STARVED IN CAVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 12

STARVED IN CAVE

DEATH AFTEB RESCUE AN AUSTRALIAN MYSTERY TALK OF RICH RELATIVES I FROM OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT J SYDNEY, August 15 A man found starving in an oceanside cave near Manly died a few hours after he had been removed from it to" hospital. He did not disclose his identity or say why he went to the cave without food. The man, who was described as between 40 and 50 years of age, had a shirt in his possession marked "Flag Store, Wellington," and police believe that he may be a New Zealander. A boy reported at the Manly ambulance station that he had heard a man groaning "somewhere down on the rocks." The boy had telephoned to the police, and a constable who went to the place indicated heard a man's groans and traced the. sounds to a cave. He flashed his torch into the dark opening and saw a man, frightfully emaciated, on a bed of ferns. The man had a heavy growth of beard, and appeared too weak to move. He was covered by a pair of 1 thick grey blankets. In a corner of the I rave were a billycan, a knife, fork and i spoon, a shaving outfit, and a brush and comb. There was also a brown leather overcoat, in the pocket of which was a Bible wrapped in brown paper. In a faint whisper the man told the constable that his name was "Ron." He would not give his surname, but said that if he died, he had rich relatives who woyld pay for his burial. He said he had not eaten for two weeks ; and asked for food. It is believed that he had lived for several days on water. In relays, rescuers carried the man to an ambulance car, whiph took him to hospital, where he was carefully fed. He failed to-, rally. No one has been reported missing here who would answer to the man's descriptipn. A police officer said that tho man's presence in the cave was a mystery. "I doubt if he had been there as long as he claimed," he said.

Police believe that the man either felt himself an outcast and decided on starvation as a means of suicide, or had something to hide. His fingerprints were taken as a possible means of identifying him.