Prosper’s $50,000
What if Jessica gave that highly detailed info about Boxall to Canney in all truthful innocence only to be told to shut it down (by PT?) when it became known she was going to be taken to see the dead man’s bust by a car full of detectives the next day and be confronted with the truth and all its potential implications?
Implications being she knew SM was in some sort of business relationship with Prosper Thomson (her phone number on the back of the Freeman Rubaiyat) and the cash merits of the business were being recorded on the shady side of the ledger which would be a potential complication in the way forward for the happy couple if the police were made aware of it. Like PT having over $50,000 in current day equivalent on his person only days before his alleged business partner was found dead in mysterious circumstances. You’d need a suitcase to transport that amount of money and a couple of pairs of socks to stash it out of sight.
But the case was found unlocked and nobody remembered who lodged it .. inside were found spare singlets, spare underpants, spare ties, spare shirts, spare handkerchiefs and guess what?
No spare socks.
How’s that for complications?
Works for me.
Original post here
The Somerton Man .. 
Especially, if Jessie realised that cooperating with the police might lead to losing Prosper, the house and, with a young child to care for, hence her ‘No, No & No’ to the police. And, Prosper ‘awarded’ her by marriage?
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And of course not a whisper of police involvement with Prosper’s lucrative business, except for detective Brown stating that the 2nd phone number found on the back of the Freeman Rubaiyat held no interest in what they considered to be a murder investigation.
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So there isn’t a known amount of money that Prosper had in 1948
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No 1 .. either you or you don’t, asking Google toto
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“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
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2nd phone number, leading to a possible bank account in the name of a well known ‘dodgy’ car dealer?
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Doesn’t seem dodgy to me because you don’t last in business if you are. Might have had a bad customer or two. They had quite a used car sales empire at one time. Century Motors is still there at Main North Road, Prospect. I don’t live on that side but went past it the other day and they were still trading. Don’t know who owns it now. It’s on Facebook and it says established in 1950. They had a car showroom in Hanson Street, Adelaide and had a Dealership for AC cars. AC sports cars are pretty snazzy. They seem to have been a hard working business couple. Prosper was a determined go-getter and risk taker. Some women are attracted to that. That’s what Jess saw in him. They were successful, so I say good luck to them.
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History has it that criminals who have access to large amounts of cash on a regular basis sometimes find themselves levered into relationships with those who might otherwise make it difficult for a continuation of said business.
Know what I mean?
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Jess was Prosper’s business partner and that detail is shown in the company records with both being company directors. There’s no law against how much money you can make. $50k is nothing when you are buying and selling cars. Cash is king as they say in the business world. No credit cards in those days Business cheques or bank cheques. Someone wants to sell you a car start waving the cash around and see how much they drop the price especially if they need the dough for something. $50k today gets you a mid range Benz about 5 years old. It’s peanuts. They were buying and selling upmarket cars.
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No 1 … 50k was plenty in 1948 … but the question you didn’t ask was how did PT accumulate so much cash? His classified ads weren’t that extraordinary.
Check below, Nick P’s listing of all PT’s ads
https://ciphermysteries.com/2023/12/29/prosper-thomsons-1947-in-trove
and mine
https://tomsbytwo.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=50314&action=edit
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I agree that these days $50K isn’t much, but here we are talking about the end of the 1940’s. So, the questions are: How/When etc did Prosper suddenly become very rich, and, with Prosper’s track record with the police, wouldn’t you think that someone in the police/authorities would have taken a keen ‘interest’ in his business affairs?
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On Trove see “News (Adelaide” 23 Nov 1953 Page 21. https:/trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131241787?searchTerm=Century Motors%2C Adelaide
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We come back to them being paid as agents or assets for intelligence services rendered before ASIO. Jess was blown and so was Boxall so they are no further use. People know who they are and what they are possibly linked to and even if you can’t prove anything they are at risk of possible prosecution or even attack. The time frame seems to fit with them getting paid to move on because ASIO started in March 1949. Century Motors Ltd was incorporated in 1951 (News Adelaide 17 December 1951 p.18). There are ads for Century Motors 7 March 1951 at 12 Hanson Street which is now renamed Pulteney Street (Advertiser p.17). Facebook says Century Motors was established 1950. So my guess is they traded as a business name in 1950 to kick it off and then incorporated as a company in 1951 which is a common business setup pattern. You need quite a bit of money for a car yard. Today 10 cars at $50k each is half a million dollars plus all the overheads. You can finance it but you need collateral such as mortgage over a property. So 1950 they had money, and probably mid to late 1949 when ASIO was established and they were moved on. For mine, Prosper was also an asset. Black ops for the government, if you want to call that partners in crime, I guess, and in cooperation with the US. Unless they inherited a motza eg a house after a relative died but that would be a bit too coincidental in that time frame, so it comes back to them being paid for their services, the risk, future risk and keep what went on to themselves. Why not. There’s the money and now you can do what you want to do and grow it.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057650936304
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Per Trove, Prestige Motors, 222 Pulteney St were advertising every month up to and including March 1950. Telephone number ( not on all the adverts, was W1015). Interesting number, as a small manipulation could easily make it read W1948? From April 1950, Prestige Motors seems to have disappeared, is that when Prosper suddenly got rich and went up market?
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$50k in today’s money not in 1948. What was the actual amount in 1948 in old money in £
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Google it squire, it ain’t hard.
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There’s insufficient detail. We don’t know whose cash it was. It may have been the bank’s cash if he was banking with them and showing sufficient business cash flow. In business you check with the bank, you have deposit and you can manage to repay their loan to you. They can say you are good for $500k or whatever. As for the rifle, I know someone in business (big cash flow business and it was cash money in thise days) post war years who kept a rifle next to the bed in case there was an intruder who thought you took the day’s takings home instead of depositing it in the night safe.
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The LTO would show if they rented or owned at their addresses and if the bank had any interest
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The old night safe chute is still there in James Place in the side wall of the Executor Trustee Building which is in Grenfell Street. You wouldn’t get out of your car to make a deposit in one these days. Thousands of people walk past it and wouldn’t even know it was there. James Place was a street that went through to Rundle Street. Freeman Chemists, 24a Jetty Road Glenelg (Rubaiyat) also had a business at 14 James Place. Faulding pharmaceuticals were also in James Place. Thought I’d share a bit of history of Adelaide with you.
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