“DEAD” MEN RETURN

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 124, 18 February 1933, Page 20

“DEAD” MEN RETURN

Instances in England HISTORIC CASE RECALLED (Reuter —Special to. “Dominion.”) When Mark Twain read his own obituary notice he declared that the report was “grossly exaggerated.” But there are many people who, having been reported dead, or presumed to be legally dead, have found it difficult to convince an unbelieving world that they are really very much alive. Recently two inquests were held, one in London, the other in Wales, on men who were later proved to be alive, z . In the. London case the wife of the man and his landlord identified the .body by a tobacco tin found on it and a key which fitted the door of the house. The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. The man had left a note to the local relieving officer indicating that he intended committing suicide. Nearly four months later the “widow” received a letter signed by her husband, who was in a Glasgow mental institution. The other case was that of a vagrarx street musician. A body was found the sea and was identified by a man who said he had known the musician since he was a boy. A few days later the troubadour was found by the police in a Pembrokeshire town. One of the most unfortunate cases of presumption of death was-the classic one of James Outterson Pratt, the owner of the land on which Johannesburg stands. Pratt went warring among the Kaffirs, and later to the Crimea, where he was terribly maimed at Sebastopol. Despite his wounds, he went to India, and during the mutiny commanded the Calcutta Naval Brigade, which was known as Pratt’s Own. His wife and two children were sent home to England, but were lost In a shipwreck off the Cape. Pratt was invalided home, and on being landed at Cape Town was reported dead to the authorities. Pratt started work as a surveyor, aud purchased for £3OO from the Government 20,000 acres of the land on which now stands Johannesburg. It was not then known to be rich in gold. When the Boers revolted against the British Government Pratt fought them. On the retrocession of the Transvaal he refused to take the oath of allegiance and was sent over the border penniless. On reaching England the War Office could not assist him, as his “death” had been “registered” twelve years before.