A little while back, I became aware that “The Unknown Man” – which I consider to be the #1 factual account of the Somerton Man cold case / Tamam Shud mystery – was about to be republished in ebook format, and so I asked Gerry Feltus for some more details to share with you. What I thought Cipher Mysteries readers would be particularly interested in was whether he had made any changes to the original print version (which came out way back in 2010).
Incidentally, here’s a nice photo of Gerry in action, taken from this family website:
Gerry kindly emailed me back a few days ago, saying:
I didn’t make any great changes apart from identifying and providing details relative to the nurse and her husband. I am aware that their identities were continuously produced on web sites, but people who purchased my book don’t all follow web sites so it is only fair that they also have access to the details.
There’s a little more detail on his News page.
Simply The Best
Since “The Unknown Man” first appeared in print back in 2010, I have continuously recommended it to prospective Somerton Man researchers as their very best first port of call. The only possible objection international researchers could have was the (still shockingly high) cost of postage from Australia, a pox to which ebooks are thankfully immune. So the ridiculous situation where people write articles, posts or even papers about the Somerton Man that fail to cite “The Unknown Man” should now hopefully be a thing of the past: it remains the core of any good Somerton Man bibliography.
For me, what is so good about Gerry’s book is that he sensibly restricts it to the pure factuality of the case, for it should be obvious that reporting all the facts in a clear and well-structured way is an amply hard enough challenge on its own. Having said that, even though this approach leaves plenty of room for other books to explore the various hypotheses in more detail, these sadly remain unwritten. Maybe one day, who knows?
Frustratingly, there are still a few details of the case hidden under pseudonyms in “The Unknown Man” which have yet to become public, most notably the real identity of “Ronald Francis” (in the back of whose car the Rubaiyat with the torn-out “Tamam Shud” was found in late 1948) and even the real make of Francis’s car. But perhaps these will emerge into the light before too long… here’s hoping, anyway. 😉
PS: if you haven’t already read “The Unknown Man”, go away and read it now!
I’ll admit I haven’t read it …. but I can certainly imagine how objectively a detective might write something. Any speculation is clearly labelled such, and any anomaly in detail isn’t omitted just because it’s inconvenient.
And one day I’ll read it (but I’m a tightarse and don’t like paying for things – and recently realised I haven’t actually read a book for about 10 years, spending way too much time reading the interwebs instead…)
That’s awesome 🙂 I was also dead chuffed when ordering and buying my copy a few years ago from Rundle Mall that Gerry Feltus had actually signed it. Totally unexpected and definitely pride of place on bookshelf, obviously a top guy 🙂
In the 7 years since Mr Feltus wrote and self-published “The Unknown Man”, what have we learned? The “real” names of Jessica Harkness and Prosper Thomson. A little bit about Jessica. A little bit about her son Robin Thomson and daughter Kate. A little bit about Robin’s ex/widow Roma Egan and their daughter Rachel. The fact that Derek Abbott is married to Rachel. The fact that Abbott had/has an ulterior motive. In other words, not much. Has any of this gotten anyone any closer to ID-ing the Somerton Man? Nick, you know the answer, Don’t you?
Bumpkin: the point of this post was to shame anyone who is interested in the Somerton Man but has not bought Gerry’s book (and there are a few such people) into buying the e-book.
But you ask a good question, one I should answer in a post of its own.
On the plus side, one might look at it as being an ongoing process of very effective SM elimination; which being the case, we must be closer to an ID mathematically speaking. Then again, with Mr. Feltus being confident enough to put his mystery book online, which will help keep the wolf from his door, we well may envisage a whole new generation of more up to scratch home sleuths taking up the challenge. Seems to point towards a win win for all the sports fans. Always try to look on the brighter side of life; sure beats talking about collective failure, I think, Don’t you?
JS et al; The only way to ID SM is to exhume his body. If this is ever done, he will probably be IDed. If not, than there is no chance. But I’m repeating myself, aren’t I?
Just finished chapter one of the online book and starting the second; eagerly anticipating the pace to pick up fairly shortly. Nice to see that the Herbert boys, Dave & Xavier get an early mention, though ‘Poor Fellow’ would likely contest claims that he had joined up in Sydney. He was actually a most reluctant Victorian enlistee and assertions that he and the A Coy NCOU which included Alf Boxall did counter insurgency intellegence patrols in Jap infested Timor Sea, did not impress the AIF medal issuing people one iota.
Ahh… So it was Errol Canney that took the brief on the apparent suicide of Tibor Kuldor on Decenber 15th ’49 and who somehow could not later recall what had happened to the dead man’s belongings. It was also Errol who took a statement from a man named Keith Mangnoson on his confident identification of a man found dead on Somerton Beach two weeks earlier. Errol was once again to the fore when he interviewed a Sister Thomson at Genelg the following July in regards to the same possible identification. A few years later he teamed up with Detective ‘verbal’ Ray Kelly in the Dal Pozzo murder at Broken Hill where he had gone possibly to interview family of an old Somerton Beach witness who had died accidently. In 1966 his old associate Kelly came to Adelaide of his own accord to offer his services in the Beaumont missing children case but his services were politely declined. By that time Errol Canney was overseas heading up a UN peace keeping mission with the then Commonwealth Police contingent.
A mere suggestion based on my reading of Gerry’s book: When the CID/Coroner’s gopher Pcc. Scam Sutherland asked J. Durham to attend the mortury to lift SM’s prints on 3rd Dec. ’48, he may have done so with that knowing look the old camaigner Jimmy knew so well, “smudge smudge, don’t spare the ink, special job, rinky dink; word from the top son”. Rather than belittle his own professional pride Jim would most likely have gotten ‘hoppy’ Knight, his less than expert offsider to do the botched job, being able achieve it without needing to know why his clumsy efforts were likely to go no further than the Super’s office. It’s probable that a good set of ‘known to be clean’ prints might thereupon have been circulated to all the so called English speaking countries, knowing that the results were sure to come back negative. In Gerry’s book, he gives us a little hint that all might not be as it should, with the subsequent personalised response from CIA Bill Donovan’s nemesis in the FBI john Edgar Hoover who was unable to assist with an identification. It might be noted with a snicker that J. E.(?) Hoover’s letter of 5/1/49 would have, if genuine,to have been signed during his routine Xmas/ Newyear break in Atlantic City or far off Florida Keys where he was known to holiday with his buddy Clyde Tolson. It can also be assumed that had any such transmissions been made, they were likely to have been to and from NSW Fingerprint Bureau, as S.A. didn’t have their own. So any replies, negative or otherwise would be expected to come back through the same channels which they obviously did not. We might wonder were the suitcase effects also dusted for prints in a similar cursory way, with those lifted belonging quite predictably to officers responsible for it’s packing, post SM’s discovery below the busted stairs at Somerton Beach……I enjoyed ‘Unknown Man’ ebook though was disappointed that it appears not to have been updated since 2010 and would like to see it revised to include all that has been learned or speculated upon in the interim.
Pages 56/57, where something seems to be amiss and I’m thinking it could merely be a simple typo. We have Gordon and Olive arriving on their motor bike (not a car as was noted by Leane or Brown), then they took up a position on a seat, whereby the man could be seen 9m below them and next to the seawall 2m north of the stairway. We of course are led to believe that where they sat was a seat set to the left of the damaged stairs on a raised ledge about 2m above. You will note that the book does not mention their descent but then talks of their later ascent and the confusion lies in the disclosure that other occupied bench seats were positioned along the esplinade. Perhaps Gerry could clear up the confusion, especially in that 9m seems a fair drop from the street to the beach where SM was positioned; he might also like to clarify the mosquito delema, ie. whether they go for dead meat or not.
….And while we’re in the right place, old soldier and now jeweller John Lyons was most emphatic in his inquest deposition that the cigarette he saw that morning near SM’s right ear was unsmoked, yet Judah (John) Moss the constable went to great lengths to refute that claim; so who’s telling porkies and why. In my opinion Moss is the culprit and it either has something to do with an inconsistent timing agenda or that he was derelict in some important aspect if his assigned duty as first officer on the scene; we’re not to know what time Detective Harry Strangway arrived. Moss makes no mention of the unserviceable stairway or that the nearby beach scene must have been a mess from the early morning horse presence. To the contrary he talks of the stairs being in regular use and that the sand was undisturbed; so it’s no wonder he was transfered to Henley Beach…see page 58 tum.
@JS: A lot of the preliminary detail is messy because at the time the body was found this was a mundane death – not even necessarily suspicious. For the fuzz there’s a process that they need to follow, but given at the time they expect it to be just another boring body they probably don’t go to too much effort to dot t’s and cross i’s (and I suspect this is why some of the potential witnesses conveniently disappear (eg the horse riders)).
I don’t know where the mozzie stuff comes from. I always heard it as ‘flies’ and have onluy heard everyone insist they were mosquitos this last year or so. Having grown up in Adelaide (further North – in Taperoo, closer to Mangnoson territory) and regularly gone to the beach in Summer I can’t ever remember being hassled by mozzies. I can definitely remember swarms of flies buzzing around from the second you get out the water to the time you leave the beach
While Somerton is a narrow beach, Taperoo is considerably wider, and then has about 100m of walking paths back to the road (through plantation like the bushes Mangnoson was found in) – we used to Swim either near Strathfield Tce, or by the “House with the Boat” (ask anyone on the LeFevre Peninsula about the house with the rotting boat if you want an hour of speculation) near Paringa St) and you can see on googlemaps the distance between the Esplanade/Lddy Gowrie Dve and the beach (in fact, using streetview you can see down the paths toward the beach). Almost as soon as you get off the packed wet sand onto the finer dry sand you have flies swarming you – and they continue all the way off the beach. I remember similar experiences at other beaches – Largs, Semaphore, Grange, Henley. I remember flies always, but never mozzies.
As a kid I do remember swimming South of Glenelg once (We called it Somerton, but it may have been closer Brighton – but it certainly had a narrow beach) I don’t specifically remember flies (or mozzies), so it’s possible that the flies don’t like it South of Glenelg (as I recall the beach is a little different there – because the packed sand is often all the way up to the seawall – which shows the tide occasionally goes that high) . Perhaps the flies have more interesting food elsewhere or something, but based on my recollection of other Adelaide Metro beaches I lean toward flies, not mozzies being the pests hanging around the man on the beach……
Milongal: Ian Andrew Mangnoson/Hunter?/Peusker? has gone missing and ‘we don’t know where he are’, same same Isobel’s betrothed Keith Alexdr McAlpine, which can also be said of her crooked brother Cyril John Mang. aka Wilson. The relationship of the Mang. girls with the vice versa names might more accurately be described as half sisters or more precisely aunt and niece due probably to incest; So clever of old family chess queen Ida to mix the names that way and avoid idle chatter over the backyard fences at Largs and Alma in later years. If someone could assist with discovering the respective fates of our three wayward lads, we might go forward to what could prove to be a rewarding outcome indeed indeed. An old and juicy Mangost-ian surplus fund stash appears to have been invested by our ever considerate Federal unclaimed estate minders and I’m sure that they would offer reasonable compensation to those successful in tracking down the rightful heirs. NB: Isobel 5/4/17 and Violet 23/10/17 are represented by their individual add-on plaques over the headstone of Mervyn Wright Lehmann at Cheltenham, along with twice wed Violet’s billy lids Ross & Kaye; Isobel’s man Keith McAlpine dec’d also gets a small guernsey…Sand lice or beach ngats anyone.
NB: Victor Eric Peisker married Florentina Marie Mangnoson nee Hunter, Cyril’s ex in ’41. He also appears to have wed Florie’s older sister Sylvia at some stage along life’s bountiful journey.
whilst we’re still with Gerry’s great book, there are a couple of minor historical points that I picked up on and that might fairly be commented upon. The NAOU in which Alf Boxall served did not commence until mid 1942 and it was based at a Katherine which was well south of Port Darwin or Palmerston as it had once been known. The unit was mainly comprised of stockmen with bush experience or others with technical knowhow in order to make the unit self proficient. It did not during its existence serve in any theatre of war as defined by the Australian Military and indeed that was in consequence of the feared Japanese landings not eventuating. It did not take over from the Darwin Mobile Force which was based in the northern capital for peacetime garrison duties from late 1938 til its eventual disbanding in early 1940 when its members, mostly 2/3 Field Regiment were put aboard the Queen Mary at Sydney and sent off to Britain. Alf who went over to the NAOU thence WTSS in the north and later back to his home state of NSW, did not go to war in any known capacity though he did quite a deal of work in the old campaign areas after cessation of hostilities. I’m not sure why Gerry spent so much time on him as the only thing that makes him really stand out is that he and I share the same educational level at the same renowned learning institution as teenagers, albeit a few years apart. Where Gerry Feltus refers to the relative ease of writing a “flowery mystery novel encompassing the war years, spy themes and lost loves”, I guess he was speaking somewhat tongue in cheek about the Stephen King version of Somerton Man unless there was another similarly threaded piece of fiction.
Absurd and incongruous that the cloakroom attendant Ralph Craig was neither called as a Coronial witness or was asked to make a statement concerning his most important involvement with SM’s? unlocked suitcase. Harold North, who had nothing to offer excepting to identify the receipt ticket and the uncertain time of lodgement was ludicrous and hints at Craig’s possible rejection of the police version of how things went down on 14/1/49 when they inspected contents of the case, and or how they took possession of it five days later. To say that he was on holidays is not a ligitimate excuse and how the coroner would have left his untimely leavetaking for such an important pesence go unquestioned is obviously unacceprable in the extreme
I’d say that Ralph Craig must have stood his ground when Leane attempted to take charge of the suitcase without a warrant and that’s where some probable issues arose between the pair as to rightful custodianship and legal authority. I’m sure that pressure was put on the attendant and eventually he relented to the extent of allowing an inspection within the facility, pending a lawful warrant being issued to transfer title. That’s possibly why Craig was not considered as being a useful witness at the Coronial Inquest and it seems that his important part of the chain of events was thus effectively curtailed. It is noted that word got out to newspapers by 15th inst. and they broke their story about contents confirming SM’s apparent connection to the property. Of course the Barbour threads card was the clincher for ID and it was variously described as being brown cord, course thread and cotton of an unusual type. This information could only have come from Det. Leane and yet at the said inquest, he changed his mind and called it common thread. Apart from the darning needle, which was not described as such, we might assume that it was not considered important enough to display so as to confirm it’s role in the described masculine mending of the various items of apparel. Just like the harness nose ring, sometimes described as a loupe or broken scissors and the little electrical screwdriver, it was not subsequently heard from ever again which, to us is not very helpful. Mention of the slightly lightly soiled underwear, either in SM’s pockets or in the suitcase appears to be a complete misunderstanding of Gerry’s description and I read it as meaning that the items were those removed from the body at Adelaide morgue, then put in his coat pockets for convenience. Later on they would probably have found their way into the suitcase as one might expect to occur over the passage of time.
Flies or Mosquitos : You won’t find mosquitos near a dead body; they feed on
UNCOAGULATED blood.
Somewhere in one of Nick’s earlier posts, I read that some people exercised their horses on beaches where the tide has gone right to the bases of sandy cliffs. When my parents moved us to Lompoc and Santa Barbara we would see people galloping their horses on the wet packed sand.
bd
Are we agreed that Roma Mangnoson was behind the hoax calls in order to gain sympathy; this being evidenced by Detectives claimed to have interviewed a young woman of interest, which did not result in any charges being laid. The fund manager for a family benefit also chose to pull the plug on the same day and advised that money raised would be diverted instead to a war neurosis fund run by the RSL. Roma apparently then broke down as a likely consequence and had to be hospitalised. Gerry’s book talks about Keith’s positive ID on SM with Erol Canney, though Roma , in her testimony to the July 49 inquest refuted this, saying no such identification was affirmed. It might be noted that Keith’s voluntary ?attendance at the mortuary on 12th January, seems to correspond precisely with the time of his release from hospital following a breakdown the previous November, though it seems that the duty seriously affected his nerves….. I’m mulling over some ID difficulties of my own, concerning the Mangnoson family’s identity conundrum and whilst it may not seem to be that relevant, I think it’s important enough to warrant full clarity.
NB: Back some years ago Debra made some comments regarding one Neil McRea, who found Keith, along with dead Clive in bushes near his home at Largs North, the spot apparently being fortold in a dream the night before. The men were workmates on the same night shift and had previously been neighboors in McGarrey Terrace. Truth being known they were probably related through Roma’s family, the dreaded MacIntyres, at which point my bow string is starting to tense up somewhat. If Roma did the masked avenger business, then she was probably behind the other threats to those worthies holding local office and the young woman who had recently ‘lost’ her husband (one wonders when & where the loss occurred). Note also that three days of extensive search in the vicinity had not met with success and yet Keith was found to be in possession of a newspaper dated 4th June which was two days into the operation; so how does that fit in. When his hide was located it was found to be not so secluded and it was lined with dry superphosphate bags, which to my suspicious mind would have come from Ida’s old place in rural Alma and used to transfer farm provisions back to the family’s other address at 12 McGarrey Tce. Largs Nth. (non rural so no need for fertiliser). This was right nextdoor to No. 10 which was occupied by the not so loving couple, also old Mrs. MacIntyre and their poor infant son, who Roma said was the spitting image of his allegedly habitually cruel father. Conveniently found alongside the toddlers body was,of course the old girl’s bottle of Pb tabs which Keith must have cunningly procurred, even in his demented state and with which he intended to … do God knows what. The business about leaving home at 9.30 am on the day of disappearance to fetch a cwt. of firewood from a local vender, then being missed by his sweet teenaged wife at 10.00am has knobs on it. For starters the distributer in Military Rd. was a good fifteen minute walk which doesn’t leave much time to be home at a time, so not as to create alarm. For that matter Keith had purchased a heap of firewood from the place only two days beforehand which should have sufficed to keep the pot boiling at home for a week you would think. It all reeks of something I’m not quite prepared to put a name to, but I think I’ve made my point; don’t lose your head whatever and never get hitched to a teenaged bride, you might just be in for a rough old ride.
