I recently got sent off on a chase by an anonymous commenter “Ayuverdica”, raking through the Australian archives for a certain ‘Thomas Lawrence Keane’ (here, here and here) as a possible identification claim of the Somerton Man. Having then looked at all the evidence, it was clear none of it quite seemed to stack up in the way the commenter claimed: but I decided to publish it anyway (with plenty of provisos).
However, a few days later, what appears to be the same “Ayuverdica” left a comment on Pete Bowes’ blog:
i just made up the thomas lawrence keane thing on the basis he was from charters towers and married to isabella beaumont. i have no evidence beyond that. the guy was cremated in march 26 1949. is it possible that it was a fake cremation? someone elses body? convenient huh
Errm… thanks for that, thanks a lot. *sigh*
What’s more, I’ve had a lot of commenty backchat here from “Minstrel Janet” (another nearly-nameless commenter) who has been leaving a long series of comments saying what a horrible liar Jestyn was, that Jestyn was up to her neck in two murders, etc, etc, though without ever giving any obvious reason why anyone should allege such a thing. I didn’t moderate out her comments, simply because I wanted to know what drove her to say such inflammatory things… but she now claims to have abandoned Cipher Mysteries and moved on to greener forums pastures. I wish her… as tolerant a reception from the next Tamam Shud forum she happens to descend upon. (Good luck, Pete, mate.)
However, I have moderated out a string of other comments from a pair of anonymous commenters (one from New Zealand, one from Australia), who alleged a whole series of ghastly things about Jestyn and her family. Really, there seems to be something about the whole Tamam Shud case that brings out the worst in people – the most bigoted and intolerant, the quickest to condemn, the fastest jump to conclusions from scanty evidence imaginable, all of it at the same time. Why?
Perhaps it comes down to what I called (in my 2004 Masters’ dissertation) “Keatsian uncertainty”. In an 1817 letter, Keats described Shakespeare’s genius as “Negative Capability“, “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason“, which he used to describe the Bard’s near-unique capacity to allow his dramatic characters to remain in a continuous state of uncertainty without feeling any urgent need to resolve their quandaries and dilemmas.
This is also very much like chess, where weaker players when presented with one or more possible captures find it almost impossible to resist the urge to resolve that overwhelming tension by capturing. Shakespeare kept his plays wonderfully interesting, said Keats, by keeping those kinds of internal tensions in play: for me, I think this exhibits both a very modern kind of epistemology and a very modern kind of story-telling. Even now, how many writers have the strength of resolve not to scratch those itches, to release the reader from those dilemmas that keep the protagonists internally caged?
Perhaps what these Somerton Man commenters are displaying is this same all-too-human urge to jump to resolution from whatever evidence is at hand, simply as a way of resolving those unbearable tensions any way they can. But for me, this is more a symptom of intellectual cowardice, when in fact finding a way of living and working with such uncertainties – however difficult that may at first seem – is the difficult, brave, but ultimately right choice.
For example: right now, we don’t know whether Jestyn was utterly complicit; or just as much a victim as the Unknown Man; or somewhere in between; or possibly even entirely unconnected. So, how does arbitrarily “deciding” which of these was true make that whole difficult situation any more manageable? How does replacing an jarring uncertainty with an irritable lie help anybody, exactly?
Anyway, if you haven’t already thrown your hands up in despair at the difficult thought of staying undecided under pressure, I think you will probably enjoy this 2010 article from Cultural Studies Review by Ruth Balint called “The Somerton Man: An Unsolved History“.
Balint documents how, as she came to grasp the Somerton Man case, she felt herself being drawn into different speculative narratives, even though the evidence doesn’t support it. As a long-time fan of historian Carlo Ginzburg’s work, I also found it interesting to see Balint bring his position to bear on the Tamam Shud evidential stack.
But perhaps it’s not such a good idea to give imagination a free rein at this point in the research. Even 65 years after the event (whatever the event was), I still suspect we have yet to do the basic factuality proper justice: and so it is arguably too early in the unfolding historical process to point the big guns of Ginzburgian imaginative reconstruction at this cold case. This isn’t peasant magic in medieval Friuli, guys, sorry.
I guess the trickiest question for historians about the case is simply this: is Tamam Shud genuinely a cold case yet, or is it still luke-warm? Really, at what stage does reconstructive speculation become fair game, and not just a way of treading smartly on (living) people’s toes?
Thanks Nick, handling mugs is easy with a background of surfing blogs ..
http://petebowes.com/
We knock ’em off by the score here ..
I’ve been poking around from time to time in libraries, and in online archives, in relation to this case in the hope that one day, something interesting might pop up. (It hasn’t yet, unfortunately, although I did have the pleasure of managing to identify Jestyn and her husband before their names became public.)
