂
If we forensically analyse Jessica’s life we will find tne clues.
That’s if the real Anne put these comments up!
I’ve collected everyone’s IP numbers and I can make it look like I’m posting from anyone’s IP address now.
Love
The Jackal
My name is Anne
Oh no it isn’t!
It’s the Jackal!
P.S I’ve loved reading your emails to Gerry Feltus Nick!
Anne,
If you are living in australia, you may need to know that it is against the law to pretend expertise in any branch of medicine without having appropriate qualifications. And even people who have formal qualifications (a minimum of ten years for the ordinary g.p. and another four to qualify as a specialist), it is still illegal to offer an opinion as quasi “diagnosis” without having seen the person in a consultation. In addition to that, it is illegal in Australia to publicly assert that any person suffers from a condition pertaining to psychological or mental health.
Put it another way, the only thing which need prevent Nick’s having you prosecuted is the fairly astonishing fact that he himself published these comments which might well be – also – judged to constitute libel.
Our laws are much stricter about these things, and the medium of publication, or the nationality of the publication, does not lessen your liability.
The Jackal: hilarious. Are you planning to quote me a line?
Diane: so if I (with my moderator hat on) allow/publish someone’s libellous comments about me (without my moderator hat on), I’m actually libelling myself? Wow – I’d better serve an order on myself to take down the comments I had so foolishly approved on my own behalf.
But then again, in this specific instance, the person making the comments surely made themselves look 100x more foolish for submitting them than I did for approving them, so perhaps it’s not such a bad deal. Perhaps in future they would be better off serving an order on themselves before posting, rather than leaving it to me. 🙂
Oh, and complicating the matter is that libel is said to take place in the country where the server hosting the libel is hosted (Chicago, in this case), irrespective of who’s being libelous about whom: so it would be American law that would be in play here. But it’s a legal mess, all the same. =:-o
I could add something to the Xlamb comment.
Can’t she be taken to a place like Saudi Arabia and tried?
At least they would chop her hands off and she wouldn’t be able to type anymore.
But im sure Major Crime will beg to have her tongue chopped off too.
Anything for some peace on the phone lines!
And if your reading this Xlamb it’s NOT Robin Thomson!
Give your stupid Jetty Photo a break!
The Jackal: so it’s all just a coincidence that you’re now posting from the same French IP address as Cipher Mysteries commenters “Janice” (2013) and “Maria” (2014)?
In your haste to distance yourself from the “Tracey” (2016) abuse you just sent through, did you accidentally turn off your anonymous proxy?
The Jackal: no, I see, that’s the Paris server for hideme.be – nice to know you’ve been a loyal customer of theirs for all these years. 😉
Nick, are you able to find out if there was any connection between Alan Turing’s being chemically castrated, and maybe his lover’s disappearance — and maybe the lover turning up dead on Somerton beach?
What I can’t understand is the mindset of various authorities/governmental agencies who finally erect a monument giving honor/recognition some 40-50 years later to someone they debased and murdered . Yeah, that long-dead person is really going to understand the belated ‘honor’ . Who gives a **** in today’s world?
W’e-e-l–l — I do! I remember him every day when I sit down in front of my computer keyboard and begin posting.
bd
ps: I’m still really ps’d off !
Very interesting!
What really irks me is the constant mis-spelling and the use of contractions with wrong punctuation:
Annie get you’re gun (?) Annie get your gun (?) Annie get you gun (?)
And yes, I can spell ‘pissed off’ . Pissed off or not ! I may increase my use of the word ‘angry’ instead of ‘p-o’d . period .
bd
bd
There’s a couple of articles doing the rounds at the moment that basically say people who get publicly upset over poor spelling (and grammar) are knobs.