12 Magarey street o.k. John & Ida’s old address sold in April last for a miserly $785D.
I always assumed ‘went to get wood’ was about gathering rather than buying. And I assumed this was why the search seemed to focus nearer the beach (where the Norfolk Island Pines line the streets – although I don’t know that that’s necessarily a good wood for burning??).
If he were going to the shop, I would imagine (based on recent geography) there would have been 3 places within easy walking distance that might have had wood.
1) Group of shops at corner Military Rd and Kowarra Tce (last time I was there it was the Regent Deli (in SA a Deli is a Milk Bar/Corner store rather than a Continental Shop), Saints with Scissors (the wife of the butcher at Saint’s Meats at North Haven and Semaphore) and Chickens with Attitude (which is my second favorite ever name for a chicken shop – after Taperooster which used to be on Victoria Rd, Taperoo)
2) Group of shops at the corner of Carnarvon Tce and Fletcher Road. These days there’s a Post Office on Carnarvon and a group of old shops on the other side of Fletcher (not sure what else is in there)
3) Corner of Strathfield Tce and Victoria Rd. As well as the Deli, Pizza Bar (disused) and junk shop on the corner, there’s a group of (I think older) shops further back along Strathfield (there was a vet and a hairdresser there – but that was a loooong time ago, and they may well be empty now), as well as a couple on the other side of Vic Rd (actually, I think now it’s just a Vinnies on Vic Rd, but I remember a group of shoips there that included a LawnMower store and a Drapery (*which I always assumed was the reason the railway station between Taperoo and Largs North is called ‘Draper’).
In any event, you’re right 30min is a very fast time to declare someone missing with those sort of distances. If he were going toward the Regent Deli he would likely have passed Wee Willie’s Tavern – and perhaps Mrs Mang was concerned he may have gotten lost there (although 10AM is probably early to head out to there)?
Interesting, too, that he was buying wood 9:30AM on a Thursday. Presumably out of work – and this might be why he was struggling to get his burnt house fixed up….but somehow he’s managed to buy a block of land in all of that.
Unfortunately, and apart from having him declared as being permanently unfit for military service due to nervous instability; as assessed on his April ’40 attestation form, there is no description of Keith, except his having brown hair, eyes and no upper teeth. We do have scaled height army photos that show our man as being 5′ 11″ on subsequent enlistment a year later; so then we move along to June ’49 where he goes missing at Largs and the searchers are looking for slim man 5′ 7″ in height and of dark complexion, none of which fits the image we have of Keith as we know him. One might be excused for wondering whether keith the lost wood cutter, Keith the AIF mortarman and Keith the missing husband were one and the same fellow.
We might also wonder, during the ’49 search and tragic aftermath, which was covered extensively by the news media with input by local police abd government officials; where in the world were Keith’s loving mum, dad and siblings who were living right next door to him. Not a word from any of them in that long period of quite dramatic newspaper coverage, perhaps there had been a family falling out; we can certainly sense that Ida and John had not on been on the best of terms for quite some time with the old man mostly working away from home. Actually Keith was known to have been timber cutting with dad when he got lost at Maggea in 1940 and we didn’t hear a peep out if the old man during or in the aftermath if that search either; weird ain’t it?.
It appears baby Clive’s cortege left from Ida’s house at No 12 Magarey which is interesting in itself. But other even more intereresting things and not so easy to figure, are in the offing. On 20/6/49 The Progressive Times local newspaper ackowledged donation in the sum of 21 shillings (not an insubstantial amount) from K.W. Mangnoson who we might reasonably assume to be our very own Keith Waldemar; no other K. W. Mangnoson with those initials comes to mind. The date being two weeks after he was admitted to Parkside asylum needs some further explanitary musings. While we’re about that, let’s also consider his 1 pound donation to the state RSL war graves appeal on 8/9/53, three months following his divorce with Roma, while still in custody at Parkside. I can also recall seeing that at some stage earlier Keith had sought a position on the board of the Largs North Progress Àssociation though I did not make note of the reference. Are we talking about the same certified nut case or might we have been dealing with a substute, going back to September 1940, when our boy got lost in the bush at Maggea.
When Keith’s sister Isabel announced her engagement to Keith McAlpine in early 1940, for the one and only time in the many similar Mangnoson family ads for coming events between 1924 and 1953, it only mentions Mrs I. Mangnoson as the proposer for the soon to be bride. Its also the only time that there is no follow up nuptual notice which have always followed in the past. Keith McAlpine for all intents and purposes does not appear to have been the child of Lieut. JE & AM McAlpine decd., as nominated, nor the brother of Grace Olga, who as Grace Wilson was said to have been hitched to Cyril Mangnoson using his mother’s maiden name. What we do know is that the alleged father John, a was a staunch member of his church and a most active free masoneer before his matredom in the trenches of France. I have an uneasy feeling about that and many other strange aspects of this case and would ask anyone who might be in the know, is it possible that this whole investigation was infiltrated for some clan related reason by such a fraternity. Perhaps even right from the very get go in 1948 or earlier and continuing til, well right to the present. Forget about Soviets or other clandestine involvement, grand theft auto SA , ex-internees or disenchanted ballet troupers. This might just prove too tough to crack with trick handshakes on the inside thwarting our every move and an undeciperable Saracen codex. eg. Some crappy geni mob called Ancient Feces tells us that our gal Isabel died in 1940 and that her big bro Cyril did something similar in 1930 (except for MM’s Sqalm 75). So possibly a diversion path has been laid at some point in time and we, unwitting dupes that we are, might well be inclined to not proceed as a consequence.
There’s a lot of strange stuff about Mangnoson – as per your speculation. However, I’m not convinced that any of it necessarily related him to SM (other than the Riverland connexion).
“Keep your nose out the Mangnoson affair” (sounds very Sherlock Holmes)
“Stay away from the police or else…”
etc
It all sounds like there’s something up with Mangnoson – but that could be totally independent of SM.
KWM had disappeared before to ‘hang around near Outer Harbor’ (or something). Is this just a mentally broken mind, or is there more to this? It seems strange that at least twice he would disappear to the beach North of his home, and the whole hideout in the bushes is sort of interesting.
Where did his income come from (the numbers you posted above and being off work of a Thurs morning, and buying property etc)?
What business did he have at Taperoo and at Outer Harbor?
Did he like sleeping out in the wild at the beach (like the railway clerk behind Government house)?
What were the barbiturates he took from the house?
Certainly squillions of puzzles about him and his family – but none of that necessarily means anything about SM….
Milongal: 542 Military Rd. (Harnsdorf) is not so far from 12 Magarey, about a 15 minute turn about, but certainly nothing for Roma to have gotten her nickers in a knot about. Her mums Phenobarbital medication was used to prevent siezures brought upon by bradycardia syndrome which slows the heart and causes dizzy spells. It is a rather mild safe medication when used correctly and overdose in adults would likely be limited to some disorientation and drowsiness. These days they put it into dogs food prior to road travel which keeps them mildly sedated during long trips away from home. Keith was said, at Clive’s inquest, to be a fitter by trade, which in those days would have entailed a four or five year indentured apprenticship. Ida said in her testimony that he left home at aged fourteen and spent the following twenty two years working in various agricultural vocations prior to his being found in the horse trough at Maggea, so we can assume that the tag fitter, may have more likely related to his having a screw loose. But as you mention though, he didn’t seem to be short of a quid when it came to support worthy causes. On 12/1/49 when Keith told police about Carl or Karl,a fellow farm worker from a cold climate, he was just coming off a long period of treatment for a mental breakdown and was most likely still on a drug resume. It’s certainly within the realms of possibility that he was refering to someone such as the mysterious Keith McAlpine in his demented state, or else the copper got the cold climate mixed up with alpine (sic). As for the ‘Thompsen’, well there were and are still, lots of Thompsens (sic) living on the land around the Renmark, Riverland invirons so he might have meant the owner of a property they had worked at together.
Actually I’m having difficulty in establishing whence the mysterious fellow Carl Thompsen came; Gerry does not mention him by name, nor Keith Mangnoson for that matter and I don’t recall Roma bringing up that name. We know from the book, that Erol Canney spoke to a male informant from Largs on 7/1/49 and we also know that Errol was not the kind of detective who habitually relied on his official police notebook. There are two major points of contention between what Gerry tells us and what Roma said at Clive’s inquest, these being that a Constable Horsnell, Errols offsider, reported that a positive ID was affirmed by his witness, this as opposed to a negative assertation which was Roma’s take; then we have Gerry’s man enlisting in 1940 which we know to be quite at odds with what we know from Keith’s own service record which has him signed up in May of 1941. I’ve got a feeling that on the date mentioned, that Roma’s man may have been otherwise indisposed by confinement and so for all we know, the identification might have come from some other Largs denizen.
Dr. John’s cautionary advice for treating seizures brought about by bradycardia would not recommend the use of phenobarbital, especially for those having a resting heart rate of under 55. Great as part of a cocktail for putting an end to one’s mortal woes or for assisting with legal executions. I was wondering whether such common old medication would have been detected in SM’s system if at all present.
I’ve been told Abbots ‘s had anotber go in the media tonight..
Angor Remi: I’m already on it. 😉
I can see KMs ID for Carl Thompsen, Adel/news 7/1/49. Same day also talks of IDs re Bob Morgan aka Robert Walsh and Nugget of Morgan by Salotti and Ma Thompson also of Morgan; must have been somewhat confusing for poor addled Keith if they all had been brought together at the morgue for the SMs viewing. Same column also talks of the Henley Beach rail ticket having had a platform punch so how does that go with all other most definate contrary opinions; in particular by Gerry Feltus no less.
Three roots and three lovely babes, all thanks to DA’s family links through Jessie, Roma and SM no doubt. Hey what about Gerry stashing the TS fragment; he didn’t say anything like that in his book and what about his own family links with the other Roma nee McIntyre. Such a shame, she never got to tell her ‘flowery’ piece of fiction in the publication, nor any mention at all of the other related mystery which is equally intriguing.
When Errol Canney went to see Jess, it might have saved a lot of bother, had he shown her the little W&T pocket Rubaiyat and got the good oil fom her ie.; that she had given Alf her personally endorsed hard cover dual language edition which would not only have let him off the hook as an SM suspect, but would also have obviated all the related media speculation of the day and resulted in a much condenced version of Unknown Man. Gerry would also not have had to call his nurse Tess and likewise could have avoided the rift with Derick. Oops I forgot about Det. Leane’s promise of anonymity to Sister Thomson, not yet nee Harkness.
Keith Mangnoson left home on one of his war caused neurotic meanderings on 7/11/48 and didn’t resurface until 4 days later, at which time his doctor saw fit to book him in to Parkside mental hospital for a treatment period of seven weeks. In my reconning that would have taken him through to a release date of around about 7/1/49, which is the day that he gave his Carl Thompsen account to Errol Canney. Now Keith was not under any formal schedule order, so we can assume that he was not likely confined in any particular manner and had probably been able to visit with his family or socialize to some degree. Here’s a man that had served in some of the most horrific battles of the war such as El Alemain and Tubruk, so no doubt he saw death amongst his mates at the hands of Erwin Von Romel’s loathed Africa Corps. He would have in all likelihood feared and hated both the hun and dago belligerants alike whilst he was in process of quietly going around the twist, which his homefolk might not have quite come to terms with. Should he have met up with some pro fascist nut case during his Parkside semi confinement, one could well imagine what might be the likely outcome. Having been under a constant treatment regime for a number of years for his neurosis, we can be assured that he was familiar with all sorts of up to date medications, potentially lethal yet maskable in knowing hands. Being a quiet man by nature, as we are led to believe, had he the desire for refenge, then we might expect him to be fairly subdued in the manner he would choose to take out a perceived threat. Keith was well familiar with the Adelaide coastal environs and the man was no fool. I’m sure we can all do the math and think of how he might have planned then put into effect such a job, had he have been of a mind. Proof of the pudding being in that he may well have gotten away with the most mysterious murder of all time, that is until his dastedly deed ultimately got too much for him to cope with on a sad cold Adelaide Thursday in early June 1949 and we know the rest.
On another Adelaide Tuesday, this one being 21/3/1950, clothing belonging to escaped lunatic Keith Mangnoson was found on Henley Beach. In the clothing was found a symbolic photograph of a grave and two letters, one of which suggested his intention to suicide. Of course it all turned out to be a ruse, for our man had no such intentions and was eventually found in the Adelaide hills, not too far distant from where his young brother (alleged) Ian was living. As we know so well by now, Somerton Man was also believed to be a possible suicide and amongst his beach attire was later found an item of symbolic nature suggesting that very intention. It may all mean very little in the overall scheme of things, but at least we might like to dwell a little on the fact that our Keith was capable of cunning deception and was certainly not the dithering fool that our records might portray him as. Amongst the contents of the Kean suitcase were several items that may well have been planted with subterfugal intent by a crafty mind. Such as the barbour thread card, which incidently was known to be included in the useful ittle army sewing repair kit that all ex infanteers like private Mangnoson would have retained from his time in the service. Also there were writing utensils which included lead pencils and an eraser, both such items having also been coincidently in the possession of Keith when he was once located in Fort Largs beachside dunes after having gone missing with his infant son. He turned out not to be so dumb afterall and went on to lead quite a normal life it would seem and its more the pity that we are deficient in more detail about his post institutional life, in order to get a better fix on the fellow.
I might take this liberty to mention that on this day just fifty years ago, another healthy middle aged man went down to yet another popular Australian beach for a swim and tragically never returned, in arguably the greatest mystery of our time. Also on this day fifty years ago, though not so well remembered, the old troopship HMAS Sydney left Adelaide’s Outer Harbor with a thousand servicemen aboard, en route to an uncertain fate on a distant battlefield. Thirty at least of that number were likewise never to return to their homeland alive, neither surprising nor mysterious, whilst many of their more fortunate? pals were never given the opportunity to reach their potential in later life. The person ultimately responsible for the latter tragedy was none other than the man that went to the beach for a swim; then Australia’s Prime Minister Harold Holt, who for all we know is knocking down a few commemorative cold ones with the lads he unintentionally sent to their early graves, just fifty years ago this day.
Milongal: 568 military Rd. Largs Nth. is a few doors up from Harnsdorf’s firewood depot and not but a short stroll from the Mangnoson’s in Magarey. At the time of his inlistment into the militia, Norm Carr gave it as his home address, although his folks lived at Morgan on the Murray. Norm was inclined to chop and change his personal details somewhat but unlike Keith’s brother Cyril, not for any suspicious reasons that are apparent. He served in the Merchant Marine through the war and apart from his post service attempt to be issued with unentitled service medals, ala Alf Boxall, he should not be of interest to us. But for the mere coincidental facts that he had served in the same unit as Keith, though not at the same time, lived in the near vicinity and originally hailed from the same tiny town where ID witness, Mrs. Thompson and the two SM suspects, Walsh and Morgan left from. He was also third mate aboard MV Mundarra and just so happened to have married Jean (the sack queen) Harkness, who was Jessica Thomson’s younger sister. NB: You’ll recall his name coming up previously and note also that he was too young to be SM.
@JS: Gonna need an old map. 542 Military Road doesn’t exist anymore (in fact the 1948 S&M shows 538 then Fletcher Rd, then 552 – which seems consistent to the current setup, the 1949 also has a 546 Military – so maybe this is just houses, not shops (or something)). There’s an oldish shop at 270 Fletcher Road (where Fletcher Road splits from Military Road and where 542 would likely be if it were there). In my lifetime that (now defunct) shop was a bicycle shop (if I recall correctly), but of course there’s nothing to say that it wasn’t in front of it before Fletcher Road was realigned to hit Magarey (or something). Where did this address for Harnsdorf come from? From memory, Military Road has repeating numbers in different suburbs. I suspect the stretch between Strathfield Tce and Osborne Road wasn’t there back then (or at least didn’t have buildings), but I have a recollection that further South (Henley?) the numbers might repeat (perhaps not as high as 542….I’d have to check).
S&M lists Gower (no initial) and Rorlach R at 568 in 1948. and only Rorlach in 1949
S&M appears not to have a 270 Fletcher in 1948 or 1949
Regarding the train ticket, that’s been a bugbear of mine a long time. If it was punched at the station, how did they determine it was unused. My only explanation is that they decided it hadn’t been used because he was at Somerton not Henley. Someone (might have been you) hypothesised that he might have travelled to Bowden and switched back (or even jumped out the train somewhere through the Adelaide yard (lots of singalling and switching, so the trains not going all that fast) and then joined the Somerton Bus further up North Tce (or even on West Tce).
But there’s still a lot of elephants in the room for this which, while not inexplicable take some effort to explain away.
1) Why did he keep the tickets
2) The clothes (in particular the shoes) if he’s jumped off a train
3) Why did he go to Glenelg/Somerton and why did he feel the need to change train to bus (especially if we speculate it was this way).
etc….
