The article states that he was smuggled out aboard a ship to Australia which may tie into some large transactions at an Australian Bank.
As most will know, I have my views on the identity of the Somerton Man but that does not mean we should stop looking.
Even in this case, the issue of a photograph has arisen, this time we have a total absence of a photograph of any kind at least for now. What we do have though is a man going missing with communist party funds within the right time frame.
Here' a photo found by PeteDavo, this man may be related to our missing Walter Ashton, his name is Matthew Walter Ashton, he passed away in 1922. Our Walter Ashton was born in 1907:
A number of articles mentioning the disappearance of Walter have been uncovered, still no sign of a photograph but there is a mention of him being seen in Australia.
Keep up the great work PeteDavo, this is a quality lead, and here's hoping the additional searching that I know you are doing, will turn something up. For the record, there was tentative identification of the widely distributed photograph made by a man who was in prison in NZ at the time and he believed he recognised him. Just maybe a Walter Ashton photo will turn up!
Found an article in the NZ press: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19491017.2.31?end_date=31-12-1950&items_per_page=10&phrase=0&query=Walter+Ashton&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA.rev&start_date=01-01-1839
ReplyDeleteIt seems that in October 1949, there was still no sign of Walter, he was one of 5 men in New Zealand who had gone missing or had died by poisoning or shotting or just disappeared in the previous 3 years.
Yet there is another article earlier that year, April 1949, that doesn't mention Waletrs disappearance but his removal from office:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19490422.2.11?end_date=31-12-1950&items_per_page=10&page=2&phrase=0&query=Walter+Ashton&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA.rev&start_date=01-01-1839
Nothing else on the case as yet, there is apparently a full description of the man in the NZ Police Gazette so that's next on the list of things to do.