However, in the couple of years, the case really seems to have brought out the conspiracy theorists, the delusional, the abusive and, frankly, the really, really irritating.
Thanks for publishing this post – it’s great to see some common sense and decency prevailing. Wading through the junk and looking for intelligent, robust analysis is becoming increasingly difficult, quite apart from the whole ethical issue commenters getting off on sledging a woman we know very little about.
Well put.
Pingback: nick pelling doesn’t know what’s (s)hitting him | the somerton man. the tamam shud mystery
Well I tend to believe, after all the recent postings and events here, that some people know more than they’re willing to reveal. What’s the point of blabbering accusations on a cipher-devoted page about obscure events taken place half a century ago? You could troll or propagandize for things way more simple and straightforward.
On the other hand, I think that the commentators aren’t just enraged due to false or sketchy historical data they managed to stumble across the Web, their writings seem to be driven by something of more personal nature.
A far fetched deduction would be that these – geographically homogeneous – people could have caught whisperings and rumors, the kind one does not find in birth certificates or digitalized newspapers, which have brewed for decades in Jestyn’s family neighborhood and – itchy as hell – make their way to the surface now and then.
Nevertheless, at such – freezing – cold cases, you never know where you’ll ultimatelly find the crucial part of the puzzle. All this, venomous indeed, but still vivid interest in the story could as well lead to something. Beggars, can’t be choosy.
Nick,
Thought-provoking post. To regard the new sub-genre within history forums less as a form of history than of theatre strikes me as new and very perceptive, though an implication of your post, in addition to its thesis.
Just as Shakespeare shows no uncertainty about when his dramatis personae will be present, or absent, nor what they will say, to what result – so we’ve seen presented the Taman-shud ‘characters’ and some firmly alleged connections and deeds.
Not just simple novel writing, nor simple objectification – maybe ‘thing-theory’ has more explanatory power than I thought
PS – just curiosity, not complaint. Do you know why the filter refuses some web-site addresses?
So, the upshot of this latest conversation should probably result in the observation “Let the dead remain dead, along with the ‘mystery’ of their death.”. (?)
PS: The “yellow press” is still alive and thriving via the WWW. I don’t know which is worse, the paparrazi or the televised evening news programs. I haven’t watched television in over 20 years. So, Nick, I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog. I will continue to enjoy participating in the various topics you introduce, even though several of your correspondents seem to believe that they are “co-moderators” on your behalf.
Sincerely, 🙂
bdid1dr: the *actual* upshot is that I really wish people would stop jumping to hasty, false, conclusions based on nothing more than prejudice, impatience, weak-mindedness, and shallow, hopeful readings of misread evidence.
Kaizokugari: unfortunately, I’m the one that’s had to read all the offensive and abusive invective aimed at Jestyn and others: and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the optimism about the human race and condition that you present is not at all mirrored in those attempted posts.
Really, the probability that any of these trolls has any known connection with the Somerton Man or that they genuinely know something of value is so close to zero as to make no odds.
Diane: for trolls, they are the theatre while we are the bit parts tricked into doing a turn on their stage. It’s almost certainly an old metaphor, but it is rather nice all the same. 😉
Helen: “sledging” is such a lovely word, reminds me of Merv Hughes and biscuits. 😉
But there’s something a bit wrong with things when people actively troll your site with stuff eked from Australian BDM databases. All the same, I should probably take that all as a kind of back-handed compliment, as if I’d just been heckled by a history professor for failing to mention Annales historians in my last eight Cipher Mysteries posts. 🙂
There is another line of investigation that might assist in determining the identity of Mr Keane, one that an old man of about 88 alerted me to after I put an ad in the Sydney Morning Herald last month. It might be my last chance, given that Mr Keane may have been a from any of the Allied nations.
My problem is, if I drop another hint it of it to you detectives you will beat me to it, so I’ll just motor along. What we want to look at is buried in the NAA archives, deep and dusty.
Nick and company –
Makes me wonder just where I’ve been all my life. Sixty-something years, mostly in Australia, and I’d never heard of the Taman-shud mystery until I read about it here.
I think you have hit on an aspect of human nature. A related behavior would be how people latch onto conspiracy theories to try and mentally balance cause and effect. Oswald was a nobody so he couldn’t have killed Kennedy, etc.
I have aired my personal opinion on the matter, which is still in the air due to sources I cannot validate.
I respect your attempts to encourage a more intellectual attitude and a more civil discourse.
With respect Mr. T. Anderson, an enquiring mind need not have any intellectual attributes at all – curiosity is enough.
I have more.