To me the tickets just seem too weird if we believe they were truly his. And yet they sort of nicely put Henley Beach into the picture
A thought won’t go away about Thompsen (which has probably been covered before). We’ve covered before how they knew it was Thompsen rather than Thompson/Thomson/someother spellink….While it’s certainly a common name, is it possible that Thompsen was somehow a relative of Prosper who for whatever reason felt a need to go seem him at Glenelg?
While we’re on Sands and Mac….
The 1948 and 1949 editions have a K.B. Thomsen at 96 Angas St, Cottonville (today that’s Westbourne Park – which is in the inner South of Adelaide metro). There’s also a J Squires at the same number. In 1950 Thomsen has gone (And there’as a Mrs J Sawyers there instead). As a peculiar coincidence the previous column in S&M has a M.T.T (presumably not Metropolitan Tramways Trust) & T.F. Powell….almost the same height as Squires in the 50/51 (and a bit lower in the 49/48 ones).
Not sure we should get too carried away with it, because there’s a Kingsley Bernard Thomsen in the RSL section of the Centennial Park cemetry (1921-2000). I *think* this is the K.B Thomsen who appears in Plympton Park from 1954 – and maybe he moved house and it took S&M 5 years to realise)
Not sure how S&M did their street surveys (or when they released their books), but is it possible that by late 1948 they’ve already surveyed the inner suburbs for the 1949 release…..
And finally, aws well as Kingsley Thomsen above who founght in WWII there were 2 Carl Thomsens who fought in WWI. Both are from Victoria. One is almost certainly too old (44 at embarkation); the other is almost in range with a birth date in 1893….
And a Carl Thomsen in WWII from 1906 (which I missed) from NSW….
Not sure whether a recent post on the two Alf Boxalls made copy or not, but something about the other fellow’s background and particularly that of his dad, Alfred’s service history in the 1st AIF, family and Sydney addresses seem to tie in with those of our own dear dead Alf, provided by GF in his ebook at page 216. Rather than for me to elaborate and risk the wrath of our negatively geared, troll deleting moderation panel, i would ask that anyone who remains interested, please check your own sources and see what you make of it all. Perhaps one of Gerry’s people might also take note of the apparent anomaly and correct any unintended error accordingly. NB: POB Hammersmith London, Syd. suburbs Turramurra and Fairfield, son Frederick and May 1916 inlistment for ww1. Both Alfred and his brother Fred served in ww2, and their service records are online
Update re Boxall: Alfred & Fred, two brothers joined up together in 1916 and served side by side in the 20th Inf. Btn. AIF In France, only difference being that Alf was wounded and came home in 1917. Our own Alf was of course a cousin of his namesake Alfred John and their paths to adulthood were apparently similar with them becoming mechanics in their respective ww 2 vocations. Both had brothers named Frederick, their family’s lived together in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield and Canterbury during most of their fathers’ overseas deployments. No need for further action it seems, just one of those coincidental occurrences that seem to plague us at this SM site.
So how similar is similar! That’s the big question that needs to be resolved in trying to determine the veracity of the ambiguous accounts of Jestyn’s connection with Alf Boxall the Lieutenant. He states that, yes he knew the petit nurse from RNSH and that he received a quite impressive, hardcover, duel language copy of Fitzegerald,s Rabaiyat, though we are not sure what edition it might have been. He claims he received it about June, 1945 which would have been two or three months prior to his overseas service commenced. Proof of this is seems to be logical enough from his evidentiary standpoint, namely due to the fact that when police went to his place of empoyment without notice, he was only too happy to assist; taking them to his home and producing said edition which included a signed notation by his Jestyn. On the other hand she claims to have given a Rubaiyat copy, “similar” to the one that Adelaide police were in possession of, whilst Alf was in hospital and by her own recollection about January or even later in 1946 which is quite out of kilter with Alfs version on both counts, if we take into consideration that he was given the volume at the Clifton Gardens Hotel. Further compounding evidence is that wife Susie produced a completely different copy for the press to examine. By this time, late July 1949 Len Brown would have been cognizant of all many different sizes, versions and printings of the Rubaiyat that were available, so why didn’t Adelaide police let Sydney counterparts know of this before they set out to check on Alf. For that matter why didn’t Sapol dig a little further into Jessica’s claim that her gift Rubaiyat to Alfred Boxall was similar to the one they had acquired from Ron Francis. In all probability Alf would not have been likely to further communicate with his Nurse during his busy stint at sea or overseas up until the time of his discharge in 1948 in my opinion. That being the case we only have her sayso that he wrote to her at her mother’s Melbourne address and that she had replied. Unless their relationship had been a little more than a blind date type of affair, Alf would have had no knowledge of where mother lived. Even today I’m quite sure most of us wouldn’t have any idea of the exact location. As to answering the big question, if Jessica Thomson was not shown the Ron Francis W & T edition, or at least given a good portrait parlez, why say that it appeared similar to Alf’s? ; because she was shown it and knew that they were completely different in appearance and layout obviously. So it stands to reason that she must somehow know that if Alf was spoken to by police, it was not likely to compromise any past clandestine activities that they were engaged in. I have no ideas or opinions one way or another, though perhaps others might.
Milongal: Gerry goes through the Henley ticket punching conundrum in some detail, producing no less than two apparently knowledgeable old Adelaide railway platform security people and a Grange line ticket officer. From this he was more or less assured that SM’ ticket could not have been used for travel. To counter this contention, one of the Adelaide newspapers of the day seems to disagree, saying that the ticket had a platform gate punch to validate the train journey was commenced at least. Also one of the authorities that Gerry consulted, did not seem to know that the end if the line in ’48 would almost certainly have been Jetty Rd. and not Henley Beach, as I have previously explained. Had SM been intent on going to, say West Beach, then I think it would have made little difference to go by rail, or the alternative St. Leonards bus which he opted to take. Of course that still left him a goodly distance from him eventually ending up dead on Somerton Beach, though I think you have pointed out that he could have picked up another bus to the eventual destination had he so chosen….542 Military Road comes from the Clive Mangnoson inquest, in particular statements made by both Roma and the firewood shop proprieter Hanhsdorf. I might also note that its quite possible that Magarey St. may have changed somewhat in its placement or direction, as it was previously billed as being an esplinade and I assumed that it was a beach Rd., which is not so.
There would seem to be a better than even chance in my opinion that Alf’s signed copy of the Rubaiyat by Aust. Pub. Co. would have once been connected to Saul Marshall and not merely because of the Bahasa language element. It would have been nice to know what edition it was, though I think there is some fair grounds for believing that it was not a ‘Tamam Shud’ ending first edition and it certainly must have dated from 1941 or before that time. George was stated to have carried a cheap Methuen copy to his death place, not far from where Jestyn was nursing at RNSH. There can be some grounds initself for suggesting that he may have left the better copy with a nurse from whom he had sought counsel at some time prior to his departure. Had he died by his own hand, and bearing in mind that he was frustrated at not being able to get his own poetry published, wouldn’t it be more likely for him to have his very self written works with him for such a dramatic final goodbye cruel world. You might be surprised how easy it is for some ladies of a certain disposition, to suss out where a client’s stash is and act upon it by such extreme measures as a staged park suicide with perhaps a little help from her friends. So why the better than even chance of the duel language Rubaiyat having been his; quite simply because the copy was sold from a certain bookshop at Raffles Plaza, Nth. Bridge road, Singapore. It also just so happens that George Marshall owned or part owned four properties within a healthy stone’s throw of the ubiquitous Stamford Raffles pub, so I’d hazard a guess that he was worth a quid or two.
Does anybody have anything supportive, or otherwise to say for the talented European artist’s impression of the yellow atabrin complexioned elfin character with the impressive non SM widows peak. Doesn’t appear to be any Soviet spy that I’m aware of; in fact it doesn’t even present as being of homo origin perse. Perhaps its a Christmas joke and if so, my compliments for the season to the joksters and all theorists who are still active, even you Bozo. May the force be with you; all our followers and detractors alike, including any left overs from the 1937 Ballets Russes troupe. Maintain the rage in ’18 or until we get the job done y’hear there.
There are quite a few examples of Alf’s handwrighting on his service record that includes the ‘O.R. of S., which is also likely to be his own hand in my opinion. When compared with the JEStyn notation in the A.P.Co. Rubaiyat,, there are quite a few points of similarity evident that are indeed, worth giving more diligent attention to. Yes, I realise that Derek Abbott has supplied samples of Jessicas’s handwriting, which he and most people seem to accept as being the same authorship as that of the verse 70 endorsement. I would opt for Alf having done it myself and of course it makes more objective sense if this proves to be the case. Indeed it certainly would raise some serious issues concerning past untested acceptance of facts, if subsequently found to be erroneous, though that’s not likely to happen, is it?…….NB: S.D.N’s Anemptyglass contention that Alf’s book was published in 1944 is not at all likely and actually not historically possible unless its credits have been falsified which similarly unlikely.
During the latter part of world war two and during the early post war pariod all sorts of belligerants including Germany, Japan then other new powers coming on line within the Middle East and the Sub Continental conflicting regions would give their eye teeth for sheelite or tungsten which was essential in the production of tank busting warheads. It was a rare enough commodity and hard to get a hold of with all that fighting going on. The Germans could no longer stock up in parts of Scandinavia and their little mates were finding it difficult to procure in their old hangouts of the East Asia region. It seems that just about the only safe place on the planet to obtain it with ease was a little unknown backwoods called King Island of Roaring Forties located conveniently off poor old unguarded Tasmania.
Jestyn’s memory comes in to play at this point and we must now consider how involved was she with Alf Boxall, or else whether there was ever any other interaction with his namesake cousin, then is it at all likely that they might have been interacting with foreign governments, either as agents or in a commercial enterprise. If she could give police all the details necessary for them to track down recently demobbed Alf, then isn’t it reasonable to assume that she might also have reason to acurately recall a time and place for the book transfer as it was.
Is it possible that she had used Alf 1’s details as a plausable ruse to protect her relationship and dealings with Alf 2. We do know with a degree of surety
that her Lieutenant never went near a hospital or aid post during his well laid out and documented service life. He was not known to have been on Australian mainland duties in an approximate two year period between Sseptember,1945 and ’46 which would have made it impossible to communicate any important business deals with him.
What we might like to establish is, to what extent Alfred John’s new wife was involved with the sheelite mining on King Island, so far removed from her husband, still serving in the AIF but at a home posting on the mainland. There were numerous reports of enemy Submarines in waters off the southern mainland of Australia during these times and yet few records of any warlike activity from them. In ’44 or ’45 Admiral Donitz commissioned subs with special cargo holds to carry hard to get supplies of meteriel back to the fatherland to the factories and no doubt the tough little nips were onto the same deal.
What I’ve alluded to might sound rather fanciful as a realistic proposition for consideration, but as you’ll doubtless be aware, we are running out of options and statistically speaking, fifth column insurgents, grand auto theives, renegade baleteers and the like are no more or less likely to have had connections with SM’s demise than an Israeli commissioned cargo sub. hauling Tunsten back to the Red Sea to support its new strategic armorments program.
I have abolutely no idea how the German war machine could have benefited from timely suppies of sheeite, compliments of Mrs. Alfred Boxall mark two’s handy
King Island mine. In those days they didn’t have stuff like depleted uranium with which to tip their 88’s; so sheelite was considered to be just the thing for knocking out the new Pattons and T38s that were killing their invincible tigers and panthers by the droves. At the end of the day I don’t think that the King Island venture paid off for our enterprise. Forget it; doesn’t work in my honest opinion.
John,
the Germans were desperate for supplies of tungsten and tungsten ores. At the time it was used to make armour steels and tool steels. King Island had a large resource of Scheelite, which is a tungsten ore.
The wife at the scheelite mine was Evelyn Allison Boxall (1909-66) and she used her maiden name Brown before apparently hitching up with Alfred (2) in 41,who prefered to call himself by his middle name John. Strange thing is, her father was indeed a Brown but that was his Christian name and it though it seems weird, he was also a Boxall, so go figure. Mum, dad and Eve were all born and died at Bena in country Vic., Mr. Brown Martin Boxall being a very well known chess master, just like Ida Wistrand/Wilson’s (Mangnoson) dad George. Alfred John died in Yerrinbool NSW in ’79 and apart the Boxall marrying a Boxall thing, I cant find out anything about their lives at all post war. Whilst looking up all the various Boxall family chess references including other major Syd. based Boxall names, It now seems that all those russian spies, hanging around Pakies club, may well have been there simply for their club competitions and not necessarilly espionage as the address also served as the premises, for many years of the NSW Chess Association (Koshnitsky Pres.). Now back to the Scheelite mine at Grassy, KI., you’ll find that it was run privately and in a rather low tech (agricultural) way from ’38 to ’42, afterwhich the government boys came in with their big machinery to increase production for the war effort. So what our missy was up to down there is perhaps anybody’s guess. Possibly signalling to German/Soviet/Nip subs and arranging for their loading of ore away from the prying eyes of the G’men. Seems that post war operations spurts depended on fluctuating prices attributed to whether or not any conflicts were needing the ore for munitions and Tunsten steel manufacture.
Kind of interesting that the Australian chess master and proprieter of the Sydney Chess academy Gary Koshnitsky (Russia 1909) was apparently well known to the infamous child killer Stephen Bradley (Hungary 1926) whose stepsons played junior competitions with the Koshnitsky kids in Sydney circa. late 50s just prior to the kidnapping of Grahame Thorne. The killer was tracked down during his escape bid in Colombo with his wife Magda and the kids, bought back to Sydney, jailed for the brutal crime and subsequently died in Goulburn gaol in 1968, still vehnemently proclaiming his innocence of the crime. (see crimes that shocked Australia).
I Recommend SM enthusiasts to read the wiki entry on the Graeme Thorne case in which Stephen Bradley was sentenced to life for the eight year old’s kidnapping and murder in Sydney in 1961. It will give anyone a simply complied overview of the the investigation from the Police quick response to the initial child abduction alert, the securing of reliable witnesses, profiling suspects from sound leads, then later upon the body’s discovery, a most remarkable forensic analysis including dog hair, plant and insect larve identification, scraps of buiding mortar and tracing the manufacturer, retailer and purchase of a woollen blanket. NSW police had also within hours of the crime, been able to identify a particular two tone vehicle make from an initial sampling of some hundreds of thousands searched. Later having traced the offender aboard a P&O liner bound for London and to be there at Colombo awaiting his transit arrival. Altogether a copybook investigation, with an outcome that will go down as an important milestone in criminal prosecution. Had this same line of systematic collecting and collating of information been applied in the Somerton investigation, the chances for a successful outcome would have been much better, you’ll agree…Pity NSW didn’t get the Federal Govt. nod to go ahead with the prosecution of Bradley’s co-offender Magda who must have been in on the sad business.
Kelly & Walsh of 32 Raffels Place Singapore was one of the buildings destroyed by Jap airaids in December ’41 just after George Marshall had returned to clear up following the rather timely burning of his property at 57 Nth. Boat Quay, which would otherwise have been subjected to the same attack, being in the same block as K&W. It seems possible that the special print run of the Malay/English Rubaiyat by Aust. Publishing Co. would not have been deliverable to it’s customer due to the ongoing conflict and ended up being offered to the Army as training pams for their language courses (eg. SME 6/44). The other alternative could only have been that the book was purchased in Singapore prior to it’s fall and was I brought to, or else sent back into Australia. Since last posting on this subject, having re examined small samplings of Jessica’s writing and that shown on Alfs copy of the above Rubaiyat dual language edition; I’m prepared to say, that although quite generally similar in many aspects, this is mainly due to both types of cursive being of a very common variety and should not be considered as being comparable on mere inexpert face value. There are indeed a number of marked dissimilarities which would hold more weight for rejection in my opinion and on that basis I’ll decide for the contrary. I think that the Jestyn sign off on 70 is another matter altogether and nothing makes sense with it because in reality, apart from daughter Kate’s rather questionable explanation, the names Jessica, Tina etc. do not offer satisfactory reason for the form change or spelling. Jessie Thomson herself never said anything at all about the name, which from a fair amount of searching, seems to be more common in George Marshall’s birthtown Singapore than anywhere else; mere coincidence of course.
Anyone care to comment on Gerry’s claimed height for SM of 5′ 11″. I’ve always sort of wondered how this had come to be taken for fact, bearing in mind that neither he nor any other authority seems to know how this number came about. It was first stated in the Adelaide press on 1/12/48 and seems to have been given to them initially by ‘some unknown authority’ and then perpetuated by all other commentaters from then on without any apparent efforts being undertaken to question it’s veracity. It plainly does not make any real sense at all for a number of quite valid physiological reasons. Dr. Dwyer for example, described his man as being tallish, whereas big John Clelland when asked about height, was not able to give one, bearing in mind that both eminent personages had seen and examined the body more thorougly than anyone; compared with the likes of Dets. Leane and Brown, who never came across as having even seen it at all. The average height of the Australian caucasian adult male, born around 1900 was under 5′ 6″ and my contention is that Dr. Dwyer would have been well within his professional rights to refer to man as being “tallish” even if said person was say 5′ 9″ in 1948. To take that a little further, our SM was said to have been wearing size 8 shoes along with heavy knitted sox; also a pair of size 7 slippers were found in his suitcase belongs. Those sizes would according to various period comparison footware charts, be more in keeping with a man of average height for that era; That as opposed to someone of SM’s commonly accepted much taller stature, whom one would reasonably expect to be sporting footware closer to 9 and upwards. To have been compromised by a likely misnomer of such proportions, might well mean that possible identifications over the decades must certainly have been cast aside unduly which is bordering on the unconshionable by any fair assessment.
