THE YOUNG CARL WEBB:
The first few months of 2023 will be all about this photograph of the young Carl Webb. Specifically, the focus will be on his left ear.
The reason? The left ear of young Carl Webb and the older Carl Webb photographs is totally different from that of the Somerton Man.
That Carl Webb was NOT the Somerton Man is the only logical conclusion that can be reached.
Here are more images showing the nature of the differences between the two:
You should be able to see that in the case of Young Carl, the outer edge of his left ear is a relatively smooth curve upwards from the point at which the ear lobe joins the side of the jaw. Whereas in the case of the Somerton Man, the lobe is more pronounced and is at an angle not a curve to the side of the jaw.
The highlighted circled areas show the completely different structures of the ears.
Now that we have evidence that Carl Webb cannot be the Somerton Man, with more to come, what are the implications for the case?
Firstly we have to ask a question regarding the Hair samples as indicated in an earlier post on the subject, when, where, and how were the samples that were sent to Dr. Fitzpatrick gathered.
Next, we need to consider the likelihood of contamination from one of the Detectives who assisted Paul Lawson in the construction of the bust.
In my interviews with Paul Lawson, he told me that he had saved samples of the hair from the man of whom he had made the bust and that he had given some of them to Professor Abbott. No mention has been made of that by Professor Abbott that I am aware of.
Firstly we have to ask a question regarding the Hair samples as indicated in an earlier post on the subject, when, where, and how were the samples that were sent to Dr. Fitzpatrick gathered.
Next, we need to consider the likelihood of contamination from one of the Detectives who assisted Paul Lawson in the construction of the bust.
In my interviews with Paul Lawson, he told me that he had saved samples of the hair from the man of whom he had made the bust and that he had given some of them to Professor Abbott. No mention has been made of that by Professor Abbott that I am aware of.
Given that Carl is not the Somerton Man, and if there was no contamination from those who assisted in the making of the bust, then the next question is how did he end up in the morgue?
As part of the research, I have been able to access South Australian Police Reports to the Coroner from 1948 and 1949. These reports list all of the sudden deaths recorded in Adelaide in those two years. Not only that but they report the nature of the deaths.
Police Reports 1948:
Police Reports 1949
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There is much more to be said on this particular matter but that will be for another post.
Some time ago I included a note in one of the posts in which I raised the issue of the absence of any evidence regarding the height of Carl Webb. I think it referred to the fact that when Paul Lawson began his work on the bust, he did not record any measurements specifically he did not record the height of the man. Neither was he formally identified to Paul as being the man the man found on Somerton Beach.
ReplyDeleteTo his credit Pete Bowes dug a little deeper and rightly pointed out that the family of four photograph included Roy Webb, Carl's brother. Roy's army file gives his height which was just over 5 feet 8 inches tall. In the family photograph Roy and Carl appear to be the same height. There are some issues with angles and relative positions of Roy and Carl but I think it's fair to make a reasonably accurate assumption that both men are close to the same height as Pete has done. The Somerton Man's height is given as 5 feet 11 inches.
The evidence of the ear plus the height makes it as certain as it can be that Carl Webb is decidedly not the Somerton Man.
The research on the C Webb crew member on the SS Golden Sun continues, once we have the documents from the US we may well be able to confirm the height of the man.