MEN WHO DISAPPEARED.

Shannon News, 2 March 1926, Page 1

MEN WHO DISAPPEARED.

NEVER HEARD OP AGAIN. MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCES. / During the last few weeks, several cases have been reported to the/ police of people who have disappeared. Some of them have appeared again and what has happened to others is known when dead bodies have been discovered, but there are every now and\again cases of men who simply walk out of their homes and .are never heard of again. For the relatives in such cases, the feeling of uncertainty is almost worse than absolute proof of death. Income cases the disappeared may be due to -sudden loss of memory. There have been instances where a man has wandered away, completely forgotten his identity, and only recovered memory some years later. In the past history of Auckland, says the Star, there have been several unexplained disappearances. Quite Recently when excavating the foundations for a building in the vicinity of Qucen-st. the workmen encountered the skeleton of a man, upright, in what had, at one time been the mud of Ligar Canal, which used to meander up'the gully where the main thoroughfare of the city is now located. An old resident called to mind that in the very early days of Auckland, a man had disappeared and was never heard of- again. It was thought that the skeleton in the mud explained the matter. About forty years ago, a man disappeared from the neighbourhood of Avondale. He- was a foreigner : named Rudolph Ritter,and was living in a cottage with a young relative. One morning as the young man was getting breakfast ready his uncle called out that the hors'es had strayed in the direction of Onehunga. The nephew saw his uncle walk off that way, with a bridle over his arm, and that was the the police Were searching to sec if he had met with a mishap and died, in the scrub, 'but nothing was ever discovered to give the slightest clue to what had become of the man.

' Another equally singular case was that of a young man who was managing a branch business for a Queen Street firm in Karangahape Road. He was seen one day on the wharf, watching the passengers, go on board a mail steamer.. That he did not go by the steamer was proved by a friend wlio walked up the wharf with him after the vessel had sailed. Still «,ho young man had utterly disappeared. His employers found that the accounts of the branch were all in order, and the police learned thatjhe young man had a good sum to his credit in the Savings Jjank, so there was no apparent reason why he should go away. As his remains were never found, the mystery still remains unsolved. Within the last few years a business I man of Auckland who had retired and been living in the country, went out one morning and never returned to his wife 'and family. An examination of his affairs showed he was not in any financial difficulty, and there seemed to be no reason whatever for his leaving home. That occurred a few years ago, but from the time he left hom'e no trace has ever been found of that man, and his relatives are still left in a state of uncertainty as to whether he is alive or dead. • , ;