LOST AIR LINER

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1933, Page 7

LOST AIR LINER

INQUEST ON A VICTIM. “NO POSITIVE EVIDENCE.” The inquest on the air disaster at Dixmude in which the liner City of Liverpool was burned, was marked by the close questioning of the two sons of Mr. Albert Voss, a 69-year-old Manchester dentist, who was one of the 15 victims of the catastrophe. Mr. Hugo Voss said his father had been worried over debt, but more recently said he was more comfortable and was not being so pressed. Witness said his father often travelled to the Continent, invariably by air, as he was very fond of flying, and usually visited Berlin, Cologne and other towns in Germany and Belgium. He brought back porcelain artificial teeth and dental plates. He was not a heavy smoker. The Coroner: Your father seemed to have been rather unfortunate in business. Was he an undischarged bankrupt?—Yes. Had he made application for discharge from bankruptcy?—l believe he made an application and then withdrew it two years ago. DRAMATIC PASSAGES. Was he in financial difficulties ? Have legjd proceedings been instituted against him in various Courts for the recovery of debts?—He managed to get along. For the last 10 years he appeared to have been in financial difficulties off and on. Have you ever heard him threaten to take his life ?—Yes. He used to make that remark in such a way that we took it as a joke. That is rather a strange remark for a man to make ?—lt was, rather. He was a strange man. He was a highlystrung and excitable man at times. Dramatic passages occurred when Mr. Hugo Voss was questioned by Mr. T. H. Hinchcliffe, who represented the other son, Mr. Alfred Voss. “Would it surprise you to know,” asked Mr. Hinchcliffe, “that your father had been in financial difficulties for over 30 years ?”—“lt would not surprise me,” was the reply. You knew he was travelling from Belgium pretty frequently ?--Not BelgiumGermany. I accept your word. What was he going there for ?—For teeth.—Nothing else ?—Nothing else. Did he come back with a quantity of drugs ?—I have never known him to. It is rather strange, is it not, that a man who had been in an impecunious state for 25 years should go by a modem air liner six times a year to Germany to buy dental appliances ?—Not at all. DRUG TRAFFIC DENIED. If I suggest, and I put It mildly, that his journeys to Berlin were for the purpose of bringing back drugs, you would not agree with that ?—I absoultely deny it. If I say he was spying upon other people’s business you would not agree ?— Not at all. Mr. Hinchcliffe: About six weeks ago did your father threaten to commit suicide because ‘'things were so bad with him ?—He said things were somewhat easier. He was not being pressed so much. Have you any doubt that your father deliberately or accidentally set. fire to the linei' whereby 15 people were roasted to death ?—I am quite sure he was incapable of doing such a dastardly tiling. You can give no explanation of these air visits to Germany six times a year except for the purpose of getting dental appliances ?—lt can be proved. Mr. Hinchcliffe: Your father lias transferred or assigned to you four policies on his life. What were the amounts ?— There was one for £lOOO, one for £lOO, another for £250, and one for £5OO. Any more ?—There was one maturing this year for something over £5OO. So that you have got five of these policies. How much did you give your father for them ?—The first was about 12 years ago. I paid the company because my father went bankrupt. BUYING AND SELLING TEETH. The dead man’s other son, Mr. Alfred Voss, told the coroner that his father bought 20,000 to 30,000 single teeth at a time during his visits to the Continent, bringing them back in a fibre trunk. The sale of these teeth yielded a fair profit. The Coroner: Well, after selling them all these years he should have been a comparatively wealthy man. What did he do with his money ?—I could not say. “What I want to get rid of if possible,” remarked the coroner, “is any suggestion that Voss was trafficking in drugs. You see, it seems rather strange that he should have travelled by air if he was a man in difficult financial circumstances. It would have been much better for him to have travelled other ways. He seems to have been hard up for years, and to say that he travelled by air to the Continent frequently to buy teeth, bed-spreads and things strikes me as being ridiculous.” Mr. Alfred Voss declared that his father was not in the habit of taking drugs, and had never brought any back from the Continent. Many further questions were asked but they elicited only replies in the nijative. An open verdict was returned at the conclusion of the inquest on Voss. The coroner instructed the jury that though Voss’ reputation was an unenviable one, there was no positive evidence that he was responsible for the fire.