REEKS' MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 637, 24 January 1914, Page 5

REEKS' MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

LOOKS LIKE FOUL PLAY. STRANGER SUSPECTED. B.v Telegraph..—Press Association.—Copyright London, Thursday. At the inquest on Reeks, a marine engineer, born in Sydney, whose body was found near a disused pit close to Wolverhampton, with three bullet wounds in the head, Thomas Kent, an uncle, identified the body. He stated that Reeks reached England on Saturday from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and intended to obtain a British marine engineer's certificate before returning to Sydney. Reeks spent Saturday with witness at Swinton, near Manchester, and returned to the hotel at Liverpool in the evening. The inquest was then adjourned in order to allow the police to make inquiries'.

The coroner remarked that it was evidently a brutal murder. The jury inspected the scene of the tragedy. Tha body was found in a ditch surrounding a pit. The Bhaft, 200 feet deep, was protected by a high wall. If it was a case of suicide it is surmised that Reeks sat on the wall anticipating that he would fall into the shaft.

The evidence, however; shows that this ia highly improbable. His hat was not found, and the wounds do not show any signs of the flesh having been burnt by powder fired at close range. The pit is being searched for the revolver.

A ticket collector at Wolverhampton recollects two men arriving from Liverpool in the early hours of Tuesday, and he believes one was Reeks. The police have a full description of the dress and appearance of the companion, who was aged about 30, and it is believed came from Chicago. The Liverpool police are endeavouring to trace this man, who booked for Canada by a liner which sailed during the week. If he be a passenger, wireleas instructions will be sent to secure his detention.

Mrs Kent, wife of Thomas Kent, states that there was no reason for Reeks going to Wolverhampton. He showed his relatives Borne paper money on Saturday- He was then in the best of health and spirits. Reeks' mother was a Southport woman, and his grandmother is still living at Swinton.

A booking clerk in the London and North-western station at Wolverhampton states that on Tuesday night a man presented a voucher and booked a passage on the Grampian. The man's manner was agitated His descrpition tallies with that of Reek's companion. The Grampian sailed on Wednesday, and is due at St. John's on the 30th. A wireless message has been dispatched to have the man detained.

FATHER IN SYDNEY

Sydney, Friday. Mr Walter Reeks, a well-known Sydney naval architect, believes there is little doubt that the man murdered in England is his sun, Kent Reeks, especially as the cabled statement mentions that be was visiting some relatives named Kent. The son left Sydney three years ago. snd was an engineer on the steamer Saxonia. The father understood that his son was to be in Liverpool last week. Owing to the discrepancy in the Christian name, he has abled for further information.

FURTHER PARTICULARS,

SEARCH FOR VICTIM'S FRIEND. Re-eived this day, 8.30 a.m. London, Friday. The newspapers continue to give prominence to the Reek's mystery in Staffordshire. The police state Reeks travelled from Canada under an assumed name. His shoes are bo scratched as to suggest the body was dragged to the pit by bis overcoat. The police are coming to the conclusion the crime was not the work of a single person. It is suggested bloodhounds should be used to trace the murderers. The cartridge caseß found near the body are of an old pattern, being filed to fit the modern weapon. Experts say the cartridges were made abroad. The police are searching for Reek's companion, T. H. Ramsden, of Chicago. They appeared to be close friends and Rannden apparently went to Leeds on Monday and Reeks farewelled him at the station.