MISTAKEN IDENTITY OF A DEAD MAN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 21

MISTAKEN IDENTITY OF A DEAD MAN.

—4 ;— AN EXTRAORDINARY CASB. A remarkablo case, follomng upon mistaken idontity, was disclosed at Sydney recently, when the City Coroner altered an order for burial. On Saturday afternoon (March 1) a man was picked up in North Street, city, by a constable. He wis in a helpless state, and was subsequently, at the Central Police Station, charged with drunkenness. At night ho was found unconscious in tho cell, . and was then conveyed to the Sydney Hospital, where ho died on Sunday morning. From papers found in his pockets the polioe came to tho conclusion that the man's name waa William Mahor. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick' Maher subsequently identified the remains as those of William Maher. Tho body w;as taken to the "brother's" residence in Liverpool Street, and then to Ada Street. Ultimo, to the residence of another brother of Mater's. The coffin was about to bo nailed down when the mistake was discovered, one of the supposed relatives of the dead man exolaimintr, "It's not Will; lfs 'Shot' Kennedy," who was aged 52, and a labourer. Kennedy's sisters were informed, and identified the remains. Mrs. Margaret Carr, ono of tfho sisters, stated that she last saw her brother, alive last December, when he left home to go to Waterfall to work on tho railways. t Both Maher and Kennedy had lost an eye, and their resemblance was accentuated by this defect. The deceased had a tattooed figure on his arm. It wns afterwards ascertained that Williain Maher is still an inmate of Rookwood Asylum — "Sydney Daily Telegraph."