While I confess to being reasonably pedantic over poor grammar, I can increasingly see that it doesn’t really matter provided you can still understand the meaning (and I think a lot of mistakes with its/it’s; there/their/they’re; or your/you’re are made by people typing quicker than they think). I know I often reread my own writing (whether document, online post, email etc) and realise a lot of poor grammar has crept in. In particular in online communications I find if someone is talking to me in the real world then my sentences can get bizarrely garbled (I seem to often accidentally use ‘8’ instead of ‘a’; repeat words; or use a homonym (or worse something vaguely similar sound-wise but not meaning – or even necessarily spelling-wise) without even realising it). I also have habits that used to think were funny of deliberately misspelling words into other words that might appear vaguely similar (eg using “indecently” instead on “incidentally”; or confusing “ancient of days” with “ancient and dazed”; or deliberately confusing similar sounding words (inciteful vs insightful – and I’ve heard different people claim either or both of them doesn’t exist, but I think that depends on whose English you choose (I once had a teacher who used to remind us “The Americans, who never learnt to speak English properly….”)) .
Perhaps ironically, I cringe when others do the same – or seem to use the wrong (but often commonly accepted) word in a phrase (eg “defend for themseleves”), but sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m correct (do you leave someone to their own devices or their own vices? – I almost prefer the latter (although it’s a little context-dependent), but the internet doesn’t like me).
The problem online is that without even considering people from non-English speaking backgrounds there is so much variation of the language (probably even within England, certainly within Britain, and even more certainly [ok, that was on purpose] in the broader “English Speaking World”). And [that might be deliberate too] every step of the way the language evolves in its own direction. The Americans prefer ‘z’ to ‘s’ in “…ise”, and “o” to “ou” in “…our” – and they make up words that evolve…..
burgle->burglar->burglarize->burglarizer
but then, perhaps it’s not just them…how did someone who comments on things become a commentator rather than a commentor – and why do we then talk about commentating; and we seem to often use “methodology” in place of “method” – quite often something might start out as methodology (the theoretical analysis/study of methods), but usually we are USING those methods rather than refining or redefining them.
A lot of online commenters (even when they claim to be 103) are also relatively young – possibly still at school and are still learning the language (and the ideas and teachings themselves have probably evolved since you were at school) and may speak differently (plus the influence of mobile devices on peoples grammar laziness, and the increased accessibility from mobile devices (from which it can be difficult to write anything more than a few words without “fat fingers” or “auto-correct” making a nice mess of it)) and all of a sudden the online discourse is not the perfect academia-standard world of English…
Language evolves, and it first evolves because of laziness (was there always an i there?), confusion or broad adoption (or a combination of them) – and to some degree it has to evolve as technology and an advancing world dictates that we need to describe things differently, or use awkward expressions more often. If we really want (need?) to get pedantic about language, stop “googling” and start “(re)searching”. When Journalists or Authors use poor grammar by all means get upset by it – it’s their bread and butter (although Authors I think can have a bit of an excuse because they’re trying to portray a certain image which poorly used language might help with). When Jo Anonymous posts with poor grammar on a site that is open to the entire world, there’s little point getting all upset about it (just allow yourself a smug satisfaction that you’re somehow better than them).
Is not/are not any person(s) who could give us any information about Alan Turing’s long-time lover (who apparently disappeared when Mr. Turing was arrested, incarcerated for a while, and chemically castrated). I wonder when the Brits first used castration as a form of punishment. I wonder if there is any coincidence of events with the Somerton Man Mystery, which is ongoing.
@ D O’D: I think you and Goose would make a great team: He with his wicked sense of humor, and you as the ‘straight (wo) man”. You both ‘make my day’ ! Actually, Diane, I think you would find some of the kindest people in the WWW: Misca and Milonga (spelling?) Never mind responding to jackasses/jennies with their desperate need for attention — any kind of attention.
@Milonga: My apology, I shall forever remember how to spell your name:
Mi-long-al
Did I get it right this time?
beady-eyed-wonder (sometimes wonderer) 😉
@Milongal: ‘bizarrely garbled’ ‘bazaar garbage’ ‘brassiere’ ‘brasserie’ —-can you come up with some other ‘fun words” ? I’m not the only punster/punstress on these various discussion pages. Aw, come on Diane, I know you have a sense of humor , even if it is along the lines of ‘shoulda-coulda-woulda- when taking refuge from the fire.
