MOTHER'S QUEST OF SON.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2693, 10 July 1923, Page 7

MOTHER'S QUEST OF SON.

BOY LOSES MEMORY AT WAR. ADVICE OF SPIRIT MEDIUM! "WRITE 110 X 12," DUNEDIN. DUNEDIN, July 4. Mr 11. Turner recently received out of Tonkin and Co.'s private box at the Dunedin post office, a postcard addressed to Mr Ferguson. There being nobody of that name in the company's employ, Mr Turner's first thought was to return the postcord to the Post Office authorities, with a notification that it must have been put in Tonkin and Co.'s box by mistake. He observed, however, that the address bore the correct number of the box, so he glanced at the mesI sage to see if it would yield any hint as to whom it was Intended for. This perusal interested him on humanitarian grounds. The writer was a Sydney mother, who was making inquiries as to her son, Frank Marshall, who enlisted in a West Australian regiment, and was reported to have been injured and taken prisoner. Later on lie was lost in London, and then was supposed to have got to Dunedin. Mr Turner at once wrote to Mrs Marshall, pointing out that her postcard had evidently been sent to a wrong address, but asking whether he could help in any way by making inquiries. STRANGE AND PITEOUS STORY. The. answering letter sent from "Koorah," :t- Shadforth Street, Mosman, Sydney, dated April 17, is as follows: "I received the letter you kindly wrote me when I was staying at the Royal Hotel, Watson Ray. Regarding my son, Frank Marshall, if feel I owe you some explanation for addressing my postcard to box 12. My son Frank was In the 51st West Australian Battalion, and was wounded in the head and taken a prisoner of war. Two of his companions were with him, and when they came back to Western Australia they called upon me and expected to see my son. They told me that after they were taken to hospital in Germany my son never talked when asked questions. He paid, 'I don't know.' They took no notice of this, thinking he was doing so to deceive the German guards. They planned to escape, and took my son with them, as they found he had forgotten all about himself, and was always asking them his name. "They, all three, after a lot of 'hardship, arrived in London. They had friends there, and they put a ticket round my son's neck with his name and address, and told him where to fro to the military. He never arrived, and the military have never seen him from that day. Pie was dressed in civilian clothes they borrowed in Holland. At different times Western Australian boys have told me that they mot him in London, but not one, seeing his condition, had; the kindness to take him to a military hospital. "All these years T have been hunting for him. and shall never give up. T put an advertisement in all the English papers, with his photograph, offering a reward. I had a letter from one man saying that from his photograph he thought he had' been shipped to New Zealand. I advertised in New Zealand, but got no n nswer. DEALINGS WITH MEDIUM. "Then I thought of a medium. I am a Scottish woman, and have, a certain belief in second sight. I asked a medium, Where is my son, iFrank Marshall?" He replied: "He has left England and has arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand. Write box 12, G.P.O.' Afterwards he called back. '1 am not quite sure if No. ■ 12 is right, but try it. I can see him in Dunedin. He is tall and dark, very dark eyes, looks very young.' "My son was 22 when 'he left for the front, but looked very young, about IS. He is a well educated, relined boy, a devoted son, a real mother's boy, and I dread to think how he is being treated, wandering about the. world with no memory. Of course, from being dressed in civilian clothes, the military and Red Cross had no way of tracing him. I apologise for this long letter. 1 don't sec how anyone can help me, but I thank you most sincerely. (Signed) L. W. Marshall." Mr Turner has been doing everything possible to help this distressed mother to get on the track of her afflicted son, and is now placing all the facts within his knowledge in the possession of the military and police.