SKELETON IN FOREST

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 April 1932, Page 12

SKELETON IN FOREST

A. MYSTERY SOLVED, Aits.- ten years the mystery of the disappearance of a Bootle (Liverpool) man during a blinding Canadian blizzard has been solved by the discovery of a. skeleton in almost virgin forest in the Province of Quebec. T’ho man was William John Parry, tho second son of Mr. R. J. Parry, 38 Trinity road, Bootle,-who has received -news from Canada which clears up the mystery of his son’s disappearance. . Parry, who was 23 when he disappeared from his Canadian home without leaving a single clue, went abroad under the auspices of a Church of England organisation when he was only nine, and found a happy home with a Mrs Smith, at Bishop’s Crossing, Quebec Province. On December 2, 1921, he left home to go on a hunting trip. There came' a raging blizzard, and when he did not return search parties scoured the area for him, but no trace was found. Witihn a efw days of the tenth anniversary of his disappearance young hunters, following in his footsteps, were horrified to find an old rubber boot containing the remains of. a human foot. A closer ■ search was made and the remainder of a human skeleton was discovered in the thick undergrowth. Inquiries by the authorities revealed that a few days earlier a youth had found a rusted Winchester rifle near the same spot. This was recognised, but other articles found among the bones —a pencil, a ring, and cartridge shells, could not be definitely identified. • .

Medical examination showed death to have been instantaneous and due to a compound fracture of the skull, caused by a heavy blow or a bullet fired at close range. Parry’s brother, Frederick; who is employed at Quebec City, said for two or three years after William disappeared Mrs. Smith kept- a- light burning at night in the hope that.he would return. • Mrs. Smith has kept as a- souvenir tl:.- watch presented to Parry by the townspeople for liis war services.