DEAD MAN'S IDENTITY

Chronicle (Levin), 16 January 1948, Page 8

DEAD MAN'S IDENTITY

• FINGERPRINTS AND KEY MAIN CLUES WELLINGTON, Jan. 15. The lcey which iitted a room in an apartment. honse which had been reported unoccupied for sorne weeks, and iingerprints taken from a body and compared witli tl^jse on a Jemonade bottle fouhd in the room, were among a chain of ciues which the police fol lowed suceessfully to establish the identfty of a xnan who, when buried on December 27, was unknown. He started on a job at Central Park. Wellington, at 8 a.m. on December 22, collapsed and died 2h hours later. No one knew liim and the immediate eiues — name A. Johnson on the lining of one of kis suit pockets, name R. Symons 1 in a spectaole case, and initials A. D. C. on a eigarette case- — wero confiicting. After- painstaking v?ork by the police he was identiiied today as Harry Lawson. The key found in the dead man's clothing was used to open a padloek fastening the door of a room in a Boulcott Street apai'tment house whicii other residents of the honse state was occupied for several months by Lawson. They had thought nothing of his ab sence at lirst because. the door was i locked on the outside and Lawson was aecustomed to going away to face meetings in different parts of the country. . - Police Superiritendent J, Dempsey said that after comparing iingerprints from the dead man 's bodv witli those on a lemonade bottle found in the room, the police felt satisfied the body was Lawson 's. Docunients addressed to H. Lawson were also found in the room.. 5Ir. R. Sym'onds, Christchurch, sorne time ago gave a spec.taele case with his name in it to a man named Harry Lawson, said Stiperihtend'ent Dempsey. The ma^i kt Central Parlc had such a spectacle case. Lawson was also said to have been a hiajor in the Australian Army during tlie 1914-18 war, and ■ to have worked recently on the Wellington wharves. The police learned that a man named Lawson worked for the Ilafbour Board for six hours bne

pav in niid-D'eceniber and failed to eollect any nxoney for it. They also i L'ound that the klr. Lawson who worke^l on -the waterfront was the same man as occupied the room in Boulcott Street. Certain inquiries were still being made, said the superintendent, to enable the coroner to eomplete his inquiry and^to inforin any relatives of the death. The High Cdmmissioner for Australia was inquiring through his Government for information about Lawson 's military serviee, if any, during the 1914-18 war. The Melbourne police were inquiring at an address, 8 Alfred Street, Prahran. Melbourne, for a niece stated to be resi dent there abont 1946. LawsOn was an Lnmate of the CaullieM Repatriation Hospital in August, 1935, and came to New Zealand as chef in eharge of Wirth Brothers private dining tent in 1936, and- was in the Christchurch Hospital for a time in that year. Latef he worked mostly in tlie South Island witli the Publie Works Departinent. The -Head man's mother. Mrs. W. Lawson, was known to have been. Still alive in 1935, presumably residing at No. S Alfred Street, Prahran, said Superintendent Dempsey. .