SHOT IN THE HEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 134, 8 June 1936, Page 10

SHOT IN THE HEAD

LOTTERY OFFICIAL FOUND DEAD IN HARBOUR (From "Tie Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, June 4. The mystery of the disappearance of Alexander Collins, the middle-aged assistant director of the State Lottery, was solved last Saturday evening by the finding of his body in the harbour not far from where he had been seen six days previously. He had been shot in the head. But the greater mystery remains unsolved—why Collins, in comfortable circumstances and apparently normal and happy, should take his own life. About 30 witnesses will be called. Collins disappeared two days after he had married an affluent widow, and immediately after he had made a will, which he had left in his desk at the Lottery Office. He was last seen on a ferry wharf on the north side of the harbour at 5.15 p.m. on Sunday of last week. He apparently then wandered through the bush nearby, and somewhere in the dense undergrowth he discarded his coat and attache case. He then climbed down to the water's edge, and a bullet was fired into his head as he was standing on the rocks, causing him to drop into the water. The police found a revolver containing four live cartridges and one empty shell in a pocket of his coat, but this obviously was not the one used to fire the fatal shot. An intensive search has failed to locate the revolver used, or the overcoat and attache case he had been carrying on his last journey. It'is expected that the contents of the case may throw some light on the mystery. Police are following a theory- based on conversations with his friends,' that Collins was bitterly disappointed at not having been appointed to the control of the lottery when recently the new director was appointed. Hours of investigation and many interviews have failed to reveal any deeper reason, although it is thought that some more immediate worry caused him to end his life. Collins owned two houses in Sydney suburbs, and is known to have had a bank account of nearly £1000. His will, it is believed, contained only the necessary directions for the disposal of his property.