HARBOUR MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 76, 29 March 1920, Page 5

HARBOUR MYSTERY.

STORY OF A MISSIWG £100 KOTH INQUEST RESUMED. The circumstances surrounding the ieatb. of William Henry Mar wick Sim, ,a Australian trooper, whose bodies found In the Auckland harbour, ogether with the facts relating to a £100 note eaid to have been in the <leeased's possession prior to his death, •ere further investigated by Mr. J. E. Vilson, S.M., this afternoon. Oscar Paul Fairburn, now in custody n a charge of stealing the £100 note, -as present at the proceedings and was by Mr. Graham. .Evidence was given by Ada Lumeton, Salvation Army sister, that when Sim rst went to stay at the People's Palace c tendered a £100 for witness to hold gainst his board, but she declined to ake it. Sim said he was suffering from hell «hock, and seemed to be brooding, ■he again saw the note in the possesion of the deceased at 7.30 p.m. on the Dth instant. Replying to Mr. Graham, witness said hut Sim was very vacant, and had every ppearance of suffering from shell shock. jilah Ferguson, another Salvation irmy officer, attached to the People's 'alace staff, said at 7.30 p.m. on the lth instant Sini wanted a. bed, and she efused him on account of the house eing full. Shortly afterwards he went trough to the residential portion oE he establishment, and Bhortly afterards a complaint was received that he ad occupied a room and refused to :ave. Witness had to have him ejected y the police about 10 p.m. Witness gain saw him pass the He. ppeared to have been drinking. ,' James Simpson, a porter at the 'eople's Palace, said that some time fter 7 o'clock on the evening of the lth deceased came to the place in. a. lotor car and took away his belongings. Ibout 9 p.m. witness saw him trying he doors of the bedrooms, and when uestioned, he said he was looking for a, riend. Then he went into one engaged oom and, remarking, "This will do mc," »y down on the bed. Witness fetched . constable, told him the man was ehaving in a peculiar manner, and that; c believed he had £100 on him. The onstable asked him if he was suffering rom shell-shock, and the deceased relied he thought he was. Later he left rith the constable. When SimVas look. ig round the rooms witness asked him. .'here he had taken hie luggage, and he aid he did not know where he had been. Vitness was of the opinion that the aan had shell-shock. He might have *en drinking, but he did not show aany signs of it. To Mr. Graham: The man appeared to c excitable thiat day. Harry Dunk, 'manager of a boardingouse in Wellesley Street, deposed to nding some luggage in" one of his rooms t 9 p.m. on the 11th. This he learned ad been left by a man earlier in the vening. He never saw the owner, but n the 18th, saw the account of the eath of Sim, and rang up the police to nfonn them that he had luggage incrlbed with that name. Sim never occuiied the room on the night of the lltli. Arthur Thos. Bankes, a night porter >n duty at the People's Palace from 10 >.ni. onward, eaid at 2.45 a.m. on the 2th, he was in the kitchen and heard a loor slam land someone call out. He saw a man standing like a. statue. The inquest is proceeding.