DIED OF THIRST

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 105, 27 January 1933, Page 9

DIED OF THIRST

Prospector Succumbs 500 Yards from Well AUSTRALIAN TRAGEDY After crawling in a frenzied manner and clawing small holes in the parched and sunbaked bank of a creek, only to topple, crazed with thirst, into the dry and rocky bed below, William George McLeod, 63, prospector, died within 500 yards of a Government well, full of water, in the country behind Onslow, Western Australia. A graphic story of McLeod’s agonising death, following a waterless trek of 38 miles, during which his tracks indicated frantic bursts in pursuit of a mirage, was contained in a report from Constable Creagh, of Onslow, to the Commissioner of Police at Perth. Reconstructing McLeod’s frantic but futile search for water from his tracks and other ground markings, the constable and trackers were able to tell that the ill-fated prospector had travelled 38 miles without making camp and without water. Up to 200 yards from where his body was found McLeod’s tracks were fairly steady, though there were indications further back that he had made digressions from his onward march, evidently lured by mirages. During the last 100 yards of his trail McLeod had several times fiercely clawed holes in the baked and stonyground, and once had crawled to the top of a steep embankment, from which he had rolled to the dry bed of a creek. Evidence of another attempt to dig a hole in the creek bed indicated that even then he had not given up hope. A fewyards further on his body was found. Apparently he had died during a feeble attempt to tear off his clothes, for one arm lay bare through his ripped flannel shirt. The body was buried on the bank of the creek, and the spot was suitably marked, stated the constable’s report.