STARVING MAN IN CAVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23593, 1 September 1938, Page 14

STARVING MAN IN CAVE

IDENTIFICATION MYSTERY SOLVED RECENT VISITOR TO NEW ZEALAND (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Aug! 19. A cloakroom ticket enabled identification to be made of the man who, taken starving • from a cave near Manly at the week-end, died in hospital soon afterwards. He was Ronald Gibson, aged 39, a member of a family well known in the Henty (New South Wales) district. A shirt in .his possession bore the mark of a Wellington store, and it was thought that the man might have been a New Zealander, but it now appears that the shirt was bought during a visit to New Zealand about three months ago. Gibson made a number of visits to New Zealand during shearing seasons. Constable Steiner, of Manly, was responsible for the identification. Seeking a clue, he had returned to the cave several times since Gibson was found on Saturday. On Tuesday he returned again, and poking in the furthest corner with a pole, found a purse under debris. In the purse was a cloakroom ticket from the Manly wharf, bearing Gibson's name and the date, June 20. Steiner recovered the suitcase, which, contained clothing, photographs taken on his New Zealand tour, and a notebook of addresses. '' One of the addresses was that of the relative who was able to identify the body. "I last saw him a few weeks ago, when he had dinner with us," she said. "We did not know him well. He was religious and reserved, and a bachelor/' How long Gibson was in the cave where he was found in a badly emaciated condition will probably never be known. Police have also been unable to ascertain why the man went to the cave, since he had sufficient money to live comfortably. Gibson's parents, who are prosperous, formerly had a grazing property at Henty. After his return from his last New Zealand trip he brought his mother to Sydney for a visit, and since her return to Henty his movements are a complete mystery to his relatives. The only explanation they can suggest is that, as a result, of a nervous breakdown some time ago, he might have suffered a lapse of memory while walking through the bush and found his way to the cave. ,