Pete: good luck with that NAA lead! Though (in my experience) there’s normally only ever a 10-15% chance you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in any given archive… so stay flexible and alert, and who knows what you will emerge with!
Ten to fifteen eh Nick, in my language that’s almost a dead certainty ..
i have been wandering over this case and trying to know more and more about this case . I need to go deep in details with someone who had investegated it before . I would really like to have a chat to a person who is also interested in this case
Shantnu: as a very good starting point, I’d recommend ordering yourself a copy of Gerry Feltus’ book “The Unknown Man” via his web site: http://www.theunknownman.com/ The second thing to do is to read the inquest reports for yourself… I’ll be posting about these at some point in the next few days.
Keanic was an alternate capital printed version of Keane on a tie, but does not gel in any way to the other two Keane/kean names on a singlet and washing bag, also found in a suitcase left at the railway rest..cloakroom on 30th November,’48. Only difference being that the ink seemed a little blurred, so as to create a final ‘ic’ appearance, as opposed to an ‘E’ and this has been subject of some considerable debate over the years. Det. R.L. Leane, somehow or other had sought the opinion of an Adelaide Egyptian, Moss Keipitz? who thought the name to be of Bulgarian or Czech origin, though he confused things by tossing in an English pronunciation of Quanic, then offering that the assumed ‘T’ initial was more likely to be an Arabic ‘J’ of all things. I’ve not been able to chase down any similar looking letter in any Arabic or any other alphabet, nor for that matter have I seen the name Keipitz in any NAA or Trove list which, had it been taken down correctly, should have been replicated somewhere. I’m really somewhat at a loss as to why, Det. Leane decided to send off his request for assistance with the aberrated name to C.I.S in Canberra, knowing full well, from his knowledge of other Keane/Kean garments, that Keanic was a likely substitute. Also he did not mention any name apart from T. Keane in his coronial testimony and likewise there was no reference to any Keanic in his 1977 Stewart Littlemore interview.
A tad ambiguous, even contradictory on my part perhaps. In spite of it all, I do suspect that the Keanic input might be classified as specious at best, along with similar evidence gathering anomalies like Hugh Pozza’s feather stitched Yankee jacket and Frank Kennedy’s off handed Taman Shud interpretation etc. I’m thinking that Det. Leane, bored to tears in his new supervisory deskbound role, perhaps fancied that he might get away with, “The no stone left unturned, that got to Keipitz Moss” ploy ie. By instrument in writing to a respected higher authority ie. CIS (soon to be ASIO), he could thereby infer that SM was in all likelihood, an itinerant suicidal Balt and as thorough investigations had come up with no better alternative, the matter might better be placed in their hands for disposal. Indeed his request forwarded through channels to Canberra on the Keipitz claim, around the time of the inquest, may well have been precursor to such recommendation for winding up Sapol’s involvement in the Somerton case as it stood. This all came to light just prior to alleged chance finding of of the TS slip, followed by the equally
miraculous discovery and messy handover deal concerning the ROK, which did prolong Sapol’s involvent, though only until late late July ’49 to all intents and purposes.
Inspector Edward Richards, who responded in the negative to Det. Sgt. Lean’s 29/4/49 request for Commonwealth Police intervention into Adelaide’s as yet unidentified “Cheechsolvakian…”, had been on special detachment with Sapol SB during the war years as acting Airforce Provost Marshall. He was involved in general crime of a mostly service related nature, though he was actually shot whilst apprahending a civilian offender in ’44. There’s little doubt that Ted Richards (to be Compol Commissioner), would have been well known to Det. Sgt. Leane, so favour seeking memoranda between the old mates in their respective post war roles, would pass as routine inter-force correspondence.
I guess it might be a fair question put, to ask what the relationship was between Sgt. Leane and his claimed worldly informant Moss Keipitz. Not just your everyday cunning linguist, but also a race identification expert it seems. In the letter to his pal Ted at the nations’s capital, Lional mentions having given his man visitation rights to do a physical examination of SM at West Terrace mortuary.
In a bit of researching of my own for once; Whilst failing to trace hide nor hair of any Adelaide entities named Keanic or Keipitz, I did happen to come by one a little similar in the form of Kapitz, which Det. Leane may have heard of, and trolled from recent press features on wartime attrocities. The name was that of an allied forces, Commander-in-Chief, of a later well press covered campaign of 1942. It involved Australian Gull Force, many of whom were captured and summarily executed for their stubborn resistance to Japanese imperiality. The name is not at all deemed uncommon in Europe or America as far as names go, being ranked in the top million. As for the Egyptian angle, I also gave thought to possibility of likely similar sounding Hellenic names such as Kepitzis eg., being mindful that these so called Grecogyptian migrants would have been plentiful during Leane’s tenure. And may I dare say that there were sure to have been amicable ties between the well known Greek Baklava shop (Savas) in Hindley Street and the Adelaide CIB just around the corner on Angas.