Closer scrutiny of Alf Boxall’s service record, does not seem to have given him much time to have liased with Tessie Johnston at the Cliften Gardens hotel and I can’t possibly see that they had any window of opportunity to count ships in the harbour as Mr. Lawson suggests (through the indian chap) Lieut. Boxall was posted to SME Moorebank after his return from NT on 6/12/43 and continued his stint there until at least 20/6/45, perhaps even up until his overseas posting came through in September. His papers state specifically that although transfered from the Engineering School to AA Corps in June ’45, he was not required to make any physical change of station. Moorebank for those who are not familiar, is quite far removed from the wartime excitement of the Sydney Harbour foreshores where most might have thought he was and you can be well assured from someone who knows, that no nice young RNSH trainee sister would be going anunescorted to anywhere near such a desolate wilderness, as Moorebank would have been in those years. I’d say that their two meetings would have been of a very fleeting nature, perhaps just sufficient for a couple of quick ‘how’s yer mutha’s ducks’and zip more. How and why the exchange of address could have taken place remains a mystery, perhaps Alf’s namesake cousin in the Victorian hospital does figure into the deal somehow.
Pete: Nice piece of pick’n boys y’hear. Bad about BAD BOD; rest easy Chris.
Two engagement ads in Melbourne Argus for 22/1/40 and Adelaide Chronicle for 25/1/40 refer to engagement of Isabel youngest daughter of Ida, to Keith youngest son of J.E. & A.M. McAlpine decd. Problem is that the aforesaid’ seem to have had only a single issue which was Grace Olga bn. ‘08 and of course she hitched up with Cyril Wilson in the mid twenties. I have searched high and low for young Keith and am almost convinced that he is a non entity; but for his inclusion on Isabel’s plaque at Cheltenham. There is obviously no d.o.b. for him and he doesn’t appear under either his mum’s nee or second marriage name, nor in any other locality indices, as opposed to regular appearances by all other family members over a period between 1915 and 1946. What could this possible mean and is it at all relevant?.
Then less than six weeks later on 2/3/40, another similar engagement announced between Keith and Winifred Williams so what gives. We hesitate to say that this one was hardly likely to have been a match made in heaven; our toothless, neurotic, bushman and prim little town dwelling Winni-the-steno. Just as well it doesn’t appear that either contract was ever intended to be legitimized. In saying that, both dads were 1st war veterans and also they had lived in Broken Hill before hostilities with Williams possibly a Freeman, the likes of father McAlpine, our friend Prosper Thomson, members of the Adelaide detective office and some others that have inexplicably slipped my mind.
Well over a year ago I introduced Matron Monica McMahon into the investigation and received a fanfare of silence in response. She had been of interest to me because of her association with both Tatura and Kure hospitals during the war years and whilst being highly regarded in her particular field, she was relatively unknown to the public; and even then, only by her initials H. E. M. or Monica. I had put forward the idea that Jessica Thomson’s lad Robin, could have been named after, either her or U.S. Senator McMahon, who had introduced the 46′ nuclear non prolification bill. At that time I hadn’t read Gerry’s book, so I was rather taken aback just now whilst going through one of the more flowery sections concerning his reasons for name substitutions in his 2010 original book. Getting to the point, he now provides us with the name of the Thomson’s daughter Kate with the slightly old fashioned second name of Helena, which I doubt anyone had noted previously. It must be no coincidence therefore about the naming of her two kiddies after old Matron Helena Elizabeth Monica McMcMahon; the real query being how it came about. Although she had once been an ordinary nursing sister in civilian life long before the war, her subsequent military postings would not have put her in the path of nurse Harkness. Monica, as she was then known, remained a spinster and came from a flyspeck in North Eastern Victoria called Smoko and it appears that outside of her most interesting travels, that was her only real abode from the cradle to the grave….The question is; is new information like this important enough to rekindle interest in the case or shall we just set it aside and put our faith in the regurgitated ‘Bolshoi’ ballet fiasco to pull us out of the quagmire.
Wow – I’d missed a lot on this thread….
regarding ‘similar’ Rubaiyat. For mine, the word ‘similar’ was introduced by the press and doesn’t imply that Jess had seen the W&T one. I’d always assumed she’d been told “we found the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” and she recognised the title as a book that she’d gifted Alf. That said, it would be interesting to know the exact way the police brought it up….because if they mentioned her link to it is a phone number, why would she think it’s related to the one she gave Alf – which didn’t have her phone number (and certainly COULDN’T have her Glenelg number) – but I (naively) tend to think we can dismiss some of that as just a jumbled mind being dragged in directions it didn’t quite expect. I do, however, think there is more to the relationship between Boxall and Jestyn (no necessarily in a romantic sense), because it does seem odd to gift and sign a nice book to a casual acquaintance with whom there “might have been drinks with a couple of times”. Boxall seems very keen to shut down any romantic suggestions in the documentary – but there just seems a little more in this connection than anyone has found out….
Regarding the trains, I seem to find some conflicting information about the route they took. The only Henley Beach line I was aware of basically followed the current Grange train line, turning left (South) onto Military Road awith 3 stations to HEnley (one being at Marlborough St!). Wiki gets a bit confusing because it talks about a Jetty Rd station (which was subsequently renamed Henley Beach). While there are many “Jetty Rd” in Adelaide, I don’t think there’s one in Henley – but there is in Grange, where the line was cut off much later (until the late 80s the Grange Terminus was a bizarre platform that was parallel to Militasry Rd – so there was a level crossing into the station – stopping just shy of Jetty Rd. If I get a chance I’ll hunt down some gunzels I have vague acquaintance with and ask there thoughts on the line. In an old route map, I seemed to find a Henley Line that wen up Henley Beach Rd and came into Henley the other way (ie through West BEach) – but I can’t find anything to corroborate that and assume it was a Bus Route not rail (but I guess my point here is I don’t think the train ever went to West Beach). Did Gerry have a ticket to show the ‘old railway people’ (and if they were interviewed in 2000 how much of their knowledge was current operation, and how much did they know about how things worked in the 40s?). In particular in the 1980s Keswick was built to handle interstate trains, and there was work to create the casino and the Hyatt. Both of these things (as well as others through the years) could have had impact on how access to the platforms/concourse worked. At some stage, thje ticketing would have been streamlined into MTT/STA system – where a single ticket was valid on any transport, not a specific route – so it would be interesting to know how much of this background the station staff interviewed had, and whetehr they were shown the actual ticket they were commenting on…
I don’t think Magarey St would have changed much in it’s alignment, however the other side of Military (where Fletcher Rd joins) I could imagine realignment to make it meet Magarey – and that seems almost exactly the spot where 542 Military would have been (and where there certainly was a shop – but it’s address was given as Fletcher Rd) – but it’s interesting 542 doesn’t appear in the S&M directory (especially being a business). Of course, in the absence of clearly numbered buildings, an eager journalist may have made up the numbering and 270 Fletcher Rd kind of appears where 542 Military (c/sh)ould have. I hadn’t heard Magarey described as an ‘esplanade’ but ‘Lady Gowrie Dve’ would be referred by many locals as ‘The Esplanade’ (and may have even been called that in the 40s – you’ll notice further South past Jetty Rd (Largs) it’s called the Esplanade)
Totally wierd thought – you mention MArshall considered himself a poet. The text in SM’s (Somerton Man, not Saul Marshall ;)) rubaiyat has been billed by many as potentially being an initialised stanza of someone’s own rubaiyat-like poem. What if SM had somehow ended up with a fragment from a rubaiyat that had belonged to Marshall (not the one he took to his death, obviously) (or someone was sending a deliberate message to this effect)?
McAlpine has come up somewhere else before….maybe in list of residents on Magarey St (I’ll have a dig when I get a chance),
Helena is Helen with a (Eastern?) European twist…
Incidentally, while looking up SAR stuff on Wiki I found a suggestion that Hamley Bridge was listed as a post-WWII route from Adelaide Railway Station….
H.E.M. McMahon was bio’d a year or two ago in a title ‘Monica’s War’, so something within it’s content could be of some interest. In my old notes I have detailed the range of dates for her war-time postings and it may be relevant to point out that her ’42/’43 stints at 107 and 115 certainly coincided with L/Cpl. Prosper Thomson’s various confinements in both of those facilities. I also vaguely recall something about an overseas trip that she took after her demobilization but I’m not too sure about the details or whether It was Misca or me that picked up on it.
I guess my report of the other death on 1/12/48 does not raise hackles for any still serious SM folk. The fact that the fellow was a German Jew who had avoided internment somehow and had been resident at or nearby both the Adelaide Orthodox Synagogue at the time of his demise, certainly gave me a little shiver. Mr. Cohen’s family, three of whom were to die later, had been advised of an earlier death on 31/12/43, which surviving members still hold firm on. However that could not be, as he was in Loxton and more than likely working as a free labour contractor at the Loveday internment camp (14D) at the time.
Insert….Synagogue and Glenside Psychiatric Hospital at the time…. It
Nick: Are you seeing what’s going on across in the swamp?. It just seems that they are raising new socalled concepts pertaining to the Australian Ballets Russes tours and earlier ones, that some of us on this more fertile side of the pond, were trying to introduce in quite some detail well over a year ago. I see it for what it is; one clown’s piece of egotistical claptrap and for the life of me, I fail to fathom how the points they’re being led into discussing can be so ground breaking now, yet were treated with total ludicrous contempt at the time. To quote literally from Gerry’s book in his own reference to Roosevelt’s day of infamy; Toro…Toro…Toro!
Sorry Gerry, the train/bus synopsis does not work for me in the manner you have so intuitively put foward in your narative . I think the following might be a better concept, but of course it will probably have gaps in it big enough to park a St. Leonards DD bus. I’ll air it, not as a point of fact, but rather in the context of being at least as likely a case scenario as yours and indeed some others that we’ve been offered. It seems to me likely that SM had come into town from an ‘Adelaide Hills’ location, leaving by train in the early morn when it was quite nippy, hence the rather warm attire. His end destination was most likely to have been near Henley or West Beaches , so upon arrival in town he bought his ticket for the 10.50am rail service on the Henley line; this he subequently had officially punched at the platform before then boarding for the trip. As the ticket seller Townsend attested at the inquest, SM’s ticket seems to have been the last from the previous day (raises question) and only two were sold afterwards all day which raises doubt to your ‘busy summer destination’ claim. Could those two tickets have been issued to two tallish ‘suits’ who ciuld pass for officials, at least and who were thus able to bypass the platform ticket puncher. This then could well account for SM’s later possession of a seemingly unused ticket; but now we must account for the used bus ticket and I can just hear the sighs and oh yairs from here. SM’s covert team of followers would have been three up as per SOPs for those type of duties and the third man could have gone by bus to Glenelg from West Terrace, where he had earlier being making inquire at the mortuary, perhaps to prep for the next phase of the operation, whatever that was likely to entale. We can fill in the rest as fancifully or not, as we wish; for instance regarding the suitcase which, whether it was connected at that point in time or not, is neither here nor there. As for the city baths; well I won’t mention that implausable diversion if you don’t. only thing in your favour mate is that you’re da man and I’m most assuredly not; but luck with your health, thanks for your input and hope the coming new publication (as applicable) brings you fame with fortune.
Uncomfortable as I am with the tickets at all (not least because for mine the ticket he would have used to arrive in the Adelaide station is glaringly missing – yet the others are so carefully kept), there’s a few things to consider:
1) On the verge of summer it seems odd that only 3 (or 2) tickets to Henley would be sold by lunchtime. Although I suppose it was a weekday.
2) There was an article I recently highlighted that talked about route changes to the ‘St Leonards’ Bus. Specifically, that there was a Somerton variant (every second bus went to Somerton, not St Leonards – but it seems to have still been referred to as the ‘St Leonard’s route’). (on the rare occasion I entertain the bus idea) I’d always assumed the assertion that he got off at the corner of Adelphi Tce was an assumption based on it being the closest stop to Somerton Beach (although still quite some distance away). It would be interesting to see an actual time table, because I think there’s a possibility SM had caught the Somerton variant of the StL bus – which would have travelled along Moseley St/Tarlton St (much closer to where he was found, and past some places of interest including, of course, the Thomson’s – and various convalescent houses).
3) I’m not sure I’d take a Henley train to get to West Beach. I think the Henley Terminus was at the corner of Main and Military (and it got there from the opposite direction to West beach – from where the current Grange terminus is, turning left onto Military, and stopping at the corner of Grange Rd (there was still platform elevation there in living history) and again at Marlborough St) – I’d even speculate that the carpark of the “Foodland” (elevated about 1m above the roadway) is the old platform…. If it wasn’t for the Patawalonga getting in the way, I’d almost argue that the St Leonard’s bus would be a far better option to West Beach – and in any event there were buses that would have gone to West Beach (I can find a Port to Glenelg via WB in 1945, but am otherewise struggling to find routes before 1960). On mapshop there’s an Adelaide Street Directory from 1940 that shows a tram or bus up Henley Beach Rd (Map11) it also shows the St Leonards/Glenelg/Somerton Services (Map 17) which appear not to have gone as far as Adelphi, but rather turned off on what is now Brighton Rd/Tapleys Hill Rd). But nothing to WB….
For anyone familiar with an early morning train trip down through the Adelaide Hills into town, they would certainly be aware if how dambed cold and draughty those old window flappers could get, hence no gentleman traveller would be caught without an overcoat. Getting down into the outer suburbs with the sunrise and accompanying rise in temperature, one might thus be inclined to remove his coat and place it folded in the convenient overhead rack or perhaps hang in the carriage vestibule. That is perhaps a viable explanation for our remiss travelling SM not having either coat nor travel warrant in his possession. Had Gerry’s competent investigation team checked with the lost property office at Adelaide, or more likely Mount Hunter, they may have picked up a lead.
– Back on thread; Gerry really seems to have screwed up on a goodly number of issues, some important and others not so; despite his giving us a good general look into the heart of the matter. His third person flowery naratives of how things “might” have played out, may have been viewed as helpful back in 2010; nit so now. More than seven years on and one can’t help but take note of the many glaring errors of known facts and there does not seem to be a logical explanation for such lapses, if and hopefully, that’s what they represent. His Somerton Beach emplacement logistics with Gordon and Olive at the scene does not even closely follow their own testimony but one should not draw any conclusions about his reason for muddying such potentially productive waters. I also can’t understand why he spent so much time on the trail of his nurse Theresa and Alf’s no nothing albeit helpful daughter Leslie, when he might have been tracking down people, the the very likes of sweet Olive and her man Able Seaman Strapps; perhaps others who were likely to have been still around such as Paul Lawson, might have had something useful to add eg. What was SM’s toe tag and inked forearm number at West Terrace Mortuary, a most significant detail in my personal view.
Gerry’s account of the evening beach scene, sets me to thinking about Olive’s claim of having seen a well dressed middle aged gentleman standing at the railing of the beach overlook on the terrace road above the inert subject of her interest. You’ll recall that a little earlier in the evening John Lyons saw said subject raise his right arm and then flop it back down for some reason. I had commented once before on the possibility that this movement might well have been a calculated deceptive ploy attributable to the third person, tweeking an already deceased body by means of a line affixed to the wrist, then connecting to the controller via the sloped embankment and a hitch point on the fence rail. It would certainly prove rather difficult to spot in the encroaching twighlight, if it were left slack when not needed for the assigned deployment. Not so far fetched in my opinion and worthy of consideration if we are still not impressed with old Doc Bennett’s E.T.D. of not before 2.00am. on 1st Decenber.
The ToD is problematic for lots of reasons, not least the Pasty.
On the body tag, I couldn’t help but find the paragraph about fingerprinting the body odd, especially (after establishing earlier the tag and the scribble on the arm) “….opened a large refrigerator door and partially pulled out the steel stretcher and said, “That is the body of the man found dead on the beach….”‘. To me there was a hint that Mounted Constable Knight (who we otherwise don’t hear of) hadn’t adequately checked whether they were fingerprinting and photographing the correct body…
And of course Lance Knight, the morgue man may not have been aware of the new tennant, Cohen the butcher from Moorook, who probably was booked in after SM; still we’re not sure of any death details apart from the date 1/12/48; though his general known physical details, meaning stature and stated height were similar for both customers ie. tall and strong.
From his first alien card we know that Wolff Cohen bn. 1915 was a single, recently arrived German (Jew) and was at the time, 10/39 a butcher from Loxton, not far from Renmark and the soon to be ww2 internment camp city of Barmera. loxton in in that early war periiod was a rural, Murray river town of roughly two thousand and more than half appear to have been of German birth or extraction. There had been two butchers of Arian background from the town who were said to have been fifth columnists and subject of a royal commission following world war one. Whether they still had family connections locally or at the nearby army woodcamp village of Moorook, or even whether Cohen was in their employ, we are not to know.
The next we hear of Wolff Cohen is nine years later, after the war in early to mid 1948 and it relates to a similar alien registration under the new 1947 act. He’s now married with kids and living at or near the Hebrew mission and Synagogue in Fullerton Rd, Glenside, close in to the city centre. Finally a plain page attached to his file (page one) states ‘died 1/12/48’. It gives the West Terace mortuary tag No 5332, another two dates 20/1/49 & 2/6/52, a couple of immigration reference numbers S1340 & SA 46/6/78 and nothing to say what had brought about his premature demise. I guess it might add up to zilch with regard to SM, but with all the other shit going down with body swapping at the morgue etc. we do need some answers to clear the air. Finding his family would be a good start and getting hold of his local SA file might provide clues, as I’ve previously suggested. The fact that for many months I had been pursuing a gambler of the same name still intrigues my sence of de ja vous but I will nonetheless continue my quest to track down Sadie Herbert’s ex hubby, Wolf the nit-keeper (?).
