9 – What are we looking at here, a slip-shod investigation or something else entirely?
April 19. Professor Cleland informed Detective Sergeant Leane he had found the Tamam Shud slip in the fob pocket of The Somerton Man’s trousers. These trousers, together with the rest of SM’s clothing had been handed over to him by DS Leane not long after the suitcase had been found on January 14th, three months earlier.
No mention of this finding was given to the press until the following month:
May 3rd 1949. ‘A small piece of paper printed in Turkish which was found in the dead man’s pocket has led police to assume that he was able to speak that language.’
Then it was not until the next month that Leane gave the press full details of Cleland’s finding. They published the news on the following dates:
June 9 – Press release.
June 10 – Press release.
June 17 Inquest Commences. Cleland mentions he had found the TS slip.
Jun 18 – Press release.
June 22 – Press release.
June 25 – Press release.
July 10 – Press release.
July 20 – Press release.
July 21. Inquest adjourned.
July 22 – Press release.
July 23 – Press release.
July 23 – Chemist Freeman gives DS Leane a copy of the Rubiayat he said was found in his car at about the same time the Somerton Man’s body was discovered not far away.
~~
In summary.
Professor Cleland took three months to inform DS Leane of finding the TS slip.
DS Leane didn’t release the details of Cleland’s finding to the press for another six weeks, and then only seven days before the inquest opened.
Two weeks after the first press release and two days after the inquest was adjourned Freeman handed a copy of the Rubaiyat to DS Leane.
The finding of the Rubaiyat and the emergence of Jessica Harkness as a possible person of interest was not enough to convince Coroner Cleland to re-open the inquest and in 1958 he closed it, saying that The Somerton Man had died where he was found, a direct contradiction to his original ruling.
~~
There are no official pictures of the back cover said to contain the code*,
… or the torn page*,
… or the front cover, the inside cover, the fly leaf, the publisher’s details or any inscription,
… or the telephone number belonging to Sister J. E. Thompson which was said to have been written on the back cover.
… or the telephone number said to belong to a local business which was said to have been written on the back cover. This business has never been identified.
Detective Brown said that DS Leane lost the book early in the investigation though the TS slip has survived: its ownership remains unknown.
*”I am now of the opinion that the photograph appearing in newspapers was not that of the original Rubaiyat but a similar copy with a portion torn out for distribution as an example.” Feltus P172.
Feltus also received credible information that there was a name written on the back of the Rubaiyat.
The Somerton Man .. 
Now that Pelling has all but given the game away and Cramer is scratching for relevance we thought it best to produce the facts of the case as accurately as possible without the need to invent theories and promote dis-information.
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So the only photograph is the “codes” page?Which is probably photograph of a photograph… ie some one has traced over the letters or indents either on a transparent sheet or a photograph of the page and then taken a photo of the result. The book may have even been lost that day!
Feltus says that he spoke to credible people who saw the original, so I’ll take it on good faith that it did exist…!
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Fair enough, though what makes it even more interesting is that detective Brown was not involved in any of the investigation as far as the Rubaiyat was concerned…. He was effectively sidelined.
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PB: you’ll recall that in June ’49 Len Brown took the T/S slip to the Adelaide library and found a possible match in both the paper and print in a Collins ROK. Harper-Collins, like Whitcombe & Tombs also published educational books in NZ so they have had affiliations. As an interesting aside, some time ago there was mention by Prof. Cleland that McMillan (London) or similar published the code bearing Fitzgerald, and in 1978 Brown told Littlemore that said either the ROK or T/S slip was still “….down in the place” (police storeage).
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JohnS – The TS slip can be seen amongst the clothing etc spread out on the desk in the Littlemore interview.
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Yep you’re on the money PB but, let’s not forget that there was no shortage of copies and fakes run off by the Adelaide press so the Inside Story T/S was likely a left over of that run.
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