A STRANGE DISCOVERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 173, 22 July 1903, Page 5

A STRANGE DISCOVERY.

HUMAN SKELETON AT MOUNT

ALBERT

A strange discovery was made at Mount Albert on Monday by Mr Geo. Barnes, of Avondale. He was out rab-bit-shooting, and when near the asylum he discovered, among the scoria and part ly overgrown with fern and ti-irce, a human skeleton. The bare bones were bleached from exposure to the weather, and some of the bones were missing. Mr Barnes told the police of his discovery, and Constable Dart went out to gather up the bones. They wore lying at the top of Oakley Creek gully. Their age and the sex of the boinn; to whom they orginnllv belonged could not at the time be ascertained.' rue Dones win oe interred without an inquest, Mr Gresham (the Coroner) considering that in the absence of any clue as to identity or any marks of violence on the skull no good purpose would be served by an inquest. The discovery boenme a topic o? conversation in the district, and it is suggested that the bones aro those of a German named Rudolph Roifter, whose disappearance from his home in the district 17 years ago produced a nine dnys' wonder On that occasion Reitter had boon iivinw with a friend near the Three Kings. Early one morning it waa found that the horse had strayed, and Reittcr said to his mate that he would go and find it. ana would be back for breakfast. He went away in the direction of OneIninfja, and was never seen again. The police and others searched for months for him, but with no result. No explanation was forthcoming to account for his tibsencp, and it was believed by some that he had been murdered during his search for the horse. The German Consul offered a reward of £50 for his body. Tho police, however, are inclined to think that the bones now discovered are those of a Maori.