Cleland, Cowan and Durham ..
John Burton Cleland. Pathologist, naturalist and microbiologist.
Robert James Cowan. Deputy Government Analyst.
Patrick James Durham. Police photographer and fingerprint expert.
It was a pity Durham wasn’t asked to join Cleland and Cowan when they took possession of what was thought to be the Somerton Man’s property, a pity he didn’t witness these two very influential men of the Adelaide establishment as they set about trying on the dead man’s trousers, his double breasted coat, his sports coat, as they compared the length of the trousers worn by the dead man and the pair found in the suitcase and finally to trying on his shoes and slippers.
If Durham was witnessing this exercise he may well have asked them why they were doing it, and of course the only reply they could have made was that they didn’t know if it all belonged to the man found dead on Somerton Beach.
And the reason they didn’t know was that Durham hadn’t been asked to fingerprint any of the items found in the suitcase, despite that he had already fingerprinted the corpse and could have made a ready comparison.
You could only wonder if either of the two gentlemen hadn’t asked each other the same question, rather than having to go through the whole trying on the wardrobe ritual.
Of course we all know that Cleland matched the Barbour thread card found in the case to repairs made to the clothes the dead man was wearing, but this wasn’t at the time he and Cowan were playing dress-ups, it was only later when he was able to ‘microscopically`examine both.
The Somerton Man .. 
You can only match fingerprints if they are on police files and there are lots of people without a criminal record who have never had their fingerprints taken
which brings me to the point
were Alf Boxall’s fingerprints on record anywhere
Just saying…
Incidentally, I believe all of the US fingerprints have been digitally converted, to be preserved, and originals destroyed, apart from a few like Al Capone
If not already done, run Somerton man’s through again on their computer matching and see what it throws up now
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SM’s prints were sent to the FBI at the time – came back negative.
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at that time
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Speaking of Jummy Durham [sic], according to one of GC’s annonymous secret seven informants, it was likely to have been pegleg Jim himself who parked the little blue Hillman coupe on on South Esplinade above the beach; his mission presumably haing been to assist crime scene detectives from Glenelg CIB in collecting and collating any evidence. That may well be partly correct, however y’man would have had problems operating three foot pedals with just one foot eh?
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Just so long as your thirties four speed stick shift Hillman Minx had syncro in all forward gears. If not and your right leg be half a yard short, then only way to drive is backward. Have to ask GC if that was likely with “Jummy” Durham.
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Strange in a way, I suppose, that three ‘experts’ in their respective fields, didn’t go through all the available evidence and come to some agreement? Perhaps one of these ‘experts’ knew something the others didn’t and, was advised ‘not to rock the boat’?
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Clive, it’s inconceivable that the items in the suitcase weren’t fingerprinted. Then there is a further complication of the missing details on the fingerprint card, like a date and a signature. Given that you could say that the prints on card have as much, or as little provenance as the hair taken from the bust for DNA examination.
Taken together they raise some healthy suspicions as to who was really running the show. And we know there is more; like the sudden appearance of a box of matches on the body, the Rubaiyat that wasn’t photographed and apparently wasn’t shown by Leane to any of his colleagues – and not to forget how the coroner thought it unnecessary to have Boxall, Freeman or Harkness deposed and more importantly, why he didn’t insist that the ROK be submitted as evidence.
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Just a few more mootish points taken from GC’s latest repeat performance, eg., Lyons home in White St. [sic] Somerton 3 kms. to Broadway to and fro via Esplinade, more like two; and, Patrick Durham, who lived on the beach at Glenelg further north from Somerton was not known as Jummy but instead went by his middle monickerJames orJim; and just for good measure he was certainly not a Detetcive as claimed, just a very competent forensic sleuth who worked for Adelaide (Glenelg) CIB.
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Well Clive, as has been reported once or thrice, one of the three, Jim Durham was known to Kansas conmen Burch brothers as far back as 1928. The former had given expert evidence relating to a NSW reg. car heist etc., in which one of the co-offender’s prints were lifted from Leland Burch’s stolen five seater Buick in somewhat peculiar circumstances. At one point the court was cleared for fear of an explosive device one minute and resumed when the all clear was given. One of the three gaoled offenders committed suicide soon after. Wonder if Jimmy and Leland ever met up again in later years?..like 1948 for instance.
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Yes, I guess the box of matches being ‘found’ was a pretty good guide into how this investigation was ‘arranged’. No matches found would have raised an inconvenient question as to how the SM was smoking.
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Hmmm. So everything was in fact staged
That definitely rules out Charlie boy
No wonder DA has gone to ground
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Can’t be at all sure how GC’s Jummy Durham ended up taking on contracts for Sapol CIB. According to reliable records from NAA, pre ’48 when ASIO first reared it’s ugly head, he was in the employ of Commonwealth Investigation Service and had been since the thirties at least.
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