THE HAVELOCK MYSTERY.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume VI, Issue 1010, 18 July 1883, Page 2

THE HAVELOCK MYSTERY.

A PROBABLE SOLUTION,

The Nelson Colonist contains the following : —A short time ago we reported the finding of a skeleton between the Tinline and Pelorus rivers, and close to the road leading from Nelson to Havelock. From enquiries since instituted we learn that in 1864 a man named William Woodham travelled that road, and was never aftorwards heard of, ami further enquiries lead us to infer that the skeleton so recently discovered is that of the uufortunate man who was lost over 19 years ago. We learn that William Woodham, shortly after marrying the daughter of a settler in the Waimeaa, started for the Wakamaiina rush, at or about its commeucemeat, and after staying on the grouud a little while returned to his wife for a few days, leaving his swag at the Wakamarina. Iu the month of May, 1564, he again left Wakfield, came into town by Holder’s coach, and at once set off to walk to the diggings, carrying with him only sufficient money to enable him to reach his destination, but having in a pack a few carpenters’ tools, some plates and glasses, and a piece of calico with a sign painted thereon, for it was his intention to open a store or shanty in conjunction with his father-in-law. Woodham was about 2S years of age, and had light brown whiskers, his hair, which ho wore rather long, being of a darker color. The last time he was seen and positively identified was in the Maiti Valley, but it was reported at the time that a man, whose description corresponded with that of the missing man, was seen the following clay on Franklyn’s Flat, the other side of the Maungatapu, but we cannot discover who made that statement, nor could his friends. He was never heard of again either by his wife or by his friends in England, who repeatedly made enquiries, and after many years his wife married again. Woodham, we learn, was subject to very severe attacks of dysentry end cramp in the stomach, which, at times, made him quite helpless. He wore watertight boots, but his friends state that they could not identify these. The fact that the remains of tho boot found near the skeleton were those of a watertight boot affords in itself very little corroboration, but the color of Woodham’s whiskers corresponding with that of the curly crisp hairs found beneath the soil where the bones lay is some proof of identification, while the failure to discover any coin when the earth was sifted may be accounted for by the fact that he only took enough silver to last him on his journey. The age of Woodham would correspond with that af the man whose skeleton was found, for though the lower jaw was missing a number of jteeth were found, and although the skull was a small one, it was evident that of mature man, for the wisdom teeth had been fully developed, and all the teeth found were so perfect as to lead to the belief that the man was a young one. Supposing that oupsurmise is correct, it is far from improbable that the unfortunate young man wandered a short distance from tho track whilst suffering from the disease to which he was subject, and there in the lonely wild, ill, helpless, and unattended, he suffered till death relieved his agony.