A conspiracy is hard to ignore.
There remains quite a number of loose threads
~~
SM’s body was moved from where he died to where he was found. Lividity doesn’t lie.
Feltus interviewed a local man who clearly remembered seeing a well-dressed man carrying another man along the foreshore of Somerton Beach on the night before the body was found by the steps. This witness was accompanied by three others at the time. The witness was interviewed by the police in about 1959 and he duly provided them with a statement. Feltus also interviewed the man and found him to be credible.
SM’s (near new) suitcase was unlocked when found at the railway station.
There was no suitcase key found on the body. No wallet. No ration card. No evidence as to how he arrived in Adelaide.
The Freeman Rubaiyat was never photographed.
None of the hard surface items in the suitcase were fingerprinted, leaving the Barbour thread as the only means of connecting SM to the suitcase and its contents.
Feltus could only find two policeman (both unnamed) who admitted to seeing the Freeman Rubaiyat.
Brown said it was lost by DS Leane early in the investigation.
The second phone number alleged to have been found on the Rubaiyat was dismissed by Brown as being irrelevant to the case (see end of post).
Feltus was unable to confirm the existence of a second phone number (see end of post).
The TS slip was found in a standard fob pocket, and that’s no secret.
Is it fair to say that every man involved in the case owned trousers with a fob pocket, including PC Moss?
PC Moss said he didn’t find the TS slip when he searched the body, he didn’t say it wasn’t in the fob pocket when he searched it.
Moss questioned the reported finding of a box of matches on SM, strongly asserting in a newspaper interview that they weren’t there when he searched the body.
No luggage deposit stub was found on the body, despite that both the train and bus tickets were found in SM’s coat-ticket pocket.
Some suspect the handing in of the Rubaiyat by Freeman was deliberately timed to take place after the inquest was adjourned.
Coroner Cleland adjourned the inquest sine die, saying he would wait for any further evidence to become apparent before resuming.
Despite further and crucial evidence becoming apparent, Cleland decided to close it down anyway, ruling that the SM died where he was found.
This directly contradicts the findings of the original inquest.
…. add to that
One witness insisted the trousers he saw being worn on the body in the evening were of a striped design.
The body was found to be wearing plain faun-brown trousers.
Freeman wasn’t deposed.
Harkness wasn’t deposed.
PT wasn’t interviewed.
Freeman remained silent about his involvement to his death.
Harkness remained silent about her involvement to her death.
The Freeman Rubaiyat wasn’t made available to the coroner.
The Freeman Rubaiyat wasn’t made available to Naval Intelligence.
Paul Lawson said he had a detective looking over his shoulder every day he was working on the bust.
SM had about half a dozen hankies in his suitcase but no spare socks.
He was wearing a singlet, shirt, pullover and jacket at the beginning of an Australian summer.
He ate a pasty only hours before dying.
He wasn’t wearing a watch,
and he had a graze between the knuckles of his right hand, so perhaps he landed a blow before whatever happened to him happened.
Harkness knew him. Her phone number was written on the back of the Freeman Rubaiyat,
… and she lived 200 yards away from where he was found.
~~~
Then there is this
Top right
The Somerton Man .. 
It’s my view that all the SM activities took place in Melbourne suburbs before the final act was moved to Somerton. X3239 was listed in Seacombe Grove Brighton. The whole extended Harkness family lived within 1-2km from Seacome Gve just prior to the war. The Mass. CIA had 2 premises in the area, 1 only 5 doors from x3239, the other next door to where the Moorabbin intercepts were deciphered.
Why dirty your own back yard in 47 + 48, take your mess elsewhere.
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Interesting theory about activity in Melbourne, if the SM was fleeing from someone in Melbourne, he may have been stopped before arriving in Adelaide, poisoned and his body left at Somerton. Things favouring this scenario: he was not seen anywhere in Adelaide by anyone, Jessie & Prosper were in Adelaide so, anyone in Melbourne may have ‘tapped’ J & P for a ‘favour’ to make sure they followed instructions. Just a theory, I know!
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There’s a lot of incredible coincidences (for some definition of coincidence) in the case, but one that’s always struck me (because it’s hard to explain as anything but coincidence) is that the X3239 number was Brighton in Vic and Somerton in SA – Brighton SA is basically the next suburb South of Somerton (suburb boundaries were a bit different back then, but basically both suburbs were there). When you now throw in that the Harkness family lived close to the number in Vic as well, it makes the coincidence even more incredible
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I forget:- SAPOL have been furnished with the details of Brighton Vic company owning the 2 x premises and their connections. The 1947/48 activity appears to be “blue on blue”.
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Not so much a conspiracy theory then
But a fact of conspiracy
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For x3239 to miraculously be available in SA would need the services of the Senior PMG Technician and Instructor at the Glenelg Exchange. As luck would happen, Jimmy McIntyre was that PMG man.
He would also have the opportunity to “piggy back” a number that belonged to a car sales and repair yard, and direct it to a shed attached to a private house in Henley Beach.
That number was Henley Beach 8409 which strangely is (W means reverse) 9048 backwards.
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I think Feltus claimed W9048 was artistic licence for the cover and not related to the case
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W9048 … as inscribed on the back cover of Feltus’ The Unknown Man.
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That’s correct Peter
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See “The Advertiser” 17 Jun 1950, Page 22, Austin panel van for sale, 4 Marlborough St, Henley Beach L8409.
From Cipher Mysteries 24 Jan 2015, “The Advertiser” 13 May 1948, Page 8, English Cloth Dress Suit for sale, inspect at 200 Hindley St 10-5, evening L8409.