Here’s a bit of humour; “I think the words were put there deliberately (by SM) and indicated that intention, that he was fed up with things” . This coming from His eminence, the world renowned ornithologist, anthropologist, mycologist and apologist for the telling of fibs in court. You’ll all well recall when he found the damn TS slip, the guys had to seek help with the translation from Persian; he certainly didn’t have a shmick and yet the great man simply sites a conclusion of judicial notice to his own silly suggestion that SM surely must have known what the words Tamam (sic) Shud meant, when in reality, only a farsi speaker might boast that knowledge for sure. We must admit in the man’s favor though, that he also intimated that the guy had the features of a Britisher and an educated sort of bearing, as if the last part were indeed necessary.
There are actually two equally silly TS slip statements that the old fellow comes up with on the same page 124 that might be read in conjunction with the former.
My attemps to track down Olive Neil bn. about 1928 were not rewarded and so it seems with everyone else including Gerry we might assume. She and Gordon said that they went to the beach to cool off which is somewhat out of kilter with only a most mild 23c maximum being recorded for the day in Adelaide. Could a planned assignation have been out of the question, one involving a young tatood hoon astride his Vincent BS with the talent on board for delivery to Somerton at, say 7.45pm for a beautiful sunset beachside blow job. That might have been a precurser to getting any tired old ticker, not used to the excitement, to miss a beat or, Heaven forbid, to stop insystol. Remember the examiners noted some spittle emission from the body and also an ubiquitous telltale stain on his duds that wasn’t vomit; well they might have had a guess, then a little chuckle between their most eminent selves at the alternatives, one could reasonably assume.
The one thing that really sticks out to me from the book is the number of people who identified the man as Nugget Walsh. Vaguely got the impression that ol’ (and I tend to agree he was too old…) Nugget used to change his monicker a bit too (and if you’re changing your identity why not get older and younger occasionally too). Not sure if it was intentional, but it got me thinking that perhaps the Hoddard (or was it Hoggard) identity might have been Walsh too (though not necessarily SM). Drawing a REALLY long bow….what about Karl Thompsen?
A couple of other things have occured to me as I read the book….
Firstly the mention of the dried saliva is mildly interesting. I can’t really picture what they’re saying, but drooling diagonally down the cheek doesn’t really sound consistent with dying with your head propped up….
Secondly the tan bothers me. What sort of clothing would tan your legs to the crotch, but not your arms? It’s like something Adelaide’s “Johnny” (Haysman) would wear (google “Where’s Johnny Adelaide” – but don’t blame me for what you see). Perhaps it’s consistent with some sort of ballet leotard – but it got me thinking along Riverland lines – I’m imagining someone in Warwick Caper football shorts (or at least ‘stubbies’) with a long sleeve top to keep away the summer sun in 40C+ heat…..
the clothes were a tight fit on Cleland – how big was he if SM was 5’11 and fit in them comfortably?
Milongal: Old Mrs. Thomson had obviously been having some much closer relationship with Walsh, Afterall he had bought her a house in Morgan-on-Murray and she must have known her man quite intimately one would imagine. Perhaps the wallpapers should have allowed her a peak at SM’s non Musselman appendage to see what her reaction might be.
Milongal: The correct answer; we don’t know, however the photo of Cleland standing near the entrance to Adelaide Station? does not suggest a man likely to have been better than average height for that era; say 5′ 8″ tops. Could that possibly suggest something was critically flawed about SM’s oft quoted, hence now universally accepted height of 5′ 11″. I’m thinking that if we repeat this line often enough, we might be able to shave an inch or two off for our efforts.
John: Olive and Gordon married and it might be possible to find out is one or both are still alive. Unlikely, but worth a try.
The Advertiser 27th March 1953 page 22
STRAPPS (nee Neill). — On March 25, at Glenelg Community, to Olive and Gordon— a son
(Kenneth Neill). Thanking Dr. Caust and staff.
Byron: Does it not seem strange that had Olive been around in later years, that nobody made any attempt to re-interview her, people like Ron Thomas, Stewart Littlemore or Gerry Feltus for that matter. Makes no sense to me, especially in light of her original testimony. Perhaps they did, but didn’t get the response they were hoping for…
Milongal: Not only did Cleland make a cock up with his TS slip testimony, I think he was also trying to hood wink us when he went off half cocked about SM’s foreskin which I find rather circumspect. He goes on to say that because of his uncut state, our man was unlikely to have been of either Jewish or Mahommedan background . What a load of bollocks.
John,
Yes indeed, Very strange.
I’ve often wondered about the South Eplinade road surface in 1948 and half suspect that it was macadam, also that it ended in the sand dunes down towards Whyatt Street where the Lyons’ lived. In the photos that I have seen, ones taken around the stairway opposite Alvington House, there is no evidence of street lighting, so that if this be so , then our Olive must have been mistaken refering to them in her affidavit. Either that or she was not present on the occasion that she gave explicit corroboration to, of events cited by Gordon Strapps on the fateful evening between 7.30 and 8.00. To my way of thinking, ambient natural light would still have been such that artificial street lighting would not have been necessary in any case.
I could not see any street lights on the Esplanade in the vicinity of the stairs in 1936? 1937? air photos). I remember there was a newspaper article (during WW2) that stated that the wattage of the street lights on the Esplanade had been reduced. I am not sure if it was clear where along the Esplanade the articles was referring to. It is worth a look in Trove I think.
Byron: Yes of course it was Gordon who said that the street lights were on when he and Olive left at eight and only he that thought the position of the body had changed; Olive suggested that the body may have been expired, without giving any reason. Note that neither witness gave any details about where they went afterwards or how they became aware that a body had been discovered next morning. What Gerry described about their presence at the scene is totally out of kilter with their own statements and one can only wonder how he could have read into it a different story. Could he have had access to original statements that were somewhat at variance to those avidavits presented to the inquest, avidavits that may have been changed to present something more in keeping with a slightly different police version.
GeneaologySA doesn’t seem to have any record of either of them dying (which isn’t in itself all that interesting – their official death records go to 1972, and they rely on newspapers beyond that(). Olive just sneaks into their birth cut-off of 1928 and Gordon 1926 – so that would put them at 90 and 92 if they were still alive….
There are newspaper death notices (2005) for Kenneth Neill/Ken Neil…..
Here’s a photograph of Gordon and Olive’s wedding day:
Don’t say I don’t spoil you all. 😉
I guess my man Cohen has generated too much excitement; I just noticed thst he gives his residential abode as 140 fullerton and place of employment as 142/144 so someone might like to see how all this sets with the 47/48 Sands & McDougall which I’m not able to work. I’ll also reiterate that those left of his family back home in Aurich after the Holocaust inLower Saxony, were informed that he had died on 31/12/43 and that he was interred in the Jewish section ast West Terace cemetery. My information of his passing on 1/12/48 seams to be undeniable and it appears that he was put into the general section according to FaG LDS., there being nothing found through my efforts with the Adelaide papers concering death or funeral notifications. How it could have been that he was denied the displaced persons category on arrival in Australia in 1938, but avoided interrment through the war, living free outside the wires of Loveday camp must raise questions; more especially since his home folks say he had travelled overseas for adventure and work experience. His work experience ended up leaving him prematurely dead and possibly unmourned on the very same day as our more celebrated friend SM which would have likey pissed him off no end.
All things being equal, to my way of looking at it, the only possible reason for GF’s relentless, the apparently? fruitless search for an identical W&C Courage and Friendship 1st edition with its Tamam Shud slip intact, was to make a comparison with a certain item or even items that he retaines from those originally kept by Sapol as evidence. Derick did suggest that this was likey and it would certainly not surpise to find that he too may have a few little SM trinkets of his own, thereby creating a little Mexican standoff between the belligerants. I can’t but help to note that the more I study the book, the more I find myself floundering through lack of testable information to make any follow up inquiry. I feel that the man has much in his files that he has remained mum on, which is only fair I suppose, though frustrating nevertheless. You can bet that when the revised book is being compiled, it will include a wealth of information obtained by his well known, not well meaning researchers, obtained from the likes of Ciphermysteries core research. Unless we can step up our efforts and start playing hardball instead of giving praise to the devious bastards, we’ll be left floundering and others will laugh at our ineptness till the cows come home.
Milongal & Nick: Nice looking happy young couple who as you’ll recall were introduced to us by Professor Abbott as teenagers not so long ago. Hope they remained in love and are still in good health, retaining a good memory of things past. Perhaps if we can then locate them, Clive might like to pay them a call, set up a joint meeting with Paul, then ask each of the three to recall, when they last told the truth if at all.
Those S&M’s are all over the shop sometimes, but as far as I can tell….
1947
Fullarton Road (Rosefield)
140 Ernst G.A.
142 Elvey, Miss D M
144 Cohen W W
1948
140 Rosefield Meat Store
142 Tuilk P. M., mxd bus.
144 Cohen WW
OOPs – sorry JS – wrong thread
@js: Death registered as 734/6394 1948 (need to pay money for more info and I’m a tightwad).
From Adelaide Cemetery Authority:
West Terrace Cemetery
Section: Jewish
Row Number: S6
Site Number: 19
Service Type: Burial
Milongall: Thanks for a job well done; leaves me with confidence to proceed and see what else gives. We got ourselves a butcher shop and couple of other Hebrewish names to work with at least. The properties in that old suburb name of Rosefield are now apparently restaurants and a highrise, both big ticket real estate properties.
JohnS, I’m listening to JPYoung.
Sport, out of all the dicks on Leane’s team, who do you reckon had the newspapers’ phone numbers?
Pete: Scan Sutherland is Mr. connector; been around forever, out and about, go to man for statements, property, exhibits, post mortem gut buckets, knows the judiciary, judges, crooked lawyers, funeral people; you name it, he’s got the info the press will do just about anything for and he feeds them one by one if they deserve the favour. Got any hard questions ask Derek.
Whatabout Brownie, Mr Ni..er poison? Trust him with the family jewels would you?
Brown was the office tea boy, just made detective and only too willing to be by his boss‘s side, in order to feel his way in the big league.
Scan Sutherland on the other hand was already a made man within the organization and a known entity with the press corps; after all we must take note that he was most often merely refered to as SCAN within the force, which of course stood for, Sapol Conduit Adelaide News.
Even if you just made that up it’s a bloody ripper .. !
Adelaide Chronicle 9/12/48. Family Notices.
Cohen – On December 1st at Adelaide, Wolff Willhelm Cohen (Bill), dearly beloved husband of Marjorie Phyllis Cohen, 144 Fullerton Rd. Rosefield, and loving father of Robert and Ian. Aged 33 years. Rest after weariness…That’s all folks; can anyone improve with more detail as to causation.
Gerry seems to have spent a great deal of his time chasing after a missing Rubaiyat and its apparent living connections in the forms of ‘phantom’ Ron Francis, the bewitching syren Tessie Johnson of X3239 fame, and that shadowy figure Alf Boxal of military intelligence (mechanic), with little apparent gain for his persistence. Strange thing is, none of the interesting trio represented anything more than a two day distraction for the investigating police who seemingly placed little or no evidentiary value in any of them at the end of the day. Nothing was mentioned at the inquests or in their official reports from what I can gather and we can also take note, that in the Sapol journal of recent times, none of them are mentioned. Did Gerry just include them in his yarn because it might be seen as an interesting diversionary sideshow to the main issues, as were his selected, non successful attempts at identification of SM. We’re missing something surely and I can’t help but feel that we may have been played rather handsomely from the get go. As folks will have detected, the majority of posts on the related sites, most of the punters are still keanly discussing the relative issues concerning the very same three subjects, as if they had just come to notice yesterday.
As for the telephone connector link, which led directly to a certain person at a certain address in Moberley Street, Glenelg; can anyone imagine why it might have been deemed necessary for any person of clandestinial bent to write a four didgit phone number down in the first place, whether it be on a book cover or anywhere else for that matter. Whoops how could I have forgotten the all important ‘X’ factor.
Perhaps a digit dick tracey type might see the need, purely as an evidentiary sequencing item.
I seem to recall that it was Leane and not Brown having used the dastardly ‘N’ word, in which he refered to ‘their’ spears being tipped with curare; unless Brown also used the term. Was it not Gerry that invented the full name Ron Francis as opposed to simply Mr. Francis the city business man as put forward by Sgt. Leane. I seem also to recall Gerry saying that he worked with Ron Thomas of the second inquest and that he also knew Errol Canney, Sister Thomson’s interviewer. It may be that there were two Det. Sgts. named Ron Thomas, though I’m sure there could only have been one Errol Canney. They both served in Cyprus in the early sixties as UN peace keepers to my knowledge and I think Gerry Feltus started in Sapol about that time, so I guess some clarification might be in order.
Nobody in the Hillman leaked, John Sanders, all four of them afraid of being hounded for the rest of their lives. It must have been truly frightening.
Petebowes: isn’t it curious that someone who claims to be utterly unconnected to the case is so fearful for so long?
Are we talking about the other three travellers?
It was Spry that refered to Big Bob ‘Hereward’ Wake as ‘ruthless and demented’, not me; However I have raised the subject of his possible involvement in an Adelaide security ‘excercise’ being put into effect to impress foreign interests, at about SM’s time; without creating any interest apart from the odd derisive barb. Many folks who played bit parts, seemed to have left town rather promptly, never to be heard from again, which is certainly scary in my somewhat jaundiced view.
Pete: According to his ‘Officers Record of Service’ Alf Boxall’s pre embarkation posting was to SME School at Moorebank, a fair hike from the Georges Head end of Sydney Harbour. From what I can see, he might have visited there for port AA excercises occasionally, though it is mentioned quite specifically of there being no requirement to change his post. Prior to his departure to Cairns, before embarking on his post war service surplus aquisition duties in NG and Solomon Island regions, he probably got home leave with his family and that’s how he met with Jestyn at the Cliffton Gardens pub.
Two trove stories from the Argus of 1933, A horse groomer from Grafton was in intense pain, suffering from dizzy spells and convulsions that were found to be the consequences of ingesting tick dust residue from his light daily brushing duties…’What’s it made of Byron?’…. The other one relates to Mr. Valdemar Augenson of the Commonwealth Civil Aviation Authority, who had just certified the airfield at Currie on King Island, which is where they mine that tungsten scheelite stuff we were discussing recently. Augo was the shadowy ASIO figure known as ‘The Major’, a life long friend and wing man for Robert Frederick Bird Wake, who I mentioned a couple of days back.
Got that, John, thanks.
I guess that we don’t have to discuss the possibilty of SM having been struck down by Tick or Red-water fever, which are known to kill infected animals in hours; or heaven forbid one of the similar symtoms accompanying Bacillus Anthrax forms, to which animal handlers are most vulnerable. I have just checked through the various physical effects, along with post mortem results which appear somewhat akin to those described by Dr. Dwyer. Though of course he and Cowan would certainly have been looking for evidence of such diseases, wouldn’t they?.
john sanders: certainly the old boy’s heart stopped ticking, so it’s all possible. 😉
Nick: That may have gone through to the keeper, but not the fence hopefully. So guess I don’t have to hark back to the horsie stuff in the suitcase like halter lead ring for instance.
john sanders: sorry, but you can’t make me drink. 😉
Nick: That’s ok, I’ll just water me own horse; down by the sandal wood crick. He don’t need to be halter led.
Maybe he was a stablehand for them Moprphetville races what were gathered around him on the beach that morn?
Milongal: We did cover the stable hand possibility and more than once from my recollection. There was also report of a missing stable hand someplace back when; so the possibility of SM catching some really diabolical fatal disease from his trusty steed cannot be discounted. I’m thinking that the medical men may have overlooked something like that.
The news just came through of the latest unsuccessful Beaumont kids search site. Someone recently asked about Gerry’s own involvement in the case, which did not receive a response. I’m not sure if he was a detective in 1966, though he could well have been connected with the search as a uniform constable; and I just found a newspaper interview, conducted in May 2004 in which he is apparently in charge of the related SAPOL cold case file.
Derick told Nick that Alf was definately not responsible for the out of place big E in JEstyn and I’m just as sure that he was. In Alf’s military papers there are two, perhaps three occasions where he uses the upper case capital E to commence words such as East & Engineer that were more likely to have been lower case value. It is also noted that there is an ever so slight ornate flourish at the top of the JEstyn E, which is quite consistent with a similar stroke used in the attached Officer’s ROS sheet which is definately in Alf’s hand. How the omission of the E came about in the first place, can be explained away in Alf’s case as him simply being unused to the name, whereas if Jessie had done it ( she never said it ), she was less likely to have erred. I still think that he was likely to have done verse 70 but we’ll leave that in obeyance as there are many quite similar aspects to the hands of Jessie and her old beau.
Actually I came across an interesting Qld family some time back; only interesting because two of the males seemed to have possible, though more likely coincidental connections with Alf Boxall, their names being Jestyn and Mordecai. Whilst Jestyn and Alf were born only months apart, with their WW2 inlistments of similar close proximity, I can’t find any common denominators. On the other hand Mordecai (Maurice), seems to have lived in Sydney’s Canterbury area where Alf’s family moved to after WW1. Although I have since lost trail of both boys, they’ll come home eventually; regarding the latter however,I still don’t necessarily accept that Alf’s black tracker mate was an Aboriginal full blood at least.
