GRUESOME FIND.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19115, 26 September 1927, Page 9

GRUESOME FIND.

CHILD'S SKELETON IN

BASEMENT.

AUQKLAND MYSTERY.

[THE PRESS Specltf Service.]

AUCKLAND, September 24

The basement of a house at 13 Vauxhall road, Devonpott, was the scene of a sensational discovery last evening, the sksleton of a child, apparently two or three years old, being discovered in a recess in the foundations of the chimney. The house was occupied by Mrs Hayson, widow, and the gruesome find was made by her youngest son, Clifford, aged 10. Clifford was searching for some bicycle parts which he knew to be in the basement, and lighting a candle, 'he was fossicking about amongst-rubbish down below, when he noticed what appeared to be human bones in a corner of fae brickwork of the chimney. Naturally, he was too alarmed to investigate further, but went upstairs to inform his mother. Mrs Hayson at first thought that the boy might have stumbled upon remains of a cat or a dog, but investigations by her eldest eon, Mr Herbert Hayson, showed at once that the bones were all-that was left of a human being. The skeleton was lying m the corner of the brick foundations, the skull being detached from the body, and lying to one side. When the bones were taken out Hayson noticed another bone, apparently of a leg or an arm. This grisly relic was taken away with the first skeleton, and will probably be the basis of a special enquiry. All the bones were covered with what appeared to be fragments of wallpaper, and on top of these were heaped lumps of concrete, evidently rubble from the original foundations. Mrs' Hayson and hr family have occuped the house for just over a year. The widow said the house was untenanted for only a short time before she nk possession, the previous occupants having removed.