CHARRED BODY FOUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22099, 1 November 1933, Page 14

CHARRED BODY FOUND

MISTAKEN IDENTITY THEORY OF MURDER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 19 The police who are investigating the discovery last' week of the charred remains of a man in the ruins of a hut which had been destroyed by fire at Strathfieldsaye, near Bendigo (Victoria), are faced with a mystery which appears to deepen with every move. The hat had been erected on a holding occupied by William August Griffenhagen, and was used as a dwelling by Griffenhagen, a man, and his aged uncle, James Pattison, a pensioner, who was engaged in fossicking for gold. Nobody seems to have seen the fire, which, it is assumed, occurred during the daylight on Monday of last week. It is pointed out that had the hut been destroyed at it was so prominently situated on the side of a hill that the flames would have been seen for miles around. When the police were informed that the hut had been destroyed they at once investigated, and in raking over the ashes discovered traces of human remains. These included a gold ring which was always worn by Pattison when he, wont to Bendigo, where he was well known. This ring seemed to establish definitely the identity of the victim, although, at the inquest, surprise was expressed by some witnesses that the remains did not include a buckle attached to a wallet owned by Pattison. It is generally believed that Pattison carried with him about £2OO, and this led to the theory that Pattison was the victim of foul play, the motive being robbery. The remains were buried as those of Pattison. The police were unable to find any trace of Griffenhagen and came to *he conclusion that he, too, had been murdered. This theory, it was held, bad some justification because of the report that strangers had been seen in the vicinity of the hut, and they disappeared soon after the fire. It was felt that Griffenhagen had been struck down and his body placed in a disused mining shaft or sunk in one of the numerous water holes in the locality. Last week-end a large number of men assisted the police in the search for Griffenhagen. Every likely hiding place was examined and several dams were emptied, all without success. Meanwhile the police continued a minute examination of the ashes of the destroyed hut, and their discoveries last Monday convinced them that the man who had lost his life in the fire was not Pattison, but Griffenhagen. And now the search for Pattison goes on.

The police theory is that the fire in which the man perished could not have been caused accidentally. The hut was built of stringybark logs and clay, and about the centre of the earthern floor a quantity of charcoal was discovered. There was more charcoal than would have been produced by the falling of the charred roof beams, and the upper portion. of the walls, which were eaten through by the fire, fell outwards and not inwards. The charcoal surrounded the charred remains of a man, and its presence lends colour to the theory that he was done to death and burned in a pyre of dry timber that was piled over it.. In the burnt wreckage two oil drums were found, but there was nothing to indicate whether they had recently contained oil. The charred body was some distance from the bed, and the bed clothes were only slightly charred. It is clear, therefore, that the victim was not trapped while asleep. The police theory to date is that both men were murdered, and they are anxious to get into touch with strangers who were seen in the locality about the time of the tragedy.