Thompsons Tell Their Amazing Story

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 139, 25 May 1936, Page 5

Thompsons Tell Their Amazing Story

LAUNCH MYSTERY EXPLAINED

HCW HAROLd THOMPSON TRIED TO DROWN HIMSELF ' & ,9oJ Ht' ’ ' ' T'»*>-.- - BROTHER’S DESPERATE ENDEAVOURS TO SAVE HIS LIFE. ■■ ' ’ : ’{ . -n '■ FULL STATEMENT SIGNED BEFORE JUSTICE OF PEACE. SYDNEY, May 20. Driven to desperation because of financial difficulties, which ware confined exclusively to his own personal operations, and not connected in any way with the firm of solicitors of which he is a partner, Harold York Thompson (35), solicitor, of Parramatta, Sydney, in a sudden seizure aboard a fishing-boat on Saturday last, according to a statement made to.day by Alan Thompson, nearly sent himself and his brother, Alan Lloyd Thompson (32), of Osborne to a .watery grave. . \. t f- I . \ * , How his move, was frustrate I by h : s brother and how he stood by him during his ravings while their fishing craft rocked perilously at sea, haVs been graphically described. The brothers left Broken Hill last night for Adelaide and will i return to Sydney byboat probably next week. The statement as j made by Alan Thompson was signed by him and his brother ana | witnessed by a Justice of the Peace. Here is Alan Thompson’s st j ory: — r

' “Early last week I was up a,t my brother’s iplacfe' at Paramatta. V/c were good pals,»and he scorned qu to kit ordinary self.’ We decided to go to (he races at Rapdwick last Saturday. “My brother has a 1 very good wife, cf whom 1 know he.is extreme'y fond, and they have ‘been married 11 years, and have tllway’s got on splendidly to go.her. .My brother would not do anything in his right senses to hurt his wife or his boy Barry, who is six yea:t b’d on Friday. "I rang my brother. Wc decided that i£ would be a better idea if wo v. eni fishing in preference to the races.”.- ‘ : “My brother is a very keen fisherman. ‘ My brother said that as the weather wa'g'kd g’btHl’we con'd go out side and mi ke sure we would get roiiioth'ng. I thought of going out or.j the Harbour, but Harold ea'cl that Mr Riddle at C,hui;ch point, had a new boat which'had a’dependable engine and that it would be a suitable boat for outside fishing.

not taking any interest in fishing, | “I said, ‘Buck up, Harold, and I’ojv i get your worries,’ but ho did not-ans 1 v/er. “At the time I was sitting in the fcow cf the boat and Harold was near the engine. Shortly afterwards i suddenly noticed water in the boat and said, ‘Where is the bailing tin ’ '“Harold said,: ■“Never mind bailing; I have tnrown the plug away and the boat can sink. You can swim it easily., I.will go down with thestbeat and that will settle, all’my troubles and give Edna a better chance.’ Erd pf Teliher. f ‘l said: ‘j-on’t be mad! Do you think I world let you drownV’ Haro’d raid: ‘I suppose' lam mad. I have reached the end of ray tether. I can see nowfhat a man is a fool to bother about 1/ving. We all die, some time, | and I (vould rather go now, when it i will do some good, than struggle on.’ “I noticed that the water did not see,ii to be getting any deeper in the beyit, to I just told him to take it e/sy‘. Harold had a mad look in his rye, end he suddenly jumped up and ■haid: ‘The damn boat is not sink ng! ‘Pull up the keliick!’

An Hour’s Fishing. . '=- 4 ; .‘. •* ■' .. “Harold fang Ildd’e aiid reserveo the "boat. He called, for me at 11.10 cm Saturday, morning at Manly. Wt got the boat at Church Point, am. ■went out of Broken Bay and fished for about an hour. We were thea about half a mile outside Pa/m Ecach. “While we were fishing, Harold mentioned to me that he had a pasty knock in that he had expected A* certain nr.n'ng investment to tazh out very - welt, that it would have Paid off certain debts he owed, but that it had failed altogether, and he had lost the investment, and still had to find money to meet the debts /wing. “He then sa'd to mcvWou know A'an, there is not mveh in life after all, doing the same things day after day. I with, there was rno'her war to go t/i I feel tlr-ed of work, and 1 emitired cv bowls, and now I am tired of fishiitg. If it wnsinol forrEclna and Barry, 3 wculd/pack rp and leave Sydney rrd wr.ndeptcund the world a bit, working my way. Anything to get away from the worry and monotony of knowing what ever -j next

“! pulled it up and put it In the boat and asked Harold i? he were going into the bay. Ha told ms to go and take the rudder. When i got to the back of the boat he picked up the Ikellick and hit the side of the boat with, it several

times as hard as ho could. I heard the wood smash. He said, ‘I will soon make this boat sink,’ but the holes ho made were above water mark. He tri’ed to force the boat down on one side so that the water would come in the hole©, but I got on the other side of the boat and tried to reason with him. •' “Be A Pal.” "He said, ‘Don't be a fool, Alan. You can swim back and say that the heat was capsized by a sudden wave, and there won’t be any stigma of suicide then. If I don’t go this way I wi‘l only do it some other way, and I hcn it. ivon’t appear to be an accident.’ “f talked to him for a while, but he teemed Quite mad. Ho was running his hands through his hair and kept mumbling, ‘Go on, Alan, be a pall Help me to sink the heat. Surely you are not frightened of a swiiiy

