YOUNG GIRL DISAPPEARS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1926, Page 15

YOUNG GIRL DISAPPEARS

FOUND IN SHALLOW GRAVE AUSTRALIAN STATION TRAGEDY. MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Sydney, Dee. 30. On August 24 the six-year-old daughter of Moss Smith, of Poolamacea station, near Broken Hill, disappeared. Since then a search by the police, bands of residents, and black-trackers in the wild country for many miles around has been made, and an aeroplane has scouted far and wide. Clairvoyants and spiritualists ‘were consulted, and predicted that the child was still alive. The parents offered £lOOO reward for the recovery of the child. Yesterday an employee of the station, while gathering sticks a short distance from the homestead, saw a child’s foot protruding from a shallow grave and unearthed the body of the missing girl. It bore no signs of violence. Later, James Hughes, who loft Moss Smith’s employment shortly after the disappearance of the child, was arrested and remanded on a charge of murdering her. Received Dec. 30, 8.15 p.m. Sydney, Dec. 30. In connection with the finding of the body of Joan Smith at the Poolaniaeea station, the police officially announce that the hoy Hughes made a statement that the girl was killed by falling from a pony. He was afraid to tell and buried the body where it was found. An inquest will he held on January 110.