Reasons being that the name is rather Kosher for one, but the fact that he was inducted into one of the local NT clans from outside, does not seem to hold up unless he was white or perhaps half caste, due to tribal taboos.
The NT can be quite dangerous for aboriginals from different groups – even half-caste. I had a friend who worked for Fisheries and later Roads and Transport who told me he avoids the NT because there’s certain places he wouldn’t make it out alive….
The ‘E’ definitely looks inconsistent with much of the rest of the JEstyn – but IMHO the actual code is written in multiple (possibly alternating) hands. Some of the letters lean in different directions, and the style of some of them changes too between different instances (I’ll ignore the last GAB because it may be a signature so all bets are off for that one), but there seems to be multiple different styles of ‘A’, ‘M’, ‘T’ and possibly ‘B’ and ‘O’
I’d dearly love to know who Jessi(e) wrote to in Australia from UK in 1962. Could not have been the immediate family as they were with her and we can assume that they were still living as a family unit at Menindie upon their return. It seems that Robin may have been at boarding school or with relatives in Melbourne up until just before the family’s overseas departure and I think that marked the end of his schooling. Old Prosper ( possibly spelled differently) was referring to himself as a company director and Jessi(e) as a housewife in those days, and why not?…
Ketterick St. Medindie is a pretty flash older residential Adelaide suburb north of the city centre; the properties ranging between about 1.5 and 3 million weak Aussie dollars. I’d never heard of that particular address before and it certainly seems as if the Thomson family were not short of a quid by that time, fourteen years after SM.
@JS maybe Ettrick Ave?
Milongal: At least I eventually got Medindie right, not to be confused with the other regional names like Menindie, Menindi, Meningie? etc. Of course Ettrick it most certainly is, though Jessi is written as reported which is apparently a first, so in the words of our mates, “food for thought”.
Milongal: From an historical perspective, it might be an idea to see how long the Thomsons had been living in dead end Ettrick St. Only twenty houses to search if your up to speed on your S & Mc. year search bizzo.
@JS – Sorry – what was the timeframe. Just checked ’61, ’62 and ’63 and no real interesting names jump out – or were you talking earlier?
1961
1 Hicks F G slctr (in bold)
3 Miell Mrs L D
5 Miller L C
7 Jaffrey M
9 Frost A F (in bold)
11 Simons Dr A L gen prctnr (in bold)
13 Roberts S G
15 Vacant
2 Hill M supvsr
4 Loney J V jrnlst
6 Hoppo R
8 Sherra H J nrsymn
10 Allen F G clrk
12 Harry Miss E (in bold)
14 Craigie Mrs F
14 Schoefield Mrs J
16 Muirhead Mrs C M
1962
1 Hicks F G slctr
3 Miell Mrs L D
5 Miller L C
7 Jaffrey M
9 Frost A F (in bold)
11 Simons Dr A L gen prctnr (in bold)
13 Roberts S G
15 McNeil D B
2 Hill M supvsr
4 Loney J V jrnlst
6 Hoppo R
8 Sherra H J nrsymn
10 Allen F G clrk
12 Harry Miss E (in bold)
14 Craigie Mrs F
14 Schoefield Mrs J
16 Colley R L land agent
1963
1 Klimowski Dr L R gen prctnr
3 Miell Mrs L D
5 Miller L C
7 Jaffrey M
9 Frost A F (in bold)
11 Simons Dr A E gen prctnr
13 Roberts S G
15 Culshaw G
2 Hill M supvsr
4 Loney J V jrnlst
6 Hoppo R
8 Sherra H J nrsymn
10 Allen F G clrk
12 Harry Miss E (in bold)
14 Craigie Mrs F
14 Schoefield Mrs J
16 Colley R L land agent
Milongal: Good effort, though sadly only one name leaps out apart from the doctors and lawyer who might connect with Jessi the nurse or Prosper the Company Director. You will perhaps note the name Allen at No. 10 a name which, through a deceased estate, was also connected with the 90A Moberley St. Address. I wonder if the name lists are for occupiers or owners as well.
I’m sort of wondering why some are bolded – other than the solicitor at #1 they don’t seem to change. I half wondered whether it had something to do with renters vs owners or something….I’ll see if it mentions anything at the start of the book….
15 Ettrick was listed on their travel manifest from October 1962.
Misca: That’s better, and McNeil seems familiar somehow; did that name come up with Keith M. or one of those related families like Collins, Feltus or Roma’s mob McRae? I think that one of Keith’s brothers lived nearby Ettrick in Payneham? when he up and disappeared, leaving all his wealth for the government to mind just like Perpetual Estates sans the rip off commissions.
Roma Ms family were McIntyre’s from out around one of the Crimean named towns I believe; we also had the McAlpines from Merino and X Herbert’s old friend Joe McInness who stayed with his mum Lucy in Balaclava after coming back from his service in the Moratai/Labuan/ Borneo campagne in ’45. No McNeils on the radar; only Gordon Strapps girl Olive Constance Neil sans the o’ ….
Susie Boxall appears to have stayed in the family home at 19 Parer Street Maroubra, with the little’uns whilst Alf was away up north after the war. We understand that he wrote, presumably to Jestyn Harkness at the family address in Como Pde. Mentone, sometime in ’46, which resulted in her ‘dear john’ reply to him. We can’t now be knowing where she sent the letter, or whether he received it, though it would appear that it probably reached it’s target; though whether it had the desired effect, is unclear. Is it not strange that such a fleeting introduction in mid 1945, by the friend of a fellow officer, as is claimed by both parties could have led to any form of later communication between them, even more so in that two ships passing in the night should have obtained correct addresses for such a nebulous purpose. Why would an obvious ‘tom cat’ like Alf be likely to give up his own home address to someone that the ‘cheese-n-kisses’ might not approve of and why would the nursie reciprocate in kind if their relationship was not all that meaningful. The other thing that is equally baffling is why in heavens name would she jot down verse 70 in her offering to the soldier, when that particular message was so easy to find on the verso page. Another person might just have signed their NDP and refered to the number without spoiling the last fronting page. I’m assuming of course that the AP coy’s. dual language editionpossibly sold to George Marshall lately of the Prices (sic) commission, in pre war Singapore, was a Fitzgerald 1st. like the W&T from New Z’lnd. Perhaps Harry might like to have a crack at this one; In the meantime his simple ordinary soldier with the coded location shall have to linger awhile in ‘no-mans-land’.
I’m sure it has naught to do with anything…
Regarding Culshaw (listed as the resident at 15 in 1963), as far as I can tell it would G.V Culshaw* (son of George Vincent Culshaw who was a prominent lawyer for the Catholic Church in Adelaide and was one of the co-founders of legal firm ‘Gunson Culshaw and Ahern’) .
*Ol man Culshaw appears to have died in 1952, but there’s records of a G.V . Culshaw passing various Level 1 subjects at Uni of Adelaide in 1953/4.
Re McNeill (which is no doubt a fairly common name) there was a McNeill mentioned in connexion with HC Reynolds – actually, it’s more of a dis-connexion. McNeill is listed as 3rd officer in the list of survivors from the Koonya in 1919.
Not saying that there’s an interesting connection, but might be why the name is familiar.
Milongal: I’ll see your Culshaw and your McNeill at No. 15, and raise you a Mrs. Lindsay De Lisle Miell nee Violet Wilson or most likely Wistrand Wilson; possibly niece of Ada Mangnoson or 1st cousin of our boy Keith of No.3. Now, Violet’s husband was a light Colonel in WW2 AIF Army Intelligence and his dad of the same rank died a hero at Gallipoli August 1915; the family being originally from over Crystal Brook which is out there near ubiquetous Alma Plains somewhere….My real purpose with this perhaps coincidental irrelevance, is to promote further interest in Isabel McAlpine’s lost husband Keith (dec’d), who was Cyril Wilson’s brother in law. You’ll surely recall that Keith’s dad, John Edward MCAlpine MC also died in WW1 and that mum Agnes who was a Davis, re married to a Sullivan but died as a McP in 1939. The family were known to be very closeby their Kirk and also their Knights Templar brotherhood movement in the old hometown of Merino.
I’m still far from happy with young Townsend and his account of the train ticket sales, three in all for the almost eight hours of his shift on 30th Nov. ’48 which would not seem to justify keeping the line open for starters. His evidence indicates clearly that the tickets were numbered but not dated and that SM’s ticket was actually left over from the previous day, it being identified by an ink mark on the number which we assume to be sequencial to the two later issuings which were apparently cleanskins. He was able to say somehow that all tickets were issued on the day in question, but didn’t add to this uncertain form of accounting, and of course the other tickets were not available for comparison. Now young Douglas was a country lad with probably very little experience in the job, and a temporary at that, so for all we know it may have been his first day on the job. No questions were asked of him by the Coroner and despite the possibility that he may still be with us, it seems that, just like Ken and Olive, no person has attempted to seek any clarification from him of his recollections is amazing (to me).
As you would well know, I’ve never been happy with a lot of stuff about the tickets….BUT….
3 Henley tickets sold to 12PM might not be so unusual (they presumably sold other tickets in that time too). Some would also have been sold en-route – that is, not everyone boards in the city. It’s perhaps a touch odd that it was apparently a brilliant day for the beach, but given it was also a working day, I’d imagine the bulk of commuters were inward bound through the morning. I vaguely remember reading that at the end of each shift they would note down the next ticket number (but I could imagine some confusion as to whether you note down the next ticket, or the last one sold etc – which means 3 could mean 2 or 4 if different staff members did things differently….).
In the inquest, he seems to have been easily dismissed because they accepted something like: “I just give people the ticket they ask for, I never even look up, so I couldn’t possibly remember anyone I dealt with”. I’ve always found that a little extraordinary in itself, but especially from the SM perspective. If we believe the traditional narrative (yes, big if), we have a man arrive (from Melbourne) who is unfamiliar with Adelaide. He soon goes to buy a ticket to Henley (perhaps after viewing a network map which might have existed in the concourse somewhere). The ticket salesman doesn’t remember his face (fair enough), but also doesn’t mention anything about someone who might have asked questions about train times or destinations etc…. This strikes me as quite strange. A stranger in town (clearly confused enough to eventually catch a bus to somewhere else instead) simply buys a ticket to an arbitrary destination. Surely you’d double check with the ticket agent that you’ve chosen the right train? That you know the time it runs? That you know when the last return service is? Perhaps whether you need to change services? etc? Sort of still plausible that a ticket agent (who gets these sort of queries often) dismisses and/or forgets them, but I remember when I was driving buses, anyone who did anything other than validate their ticket (bought one, asked a question, said a friendly hello etc) stuck in the memory for a while….
One thing that I think we have given little attention to (with the normal caveat “if we believe the tickets were his”) is that we always assume “Ticket for the Henley Train” = “Ticket to Henley Beach”. As far as I know, the line geography was very similar to today, and there’s no reason to think the train would have done anything but stop each station. Basically that means he could have got off at any stop (Bowden, Croyden, West Croyden, Kilkenny, Woodville Park, Woodville, Albert Park, Seaton Park*, East Grange*, Grange, Kircaldy, Marlborough St, Henley Jetty Rd**, Henley Beach)
* Not 100% clear when Seaton and East Grange were built, but I’m assuming they’d have been there
** I keep finding references to a Station “Henley Beach Jetty Rd” – but I can’t find a Jetty Rd in Henley (certainly not in 1948, and not even as far back as 1910). Main St (which is where the terminus was) is a road running directly from the jetty, and in other suburbs would often be called Jetty Road, so I’m guessing this is the source of the confusion rather than another station).
At least I know that Seaton Park was one of the stops in ’48; that’s where a certain ex RAAF pilot from Port Elliott had just opened his pharmacy. Actually Doug Townsend, the part time ticket clerk from the country town of Peterborough, was not so long out of the airforce himself. It would have been interesting to have a look at SM’s train ticket but I can’t recall any mention of it being photographed.
It is recalled that in his book, Jerry gave quite a bit of space to reporting verbatum, on what an anonymous code breaker had detailed on his efforts to make sense of the Rubaiyat cypher. In so doing, the fellow basically didn’t seem to make any sense of it at all, from what my addled old noggin could detect. In fact there was no ultimate conclusion drawn from his detailed breakdown and I wonder, if perhaps Jerry may have left the final analysis out for some unknown reason. Perhaps it may have been included in the Upper House Hansard document, complied from Senator James Cavenagh’s 1971 speech to Parliament, which included details of other well known conspiracy theories, which Jim was known for. Of course the code breaker had been in touch previously with Len Brown and the covering letter’s recipient, who’s identity was not revealed, was only contacted after the Littlemore ABC TV show of 1978. It would be interesting to know more about who he was and what he made of the whole deal, but true to form, Jerry, our narrator, chose not to elaborate as is his wont. Is someone out there, clued up by any chance, otherwise we are left guessing as to why the inclusion at all.
Misconception: Still on Jerry’s ‘ebook’ , now that my little reader has suddenly come back on line. On P/176 the reader will see that he gives us a seven day run down on the weather which includes daily tops in both F & C, as given by Det. Leane. Note that for the 30th, the thermo reached around 72/22 max during the day and was likely well down on that by dusk, hardly a flaming heatwave what? So what were young Olive Neall and her beau Gordon Strapps all on about, telling the peelers that they had gone to the beach “to cool off from the warm weather”. Makes one wonder where they had just come from and what in the goodness they might have been cooling off from, as it was not so warm on the beach at the given time of 7.45pm. Right throughout our own amateur investigative intervention, folks have constantly tried to explain away likely reasons for SM having been somewhat overdressed for the prevailing conditions. From what I can make of it, he had just the correct amount of covering, and whilst it didn’t do him a whole lot of good in hindsight. We might therefore, like to do a re re-take on earlier Ill advised silly comments, and admit that his manner of dress, although a little on the conservative side, was probably quite well considered in repect of the cool evening to follow. And maybe that could just tell us a little about his own motives for being where he was at that point in time.
Interesting pick up….of them only the 33.1 would be particularly unseasonal…
I suspect it could easily be dismissed as them basically not wanting to admit that they went to the beach for a bit of ‘slap and tickle’….and/or that they regularly visited the beach and couldn’t specifically remember that instance (other than the man with the flies).
Interestingly, BOM historically data (for West Tce) disagrees with Leane. Specifically it has 24/11 at 33.2 rather than 33.1 (I suspect this is a rounding error….91.7F would be 33.1667C), but it has 30/11 (which probably interests us a bit more) as 24.6C
FWIW 1/12 shows as being 35.6C – so the evening for 30/11 wouldn’t have been too cool (unfortunately minimums don’t appear to have been recorded)
Not wishing to overstress my contentions that Tuesday 30/11 was on the cool side, I’m not sure that we need concerning ourselves with those much higher daily maximums leading up to it. In essence it turns out to have been the lowest mean temp all up, including of course the the stinker on the first day of summer following, which fortunately for SM, he did not have to endure….Back now to the ubiqitous old Henley Beach single train ticket, the existence of which we are yet to satisfactorily explain. Would it have been concievable for SM to have purchased his fare in the morning at the main Adelaide ticket office, not for an outward passage as we may have taken somewhat for granted, but rather, for his intended later return to the city from the beach suburbs. I say this in belief that his ticket would most likely be still deemed valid for such a journey, and he may have considered this best, knowing beforehand that a ticket purchase was not possible at the particular station he intended to board from, ie. Jetty Road or perhaps Seaton Park. Had he contemplated an afternoon visit to an address over that way, a bus from Somerton was certainly available through to Henley Beach so he was certainly not going to be inconvenienced, therefore it sounds quite a logical alternative to hanging around down town half the day.
There were only two authorised stops on the single line between Grange and the terminus at Henley Beach (Jetty Road) both of which had ticket booths. The stops were Marlborough Street and Kirkaldy, neither of which had any commuter services; so it seems that passengers wishing to embark from these platforms, would have had to pay fares on arrival at the Grange, line transfer stop, or pay a surcharge upon reaching the city. My feeling is that a previously purchased ticket would have been considered quite a normal and acceptable alternative by passengers using the line on a regular basis, as with rail inspectors checking against evaders.
I see now that way back on the old ‘last 24hrs’ thread, all vagaries on temps. were covered extensively and the ranges for 30/11 do vary. I may have been out in my contention that it had had the lowest mean, though not by much…. What I did find more interesting from the thread was a claim that a Sister Thomson definately worked at crippled children’s hospital, which does not tally with the staff names that I was able to confirm recently. It might not be widely known, but most of the kids there were well on the way to being fit enough to resume normal lives and were said to have spent quite a lot of time at the beach. So it could be assumed that, whilst still undergoing therapy, they were probably not as severely disabled as we might have thought. Po
@JS – I’m not sure there was a Glenelg->Henely bus, I have an idea that came in the 60s (exact route varies over time, but at different times it would loosely follow Port Adelaide->West Lakes->Henley Beach->(Harbor Town (but that’s MUCH later)) ->Glenelg and then either to Marion/Flinders Uni or Marino (In the early 2000s it was routes 340 and 345, I think, but earlier it was different again).
I don’t think there was a transfer at Grange either, it would have been through running, with the original Grange platform parallel to Military Rd (it was moved to the current location in the mid/late 80s because it was deemed dangerous running unfenced next to the roadway, and it required a silly level crossing simply so the train could cross the road.)