day is to bring. *• fYfixi know that I am in a hell o‘ a m/'ss with debts. I borrowed money fvom everybody I could get it. off, and HiJt mine J s a washout. I can’t sec ray prospect of paying them. In an" (|3e, I don’t want to pay them. When t get money I like to spend it. I! i Tiv nature, the same as yours. We would be better without any. In tact, I don’t know what the hell I am Uv ing for.’ “Don’t Be Silly.’’ “I told him rot to be silly,' and that life was- all right, and we could pet p’enty of fun, but ho said that ht- woffle 'ferdttabJy he sued end mode bar krllitC*and'loso his interest in business a*Wd would be left-penniless with his wife and kiddy to support. “Harold said to mo; ‘The best thing that I can do for my wife and kid is to put a bullet into my head. They

beck! It’s only about a quarter of a mile.’ “I told him that I would stick by him, but that it would bo silly to die now. Harold said, ‘But 1 have got to get away from the worry and monotony of this existence. It is chiving mo mad.’ “So I told him that I would take him away. I had a good sum of money with me in preparation for fielding, and from a win-,1 had ,qt-the races on the previous meeting. Harold said, ‘lt won’t bo for a while. It will be for good. When we get away I will write and tell Edna to come and join me if she wants to, but that, it will be a hard life, as f want to roam about and she will be Hotter without me.’ y “I got him to start the engine, and he said, ‘I won’t take the boat back. It is better to leave it somewhere and

will get £IOOO Insurance, and Ednr. can sell the car and furniture, and start in life, without having to drag along without a job or money.’ “I said.‘Don’t bo si'ly. Edna would rather have you rhivo and with bein any circumstances ’than a million pounds.’ “We did not say anything for a while after that.,and I was bus? r*.i- ---' ing, when I noticed that my brother had his head in his hands and was

get the ’bus or train. If we abandon the boat they will know when it is found that we have cleared off. We

can get'this train at ITawkesbury River statlbfii ” ailtl f V'i'Ht W ,v get out into the^ydHmtfy.Will ’bo’ away' from everything thei’e ’arid! I'can then write to Edna.’

“I told him there would bo a lot of worry if we did not make any communication before going, but he said: ■]f you give the show away I will do myself in. lam determined to either die or get right away." So 1 promised him I would not advise anybody of our whereabouts until we got settled somewhere. “He told me that everyone would know at once when the boat was found that we had gone away. We went to the shore on (he south side of the Ilawkesbury River about 4.30 o’clock. It seemed some miles below Brooklyn. I went up the rocks and found a track in the bush, and came back and told Harold.,

“He was still far from normal, and we pallid the boat up between two rocks so that the front was well clear of the water, and wo left it. “Ws did not think at the time of the rising tide, and apparently the boat was either caught by the current or the person who removed the magneto pushed it out. We left our tackle in the boat, and we did not touch anything else or take anything from the boat except overcoats. “It took us about two hours to get to Brooklyn station through the bush track, and it was then dark. The first train due was to Newcastle, so we wont there and found that the train went on further. So we went to Werris Creek, arriving there at 5 a.m. on Sunday. We had bought a time-table at Newcastle, and decided to go to Broken Hill. On the way to Werris Creek Harold told me that during the afternoon he conceived the idea ot sinking the boat. He thought that the boat would soon sink with the plug pulled out, and that it would look like an accident and that while we were swimming for shore he intended to drop behind and suddenly sink.’

, Travelled By Car. “We bad previously been fishing on the ‘drift.’ until Harold put the keliick down a quarter of a mile from the shore. “We got a car on Sunday from Werris Creek to Dubbo, and stayed there Sunday night in a hotel. . We came to Orange on Monday morning by the train, bought clothes and bags, and then got the Broken Hill express on Monday morning. “When we got to Broken Hill we wont to the Freemasons’ Hotel. We then saw the first Sydney paper, reporting our disappearance. When I realised the hue and cry that had been caused by the disappearance, I found the position a thousand times more serious than I had anticipated, and I told Harold. “He said, “Well, I will put myself off at once, and you can tell them what’s happened and that will soon fix things.’ “I kept him a bit quiet, as he was still certainly mentally deranged, and I got him to bed at the hotel. While there police officers arrived at our room and said that we had been recognised by the local inspector, who had known Harold at Parramatta and had seen him get off the train at Broken Hill. “After the discovery and a long talk with the police inspector and officers, who gave Harold good advice, I could see that he was a little better. He said that now that we were discovered the strain seemed to be off a bit. He had a good night, Tuesday night, but is still very nervy, and I am afraid publicity and constant calls on us for information may make him worse

again. “We have communicated with his wife and my friends in Sydney, and have arranged to give Harold a week or so rest on the way back to Sydney, so that he can recover from the strain that has affected him, and publicity can die down before we get back. “My brother will place himself under a specialist as soon as he returns, and in the meantime I am confident that ho will be better with me.” The statement concludes: “I, the undersigned, have voluntarily given this statement with a view to clearing up the whole unfortunate occurrence. , (Signed) ALAhJ THOMPSON. Witness: Cyril Whetters, J.P. “I, the undersigned, have heard the statement given by my brother, and it is! quite 'correct, except that I have only a faint recollection of some of the in the boat.” (Signed) H. Y. THOMPSON. Witness: Cyril Whetters, J.P.