THE LATE R. W. WARDILL.

Evening Star, Issue 3302, 19 September 1873, Page 3

THE LATE R. W. WARDILL.

(From the Melbourne Papers,)

FINDING OF THE BODY

A groat sensation was caused in Melbourne by the news that the body of R. W. Wardill, who disappeared on the night of Sunday, the 17th ult., immediately after confessing that he had embezzled L 7,000 belonging to the Victoria Sugar Company, of which he was accountant, had been found in the Yarra. The last time Wardill was seen alive he went with Mr Richardson, secretary of the com- 1 pany. to see his wife, intending, it was believed, to give himself up to justice ; but ho got out of the house, which was off Runt road, South Yarra, by tne back way, and left a note stating that he was going to drown himself in the Yarra. His footsteps were traced in the direction of the river, but no further clue was discovered, and since his disappearance there have been innumerable stories in circulation respecting his fate, none of them having the least foundation in fact. It was said he had gone to Callao, had been taken on board a vessel at Cape Schanck, which had been seen hanging about the coast for days, and that he was travelling about on horseback up the country with a bag of sovereigns in his possession The circumstances which led up to the finding of Wardill’s body are as follows :—On Tuesday forenoon last, Mr Gardiner, thr f< rryman at the Punt road, informed Captain that about half-past eight o’clock on Sunday evening, the I.7th ult., he and hb wife were disturbed by the barking of their dog. He went out and asked if anybody wanted to be taken over. There was no reply, but about a minute afterwards he heard aloud splash in the water. He ran to the spot from which the sound proceeded, which was about twenty yards from bis land-ing-place, and saw bubbles rising to the surface. After this, all was still. It seems strange that Mr Gardiner kept this knowledge to himself for the last fortnight. It is but just to him to state that he gives as a reason for his reticence that a German friend of bis is in the habit of taking an evening plunge near the landing and that dogs frequently take the water at the spot indicated. Captain Standish, acting on this intelligence, gave orders to have the river dragged near the locality indicated. Sergeant Mooney and two constables were engaged on Tuesday and yesterday in dragging, and although they did not find the body it i« almost certain that one of the hooks of the drags came in contact with the clothing o f the deceased, as one of the legs of his trousers tqrn as if with a blunt instrument. Yesterday morning, William Gardiner, the son of the puntsman, actinr under instructions from his father, pushed out in a beat to the spot where the police had been dragging. He there saw the body of a man which just came up and disappeared again. In a few minutes he saw it again, and gave the alarm. A rope was procured, passed round the body, and it was secured to the adjacent landing. The police were immediately communicated with, and Sergeant Mooney and tw® constables arrived, and found standing by the body Mr Richardson, the Secretary of the Sugar Company, and Mr V, L. Cameron, the deceased’s brother-in-law. These gentlemen without hesitation identified the body as that of R. W. Wardill, although the features were swollen and discolored. The appearance of the body at the time it was discovered is accounted for by the supposition that the drags must have partially dislodged it from the hole where it was retained, and that the thunder which was heard early on Thursday morning must have completed the dialedeement. The remains were taken to fhe Morgue at Prince’s Bridge, and as the hews spread, a crowd of persons soon gathered around the building. Actuated by morbid curiosity, raapy sought admittance in the Morgue, but the police only permitted some personal friends of the deceased, and those 'vyho had business, to enter. By these gentlemen th® identification of the remains as those qf the phasing man wqs confirmed. The body apd clothing of the deceased were coyered with a thick coating of tenacious black mud, and it is supposed that when be Jumped into the river he had sunk to the iottom of a hole where the alluvial deposit was very deep, and had been held in its grasp till the drags disturbed the body. When found he was clothed in a paget coat and waistcoat of dark oloth, brown tweed trousers, and double soled lace-up boots. The only articles found on him were a knife, a match-box, and a pair of kid gloves. An inquest on the body will be held to-day. wardill’s diary. “To losses at unlimited, 100 and. polcer, L 2.000.” That such a sura was actually lost, and within the limited compass of a short twelve months, is held to be true beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt. “The apparatus can’t lie,” and Sa’em Scudder, and the methodical manner in which the entries of dates and amounts are set forth ip Ward ill’s diary is proof positive that such losses’were incurred by him. arid' held List’ a silent witness to the cruel murder of “ Weeny Raul,” and the names jotted down in his diary are also as many silent witnesses as to who took part in some of the acts of a tragedy quite as cruel, for it ended in making of a once promising life a terrible wreck, whilst bitter memories and experiences are left to some whose trust and love like a fair idol has been rudely dashed from its pedestal and crushed into mis-shapen fragments. By the “apparatus,” detection came for M‘Cloak ey, and it is held that for the sake of fair play, if for nothing else, the n mes of those who went for high stakes, which has ended in the loss of a human life, should be proclaimed, seeing that it is hardly the thing for him who has gone, to have all the obloquy heaped on his grave, and the living actors to escape scot free, to go, probably, and do likewise with others who have turned the corner of the read to ruin. A very general impression prevails that there should be no secrecy in this matter, and such being oilr opinion, we shall narrowly Watch’ for any bpportripity whffih. Say' arise fot bringing out ip b6ld characrs the names of those whom few, we should imagine—knowing what they know—will be delighted to honor. Already seme of these “ Loo and poker men” are known to us, but the time is hardly ripe enough for full disclosures. HoWever, we may note that of those alluded to, two are on the roll of attorney*! ; one is connected with an old established auctioneering firm, another represents good general piefcantile estabI Usbraent, another is an officer to a local ( governing body, and another is—but under • present circumstances we shall make no

further allusion to him. An impression prevails that the gamblers carried on their reprehensible game at a place of public resort in Collins street, but we think we are correct in stating that the places where Wardill lost L 2,000 within twelve months—play being maintained on Sunday, during the time of public worship, as well as on weekdays—were four in that thoroughfare, and one in Flinder’s street, but of this more anon.