Google “redhen grange station” on google images and the first shows a ‘white redhen’ (not sure why it’s white) at the old station, and the third image shows a more recent class 3000 railcar departing the current Grange Station (there’s a site called Johnny’s pages that shows Kircaldy and Henley Beach stations – not dates, but HB already has a redhen which I think began rolling out in ’55. Both have some sort of structure on the platform, but not clear to me whether that would have been ticketing or something else – from the wikipedia page for “Henely Beach Railway” there’s a link to trove complaining about the lack of amenities at those stations – there’s also a link to an archive with pictures of trains at those stations (including Marlborough St) and a route superimposed onto a street directory showing where the platforms were….
I think I’m pretty sure of my facts thanks to a mostly reliable source; the period pics and charts, seeming to lend added assurance. The north heading bus service between the beaches, was apparently the same Bus & Tramway mob that ran the St.Leonards/Graymore route from town and commenced in 1945, so presumably it was a goer in 48. From the city, Henley passengers took the Woodville train which branched off at Grange, so Henley Beach goers then transfered to that short local branch line, which Jerry’s mate Tiny, maintains was very busy during summer. If all that worked out, it may very well have been what SM had on his mind from the get go, which would suggest that he knew his local surf & turf.
Ok – I was working off a 1940 map, so if it started in 1945 that might be why I didn’t see it….
Re the train – I thought you meant people changed at Grange. Woodville is where the Outer Harbor and Grange lines intersect (there were some other branches/stations on both routes including HB). I won’t entirely pretend to know how things were back then, but these days it’s normally through-running, with Grange trains from the City stopping all stations to Woodville, and then OH trains running express to there about 10 min later (with them theoretically timed so that travellers FROM OH have time to transfer to Grange). I always assumed that the Henley train ran directly from the city. Based on the pics mentioned above (and what little I know of the area), I don’t think the Henley line was a separate branch from Grange, but rather a continuation – there’s very little room anywhere there to branch off…..
but yes, I had meant to say that he must’ve been a local (or at least locally familiar) if he purchased a ticket in advance because he knew he couldn’t get one later.
Incidentally, in the 1940 map I was looking at it shows the bus route to St Leonards and to Somerton. I think I flagged before that although it was still referred to as the St Leonard’s bus, in the late 30’s the route was split in 2, and every second bus went to Somerton – I think in part along Moseley St) and turning around somewhere around Whyte St [the route is described in trove]. Whether the St Leonard’s bus was actually a Somerton bus would be interesting to know – because it cuts out some (not all) of the issues about where he got off, and where he went from there. In particular, it eases the problem of the clean shoes despite a day of wandering….
In the new light of day, it sure seems just as likely that nothing we’ve been told about SMs travel itinerary can be relied upon and that he may just as easily have taken the bus directly to its Whyte St. turn about and walked a couple of hundred yards down to the beach. His intended route back would have seen him possibly taking the same Bus back to Moseley Street terminal, thence off towards Henley with the same company. I used to have a couple of people in mind that he may wanted to connect with in West Beach and Seaton Park, but this was more of a speculative hunch and I’m not pushing this barrow with any confidence these days…The validity of Jerry’s narrative assumptions have always been taken too much for granted (mhp), by people who should have known better. I’m almost sure that everything he said was never really intended to be such, there being many other occasions in his flowery yarn where he seems unintentionally? to have led his blind followers away from other just as likely scenarios.
Jerry has given us the size seven slippers, size eight shoes with thick knitted socks and a height of 5′ 11 for SM. Does this paint a picture that we can realistically take onboard without any qualms at all? Well it would appear so, as nobody else seems to have disputed it’s veracity throughout the period of our investigation. This despite there being compelling evidence to suggest the given foot size and stated height comparison as somewhat at variance to the statistical norm.
I guess it’s conceivable that when early reports of a body being found, Adelaide newspapers in their rush for copy, could have misreported on a discription and in particular the height of 5‘11″ as opposed to 5’07”, the mistake being perpetuated from there forward. Yes, it is recalled that Dr. Dwyer referred to his customer on the slab as being ‘tallish‘ but he was the only one of the mortuary attendees that made any reference to height. The two after action ghouls that tried on SM’s clothes, Messrs. Cowan & Cleland, both decidedly shortish, didn’t say anything about his height apart from the non committal comment “to be advised”. Some original followers of SM related matters, who have also vetted related newspaper reports, will recall that when our friend Keith Mangnoson went missing, newspapers described him variously as being from 5’07” to 5’09” tall; never his true height which was a smidgin under 6’ even.
Whilst several commenters have mentioned that SM had huge or even enormous hands, the only reference to size that I’ve picked up on, came from Det. Leane’s inquest description of him having had large hands. He does not speak relatively so we’re not to know whether he makes a camparison to small feet for example; so we learn nothing really. Dr. Dwyer refers to the hands only in general terms, as being clean and uncalloused, as does Paul Lawson, who also mentions neat manicuring. I find this a little strange in light of the assumption that there should still have been plenty of surplus ink residue from difficult post mortem fingerprinting; this in accordance with evidentiary protocols not to clean up a ‘john doe’. In light of all this we still might reasonably question the actual physical identity of the body being processed on the slab, as opposed to my own initial worries about whether the large hands of our deceased were still attached. NB: Another gentleman of a very similar build was known to have been booked into the mortuary about the same time as SM and seems to have been his companion for about nine days so you be the judge!….
No body has, from what I can see, ever made too much fuss over two (actually three) particular items of apparel that SM was wearing when found deceased on 1st December, 1948. They were, a pair of knitted thick woollen socks and a brown knitted woollen pullover (vest or cardigan). Amongst items found in the ‘keane’ suitcase, was a machine knitted gown, and a knitted scarf of a clan neutral tartan design. None of these garments appear to have been labelled in any way and we don’t have information on whether they were made by hand or machine. An old South Australian knitting mill at Loebethal in the Adelaide Hills, Onkparinga, was known to have made similar wear, both for the domestic market and on contract to the military both during and after WW2. In 1947 they were instrumental in providing state assisted employment to displaced foreigners seeking a new life. My question is, did Sapol make inquiries to ascertain whether any of SM‘s clothing may have been manufactured at that particular plant, and or whether any of its employees had gone missing, or left without notice towards the end of 1948? I’m almost certain that they must have however, unfortunately the results were never revealed to the press or public for some unknown reason.
Apart from the abscence of spair sox, which in a way we might account for in certain logical ways; there are other items of apparel and related accessory items that should have been listed on Gerry’s inventory (and other), but are somewhat suspiciously not. We note that part of SM’s attire when found, was a white shirt of the standard collarless style of that era. They usually came with buttonless double sleeve cuffs secured by plain or dress links and a sometimes matching stud to secure the separate stiff fabric or cellulose collar which could be changed daily. I might add that a tie clip also came with the set. Of course we have seen no evidence of spare white shirts any such additional items in the various inventories but for one lonely collar stud…Although I keep being drawn to this perceived factual account like the proverbial moth, I still can’t help but feel that I am the one getting burnt in this operation; know what I mean?..PS: For those who didn’t pick up on it, Gerry actually admits to catching up in more recent times with stairway kids, the Strapps. He doesn’t elaborate too much in his naration, which he should have; only to them talking about the weather, prefered summer evening attire through the ages and prevalence of mozzies at the beach. His follow up inquiries about the mundane dining habits of the little blood suckers proved to be notably inconclusive….A detective should know how to get such information; even a retired one; for instance a non gazetted Flash-in-the-pan AfIO operative might learn all those details from Wikipedia in a trice or three.
Not much mention of a missing watch either. Surely everybody has carried a watch since the beginning of time (pun not entirely intended). It does make some interesting speculation about Prosper’s missing gold watch, then?
I can’t remember why (might have been something on blogspot) I revisited Littlemore’s doco the other day (and I would strongly suggest those who watch it also read the archive files about it – because it includes text of cut scenes and retakes, and various miscellaneous detail – like Leane’s interview cost them a carton (or was it six pack) of Coopers Sparkling).
I find so much unreliable in the doco, that it’s worth mentioning (not least that all the reenactments appear to be the Glenelg foreshore – about 100m or less South of Jetty Rd), and perhaps we should expect such an unreliable doco when it’s based on research by an amateur who desperately wants to find a spy story.
Leane talks about injecting with poison – and in cut scenes is adamant that a syringe was found nearby. I don’t find him convincing at all, and (while I concede it’s 30 years later) he doesn’t come across as a reliable witness.
Boxall’s interview (which never really bothered me before) comes across as very evasive too, and some bits seem carefully worded (which could be a result of retakes) – “it’s a melodramatic thesis, isn’t it?”
Brown comes across as arrogant (maybe ‘pompous’ is a better word) and full of it – he’s very proud describing the case, and seems to try (unsuccessfully, imo) to use almost exclusively legalese and not use any more words than necessary – I think often he would be happy to be reduced to yes/no questions. He kind of remarks a few little things eg the condition of the suitcase, and the signs that it had at some time had a destination sticker. He talks about the TS being found in the coat rather than the trousers (he says something like ‘the coat where….the fragment was found’)
Lawson is really reluctant to talk about Jestyn – and in fact has an odd reaction where he basically implies that Littlemore has crossed some line even asking.
But to me what really stands out (and I think we’ve dismissed it before) is the role of the horse riders. It was they who apparently found the body, yet they disappear from the story and Lyon takes over. There’s shades of Silver Blaze and the dog in the night – their disappearance from the story just seems somehow a curious incident…
Milongal: Ah yes poor oft denegrated and maligned Det. Brown who, so we are lectured by G @ BS, casually discusses with Gerry, the tiny writing and relatedly refers to the phone number being in the top right hand corner of the code page. I’ll have to get that pinpointed, for all my trolling through the ‘Unknown Man’ book I can’t see a reference to tiny writing whatsover and Gerry seems to have erroniously placed his phone number beneath the code….Now don’t forget, unless we’re too late, Paul Lawson’s birthday falls a little over a month from now, so it would be so fitting to give him as a well deserved centenary gift, some sort of fitting conclusion to this SM monster.
It seems that Mr. Flash of BS, in endeavouring to fit his square pegs, has chosen to split hairs as well. So just for the record “top right hand corner” as quoted by Gerry and ‘top right hand quarter’ as offered by himself, may not refer to the to the same place on the code page. It might have been a worthwhile ploy, had it panned out, alas your gonna have to come up with a better lurk…A bit of advice now that we’re all on more agreeable terms would be to stick with plain old Tibor (unadorned) and you never know your luck in a big country town like Adelaide.
We should not forget that it was Craig that booked the Kean suitcase in and not Rofe who attested at the inquest in his stead. The only related information he could provide was the time the suitcase was lodged ie 11 to 12 and that there were other non specified items of property unremitted from the same day, but no and nought about the owner. I guess it is possible that it may not have been the owner, but a thief that left the baggage, after rifling it for valuables and any identifying papers such as might identify the owner. After all it might have been the better option, rather than just dumping it, knowing that his crime was unlikely to be discovered long after his get away had been affected. I guess it might well have been a method of disposal by a professional Adelaide station gang that had refined that particular drill down to a fine art, with or without staff involvement.
The Adelaide Station cloakroom had authority, indeed a duty to make inspection of property gone unclaimed after a month, so we might well ask Mr. Harold Rolfe North why such instruction was not followed. Sgt. Leane did not gain access to the suitcase until 14th January, a full two weeks after it should have been sent to the lost property office for disposal in accordance with SA Railways policy. As an example, a suitcase left at the Spencer St. Station, was opened after a month unclaimed in November of 1947 and found to contain the swaddled body of a newborn. Needless to say, the attendent was somewhat miffed but could not help identify the lodger to the authorities. Brings to mind a well known and disgusting old schoolboy prank that’s better left at that….
The idea that the suitcase was checked by someone else (Eg a thief) is an interesting one (assuming, of course, that we accept it was indeed his suitcase).
Assuming the ‘traditional’ narrative, at what point does SM check the suitcase? Before attempting to catch the train, or when he’s decided he’ll hop on a bus?
In the thief scenario, assumptions around time go out the window to some degree (and then we should probably consider if SM’s actions (eg changing tack and going to Somerton instead of Henley) are a result of his suitcase going missing while in the station concourse (or perhaps while visiting the baths – as some people seem so adamant he did)….
I can’t recall reading anything on the missing key to the suitcase, which we understand was in an unlocked state when shown to Sgt. Leane on 14/1/49. By some co-incidence that was the day that Tibor was said to have died and left his own two cases and list of their mystery contents somewhere or other. It was also about this time in mid January, that the newly imported Flxible Clipper Pioneer bus was sent over to Naracoorte on its maiden test run, having been delivered to Hamilton from C.A.C. at Fishermans Bend Melbourne where it had been undergoing an empending design replication for Reg Ansett. As for the unlocked case and missing key, I can think of a reason or two, but we‘ll leave it at that for the time being.
Gerry, in his book, doesn’t really give much information about the Kean suitcase and neither was much attempt to identify its possible origin, which is most remiss of them in my opinion. The suitcase depicted in the book promo as seen on this threadline headpage, does appear similar and yet I have not seen one in efforts to locate one on ‘images’ with the same lock configuration. It seems that most of that era had two left/right opposed key lock points of the Cheney universal type on either side, with a convenient snap clip at the centre. However, the Kean case reveals the opposite, allowing for only one key locking point, which seems to have been designed with economy in mind. I note that the Aussie Globite brand was of the dual lock type and also appeared to be liberally name branded, suggesting that our model came from overseas and probably not from GB or the USA.
Make of this one what you will. Apart from his Pioneer Clipper bus which started a service to Narracoorte SA from Hamilton Vic in ’49, Reg Ansett was even better known for his domestic aircraft operation ANA which he’d started up before WW2. In May, 1946 a twin engine Lockheed ANA airoplane crash landed in the SA countryside on the inward leg of its it’s inaugrul flight beween the cities of Melbourne and Adelaide. We all know that one of the ten well heeled passengers was Prosper Thomson’s wife Queenie, who after recovering from a slight leg injury seems to have disappeared. Young Michelle Cau, a travel companion was on route to spend school holidays with her mum C. Cau of South Esplinade, Glenelg. I can find only two other Cau’s in the big Aussie pasture, a father and son of possible Rumanian origins, so I take it there is probably a tie up. Interestingly Pierre Cau, originally from Melbourne, served as a Sergeant aboard the Australian Army’s heavy lift recovery vessel ‘Crusader’ along with Jessie Harkness’, old Clifton Gardens ‘snort’ pal Lieutenant Alfred Boxall. Just thought that this little trivial diversion might keep us occupied until the next installment of ‘on the buses’ which promises to be a new gamechanger, the likes of Tibor Kaldor’s accomplice, Elizabeth Bethune Stainsforth’s unravelling Sommerton man’s Soviet espionage connections.
Cau Update: A whole bloody stampede of them on incoming passenger lists and a M. (for Moo) Michelle aged two arrived with dad Andre and mum Margeurite from France in ’34 at Adelaide. Apparently they were a large herd of monied wool buyers who’d been in and out of Australia/NZ for many years and based mainly in Melbourne. Many head of Cau’s from Vietnam, POWs from Italy and even Caus from Laos who appear not to be of the same blood lines. NB: Michelle too old to be Queenie’s flight mate and mother Mrs. C. (Clarabelle?) Cau from Glenelg.
All I can see is a Weber Kettle, or perhaps some alien craft…
@JS Not sure what you mean about the case – the one Brown has at the interview has a centre lock, and latches left and right. Looks much the same as the on in GF’s photo above
Bull-dust aside; for all we know, Queenie and Prosper were still together in May, 1946 and living at the Moseley St. address. Had she been travelling home to Glenelg from her parents place in Melbourne when the aeroplane went down, then I think we might consider the real possibility that she could have been chaperoning twelve year old Michelle Cau to her mother’s place in Glenelg Sth. (Somerton Beach), a hundred yards away from her own abode. In the early days of domestic air travel, it’s unlikely that a child of tender years would be making the trip alone in my view. So we may well be looking at a connection between the Thomsons and Caus if we’re that inqisitive and don’t let us forget, in those days the properties along that short stretch of the beach were mainly estate properties for the wealthy which may have numbered less than a dozen. The various members of the Cau family, despite long periods of Australian recidency, always hung onto their French citizenship and I’m struggling to find out whatever became of them.
I think I’m correct on saying that most of us here, the teeming masses, are of the view that X3632 was in the name of Sister J.E.Thomson, a number that was unlisted. It never really made a lot of sense to me that such subscriber would give a vocational title ie nursing sister, which might only be known to the PMG. On page 212 of the book, which we are likewise familiar with, Gerry basically claims that he was able to identify ‘the nurse’ from trolling through an old phone book, which seems at total variance to the more popular alternate version. Anyone care to provide a ready explanation for these contradictory positions.
Milongal: Yep, exactly which is a departure from the norm as displayed on most of the old style suitcases of the time as depicted on the online images. It suggests a hand out economy brand for reffos leaving camps for greener pastures after the war to me.
I think I can put a few of our favorite players in a loosely wrapped package now for future reference. With Cau as the common denominator, we can take all the Thomsons which would include Queenie and Jess, Alf Boxall and his ‘Crusader’ crew mate Sgt. Peter Cau as well as a family of the same name living on Sth Esplinade, Glenelg; main reason being that these folks all seem to have been living or working closeby on the north side of Sydney Harbor. Both family patriarchs, Eugene and Ernest owned properties in leafy Neutral Bay so I’d go as far as to say that young Michelle and Queenie did not come together on the doomed L14 flight in ‘46 by chance. The identifying details of another connected party, which we’ll hold in obeyance, might be obtained from the French Embassy Canberra, in a couple of different ways, so to speak.
