DEAD MAN IN A TREE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14223, 20 November 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

DEAD MAN IN A TREE.

EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY IN . A FIELD.

From inquiries made it appears that the corpse .of a man which was found wedged in the hollow trunk of an old oak tree in a field near Mold, Flintshire, has been identified as that of Mr. Griffiths Hughes, a brother of Mr. Ellis Hughes, landlord of the Ruthin Castle public-house, Mold. He was over 50 years.of age, and had lived at Bury, in Lancashire. The discovery has caused a groat sensation locally; but there is no explanation as to how the body came to be wedged in the tree. It seems from latest investigations that Mr. Hughes has had domestic troubles in recent years, f In. June last he came to Mold. He frequently spoke about his boyhood days, and how he used to enter the hollow of this particular tree for owls' nests. It is surmised that he may have .had a longing to see this tree again, and have dropped down the hollow trunk as he did when a lad. He was then perhaps unable to release himself, and died a, lingering death from starvation. His shouts would not in any case have been heard, as the tree stands in the middle of a field. This theory was maintained at the inquest, when an open verdict was returned.