HIS GOINGS AND COMINGS

NZ Truth, Issue 1254, 12 December 1929, Page 8

HIS GOINGS AND COMINGS

Brophy Found, but Promptly Vanishes Again STORY OF SUICIDE AVAS FAKED immimmiiiimiiiiiiiiHiiiimimiimiiiiNNiiHiiiiiiiiiimmiimiim

Richard Gale Brophy, adventurer, self-styled jour- j nalist, former second-in-, command of the Byrd Antarc- 1 tic Expedition, and stunt merchant, has turned up f again. 1 Last August it was reported that he had committed j suicide on Coney Island, but such was not the case, and j a cable from New York last week announced that he | has been located £t Omaha: /....■ j But no sooner was he found, than; according to the 1 cable, he vanished again. ' V j iiMiMiiiiNiiniMMiiiiiiiiiiiuMiiniiMMiMiiiiiitniMnuMiiiiiitiuiiiMiiiiiiiiiiMiinMUiuuiuttniiiiiiiniHiinniitiiitiuuiiniuMiMiiiiMHiiMiMttiiiiiuiiir.

DURING his sojourn m New Zealand, Brophy figured m the, limelight on more than one occasion, largely as a result bf his somewhat eccentric conduct. As "N.Z. Truth" related m October last, he more than, ."once.: exhibited strange traces of morbidness, and even threatened to commit- suioide. Indeed, his conduct led to his appearance before a magistrate to defend his sanity against an order of committal to a mental asylum. He succeeded m His defence," and, leavinjg 'Dunedin for Wellington, sailed for the States. There it was> reported that he had committed suicide at Coney Island. This was m August, and the principal evidence of his alleged" suicide was .contained m a letter written to his wife pri August 15. iVy -Jin 'this he announced that he was ;l ; Sgbirig to Cpney Island for no other purpose than to "walk into the waves until they cover me vp — and then I will be no more. , . ." •..But nevertheless there were certain facts which rather offset this alleged threat, and the ' New York police were by .no means convinced that Brophy had committed suicide. . • Time'has shown that the official un-belfefe^v-ias justified; for the late Brophy has. turned up,' but. only to promptly vanish again, The editor of ,a large Nobraskan paper. Identified one of hia staff as Brophy from a , host of photographs taken of the Byrd Expedition, and the man who had sought to delude everybody- into the belief that he was dead was forcibly "brought to life." He agreed, according to the cable, to return to his sick wife m New .York, but overnight vanished again. So Brophy's whereabouts are still unknown,, and possibly if he is again located he will just as promptly perform the vanishing trick for a third time. ■ Why Brophy should have disappeared m the first place is unknown. At the time of his alleged suicide a New York paper^ commenting on the affair,

i stated that "there was the matter of his 'accounts becoming tangled; a.n audit was made, and his resignation from the expedition accepted, it is reported.". But a new angle Is thrown on his comings ' and goings, his appearances and sudden disappearances, by the .cable announcing his discovery and m

the same breath reporting his fresh disappearance. It asserts that Brophy's connection with the Byrd expedition is alleged to have been severed as the result of his friendship with a Broadway actress and a New Zealand girl. But whatever may be the real position,, it is certain that Brophy resigned, and- that while m New' Zealand his erratic and eccentric conduct provoked quite a lot. of interest. V Apparently the same thing is now happening m the States, but whether Brophy's last, disappearance is going to be permanent time alone can show. Perhaps, , the self-assured, likeable "Dick" will be heard of no more, or he may come to life again just as suid-, denly and vanish for a third time Just a. 5 dramatically. .;■' f _