SEASIDE MYSTERY

NZ Truth, Issue 1052, 21 January 1926, Page 5

SEASIDE MYSTERY

' AUCTIONEER'S FATE Body Washed Up By Sea (From . "Truth's" Special - Christchurch Rep.) The fate of Claude Lewis;' the s Christchurch auctioneer, will remain a' mystery. At the inquest ( the .Coroner (Mr. Widdowson) re- • turned a. verdict of "found drown- , ' cd." v ■■• . •■■;.■• ■ ■■ ■ Six months ago>Lewis had a breakdown which forced Mm to give up .. business as' an auctioneer. . He became ;very depressed, it was stated,- arid "about' a 'month ago Dr. , 'liOUisson- saw him at his home. He improved-during'Christmas' week, end -with,, llls family, spent the Tuletide , with his .brother-in-law, William "Wallace Newman. ... ■ On New Year's Day Lewis was *■ again depressed, 'and, on January. 5 He broiight his boy into town to have, his hair cut, left him at the - barber's and then disappeared. same night his , brother-in-law v searched for him, and -at one o'clock next morning'found Lewis's car abandoned q.t New; Brighton. -." The next day -his hat was found ,near Shag Point. <■- < • ■ , VFrom on, for' a period of nine , days, the search continued, his body being washed up by the sea last week. He had, it was stated, no finan- < eial worries and was quite happy at home. „.. v The Coroner remarked that 'suicide, ' while suggested by the evidence, had not been fully established. ,