Byron: What about Geelong’s miraculous come back today? and how about Hawkins’ effort; yet another old name connected with Alf’s Crusader mob. Can you tell us what other things that Bob Cowan might have tested for, such as inhaled opium for instance and if that could have been detected post post mortem. I’m also somewhat facinated about those three small scars on SM’s left wrist, as I can recall a somewhat similar description noted from another earlier attempted suicide in Adelaide. You’ll no doubt recall that well known case which we discussed briefly some time ago; so I’d be very much appreciative of your thoughts, as this new ‘French Connection’ could prove rather interesting, don’t you think?….
I recall calling SM Fred in one of my posts a couple of years back. I’m now thinking that Fred may have come to Adelaide from El Dorado, out Texas way, where he had been involved in tobacco leaf curing. That would be Texas Queensland where at least one of the Cau boys had commercial interests in the flourishing tobacco industry. It had taken off there in a big way after WW1 with new ‘Soldier Settler’ incentives being offered to the homecoming war veterans (like throwing a bone to a cur). Italians and Chinese farmers quickly followed suit and it appears that these more enlightened newcomers grew a little ‘poppy’ on the side to supplement their fairly low income leaf yields. So a couple or three things would point to Fred’s likely involvement with both products; Dr. Dwyer spoke of his tanned legs and nicotine stained fingers (all ten?) which I’m guessing could well be a consequence of dealing with tobacco and its related close working hand tools such as an improvised plug cutting knife and leaf trimming scissors. I’m also assuming that our Fred was more likely to have had an opium dependency than an addiction to nicotine in cigarette form. This might arguably be found amongst his belongings in the form of his little ashtray sans butt rests along with the screwdriver, pipe lighter, teaspoon and a needle. Talking of needles, we should also go back to the Strathmore Hotel (rm.21) and Ina Harvey’s unusually large encased needle find, along with the powder pot which her mystery tennant allegedly gave to her on vacating his room. That aside SM was seen to have been in a stupor/trance by observers at Somerton Beach, so in the circumstances, might it not have been just as likely attributed to his inhaling opium infused cigarettes, than him having5 being hit up deliberately, with a deadly dose of another substance, self inflicted or not…It is now becoming clear that my Fred did have reason to be where he ended up, simply by virtue of his having relatives living right there on South Terrace, whom he had sought out earlier in the day. These folks were to my kniwledge of some considerable social standing within the upper crust local; of a type not so likely to lay claim to a dead dope freak, family or not…I’m now awaiting observations by Byron, our esteemed resident expert on all things chemical; this in order that I might expand on other facets of recent discovery; or else sod off which I’m sure would have more popular appeal.
Now that Gerry’s RF/ROK secret is apparenently out of the bag, perhaps he might feel inclined to be a little more expansive on other aspects of the case that he has kept mum about. One of my alltime favorites would be his perfunctory interviews with Leslie Boxall and his way out of sync detailing of her Dad’s military history, especially that related to an interesting lay period from mid June to November 1946 when he was at 13 WT/2MD HQ in Sydney. Gerry would have us believe that when wee Robin was conceived, Lt. Boxall was still away on Active Service what ever that may have meant, a decent interval following the last angry shots of Wiki Wiki two, which is hardly the case. Not to fret old man, other so called in depth researchers, who claim to have gone through the Boxall file “line by line” with negative results, are equally guilty of missing the facts. Truth is that Alf and Jestyn might well, and almost certainly were coupling like a stoats for much of that time which was a shore service posting for our man according to the somewhat out of sequence and altered army record sheets. I repeat what I think I reported to an not unanticipated lacklustre audience some time back, that Alf is the most likely culprit for Robin’s paternity. Whatsmore, I’d also be fairly confident that in Gerry’s meeting with Leslie Boxall, unwanted conceptional possibilty would have been discussed in their friendly little chat over cups of orange pekoe and a side plate of iced vovos.
I guess there is the converse element of Alf’s time with Water Transport post war ie. Why did he opt for continued service, when he ought, as a married man approaching middle age with two young daughters and a civy job waiting, to have gladly jumped at the chance of resuming family life with Suzy and the little’ns. As I have explained, Gerry and others who followed his lead, would have us believe that Alf, as Lieutenant Boxal RAE departed Australia in September 1945 and spent the next 30 months attending to duties as engineer aboard a number of military service craft including Crusader in northern waters. What we can establish from his A199 card is that there were a number of shore based postings back home in ’46 during that time, which I think may have been misleadingly reported as being short accrued leave periods. Now, getting to the nitty gritty, Alf did spend most of the time between October ’46 and his discharge in April ’48 well out of touch, perhaps for a very good reason, that being related to Jestyn’s unconcionable pregnancy and the subsequent birth of Robin, then removal to Adelaide with her knew patsy Prosper, “thank God”. You can almost be sure that he knew what was going down during all of that relevent time and so he conveniently got out of Dodge (and who wouldn’t) and stayed out for the duration. We are not to know what his letter to Jestyn in ’46 was about, though you can bet it had nothing to do with terms of endearment as she seems to have suggested to Erol Canney during the SM investigation.
If we can digress a little and get a little relevence and fact back into the old ROK conversation if we dare. We are aware, that according to Adelaide press reports from towards the end of July 1948, Jess ‘Thomson’ had told Errol Canney that she had given a copy of the ROK to her pal Alf Boxall three and half years beforehand in Sydney, which even with my poor math, would have been around Australia day 26/1/46. I don’t have Gerry’s book with me, so I’ll have to wing it a little from here on however my recall is better than my arithmetic and spelling thank Goodness. For whatever reason, Feltus the narative does not accept the informant’s memory of her ROK presentation date, most likely due to it not being consistent with the authors own detailed, though flawed research of Lt. Boxall’s incomplete record of military service. Our ex Detective Sgt. has formed the opinion that the particular duel language edution with its famous after note, must have pre dated the recipient’s emplaining for the PNG theatre sans hostilities in July or August 1945. What he seems not to be aware of is that, the departure didn’t occur until a month later and that Alf would be homeward bound in goo time to keep his appointment with Jess’s version of the event according to her own memories. I might as well say here and now that it is my own belief that, whilst the resumed coupling did take place at about the stated time and continued spasmodically through October of 1946, the ROK shown to Sydney Police in July 1948, had likely not been the one given to him by his lady friend the nurse.
The Jess and Errol interview actually took place on around July 25 1949 and not 1948 as I’m well aware and you can put that down to my bad math; so don’t say that you were not warned.
My little Nook reader woke up after a long sleep and I managed to get into part six ‘The Nurse’ (p106) before it carked; so if anyone cares to witness a real snow job, then read it for yourself. How easy it must be for a person to wantonly bamboozal an admiring audience of believers, especially when one is the only known living authority on a particular subject of general interest.
Just revisited GF’s book….appendix 3 has various pictures including the ‘traditional’ SM pics, and the ‘pre-cast’ SM. Now I’m not really sure of the purpose of the 2nd shots, but I notice the tie on the body is different to the one in the media shots. Obviosuly the body wouldn’t stay in clothes in the morgue, but why put a different tie on for these shots? In fact, why do we need a tie at all, other than if we’re deliberately taking ‘realistic’ shots (but in that case, it really should be the right tie)…
It’s probably nothing, but strikes me a touch on the odd side…It also flags a slight question about the tie in the original picture. That picture is also post-autopsy, so the clothes have been put on by a third party. How much confidence do we have that the tie in the original picture is actually the tie that SM was wearing, not just a tie out of the costume bucket at the morgue?
Milongal: Check the funeral picks. I think that the older fellow with head bowed in reverence at the front of the coffin (Scan Sutherland?), seems to be sporting stuff very similar to what our man was said to be wearing, including the rwb tootal tie. Don’t worry about his shortish stature; we should have an answer to such details directly.
Can you just imagine, Jimmy Durham has just arrived at the the morgue to take happy snaps following Doc Dwyers departure and pcc Sutherland is sloshing out the gut bucket in back. Jim pulls out the freezer tray to find that his subject is in the altogether which is hardly suitable for pix he needs for newspaper publication. From past experience he knows that the old constable has no hangups when it comes to a fresh clean deceased. “Hey Scan” he yells, “Can I trouble you for your shirt and tie? gotta make this one look good for the press hounds”. A slow unconcerned drawl is the response he gets from the blood room. “She’ll be apples old chap (Jim’s a Pom); how you off for sox and underwear orright?. Better make sure you don’t get any goo on them, ..taking the missus out to the Bon Ton tonite for our monthly slap-up chow feed, OK?”….So Milongal, I’m almost certain that the clobber on SM actually came from Scan Sutherland, the Coroners court uniformed procurer and exhibit man.
lol – could be.
Incidentally, looks a small casket for a ‘tall man’…
Molongal: Sixty nine inches from memory.
Of course it was Aunties great investigative Journalist Neil Munro who was single handely responsible for allowing us a peek into the tragic life and times of Gerry’s Feltus similar ‘The Unknown Man’. Except for the names and a few (too many) of the somewhat dubious changes, the story is the same. In order to get a better perspective of what sort of literary diversions our latter day author is on about with his characters, Jessica and Alf, I’d recommend getting hold of a little gem aptly titled ‘Soldiers Women’ by Lieutanant Boxall’s army buddy Xavier Herbert. Never heard of the man? you say; Gerry makes mention of him briefly, with incorrect inlistment details to confuse things somewhat, but the guys did time together with ‘Curtin’s Naccaroos’ in the Northern Territory. The novel, which I read and enjoyed many years ago, was not a best seller, due mainly to its post war sensitivity concerning Sydney’s little discussed and unsavory liberated sexual wartime liasions between home based soldiers and the goodtime girls about town, which of course included ready to tumble off duty amorous nurses.
Anyone needs to get the real guts of the unknown man, mystery of the sands etc., I’d implore a thorough read or re-read of the Littlemore Inside Story, all 374 frustratingly brilliant pages of it. Things that had previously been cherry picked, then forgotten, or so called junk completely overlooked first go around, may now prove to be of greater evidentiary merit than back then. Actually the main stars of the whole show turn out to be adverarials, Paul Lawson and Alf Boxalll, by a country mile and I don’t understand why these extremely astute and intelligent men were not covered more fully in later writings. Apart from the interviewer Littlemore’s humble but cunning handling of this pair, the old soldiers came through undaunted. Stuart’s other star billings, the loveable though choutish duo from Angas Street Detective Office (not CIB) , made great theatre with their typical police line unintelligable responses to simple answer questions. From this buffoonery one can get a real feel for why Police investigations never had the initiatives to bring about results of any consequence. It turns out, according to his good self, that a young and still impressionable Det Len Brown did make one really smart spontaneous decision all on his own, (no Errol Caney) that even Flash might never give him full credit for with regard to the ROK local phone number… Read all about it fellas and by the way look for Len’s really tiny writing; It’s almost letter Q compatable, I kid you not.
Over the last couple of years I’ve been communicating off and on with the international circus bloggers about various practictioners in the trade, with a deal of cooperation, but without any definate leads forthcoming on characters of interest to me. Recently I just happened to come across a lass from a well known family of acrobatic wire jugglers. She was talking about knife acts and how accicidents were likely to occur when the so called lazy hand was prone to missing catches occasionally. Subsequent injuries resulted in fairly minor cuts to the wrist, forearm and inner elbow regions, which somehow resonated with me. Our man was said to have three scars on the left wrist and another on his inner left elbow which we must all have wondered about. It does seem likely that SM was right handed and so one might be inclined to the view, based on certain physical features noted by Mr. Lawson, that he may have come from such a background. Henry also mentioned other interesting physical features in his ‘Inside Story’ pre interviews that were never disclosed in the doco, or by Feltus for reasons that I find quite inexcusable.
Most interesting thing I found with the doco transcripts (and associated docs) were some of the out-takes that were transcribed (in fact, from memory one of them is where Leane mentions a syringe in close proximity to the body). While I can often see how TV needed a scene to be reworked, I often found the outtake would offer an insight into the answer that didn’t necessarily come across in the final product (and yet they left Boxall and Lawson’s caginess in (re ‘melodramatic thesis’ and “we’re not going to go there” respectively).
For mine (as I think I’ve mentioned several times) there’s an implication Leane was a bit of a boozer. Where some of the other “stars” got paid a pineapple for their appearance, Leane got some longies of Coopers Sparkling (even a carton would’ve been less than a pineapple back then). And between that and some of his comments that didn’t make the cut I get the impression he really wasn’t very reliable as a witness (admittedly, several decades later when perhaps he had lost a few marbles).
Milongal: To put things into some perspective, at the risk of getting some people in a tither, both Leane and his former SM case partner Brown seemed to have very little recall concerning their most celebrated case. In 1978 when the doco went to air, both retired officers should not have had any legal excuses about discussing their part in the SM investigation of thirty years before freely and openly. The fact that neither could recall memorable detail is a pointer to gross incompetence, pure and simple. They were still both relitively young, both under seventy and so their faculties should have not been affected to the extent sadly depicted, unless perhaps other detrimental habitual factors were in play. More’s the pity that producer Munro was not able to convince long time SM file officer Ron Thomas from coming forward to give his much more knowledgeable impressions of the case.
Don’t ya just gotta love those Inside Story straight shooters. and it was ‘Henry’ who only recently suggested that Alf was in with Jestyn, ship counting during the war. I was more intrigued by Mr. Lawson’s more thorough description of SM, particularly the gingery gray hair, broad shoulders and huge hands etc.,which in his own wording has more impact. Also of interest, you can certainly believe Alf when he says that the ‘Adelaide’ cop told him nothing about Jestyn per se and was not the least bit interested in seeing his ROK. It was the press, he maintains, hit on him at his house later the same day and to whom he showed the book…It appears that it may have been Len Brown himself, supposedly no longer on the case, who rang ‘the nurse’ on her home number X3236, probably tell her to expect Canney and Swaine to show up on their bike & sidecar for a friendly chat. It seems more than likely that Alf’s address and service details she gave up, came from her RNSH nursing pal Joyce, who had left her ‘water transport’ hubby by mid ‘45 and returned home to Adelaide. Alf tells us that he never communicated in any way with Jestyn, following their last farewell in about june ’45, which I am, as yet not convinced of, even though it fits in well enough. We can make of the nurse’s claim of cross correspondence, what we will, though it is all really only of academic interest to us. The one stand out, I guess is that the phone number was local, it was written down on clear grounding at the back of the RF ROK and more than likely put there by police, whether it be Len Brown or some other worthy…..On a final more pertinent note, there was an unintended little half blooper from y’man to the effect that the Holy Grail suitcase was left in the ‘Refresh…(ment room)‘. If true, it would then perhaps have been later booked into the cloak room as unclaimed, until collared by Leane’s boys six weeks later. That would certainly account for the case missing some of the usual travel paraphernalia like hard to get woollen socks, personal papers or spare smokes and valuables. We’ll recall that the duty attendant wasn’t available to give a statement and SM was not in possession of his redeeming tag which is most interesting. Not least because it all fits with SM missing his train and having to take a bus in the hope that he would eventually get to a beach, any beach perhaps.
Insert my normal rant about the inconsistencies in the pocket contents 🙂
Once again, we must ask the question; Why on earth did Gerry, the acknowledged authority on all things pertaining to Somerton Man, get so many things wrong. His clever use of newspaper leads and stuff obtained from various post ’48 investigative journalistic efforts, all in the public domain, can’t be faulted per se. On the matter of his own, at times erronious and off subject superfluous input however, he loses the plot completely. It’s almost as if he acts, with the express intention of avoiding any intrusion on old Sapol initiatives which still have a need to know block in place. If that be the case, and I guess he can’t be blamed for blatantly following ridgidly held principles of keeping his counsel, in the interests of discretion, why write the book. I know I’ll likely get no thanks at all for saying my piece, so I’ll just finish by making reference to the pictorially unreallistic book cover ie. crazy modern footware, wrong coloured trousers, wrong slanting tie pattern, wrong period boulder backdrop, and that’s only the front cover. What was the man thinking of to present SM devotees with such an unlikely abomination?…
Re the cover – artistic license…just like the phone number on the back
milongal: Or deliberate re arrangement of a crime scene to suit the distorted narrative! Coppers are quite adept at this sort of caper and can’t get it out of their creed, even when they retire. We are pretty dumb when we fail to see through the ruse.
Gerry is a good man ,the best when it came to crime ,brought norm bright back to Adelaide from new Zealand In the 70s as a young detective
Milongal posted above that the SM’s casket looks small for a tall man. I agree.
And by comparing the old photo with the photo of the exhumation the caskets look a bit different, have they transferred his mortal remains to a new one?
Anyway, it also looks small for a tall man. Only 4 pallbearers on all photos when average size caskets usually require 6.
@pat,
Carl Webb the man who never died – like his brother?
https://imgur.com/gallery/3qBsmv8
Nothing like brothers Webb who were but mere mortals however, I can see a fair resemblance to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who we know was considered imortal in his day.
The exhumation casket is definitely a brand new one (presumably mainly for the media circus). There is no way casket buried since 1949 would look so shiny and new (plus I think they normally take off the handles and other metalwork before burial, and I’m not sure I’d trust the strength of the wood putting in new ones). I’d imagine a casket that’s been buried in several feet of dirt for 70 years would likely have disintegrated – if not through decomposition, simply through the weight of the earth above (I think Mythbusters discovered this when they were investigating “buried alive” stories).