A HARBOR MYSTERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1920, Page 5

A HARBOR MYSTERY.

MURDER OR SUICIDE? THE STORY OF THE MISSING £IOO NOTE. The circumstances surrounding the death of William Henry .Warwick Sim, an Australian trooper, whose body was found in the Auckland Harbor, together with the facts relating to a £IOO note said to have been in the deceased's possession prior to his death, have been further investigated by Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M.

Oscar Paul Fairburn, now in custody on a charge of stealing the £IOO note, was present at the proceedings, and was represented by Mr. Graham. Evidence was given by Ada Lunnton.n Salvation' Army sister, (hat when Sim first went to stay at the People's Palace he tendered a .£K)O note for witness to hold against his board, but she declined to take it. Sim said he was KUiferihg from shell shock, and seemed to be brooding. i

Replying to Mr. Graham, witness said that Sim was very vacant, and had every appearance of suffering from shell shock. Jilnh Ferguson, another Salvation Army officer, said Sim wanted a bed, and she refused him on account of the house being full Shortly afterwards he went through, to the residential portion of the establishment, and shortly afterwards a complaint was rleceived that lie had occupied a room and refused to leave. Witness had to have him ejected by the police about 10 p.m. Witness again saw him pass the premises. He appeared to ' have been drinking. James Simpson, a porter at the People's Palace, said that deceased came to the place in a motor car and took away his belongings. About !i) pan. witness srtw him trying the doors of the bedrooms, and, when questioned, he said he was looking for a friend. Then he went into one engaged room, and, remarking, "This will do me," lay down 011 the lied. Witness fetched Ii constable, told him the man was behaving in a peculiar manner, and that he believed lie had £ICO on him- The constable asked him if he was suffering from shell shock, and the deceased replied he thought he was. Later he left with the constable. When Sim was looking round the rooms witness asked him where he had taken his luggage, and he said he did not know where he had been. Witness was of the opinion that the man had shellshock. He might have been drinking, but he did not show many signs of it. Harry Dunk, manager of a boardinghouse, deposed fa> finding seme Juggfiffe. in one of h~U rooms at !) a.m. on the 11th. This he learned had been left by a man earlier in the evening. He never saw the owner, but on the ISth, saw the account of the death of Sim, and rang up the police to inform them that he had luggasre inscribed with that name. Sim never occupied the room on the nirht of the lltli. Other witnesses called stated that deceased conducted himself in a very strange (almost insane) manner.