KITCHENER’S BODY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3523, 12 August 1926, Page 1

KITCHENER’S BODY.

MR, POWER’S STORY OF THE DISCOVERY.

IDENTIFICATION MARKS,

' London, August 8. Mr. Frank Power in his story of the finding of the body he claims to be Lord Kitchener’s says: “Sufficient evidence was forthcoming to show that such a body had been discovered by a fisherman, who had taken part of the clothing and hung it in his hut. ‘With these things in mind I started for Norway, taking with me a coffin made by the -Government for Kitchener before the first search Tor bis body, immediately after the accident. Upon my arrival I began making a prolonged investigation at all the cemeteries where bodies had been buried which had been recovered, from the sea.

“At Farsund, Crakero, Fedje and elsewhere, after careful search I discovered a grave to which’ local statements and other evidence pointed as that of Kitchener. I received valuable assistance from two men who had found the body and gave it temporary burial beneath stones ashore, from where it was afterwards transferred in a wooden casket to the cemetery. These men have signed their names to their statement for me. The grave had neither cross nor stone to mark it. BODY FOUND ON THE SHORE. “The substance of the conversation with the men L. .Johanson and H. Iversen, was that during the war they occasionally found bodies on the shore of south-western Norway, Egersund and Hidra, south of Egersund. They found the body of a tall man, terribly bruised about the head, .and his uniform was much torn. Johanson, who saved a piece of it, said it was that of a very high officer. Johanson also saved the ribbons, but had thrown them away within a few yards of the spot where the body was found. The remains of the British sailor from the Hampshire was officially acknowledged on a sailor’s tombstone. At other points on the coast other bodies of sailors from the Hampshire were found.” CLEAR MARKS OF IDENTIFICATION. Mr. Power stated that he was depending on very clear marks of identification discovered, when he examined the body, as follows: “The fine stature; the mark of an old wound on the skull, which cor responds with one Kitchener was known to have received; his dental work, which eorrespondls with a description from Kitchener’s dentist, In certain places there were scraps of fabric still clinging to the body, with scraps of braid and ribbon, which check with the description of Kitchener’s tailor.” 'MR. POWER’S PLANS. “My Anal plans are naturally incomplete. Upon arrival to-day of the body in London, it will be met with all due respect and reverence and conveyed to a suitable mortuary. The coffin will be covered with a large Union Jack sent to me for the purpose by a titled lady. I shall immediately notify the accredited representatives of the British Government that the remains of Kitchener are in my possession, and are at the disposal of the nation. The remains., can be those of no other high officer on the Hampshire. I liavo determined that by the elimination of the only member of Kitchener’s staff who was not found and buried, he was Leslie Robertson, who was a much shorter and smaller man than the Field Marshil. Kitchener’s tailor is prepared to vouch for the cloth on the body as being absolute proof of identity, apart from other incontestable evi dence.