GRUESOME FIND

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2984, 9 January 1926, Page 3

GRUESOME FIND

THIRTY-YEAR-OLD SKELETON. Greymouth, Jan, 4. Portions of a skeleton were found by Mr. J. Dick, of Reefton, in a lonely thicket of bush on his land hear Golden Point, Reefton. They are at present in thee ustody of the Reefton police. The skull is broken in several places and the ribs, arm bones, and other larger bones are missing. In the opinion of Reefton medical men parts of the skeleton have been exposed to the weather for over 30 years. Nearby was found a razor, a pair of rusty scisors, spectacle glasses, and the soles of a pair of boots. The discovery of the skeleton has uncovered what may be an untold romance or pitiful story. Writing to the Star this evening a correspondent says: “About 35 years ago, when Conn’s creek, Waimangaroa, near Westport, was in its heyday as a goldmining centre, a sensation was caused by the reported discovery of a very large nugget. It appeared that a ‘lone digger’ had arrived in Waimangaroa from the hinterland of Denniston, bringing with him a gold, nugget, variously reported as weighing from 51b to 151 b. As was usual at that period, all details were jealously kept secret, and very little real information regarding the value of the find, and none at all regarding the location, became public. That the big find had been made was evidenced to the local folk by the fact that the lucky digger held ‘open house’ at the local hotel for a week, besides supplying all and sundry free with cigarettes and tobacco. Some weeks later the digger disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived, for none knew him or whence he came.

“It was common talk on the diggings at that time that various parties had intended to keep the digger under close observation, so as to ascertain where he had made his valuable discovery. Whether they did so, and with what result, has never transpired, but so far as I know, he has not been heard of since. A report gained cuirency that he was murdered in the hills. The report was generally discredited as one of the numerous sensational ‘yarns’ which were eagerly lapped iip by those suffering from the ‘gold fever.’ ' Experienced diggers were firmly of opinion that the Another lode’ of all the alluvial gold found in Conn’s creek and at Addison’s flat would be found somewhere in the ranges behind Westport. It is just possible that the ‘lone digger’ had stumbled on the lode and kept his secret, and had lost his life in guarding it.”