MYSTERY MURDER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19803, 19 May 1934, Page 17

MYSTERY MURDER

VICTORIAN POLICE BAFFLED. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received May 18, 7 p.m.) MELBOURNE, May 18. Detectives were unable to make any progress in the identification of the Victim, whose charred body was discovered in a wooden culvert at Balwyn. The fingerprints obtained from the charred hand afforded no assistance, and it is apparent that the victim was not convicted at any period of his career. [A message published on Wednesday stated that detectives are confronted with a difficult task in elucidating the circumstances of the death of an unknown young man, whose charred and unrecognisable body was discovered hidden in a wooden culvert at Balwyn outer suburb, by some schoolboys. The police were of opinion that the body was placed in the culvert some hours before, and the clothing set alight. It was decided to amputate the undamaged right hand and obtain finger prints to ascertain whether the victim was ever convicted, and thereby establish identification, as was done in the Wagga case, resulting in the solution of Percy Smith's identity and the death sentence on Morey last week, which is regarded as one of the outstanding feats of crime detection.]