SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY: 'THE SLIP OF PAPER WITH THE WRITING ON....' JIMMY DURHAM, SA POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER... THE IMAGES, THE WRITING... UPDATED July 9th 2024

 

...THE TORN SLIP IMAGES...

THE SLIP OF PAPER WITH 

THE WRITING ON....

The words above were spoken by Jimmy Durham in his evidence at the Somerton Man inquest hearing in 1949.

To show what is on the slip, I first removed the black typeset words, they had the effect of taking up your focus when viewing the slip.

Next, I adjusted the colour levels just a little so that the penciled writing that appears on the slip is slightly darker and thus visible against the paler background. If you have an image editor you will be able to enlarge the image or if you have an iPad, iPhone, or tablet you can do the same onscreen enlargement.

I have known this for 10 years and wondered whether anyone would spot it but....

The top image came from the Adelaide Advertiser dated July 3rd. 2014, I think you can download the image from there, it was 300 dpi on the page but you can readily increase the print resolution as I have done to print it out. Increasing the dpi does not affect the quality of the image except when it is printed out which gives it a much finer level of detail.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/has-part-of-the-mysterious-somerton-man-code-been-cracked/news-story/3951eef52092ee56916aeefbc1b7007b

The writing in places is decidedly micro in size, it matches what was found on the code page and also on the Boxall Rubaiyat pages.

I will repeat that there is no doubt that the techniques used here to create and conceal micro written letters and numbers which appear to be code were in use by various intelligence services at the time. The code on the slip is will be hard to group but that is not the case for the code found within the typeset letters.

For followers, you will note that there has been an increased tempo here on the blog and that's no coincidence. The guest post by Peter Davidson forms an important element of the case as you will see over the next few weeks.

Offhand, The slip and the book and the code page all belonged to a 'pianist'...

Here's a copy of the slip produced by Jimmy Durham at the inquest. You will note that you cannot see any of the tiny writing as the only things showing from the slip is just the typeset words.

As you can see below the actual; width of the slip is approximately 46 mm and the height varies but a max of 25 mm. The letter T is around 6 mm in height and 1 mm in width. That puts the micro cod found within each of the typeset letters at approximately 1 mm in height and some down to .6mm in height.

And here's an image of a similar book known as the 'Wells Copy' Jason went to a great deal of trouble in 2009 to find and then scan his copy of the W&T Rubaiyat said to be identical to that found in the car at Glenelg. JEANETTE, hope you got your copy of this book!

  

 
If anyone would like a copy of the Wells Rubaiyat file please message me and I will get one to you. It is a file with all pages which includes the slipcover.

It has been said that the actual slip wasn't shown because the Police didn't want to give away the shape of the torn area that would be found in the book. 

WHEN WAS THE TORN SLIP FOUND? BY WHOM & WHERE?

According to one account, the torn slip was found by the pathologist, Professor John Cleland in June 1949 before the inquest was held. There are unsubstantiated stories that it may have been found much earlier.

It was found rolled up tightly and pushed well down into a fob pocket that was sewn into the inside of the waistband of the trousers the man was wearing when he was found. It was a concealed, secret pocket and according to Gerry Feltus, a common feature in those times.