@oh so sober Nick (our host): dare I instigate any humor which involves you?
Note my use of question marks/remarks.
bd
A belated @ at Milongal: Laziness ? Lazyness? Busy? Business ? Do u one-der y I sine off as
bdid1dr (?) Mister Mystery Ministry — its enough . Actually, it was my dyslectic sister who caused a lot of confusion in our family — although she was a whiz at math. I find it both funny and amazing at how many WWW persons sign off with a 🙂
Have y’all noticed Nick’s sign-off does not turn into a 🙂 ?
bd
@ Wannabe online physicians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, obstetricians …….show your vellum degrees. Otherwise you will be considered as badly educated know-nothings, who are desperately in need of counseling — when what is most apparent about you is serious loneliness. Get help!
Why would anyone call oneself a jackal ? No self-esteem to speak of?
You ladies and gentlemen are half cooked 🙂
How about instead of fighting each other. Put your efforts ,time and knowledge into the task @ hand
Joel: you can contribute in a positive way too, if you want. For example, by letting Cipher Mysteries readers know if there are any upcoming Somerton Man media events – sadly, Tamam Trolls have been so active recently that I can’t currently see through my own windscreen. 😐
G’day Nick ,hope you are well. No media events that are worth mentioning that I am aware of. The person who contacted me ended up being a troll also. Surprise surprise. One thing stands out to me about Verco though. She has a real uncanny resemblance to an old friend of Js from NSW . Peace and light.
Joel: what claims did the troll make to you?
Milongal,
Thank you so much for that post. It shows a level of intelligence which isn’t so often found among the spelling-fiends and grammar-furies.
You’ve mentioned distraction, and fat-fingers and other afflictions. Let me mention two more. One is the ‘internet environment’ which I think promotes that part of the brain which monologues like James Joyce as soon as one loses that sense of time and place which the internet famously destroys by putting people ‘in the zone’.
I’ve sometimes written things up online, or on the computer and they seem to read just fine. If I print them out, I find pure “Ulysses’ and I can’t make any sense of it at all. The whole thing has to be re-ordered, not only the order of exposition but the order of words in half the sentences.
In my case, though, the problem is partly never having had to do my own typing until fairly recently, but even more that my language skills developed in a mixed environment. One parent had the brogue, as I did too until I was eight years old, and grammar to suit. At the same time, teachers spoke classic English and my range of reading tended to combine the literature of ‘American’, English and traditional Australian – which was basically the language of first-generation Australians from (free) Scots,Irish, English and Welsh. To make things more complicated, we lived in a multi-cultural environment: one neighbour an Italian refugee, the other a refugee from England, and yet another from central Europe or a ‘white Russian’. Half the world came to the southern haven in the 1950s and never wanted to return to the hell on earth they had left.
That I can still write one plain sentence in English is surprising. That I can type one is astonishing.
– and there you are, Beady.
Nick: the troll/s were the fake reporters who contacted me . Pretending to want to do an interview . I think the ID lady is behind most of the destractions going on . Cheers.
Hi there..
I’ve been looking for the links to the articles on Keith Mangnoson. As I wanted to read up on him. Are the articles still available?
Chloe
Joel: did the fake reporters have Auckland IP addresses? Thanks!
Nick, may I speak for myself, if Joel is referring to me as the “ID lady” ?
beady-eyed wonder — aka: bdid1dr .
I would have thought that the ID Lady refers to Xlamb who found the HC Reynolds seaman’s ID.
Sue d’Nimh: isn’t there a Carly Simon song about that? 😉
IP was supposedly coming from the Adelaide Hills region. Thanks.
Joel: cheers, that’s a good help. 🙂
Timelines aside – mines of copper, gold, silver, aluminum — and uranium were pretty much taken over by American scientists in the mid-twentieth century. So, I’ve pretty much concluded that ‘making war’ is RARELY about protecting civilian populations in any country.
In the most recent history of WWII, we can find the Belgian Congo being cleaned out of their uranium deposits/mines so that the USA warmongers can create a super-bomb (Chicago Illinois and St. Louis Missouri) . Mallinckcrodt’s industry was purifying/refining a ton of uranium a day — and sending it to Chicago…..
