5 Remarks by Coroner Cleland
” It was thought that the deceased must have arrived by train at the Adelaide Railway Station, left his case at the luggage room, purchased a ticket for Henley Beach but missed his train, and then travelled to Somerton by bus.
Neither the luggage room attendant, nor the officer who issued the Henley Beach ticket, nor the bus conductor can remember seeing him.
No one has come forward to say that he was seen at Somerton (Beach) between the arrival of the bus and 7 p.m. (When seen by Lyons)
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 on the 30th November. But there is no proof that this was the case.*
None of the three witnesses who speak of the evening of the 30th saw the man’s face, 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.
Although he died during the night of the 30th November – 1st December, I cannot say where he died.”
*Gordon Strapps, a witness who saw a man lying by the steps the previous evening, swore in his deposition that the man was wearing striped trousers. The body found in the morning was wearing plain faun-brown trousers.
The Somerton Man 