A Jessica Muir Thomson nee Mcfarlane, bn Port headland SA 1918 married George Thomson, bn. 1882, a grazier of Gladstone SA in 1940, she being 22 and her spouse 68 according to the Geni records. The same source tells us that he was deceased by 1942 and that she was subsequently domiciled in Glenelg not any great distance from our Jessie’s recorded address on the same rolls. Apart from the age discrepencies of Ms. McFarlane comoared with her then elderly intended, at the time of their marriage, we have no trove details on his demise or funeral details etc. In 1970 she is still living in the same district and has a working daughter Janet at home with her. As Nick states in an aside to Byron, back in 2013, JMT died in 1994 and there is record of her burial at Centenial Park. Only problem is, she also gets mention, with same death date, as having being laid to rest at Port Headland cemetery, some hundreds of kilometers distant….In his explanation to Byron, Nick suggested that J.M.T. was born in Victoria, however he may easily have confused her with Jean Moir Thomson, our Jessica’s younger sister from Mentone Vic. before marriage to Norm Carr of Largs Bay SA. In 1942. Jessica McFarlane was a Port Headland lass from an old local, top end of town family, as had been her short time hubby.
Someone called ‘daughter of Jestyn’ some time back, was quick off the mark to reveal, that her dear father Prosper, had been known as George (Tom, Dick and Harry) “since a child”, more’s the pity, she did not volunteer why, for crying out loud. So we now we might like to ponder the situation, of having two George Thomsons, one conveniently deceased, without any fanfare by 1948, and a couple of similarly aged, young unattached damsels named Jessica Thomson, knocking around Glenelg with a kid apiece but single for all that. I guess it’s possible that they may have been well aquainted and also that Prosper might have been porking both and feeling quite at ease, being able to pass himself off as George Thomson, station owner from Port Headland and all. (remember the PH car ads)…Any takers on my super easy Thomson brain teaser?…
Port Lincoln S.A. and not Port Headland W.A. is where Jess McFarlane’s family hailed from and arguably where she was buried in 1994. She and George Archibald Thomson had their wedding reception at Pier Hotel there (not Glenelg) in 1940 and the couple were intending to settle down at Thomson’s ‘Burnside Station’, which was short with hubby’s demise in ’42 and her later removal to the city as a widow aged 24. S.A. Gene. Soc. has one death entry for George, in the district of Clare, but all cemetery searches in the extended district have produced negative results; strange for such an influencial local family, George Snr. having been a well known town official and sportsman before his own passing about 1936.
No flaming wonder, thanks to Geni who were thirty years off in birth year, but at least they managed to get George Thomson’s death year of 1942 correct. The fellow happened to have been born somewhere unspecified in 1912 and I have now managed to find a granite stone in Georgetown cemetery which gives following detail in capitals ‘In loving memory of George.. Husband of J. M. Thomson..Father of Xxxxey..Died Jan 29 1942..In his 29th year..Resting. His dad George lives in the plot next door, with ‘died at Burnside 1938’ aged 68 and he also seems to be ‘At Rest’. The ankle biter’s name is not legible for most part, though it hardly equates to Pamela Elizabeth Thomson, presumed adult daughter of JMT in 1970….Gotta get on this one TBT, there’s sure to be another Moulds imposter lurking somewhere closeby.
Gimme a Mouldy image, Dusty, you know where to go.
Prosper, not one to let the reported death of a little known namesake go to waste, sets things on motion by befriending poor George’s past grieving, widow Jess, who coincidently shares first and pet names with his intended, Jessica Ellen Harkness. Having gotten to know the struggling young widow, well enough to instill only the best of intentions, by throwing in regular convenient road trips back and forth to her hometown Port Lincoln, the big idea is put into effect. Prosper therein and forever after becomes George Thomson, which would prove to be a more trusted moniker than the old one which was becoming a little too well known in Adelaide. Of course we really know nothing much more about what happened to the newly created, virtually unheralded Thomson business, post 1950 apart from a marriage in 1951 and a newfound prosperity sans Prosper; thanks to a death in the family, no doubt. PS: This not so fanciful proposition provides yet another clue to my ‘game changing’ Jessica Thomson conundrum question which someone will surely jump upon.
I’m now pretty well satisfied that George and Jessica Thomson had a daughter whose name was Janet which is very faint on her father’s headstone. This would of course tally with Byron’s notes on her sharing of habitat with mum at Glenelg in 1970. Perhaps someone may recall a discussion way back, which involved some difficulties between the pair involving propery ownership or something to do with money; a frequent cause for strife in all women households. Janet would now be in her late seventies, having arrived just prior to poor George’s early departure in ’42, though what became of her we are yet to ascertain.
