14 HOURS & 40 MINUTES ...
SOMERTON BEACH
NOVEMBER 30th / DECEMBER 1st
1948
UPDATE 25th February 2022
See items 1 (C), 2 (A), 2 (B), 2 (C) below.
A SUMMATION OF THE WITNESS EVIDENCE
& EVENTS THAT NIGHT
This is a summation of the evidence as given by John Lyons, Constable John Moss, Gordon Kenneth Strapps, and Olive Constance Neill. All were witnesses at the Coroner's inquest into the death of the Somerton Man. The timeline below covers the 14 hours and 40 minutes between the first sighting of the Somerton Man's body and the pronouncement extinction of life by Dr. Bennett. The summation includes relevant other known events that took place within those hours, as well as events, thought to be probable and/or possible.
1. November 30th 1948
(A) 7 pm.: John Bain Lyons along with his wife, see a man lying on the shore against the small sea wall which was supporting his head and shoulders and within 3 feet of the steps opposite the Crippled Children's Home on the Esplanade at Somerton. The man's legs were crossed.
They had walked their regular evening stroll from their home in Whyte Street to The Broadway at Glenelg and noticed him on their return. Their home was an approximate 9-minute walk from the place where the man was seen.
They had walked their regular evening stroll from their home in Whyte Street to The Broadway at Glenelg and noticed him on their return. Their home was an approximate 9-minute walk from the place where the man was seen.
He did not see the man's face that evening.
Mr. Lyons estimated that he was at a distance of some 15 to 20 yards from the man when he saw him and did not see his face. He noticed that the man raised his arm to its fullest extent. and then it dropped.
(B) 6.20 /7.30 pm: Gordon Kenneth Strapps along with Miss Olive Neill, arrived at Somerton Beach on his motorbike. He parked the machine and they walked down the steps opposite the Crippled Children's home. After 5 minutes they took a seat on the landing by the wall and he thought they were about 10 yards behind him and to the South East side of the man.
He noticed the man but could only see him from the waist downwards.
He noticed the man was wearing brown striped trousers which he thought were from a suit but he did not see the jacket.
He remarked to Miss Strapps that he thought it odd that the man was lying still with so many mosquitos around. They left at approximately 8pm, it was dusk and the street lights were on, they could see about 20 yards at that time. During the time they were there the man did not move, he was on his back the whole time. He did not make a sound. He thought that he may have noticed a change in his position. His legs were stretched straight out, his left leg had been drawn up.
Miss Neill thought that the man may have been dead. She saw no difference in his position from the time they arrived to the time they left. She thought the man's hand was in a funny position. She had seen Mr. Lyons in the court that morning but had not seen him on the evening of the 30th November. There were not very many people around that night, there were some down at the water's edge. There was a man up on top of the road (The Esplanade?).
Miss Neill thought that the man may have been dead. She saw no difference in his position from the time they arrived to the time they left. She thought the man's hand was in a funny position. She had seen Mr. Lyons in the court that morning but had not seen him on the evening of the 30th November. There were not very many people around that night, there were some down at the water's edge. There was a man up on top of the road (The Esplanade?).
(C) 10.10 pm. (Port Adelaide) Low Tide, 2 ft 4 inches, please note that the Port Adelaide low tide is generally about 4 inches higher than that which occurs at Glenelg
Between this low tide time, which approximates the time a man was supposedly seen carrying another man along the beach near Somerton......
2. December 1st. 1948
(A) 1.40 am. Dr Bennett later that morning at 9.40 am, on pronouncing the life of the man found on Somerton Beach, extinct, said that the man had been dead for 8 hours. Further, the autopsy report discussed the lividity at the back of the neck and shoulders, this lividity would only normally occur when the body was lying fairly flat. The Somerton Man had his head and shoulders propped up against the low sea wall. It was said that whilst unusual, it could be a natural occurrence.
And this high tide time, the Somerton Man, according to the autopsy report, consumed food, potato. There was no mention of a pasty as was later to be reported.
(B) 4.34 am. (Port Adelaide) High Tide, 9 ft. Please note that the Port Adelaide high tide is generally 4 inches higher than that which occurs at Glenelg which is approximately 2 km North of Somerton Beach
(C) According to extensive investigations of the tide times on Wednesday, December 1st. 1948 undertaken by myself and with the advice and views of Dr John Luick, tidal expert, the high tide that day probably reached the wall against which the Somerton Man was later found to be propped. Given that his time of death was estimated as 2 am. This means that his body, which was said by Constable Moss not to have been in the water, must have been placed there AFTER the high tide had started to recede.
He did not recognise the man as he had not seen his face the night before, nor could he recognise his clothes as he wasn't close enough the night before. However, he said that it was definitely the same person.
(D) 6.45 am: Constable John Moss, as a consequence of a telephone call, left Brighton Police Station and proceeded to Somerton Beach (A 7-minute drive). He saw a body of a man who was lying on his back with his feet towards the West. His head was resting against the wall. There was a portion of a cigarette held between his cheek and his coat lapel.
He examined the body and there was no undue disturbance of the sand.
He remembered that it was hot that morning.
It seems like it was closer to 7 am when Constable Moss inspected the body of the man at the beach.
He conveyed the body to the hospital where life was pronounced extinct by Dr. Bennett at 9.40 am, the estimated time of death was 8 hours earlier approximately 2 am.
FOR CONSIDERATION:
At no time during the inquest nor in any of the Police documents was the issue of tides for that day discussed. The tide on the morning of December 1st, 1948 was the highest tide of the year at 9 feet.
The issue of tides was first investigated by this blog and tidal expert Dr John Luick, read here...
There is a time issue that suggests that it was not Mr. Lyons who called the Brighton Police. It seems possible that the person who called the Police was the mother of a Victorian man, Roger Todd who came forward in August 2021 although he nominates before sunrise around 7 am as the time he saw the body when sunrise in Adelaide was shortly before 6 am on December 1st.
The question is, if Mr. Lyons did not see the man's face nor recognise the clothes from the night before, how could he say that this was definitely the same person?
The last word belongs to Coroner Cleland:
I have been discussing the circumstances on the footing that the body found on the morning of' the 1st December was that of the man seen in the evening of the 30th November. But there is really no proof that this was the case.
None of the three witnesses who speak of the evening of the 30th saw the man'sface, or indeed any part of his body that they can identify. If the body of the deceased was not that of the man mentioned and if the body had been taken to the place where it was found, the difficulties disappear.
If this speculation, for it is nothing more, should prove to be correct, the original assumption that it was the deceased who left the suitcase at the luggage room, bought the rail and bus tickets removed the clothing tabs, and put the printed words "Tamam Shud" in a pocket, would require revision.
The evidence is too inconclusive to warrant a finding.
There is no evidence as to who the deceased was. Although he died during the night of the 30th November-1st December, I cannot say where he died. I would be prepared to find that he died from poison, that the poison was probably a glucoside and that it was not accidentally administered; but I cannot say whether it was administered by the deceased himself or by some other person.
I, therefore, adjourn this inquest sine die.
"Until the circumstances exclude the possibility that the deceased died through the act of someone other than himself, the possibility of murder must remain under consideration..."
<<< YOU WOULDN'T READ ABOUT IT >>>
Showing at the Mayfair Cinema, Adelaide, December 1st 1948. JAMES MASON in 'I Met A Murderer' (1939) I wonder whether it was a follow-up showing to his 1947 film noir, 'The Upturned Glass'?