KEY AS A CLUE

Evening Star, Issue 20996, 9 January 1932, Page 22

KEY AS A CLUE

HUMAN BONES IDENTIFIED WEEKS OF INTENSIVE WORK Tho slender clue of a key found among human hones in the remains of a fire in the mountains seven mi!«s from Bungendorc, New South Wales, lias enabled the police to identify the victim of the tragedy as Sydney James Morrison, aged twenty-one years, of Bondi, Sydney. When a few scattered bones, the key, a partly-fused watch, a rifle barrel, and other articles were found among the ashes, _ Detective-sergeant M'Rae and Detective Allmond were apparently faced with insuperable obstacles in their attempts to identify the dead man. Their success is considered by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Childs, to lie one of the most noteworthy achievements of the New South Wales Police Force. The detectives’ success depended on the key, which was carefully cleaned so that the barely decipherable figures could bo distinguished. Scotland Yard in London was asked to interview the manufacturers of the key, and it was found that it had been supplied to a Sydney firm. Several hundred clubs, factories, warehouses, business firms, and other organisations who had been supplied with similar keys had to bo visited. After weeks of intensive work it was found that the key fitted a locker in the Y.M.C.A. gmnasium in Pitt street, Sydney. The name of the owner of the locker was easily found. As the police theory was that murder had been committed, the possibility that the body found may not have been Morrison’s was not neglected. Professor Birkett, of the University of Sydney, and the Government Medical Officer, Dr Palmer, examined the bones. Their deductions enabled them to make a description of the dead man. This tallied with Morrison's description, and the detectives knew that the dead man’s identity was no longer in doubt. It was on November 19 that Mr B. Cunningham, riding through a deserted, rugged, and thickly-wooded part of his sheep station in the Lake Ranges, came upon the ashes of a huge fire. Ho examined the ashes and unearthed a num-

ber of human bones and a blackened gun barrel. Detectives M'Rae and Allmond, who were assigned to the case, concluded that the case was one of murder or of suicide. The fire had consumed a great part of the body, and few bones were left. Among' the objects found in the ashes were a watch and a Vaun key. As several figures of the number of the watch had fused, the key was the only clue on which identification depended. Morrison’s home at Bondi was visited, and it was found that he had been missihg since October 6. He had been despondent for some time before his disappearance, and had told his relatives that lie was going away. On October 0 ho telephoned them and wished them good-bye. His movements from that date to the end of October, when he was burned near Bungendorc, are unknown. The police were able to_ verify their discoveries through the aid of Mr A. W. Dye, metallurgist. Ho treated the metal of the watch with acids, and was able to make out the first two and last two figures on the back. The intervening two numbers had been melted from the watch. Morrison’s parents remembered that he had bought a watch from a shop in Bondi. The number of the watch corresponded with the one found in the fire, allowing for the two missing figures. Professor Birkett and Dr Palmer were able to prove that the hones were those of Morrison, and that the watch, key, and other articles had not been thrown on the fire with another person’s body. Delicate tests showed that the bones belonged to a man in his early twenties, who was about 6ft in height. Microscopic tests of the hones showed that they belonged to a European. Although tho identification of the dead man has been established the police have been unable to find how he met his death. The Commissioner of Police is anxious to hear from people who must have met Morrison between the date of his disappearance on October 0 and the time of his death several weeks later. Unless information is forthcoming to show how the young man spent his time there is little likelihood of finding how he died. Tho police have been unable to form any theory with the facts at present at their disposal. It is not known how Morrison came to be near Bungendorc, or whether he was accompanied at the time.