@JS: Some time back (when NP used to talk about “Tamam Trolls”) there was a “minstrel Janet” that used to post. I don’t think think she ever made any claim to being related to the Thomsons, but she did seem to harbour a lot of resentment for Jestyn (and claimed her and Prosper were responsible for at least 2 murders and whole bunch of other stuff).
Can’t remember details (although can always search back on this site, I suppose), but it seems at least an interesting coincidence….
milongal: Totally slipped my mind about Minstrel Janet. She was very outspoken against a lot of mainstream discussion around 2013/4, so I’ll swing back through some of those old, heady thread posts and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the tip and watch out Janet; we’re coming after you.
The widow Jessica Muir Thomson gets first mention of living in Dunleath/Glenelg when she is first recorded on the divisional electoral rolls having No. 10004/58 and residing at 9 Wallace Street. On the other hand, in 1949 at 90A Moseley St. we find Jessica Ellen Thomson with reg. No. 8295 and like her near namesake camped up the road a bit, she defines her status as ‘domestic duties’. The phone listing for that address was said to be in the name Sister J.E. Thomson which lends support to there being a resident of that name also. However, what is suspiciously apparent is that identity checks were not undertaken by either the PMG or electoral office to confirm the presence of a Thomson at stated address as subscriber or voter. As we are all aware Jess and Prosper didn’t marry until ’50 or ’51 so the only varifiable addressee at 90A could have been a Jessica Harkness as per her stamped and certified ration card or birth certificate.
Who’s to say the chicken didn’t come before the egg; case in point being that our Prosper, the randy old rooster didn’t have something going with dead George’s widow well before t’other Jessica came on the scene to make it a threesome. It does stand to reason, with Prosper known to have dealings in Port Lincoln with the Duffields who were original settler pastoralists as were Mrs.Thomson’s family. As we’ll be aware, at least those familiar with Jessica Muir Thomson’s story, she came to settle in Glenelg as a young widow and a country girl to boot. Being new to the the big city, with a baby to care for and no family support, who better to have standing by to help than a good old, well established AIF man like Prosper (soon to be George) Thomson.
When the Ansett inaugral Melbourne/Adelaide return flight, Lockheed L4 went down on the inward leg in May ’46 near Parafield, one of the ten pax on board was Prospers wife Queenie. Another was 12 year old Michelle Cau, a Melbourne schoolgirl, daughter of a wealthy family of French woolbuyers, who was to be visiting her mother at Glenelg/Somerton for the half yearly holidays. My contention is, and has always been that Queenie was a salaried chaperone for the girl, she being booked for the return flight which of course did not eventuate. She was able to get a hotel room which the Pilot gave up to her after heing admitted to hospital, so from that we can surmise that she had no other business in Adelaide.
Got that
Something does not compute. Muir is a name associated with the family of Jessica Ellen nee Harkness. It seems that both Jessica Muir Thomson and Jessica Ellen Thomson nee Harkness are possibly related. Muir is not a particularly common surname and Glenelg in 1948 was not exactly the hub of the Universe. What are the odds?
Sorry Byron, absolutely nothing doing, there being other Muirs in the McFarlane Port Lincoln family, to which Jessie was born into about 1918 from memory. There was our Jess’s sister Jean Moir Carr née Harkness, a name to which uncle John the chemist took a shine to and borrowed from John Moir and Sons, famous Scottish marmalade Manufacturers and perfume wholesalers, big in Australia from the 1870s.
Byron: Another name that was even less popular in Glenelg in the mid 40’s would have been Cau of which Queenie Thomson is, in my estimation, London to a brick, connected. Her apparent charge’s family, who were staying on Sth. Esplanade in May, ‘46, must surely be blood related to Pierre Cau, shipmate of Alf Boxall’s aboard the tub Crusader, during the full period of Water Transport’s post war service in New Guinea and neighbouring islands between September ‘45 through October’46. Sorry to be repeating myself, however folks don’t seem to have picked up on the relevance as yet.
I’m just wondering whether or not curiouser and curiouser would also be the terminology to use, in mentioning that Prospers family moved to Neutral Bay in the 1930’s, father having bought properties there and co-incidently, so did Pierre Cau’s folks.
