A GRUESOME FIND.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 September 1923, Page 2

A GRUESOME FIND.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIAtIOJC. MISSING MAN’S BODY” FOUND LONDON, Sept. 13. A curious link ih the case, of Ernest Dyer, Hit <*x*Jiii‘miiii, who was simt ih .1 ■Scarborough hotel, oil Nor, fltk., 1922, is revealed by a gruesome discovery at Dyer’s former training establishment at Kenley, ill Surrey, where detect.', ei dug up the body of Eric Toombs from a cesspool which had Ijoen filled with ten feet of rubbish and concrete.

Toombs was young ex-officer, and the son of a Sydenham clergyman. lie was Dyer’s partner, aild visiteU Kenley frequently from London. He had been missing for nearly two years. There are nudic-ations that the body bad been a long time in the cesspool, but it was identified by the father and also bv a man formerly employed at the establishment. Toombs’ head was revere 1 }' battered and wrapped ro ind '- ith his own overcoat. It is recalled that the men were employed in, filling two cesspr/.-'s with cn Crete, and that the thud ic.'jpo.'i in which the body .was foun t ' as lii'od in by Dyer himself. The “Westminster Gazette” states that Toombs’ disappearance wis not reported to the police till a month ago, when his father, from enquiries made in tlie neighbourhood, became conduced that his son’s body would bo found thereabouts. A DREAM FIND. (“Sydney Sun” Cables). LONDON, Sep. 14. The finding of Toomb’s body followed a dream by his father that his son bad been buried at Kenly. A MURDER MYSTERY. LONDON, Sep. 14. It has been denfinitely established that Toomb’s (cabled oil the 13tli) was shot in the back of the head before he was put into the well. A bullet hole was found at the back of the skull. The police believe the murder was committed about April 27th, 1922, which was roughly the time when Toombs mysteriously disappeared, and Dyer’s agitation was noticeable. On one occasion someone said to Dyer:—“l believe Toombs lias met with foul play. I am going to Scotland Yard.”

Dyer replied:—“ If you do, I may as well blow my brains out.”.

Toombs’s father, who is an elderly clergyman, says ho discovered £1,350 was standing to his son’s credit in a London bank. This had been transferred to Paris and drawn out. Tho father’s theory is that after his son’s death, Dyer obtained possession of the dead man’s passport, suit and papers, and impersonated him, collecting £1,350 standing to his credit at the bank. We have discovered that Dyer imitated our l>oy in tone, voice, use of his name, and cut of his clothes.

On November 16th., a well-dressed young man, who said he had been : u officer in the armoured car service, and gave hsi name as J. Fitzsimmons, of Carlisle, was shot, dead uc a Sca*borough hotel. He had just- finished luncheon when three detectives called at tlie hotel, and followed him l.pstaiis. He then produced a revolver, ''hereupon the detectives made a-da.li for him, and he fell. The revolver went off, a bullett striking him in the body, and he died a few mniutes later. It was said tlie detectives had bc-cn in search of him in connection with an agency he was running. A. few Jays later it was stated that he ha J been identified ns Ernest Dyer, aged alicut 30. In Ills possession was a passport made out in the name of Tongc, and military discharge papers, slicwi-.g I nn to have been an ex-officer. Kenley, where the body retened re. in the above message* was found :s a pleasant little village four miles beyond Croydon, on tho road from London to Reigate.