BROKEN NECK.

Northern Advocate, 4 August 1924, Page 5

BROKEN NECK.

APPARENT HAMMER-BLOW.

BODY TAKEN FROM RIVER

(Received 10.5 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. A blood-stained cap and a hammer were found on the bank of the river at Cessnock. Dragging recovered the body of a man from the water with his neck broken, apparently by a. blow from a hammer.—A. and N.Z. LONELY BUSH SPOT. A STAGNANT WATERHOLE. (Received 1 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Details of the Cessnock tragedy show that John Nelson, a miner, was on a shooting expedition and was proceeding through the bush when in passing a stagnant pool he was horrified to find the body of a man floating in the centre. He immediately returned to Cessnock and informed the police, who with difficulty recovered the body. The corpse was fully clothed, but hatless. The man's age appeared to be about 45 years. A letter in a pocket was addressed to C. Murphy. On leceased's right eye and the side of ' liis head were discolourations indicating that he had been struck with some blunt instrument.

Although those facts alone are insufficient to lead to the belief that death was caused by foul play, two months ago school children returning home found lying in the bush 300 or 400 yards from the pool an ordinary carpenter's hammer and a man's felt hat, both articles marked with dry bloodstains. Examination of the spot by the police disclosed, marks of a struggle and further bloodstains. The children's find also coincides with the time the body is believed to have been thrown into the waterhole. Tiie scene of the tragedy is a lonely ivirt of the bush. The pool is liemifiod in on all sides by dense under- I growth. The water is stagnant and is :i la-ceding ground for millions of mosquitos and kindred pests. The spot is seldom visited.—A. and NZ I