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X is Glenelg exchange (Borderwatch Mt Gambier 20 January 1931 p.3)
W is West Adelaide exchange at Torrensville which served part of Adelaide CBD if it actually is a telephone number W9048
There is a report of a L8409 elsewhere which is Henley Beach exchange
You can confirm the old alphanumeric phone number prefixes for Adelaide areas from Sands McDougall Directories eg ads for Glenelg are X prefix, St Leonards Inn X2067. Old Adelaide Telephone Directories are kept in the State Library on North Terrace, Adelaide to also confirm the telephone exchange prefixes
They are Adelaide numbers
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So what was Feltus up to when he penned the number 9048 on the back of his book?
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Someone on the West Adelaide exchange and likely located in Adelaide CBD
Hunt through a 1948 telephone directory line by line or if one has been scanned do a search for W9048
If nothing relevant then it’s not a phone number
Jess is X3239 and Feltus found her in the Adelaide telephone directory. X is Glenelg exchange, she lived in Glenelg.
Same exchange prefixes can be found in other cities in that era. There was no Subscriber Trunk Dialling STD. Long distance trunk calls were operator connected. So it didn’t matter. Operators called other exchanges and patched the calls through.
It’s a fair bet it’s an Adelaide city number though
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If you flick through trove a lot of Adelaide city number started ‘C’ or ‘CA’ rather than ‘W’. I originally thought the ‘C’ might basically be ‘City’, but more recently I’ve wondered if it’s ‘Commercial’
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A P(aul) Bethge was living at 4 Marlborough St in 1948 & 1950, per S & Mc. A tailor, so that’s the source of the suit sale!
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There was a telephone number 9048 in Adelaide CBD for Myers, but the letter was a ‘C’. not ‘W’.
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C is Central telephone exchange in Franklin Street part of Adelaide GPO. It was a manual operator exchange until 1955 according to internet info
https://www.adelaiderememberwhen.com.au/adelaide-gpo-and-telephone-exchange/
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W904 8 was a shoe catalogue number with the size 8, stockmans boots. the W804 8 were black colour and the W904 8 were the brown model. the 204B or 2048 were for Wittners stockmans shoes size 8 not boots. The shoes shown in SMa possessions were Oxford lace ups not boot style,
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Thanks Gordon, the W was a directive rather than just part of a product number. Used in the same manner as the first letter on lines 1 + 2 of the code. Same intent.
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Hi, Here’s a link to a post a few years back, it has the adverts in, hope it helps.
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Thanks Gordon, yes I’m aware of the red book, but it is my opinion that the tomsbytwo approach “question everything” applies here, as well as another book.
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His shoes were Bostonian Stockbridge made in USA
Part of the label was worn and they made a mistake reading Stockman when it was Stockbridge. The shoes have a distinct manufacturing style as to how the inner is attached. They are also a welted sole
Made like these but these are a different style https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/303976335601
W9048 has nothing to do with shoes
His shoes were American like a lot of other things he had. Chewing gum, comb, feather stitched jacket. He was an American or at least came from America
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Yeah. The tie was US service issue. A few years back we found apparently identical ones on eBay. Must be in a thread on here or ciphermysteries somewhere.
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gfEhwxyz etc:- Strangely, Grandpa has a similar striped US tie in the family pic.
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So, we’re back to Pete’s question, why did GF write W9048 on the back cover? Did any state in Australia have car registrations starting with a ‘W’?, was it a map reference? train/tram service? street lamp number?
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Bus route numbers didn’t start until 1962 in Adelaide according to internet. I can remember when a bus just had the destination scroll on the front of it. https://busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73816 When route numbers were introduced they added a box in the rear window with the number scroll inside it. It was part of the conductor’s job to change it. They wanted to let you know what bus you just missed when they slammed the door in your face and you saw the last bus for the night at 11:30pm disappear into the dark distance and you had to walk home after the dance. Smooching can cost you.
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Some streets in the USA use W for West and then the street number and name, eg W904 Unknown St unit 8. Or it could mean West block 9th floor apartment 04 on 8 Unknown St
Without knowing where Feltus saw it, it could be anything
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looks like a NYC address, I’m from there and a lot of the streets are written in that format, more so during that era,Some 4 blocks from where I live on of the street signs are written like that,but I can be any North Eastern U.S. State.
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There’s little doubt Feltus noted the investigation’s shortfalls and knowing how police regard themselves as a fellowship, Masons aside, I’m reasonably sure he kept a lot to himself in writing the book. That being so, and given his reputation as being a very thorough professional, perhaps inscribing W9048 on the back cover was a code in itself and pertained to an aspect of the case that was kept off the books.
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Is there DNA from the exhumed body 19 May 2021, three years ago. At least we need to know if there is or isn’t. Not so much whose it is at this stage.
Has there been a further cover-up
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A conspiracy needs conspirators .. one at the head of the snake, others as his enablers.
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Just something that came to mind re: W9048, in that there seems to be a gap between the fig.4 and fig.8? Looking at “The Advertiser” 1 May 1948 Page 7 “Person with government contract requires 200 Pounds, W904”. In “The Advertiser” 23 Aug 1948 Page 7 “Highly respectable gent. desires B & B close to city, W904”. Could the fig.8 mean the year i.e. 1948?
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It could be a newspaper subscriber account number because it says W904 Advertiser, or a subscriber’s pigeon-hole in the newspaper office referenced to their account. Get your replies to your ad sent to that.
Could be article #8, a document, that was in the pigeon-hole
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yo Pete B! Do You think the mainstream media, and the profs, and the agencies, View your site and say that we’re onto something, because they afraid to dig deeper into the probe? I just wanted to ask you!, because you have the best answers!
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Thanks, and no, mainstream media’s interest will only be awakened when the coroner releases his findings.
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