DEAD MAN RETURNS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 86, 6 July 1928, Page 3

DEAD MAN RETURNS

SIX MONTHS AFTER FUNERAL. WIFE'S TERRIBLE SHOCK. An extraordinary case Of mistaken identity in England, lias come to ligM through the return to his home in Leeds, of a man named Robert Gordon Struan Robertson," an ex-service man, employed as a porter, who disappeared last October and who was believed to have been drowned. Mr Robertson left his home in Leeds on the morning of October 1, to go to work at an hotel, but did not report for duty- Nothing more' was seen of him until two days later, when a man, answering his description, and giving the same name:, called at the Skipton Police Station in a dazed condition. He stayed th e night in Skipton, and left the following morning, since when nothing was known of his movements. The naked body of a man, whose legs had been severed at the knees, evidently by the propeller blades of a tug was found on .November 7 in the River Aire, at West Haddesley, near Selby. The body was identified by Sirs Robertson and two friends of the missing man. There was no question in the minds of those who saw the body that it was that of Robertson. The body had a scar in the side exactly similar 'to a wound scar in Mr Robertson's side. Following an inquest at which a verdict of "Found drowned" returned, the body was buried on Armistice Pay, in Weet Haddesley Churchyard. Mr Robertson had served in. the Northumberland Fusilieris throughout the war, as a company oua.rterm&ster-sergeant, with an excellent record, and the; coffin was covered with a Union Jack and given

military honours. The funeral expenses were borne by the Leeds branch of the British Legion. Mrs Robertson, following the supposed death cf her husband, had been granted a widow's pension in the respect oi herself 'andi her daughter. When Mr Robertson made his dramatic reappearance, he told his wife that he!.remembered nothing of what had happened since the night before be left home until the recollection of hui name and address came back u> him a couple cf days previously in Liverpool. He stated-. "A' few days ago a nhn who must have known me slapped me on the shoulder, and said, 'ls that you Bobbie?' That mr.de. me think, a.nd I recalled my name and where I had come from. I found myself in Liverpool. From that point all is dim. I. seem to have been walking for many hours, and am tired." "It was 'a terrible shock to me," declared Mits Kobertteon, describing her husband's return. "I was preparing; to retire for the night. Suddenly! heard a knock on the door, and, opening it. I saw my husband standing in the shadows. Before he could say anything he collapsed in the doorway, and I got him inside. There is no doubt about his identity. This Ban- secretary, 'w"**9 Miss Wilson is headtfnstres. - Mrs Robertson was wearing mournino- for her huslhid, who k a son of the late Dr. Robertson, of Pickerina, and an old Scarborough Grammar School boy. •_