Some may recall that a nurse, presumably, the future Jessica Thomson, was said to have been introduced to Alf Boxall by an Army nurse named Joyce or Joy, of whom we have had a couple of canditates. Another that might be an even better contender is Joyce, who married Alf’s shipmate Pierre Cau after 1946, the couple now together in peaceful repose at Macquarie Park crematorium. Joy is certainly an ex WW2 service woman, evidence of which is there on her memorial plaque. Alas, apart from a middle name of Maureen, we having nothing more than some vague recollections of Capt.Tom Musgrave and Alf, who suggested Jesstyn might have had a bit of frog in her, perhaps speaking tongue in cheek of her connections with matelot mate, Pierre Eugene Cau.
Pierre Cau didn’t marry Joyce until 1956.
Pierre Louis Eugene Cau born 29th July 1919 at Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria.
Died 24th July 1974 at Cremorne, Sydney, NSW. Married Maureen Joyce nee Paul born 11th August 1923 at Sydney, died 20th September 1989 at Cremorne, Sydney. Married 10th February 1956 at St Francis Church, Paddington, Sydney.
Byron: Long engagement I guess. Wonder if Alf Boxall got an invite to St. Franks for the hitch, living next door in Randwick and likewise the Musgraves who were also closeby, but that was back during the war, right?…
Byron: Nice pic of the happy couple titled Joy & pete with their 1940 Chev Special Deluxe. Seems a bit dated for a rich bloke to still be driving in ’56 or so. I’m Just thinking that maybe this was the same Joy that W/T’s other instructor Jim Hawkins married in 42′, then dumped in favour of Hazel. PS: marriage cert is on ancestry, but made illegible for we non members.
The ’40 Chev S DL was a tank. Plus it oversteered in the wet.
Getting back to Jessie Muir Thomson. We seem to be making headway to some degree with regards to her death and resultant laying to rest. So she does appear to have been cremated at Centenial, with ashes sent off to Port Lincoln and then interred with her dad. A nice marble stone tells us about (decd.) hubby George, daughter Janet and grandson whatsit. The caution is that SA Geni has nor record of burial and likewise billion dollar search or find-a-plot, took very good detective work by Lorraine’s team of armed grave sleuths to cut through the crap and show me visual proof. Such a pity I can’t relay the nice photo.
‘Nice’ marble tends to deteriorate with age on the weather side, best to use a northern Italian like Perlato White in the southern latitudes, it has a peculiar density that repels monsoonal conditions, such as the Glenelg typhoon in ’48.
They say that the big storm of ’53 was more destructive though everything will deteriorate with time notwithstanding. The only northern Italian I’m vaguely familiar with is Antonio Averlino, who as Filarete, might well have been pearly white and kept his marbles til the end in 1469.
It has been rumoured outside of the immediate circle that Filarete – a renowned (Florentine) architect of the 15th century responsible for the designing the visionary city of Sforzinda – was familiar with certain aspects of the Voynich Manuscript.
For anyone with a spare $140.54 Aud. in their kick, or else a good connection to Derek from U of SA., one might well gain access to some of Filarete’s other important architectural designs like the Kremlin’s swallow tailed whatsits for example. Apart from the current most respected Vm authority, Gerrard Cheshire PhD, scab scar and bar, our very own Professor Abbott of SM acclaim is now in for a share of the Voynich spoils.
Gerrard Cheshire – a search of this site doesn’t find him. Anywhere. He’s the Unknown Man of Cipher Mysteries.
peteb: that’s odd, a search of your site also doesn’t find any mention of “Pette Bowes”. 😉
https://ciphermysteries.com/2017/11/10/gerard-cheshire-vulgar-latin-siren-call-polyglot
http://ciphermysteries.com/2019/05/18/gerard-cheshire-star-wars-space-teapots-and-royal-roads
You misunderstand, I’m testing Dusty’s reliability … and marvelling at its want.
AV 2767 was the designate service listing for the Small Ships Company’s heavy lift recovery vessel ‘Crusader’ to which both Alf Boxall and Pete Cau were presumably aboard when it docked in Sydney on 12th October ’46, with a cargo of forty Stuart and Sherman tanks from the Solomon Islands. Cau was demobed two weeks later, but I have some mild concerns about his stated final service posting of ‘1 ACY Crusader’ which does not quite tally; also that he would have retained his CMF regimental number on an active overseas posting, allbeit post war. Perhaps it’s to do with establishing an undeniable link up between the Cau and Thomson families of Neutral Bay, plus connection to Alf Boxall that makes it tidy, though not enough to excite any more than casual interest as usual.
