KEY CLUE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1932, Page 9

KEY CLUE

CHARRED BONES MYSTERY

A FANTASTIC SUICIDE

(From "Tho Post's" Representative) SYDNEY, ;Ust December. The public were-amazed that wilh the aid of a slender clue—a blackenedkej the police were able to establish the identity of the man whose remains wcio found some weeks ago in tho ashes of a fire in a lonely gully at Bun: gendore, near the Fcder;il capital, Canberra. Tho subsequent theory that the man chose the fantastic suicide of dying on a funeral pyre lit by himself was oven more startling, especially as. it was generally supposed that he had been murdered. The discovery of the charred bones was followed with, intense interest, and for a while it appeared as though the police were completely baffled. Their success is a tribute to the wonderful .work of the detectives and to modern science; '

■ . Only a handful of- Human: bones was recovered from the ashes,-yet -it-was from these that science was- able 'to describe the- victim.' The first thing sought was the-thigh bone, which is usually a little more than a- fourth the size of the "body. Because the ossification around the-cartilage had fused it followed that- the victim- was- not younger than 21.' The size of-the thigh bone gave a safe indication that" the bones belonged to a' person at least six feet high, and perhaps taller^ The next question to be decided was-the sex of the victim. Generally the architecture^ of." the bones is lighter in the ■case of a feniale, but the- Bungendore bones—or the- few' that were recovered '—were charred and seared :to such an extent that the sex was problematical. It became necessary then to examine tho bones more minutely for any marks that indicated muscular development, and on finding definite impressions' it .could be safely conjectured that the \ victin* was a well built man. Working [then on ordinary standards of aimtomy tho scientists had no hesitation, in. saying that he was a "tall, - powerfully built man of about 21 years of age.'' Subsequent discoveries by the-police have almost Completely confirmed these deductions, reached by the examination of a few charred bones. The only thing that tho detectives had to work upon was a key numbered 784MV12774, made by.au English firm. The assistance of Scotland Yard was invoked, and the makers of the key w&re traced. Tho local agents wore then discovered, and it was found that the particular key might have beeu issued to a local sporting concern which provided its members with lockers. After further inquiries it; turned out that the particular key was issued some time ago to Sidney James Morrison, 21, captain of the V.M.C.A. basketball team. As Morrison had been absent from his home at Bondi the police were- at once convinced that he was the victim, of the Bungendore tragedy. Nobody seems to be able to explain why Morrison should have gone to Bungendore. According to his brother-in-law his behaviour before he disappeared had been the subject of discussion in his home circle. One night he telephoned to his sister and curtly told her lie was going away. When she asked him to come out and say good-bye he said, "It's no use you talking to me. I'm going." Then, he rang off. Influenced by certain facts that have come into their possession to give a most careful examination of tho sui-j-cido theory, the police have been.guided by parallels both in New South Wales and in Victoria, in each instance a man having shot himself on the edge of a fire, which partly consumed the body. All tho evidence points to Morrison's body having been reduced to a few calcined bones in a fierce fir© that must have raged for some hours. The question has puzzled the police how the fire could have been maintained, assuming that Morrison lit it, and shot himself on the edge of it. Tho very intensity of the fire suggests at first sight that the victim had been either shot or bludgeoned, and his body burned to oblitcruto all traces of the crime. The question arises whether Morrison had petrol or kerosene in his possession which would have given the blaze a longer lite. A fire-blackened tin was found near the edge of the fire, but the flames had destroyed all traces of what it contained.

Morrison's family knows of no reason why Morrison, should have taken his own life. Just before he went away he seemed lonely and dissatisfied with His 30b, • He was of an amiable and father retirjtig- disposition.