AUCKLAND'S HIDEOUS SHAME!

NZ Truth, Issue 78, 15 December 1906, Page 5

AUCKLAND'S HIDEOUS SHAME!

CALLIOPE DOCK CALAMITY, Desecration of the Dead. Horrible Disclosures of What Happened to a Cadaver m " The Corinth of the South." " Only a worker whom nobody owned I" A shocking phase of the recent lamentable 'triple fatality m the Calliope Dock, Auckland, has just been brought to light. On November 27 the s.B. Maniari was docked to undergo repairs. In some mannerjust how an extended inquest is now. being held to ascertain— the ship slipped from her chocks, and caused a miniature tidal wave which swept the men engaged about her sides into the dock. Many were severely injured and two were killed outright. The bodies of the unfortunate men were not recovered until the next day. Instead of being brought straight across to Auckland the corpses were conveyed to the Flagstaff hotel at Devonport. The . .-de-' eeaseds' names were Robert P. By Clarke. and William Craig May. Apparently they had no relations, for the disposal of the bodies became the cause of a scandalous argument between the shoring contractor, W. H., Brown, and the Auckland Harbor JBoard. Neither of these truly Christian parties would accept the responsibility and expense of buryiiip; the two men who had met their death m such tragic fashion. Lamentable, as it may seem, the two crushed and battered bodies were allowed to- lie at the hotel because these craven, callous parties would not spent the few noMi'ds necessary to give thv*m decent burial. The outcome of this Preposterous parsimony was such as to be an OUTRAGE ON HUMANITY.. What subsenuently . happened to all that was mortal of William Craig May is not known at present ; but this much is known : that the body of Robert Clarke, taken to the Fiagstaff Hotel, was, instead of being laid decently m one of the rooms of the house, placed m a shanty at the back where it lay for some days, guarded by stack's of empty bottles. What followed 'Can easily be imagined. The. rats about the place swarmed to the body, and proceeded to eat it away. Before the horrible occurrence had been noted the hun-gry rodents had tunnelled through the head from ear to ear, stripped the flesh from the face and mutilated the tteck m the most gruesome ivay. Then, and not till then, seeminejy, did those responsible take.'the-neces-sary steps to bury the corpse of Robert Clarke. It is to be hoped that Mr Kettle,' S.M., before he concludes the inquest on the victims of the Calliope Dock fatality, will inquire also into THIS HORRIBLE SEQUEL to it, and sheet home the blame to those responsible for this dire desecration of the . dead. That such a howifyi&p^tete^r-ij^igr^s&xild be; seetns almost impo^ible^llffi is a f md more particular^ #^t^ZT^V^--