In tidying up old papers, one overlooked, marked re-submit concerned Det. R.L. Leanes’s unlikely informant, an Egyptian name of Moss Keipitz. This mystery man having no trade & calling or residential particilars, was made subject of a memo to Commonwealth Police in May? ’49 requesting arrival search for an implausable nominee named Keanic who was given as being T. Keane of suitcase fame. Far as I’m aware, Keanic was not recorded in any National indices, nor can anything close to Moss Keipitz be found in more up to date searches, ie., S.A. gazettes, BD&M trove, NAA, or even CPA membership (for GC) &c. For all we know some pretender might have been puting out a blind lead to steer the plods off the scent, not a new ruse by any means, in fact most likely imo.
Should I mention, that there are no Keipitz listed in S.A. S&Mc.1940s or ’50s, closest being the family Keipert of Clare who were neither Egyptian or Jewish. Byron came up with Kepits from Victoria but Keipitz does not come up in Ancestry for first or surnames with or without input of Moss as last name for the obvious Hebrew connection. Somewhere along the line someone said Leane’s informant was a local butcher; only jewish Kosher meat providor comes to mind was Bill Cohen whose shop was in Fullers Rd. next door but one to Freeman’s chemist, and who died the same day as our SM. All said and done Moss (Moshe) Keiptz looks very much like being a red herring, but whose remains to be seen.
…140 & 144 Fullarton Rd. Rosefield was Bill Cohen’s butchery and residence; wife Marjorie Lawson if that helps.
Here’s the deal on the Keipitz connection which went down in late April ’49 as defined by a letter requesting Commonwealth Police to conduct inquiries with immigration. According to the Adelaide press of early May, an unamed Egyptian employed at a city butchery (Kosher or Halal ?) who spoke seven languages and figured that SM was likely to be a Bulgarian refo. Press were not aware that the man had formed his opinion after having viewed the body and been shown the Keane tie, that by his reckoning spelt Keanic. As to how it could be that the man’s details are not on record we’ll never know, nor whether his bonifides were ever checked, which would be expected for such a potential witness in any serious police case…A couple of things of relevance to me, taken from Det. Leane’s memo for favour of forwarding to his Commonwealth Police counterpart is, that there was no such organization in 1949 and wasn’t until 1960. It’s equivilent was CIS which had large offices in each capital including Adelaide, establishment being to liase with state counterparts on matters such as that referred to. Another thing that piqued my suspicions regarding authenticity of the memo is Detective Leane’s self elevation to Sergeant when in fact he was Senior Constable, not receiving his promotion in 1952. It’s one thing allowing one’self to be bumped up by the press in order to gain maximum readership, though hardly on an official communique including names of his OIC and Commissioner. Could be that we’re dealing with a fake here, despite the official looking file cover and all.
Per newspaper ‘Keipitz’ worked at a butchers shop on Hindley St. There were 3 butchers in late 1940’s. At # 11 was a L.V. Elliott t/a(?) Turner’s Meat Store; at # 143 was a Con Liascos & at # 262 was an E. Adams.
Gotta go for Con Liaskos Greek Egyptian in from Port Said ’27. Panel Sports Club prop. at given Hindley St. address which came under police notice in the 30s for selling booze without a license. Nothing about a butchery at 143 and of course nought on our main man Moss Keipitz in that mix. Could the monicker have been a play on words ie. ‘must keep pissed’. Con died in 1985.
Hindley St is complicated. It has a lot of alleyways running off it that at different times have likely been referred to as “Hindley St”. Certainly in the ’80s and ’90s (yes, I know this is WELL after SM) it was sometimes used to refer to the Western end of town more broadly. In fact, Hindley St has a bad rep largely because of this….people saw it as a place where people went missing, when the truth was they were sometimes “Last seen in/near Hindley St”. When you think about it, that means SFA – of course people will be seen where there are people and not seen where there aren’t….
The Keipitz stuff is a touch odd – not least because like so many other things in the case is inconsistently reported (“Butcher”/”Worker”/”Translator” ….. “Czeck”/”Bulgarian”/”Balt” (I doubt Balt, FWIW) etc).
But to me the elephant in the room is how did Keipitz get a voice? I don’t mean what he said is unreliable, but how did he come into the investigation? Surely if he came into the Cop Shop and said “I know languages and have a theory” they would have laughed him out of there, so I’d be guessing someone’s sought him out “Oh there’s a chappy in the butcher up Hindley St who knows a lot about language” (Incidentally there’s a Ham Shop at #36 as well).
In fact (and PB might like this one), the Keipitz link is reported on May 3 ’49. This is BEFORE the TS slip is public (and why would anyone care about language until the TS is released?). This is also the same day there’s mention in the press of a “slip of paper in Turkish” – so someone has decided there’s a linguistic angle (but this again would suggest Keipitz was sought out, he didn’t appear off his own bat).
All of that said, I think the reason Leane sat on the slip for so long is because he didn’t know squat about it, and didn’t expect anyone else to – it likely never occured to him that it came from a book (or that people who speak foreign languages could even read). What changed? Someone told him it was a common ending to the Rubaiyat and other foreign writings.