I don’t think they got the idea of using uranium for a bomb — as opposed to making “Fourth of July ” fireworks……. By the way, Mallinckrodt also profited by obtaining columbium-tantalum / C – T from “natural uranium ore”.
My latest references are from a book written by Anita M. Mallinckrodt, published by Southern Illinois University.
bd
bd
Hello.
I live in the regional town of Port Pirie in South Australia, about two and a half hours north of Glenelg and about three hours south of Woomera (Government Anglo/Australian rocket testing range) which has been suggested as a possible interest in the spy theory of the case. I’ve also discovered that lead levels of the Somerton mans hair were very high around 3 weeks prior to his death, and had dropped by around a week before his death. I find that interesting as, 1) Port Pirie had an operational uranium mine during that time period and 2) had and still has a lead smelting plant. Lead levels from the plant fall out would have been quite high during those earlier times.
Strange that old thread on Alison Bean just popped up like that. Yesterday one of her relatives was on the tube making some point about a big dealer from Point Piper, who’s career at the very top was in it’s death throes. A day before that I had been puting together a mental list of all those connected with our very own SM inquiries that had succumbed under rather unusual circumstances; guess who came in at number ten.
Kim: It would be no surprise to me to learn that Somerton Man had tested for high lead and strontium levels in the time frame you suggest. One of our erstwhile, and respected contributors, Mr. Deveson has frequently shared his vast knowledge on the subject through his most entertaining posts, which I would recommend most fervently. It is highly likely in my opinion that this condition might easily be attributed to an early post war prison diet which I understand consisted in the main of canned Australian ‘salmon’ supplemented with surplus stock of contaminated Japanese/Korean tuna. Had SM have spent nine months or so in a low security gaol (Port Augusta or Broken Hill), this would have also enabled him to dispell all physical signs of any pre incarceration employment signatures and allow him to work on his body tone. His early release by about the third week in November ’48 and his return to Adelaide thereby, would enable him to resume a normal civilian dietary intake, hence a drop in the heavy metals as recorded.
After conviction and subsequent incarceration for a ‘don’t mean nuthin’ easy 12 month quasi trustee category stint for regenerative purposes, our man would naturally have regained his old job in the prison kitchen. Mixing dough on baking days to get the old hands back to their desired supple state, then use free reflexion time on fitness (3 k burpees daily for the legs and abs) amongst other physical improvements desireable. Being of empecable behaviour to boost chances of an early parole in order to be out and away before Chrissy. Whacko the diddillo; free top notch pre loved clobber upon release, some basic handyman tools for the road, a travel warrant (no tickee) to boot, plus a nice blue Franklin fiver in his stitched up fob, all compliments of a generous and forgiving government. How could one wish for anything more?…
Kim: as you rightly suspect, the question of whether Port Pirie’s uranium processing might be involved has been raised many times in recent years. However, even though uranium was mined at Radium Hill as early as 1906, the Port Pirie operation only began in any quantity in 1952: during 1946-1947, only exploration and drilling work was carried out.
http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/11/16/lead-somerton-mans-hair
http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/11/26/good-lead-vs-bad-lead
http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/12/10/how-the-risdon-roaster-might-explain-everything
http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/11/25/following-the-australian-lead-archive-trail
etc etc etc
What a blast, this thread must be right down there with the worst, my recent innocuous posts, excluded. First off I easily picked up on the four riders of the appocolypse by their fake palsy snide under-tones, that grew into the insignificant seven, with a more condecending edge to their respective slurs, and lastly growing into a foul blown the dirty dozen, bent solely on distruption, with their cacophony of general general non selective abuse. Of course the whole posse rode boldly into Somerton City on the same horse and with the same sleazy agenda. Then after letting old Dobbin foul Tarlton Street from Moseley through to Whyte, the whole shebang hi-tailed it back to cowards castle in contemplation of their next raid along Jetty Road. Only one or two of that mob show up these days, and whilst still maintaining their rage, only rarely do they venture onto our range these days, it seems.