NB: I might be being unfair to Leane, but his line in the Littlemore doc (paraphrased) “Them poisons what the niggers put on arrows” dictates my stereotype).
Oops, to clarify – I’m not dismissing SM being a Balt, I don’t think the name “Keanic” sounds particularly Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian surnames would (much) more often end with “s”, and Estonian ones tend to sound more Scandinavian (Not so much the -sen ending, but like Saar (maybe that’s more Dutch sounding??)).
the “-ic” suffix to me is more Slavic – and while most experts consider Baltic and Slavic languages to split from a common route, they branch because they have differences like this. So someone with an ability in multiple languages probably has some knowledge and understanding of them and would never suggest something Slavic-sounding is Baltic-sounding. I think this is a confusion of 2 ideas – Keipitz talking about Keanic and at a similar time someone saying “the guy looks like a Balt” (and I think that’s a very new confusion – possibly from 2010 in Ruth Balint’s paper “The Somerton Man – An Unsolved Mystery”, which is where most of the references I can find lead).
Not forgetting that Hugh (Antonio Ugo) Pozza, who told police about SMs feather stitched jacket and US origins, was himself a Hindley Street denizen, so too Stanley Salotti who knew SM as Bob Walsh. Hugh arrived in Adelaide unaccompanied at age 17, apparently a fully fledged men’s fashion tailor, whereas Stan the man was home grown criminal who’s Italian father had a lolly shop at the Rundle St. end of Hindley. Undoubtedly Det. R.L. Leane had by 1948, a well set up local informant network to call upon when needed which one might expect of an uptown suit.
Keipitz-imple (sans stupid) for Moss comes to mind, Lional Leane inventing the bodgie name as a harmless prank, albeit slightly overdone . As for butcher L. W. Elliott, he was out by ’48, looks like Turner took over and Clive would likely have sussed that angle for familial connection. I’ve checked and confirmed that butcher L. Elliott and L. Elliott, SM’s undertaker were different entities thank Goodness.
@JS – actually that was something I was going to mention…..I don’t think “Moss” is very Egyptian and (admitting I don’t know much about Egypt) I wonder what it derives from (or whether it’s an Aussie nickname for a foreigner). “Mohammed” (in one of it’s 32 spellings) would be my first guess, but something like “Muselmann” also springs to mind – which isn’t really Egyptian (nor even a name), but was a slang term Jewish prisoners used to refer to other prisoners who were so starved and tired they were on the verge of death (so could be an inappropriate nickname for a skinny bloke). And there’s also “Muselmanis” – which is the Latvian term for a Muslim (and perhaps less likely in the circumstance, but is a touch interesting given some SM origin speculation).
The Hindley street connection might be interesting too. My original thought was that one of the Coppers might have been based at Hindley St police station earlier in their career – but I don’t think there was a cop shop in Hindley until much later (and they were very much plods). So while Hindley might have been a (semi) central focus in the city itself, it’s interesting when it intertwines repeatedly (and I remember all sorts of speculation around lost watches and car yards (maybe 220 Hindley, or something??) with Prosper (and Duffield) in and amongst it)
@milongal – Moss in English and Moshe in Yiddish are both merely coloquial forms of Moses. As for the word (not a name) Keipitz, pronounced Keipits, it too appears to be Yiddish as opposed to Hebrew and I’m at a loss as to what it means. Ever hear of a butcher who was fluent in seven languages. Only one comes to my mind is Klaus Barbie (Altmann), the butcher of Lyon who was caught out and convicted, by claiming not to understand a word of French.
@JS: Agree the 7-language fluency is odd, but I think could be easily explained as “displaced persons”. If he is indeed Egyptian (or perhaps from somewhere nearby he’s afraid to admit) he might be finding it particularly difficult to have any qualifications recognised. Of course, we only have the media’s say-so that he was “…fluent in 7 languages” (which in layman (ie non-journalist) talk is “he knows how to swear in multiple languages”).
That said (see another post elsewhere), it might seem semantic, but I haven’t read anything to suggest he was a butcher, rather it says he was employed by a butcher. Maybe he was employed to tutor some kiddies to learn some language. Or perhaps he was employed to take orders for an Ethnic clientele.
So from your post, if we take a Jewish angle (which is maybe nice in this case for other reasons), perhaps 4 of the 7 languages are Arabic, English, Yiddish, Hebrew. Maybe Farsi comes into it as well (much like some Italian speakers claim they can speak Spanish because of the similarity).
In any event, none of these seem to qualify him to categorise someone as a Balt or Slav.