An introduction to what comes next
It's about time somebody put it all together, again ...
Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Aug 16
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25 – Atomic Weapons Research and a Dead Man’s Slippers.
3 of 3.
Robert James Cowan’s travel manifest (below) shows he was sponsored to America in 1940/41* by Paul Leland Kirk, a key participant in the Manhattan Project who was working at the university of California at Berkeley. J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work in the same University and on the same project came to fruition in 1945 and Cowan was given 10 months in their lab to get onboard with the American nuclear developments … yet here he is in 1949 trying on a random dead man’s old slippers at the same time Professor Cleland found what looked to be a suicide note in the unfortunate fellow’s fob pocket.
*J Sanders for the correction
23 – PC Moss: The Bravest Man In The Station
But that's not the end of it because when the Professor Cleland found the slip he was in the company of James Cowan.
22 – A Codebreaker’s Quandary
If nothing else this beats trying to convince the few remaining Somerton Man punters that Carl Webb looks to be the same height as his much shorter brother.
21 – Carl Webb was a violent drug addict and suicidal wife beater
The smell of ether was so strong that other tenants complained. I found empty bottles and after a struggle got him to tell me what else he had taken, namely 40 Phenobarbitel tablets.
16 – A little provenance is required before we decide upon anything rash
As Professor Derek Abbott and the drop dead gorgeous Fiona of the Antiques Roadshow insist - provenance is everything.
Jul 10
13 – Believe it or else …
… Two siblings carefully seperate two pages of a photograph album that has been stuck together for what, nearly seventy years? More? Ninety?
And here, almost pristine in appearance is an ancient ink-labelled photo that has defied both the deterioration of time and the unsticking of itself from the page it has been joined to for longer than anyone reading this, bar me.
12 – Reasonable doubt.
Never mind that Roy Webb on the right appears to be about the same height as Charlie Webb standing between the grandparents, forget that the height difference between the two is officially about three inches, take no notice that both of them are standing within close touching distance of said grandparents, heed not that Roy, supposedly the shorter of the two might appear even taller if he stood up straight. Instead, let’s take a look at the old folk.
My guess is that Richard is about three inches taller than his wife Eliza, give or take.
Many argue the reason Charlie appears to be the same height as Roy is that he is further away from the camera and this distance has subsequently reduced his height in comparison to the shorter Roy. Well, there is a rule of thumb guide that can be used to refute such an argument.
How far back from the camera would Richard have stand to appear to be the same height as Eliza?
A metre? Two metres?
Is Charlie standing that far back from Roy?
Of course the assumption here is that the photographer, being an old-fashioned type would have been sure to stand both old folks on a level surface for the pic, not wanting either of them to stumble over uneven ground.
Roy Webb’s enlistment file
You know it makes sense.
Jul 5
11 – I can’t see it.
Carl Webb Aged about 25
Carl Webb Aged 43
… and still no SAPOL DNA result, 2 years and 2 months on.
9 – What are we looking at here, a slip-shod investigation or something else entirely?
Inexplicable delays in presenting evidence and the apparent loss of same.
7 – Parallels between Carl Webb’s behaviour, his physical characteristics and ASD
“The human body is a machine which winds its own springs”*
Dec 26
Small matters of little concern in the grand scheme of things…
Though it would be nice to tidy them up.
Carl Webb was a violent and suicidal wife beater
Dorothy Webb's Affidavit makes for very ugly reading in that it describes in detail the atrocious behaviour of Carl Webb, her violent and abusive husband.
Prosper McTaggart Thomson and his non-participation in WW2
His two years and nine months in uniform.
Where might Prosper Thomson fit into the scheme of things?
You have to sniff around this mystery like a bloodhound, in this case tracking Prosper’s classified footprints prior to Webb showing up in SA.
Jul 27
CARL ’CHARLES’ WEBB and His Family Tree.
See end of post for family tree.
~~
The Somerton Man is said to be Carl ‘Charles’ Webb.
Born 1905 Footscray, Melbourne.
He had six siblings.
He disappeared in ‘April 47, the same year Robin was born and Jessica moved to Adelaide from Melbourne.
Deserting his wife, Dorothy “Doff” Webb. Maiden name Dorothy Jean Robertson.
They had no children.
She divorced him in absentia in 1951 and by that time was living in Bute, South Australia, 90 miles from Adelaide.
Electrical Engineer – Instrument Maker.
Australian.
DNA match made. First cousin three times removed on his mother’s side.
No photo of him found.
No official record of him found other than his record of birth.
No death record.
None of his family on record as having identified him as the Somerton Man from newspaper photos
Derek Abbott claims success. Colleen Fitzpatrick claims success.
SA police have no comment to make, neither verifying or confirming this claim.
Abbott has found Webb had a brother-in-law named Thomas Keane who lived in Brunswick, and believes the sharp objects were likely used in his work as instrument maker.
Abbott found family records showing he wrote poetry and liked a punt on the racehorses.
The following lifted from CNN, article written by Hilary Whiteman.
Who was Carl ‘Charles’ Webb?
According to Abbott, Webb was born on November 16, 1905 in Footscray, a suburb of Victoria’s state capital Melbourne. He was the youngest of six siblings.
Little is known about his early life, Abbott says, but he later married Dorothy Robertson — known as Doff Webb.
When Webb emerged as the prime person of interest on the family tree, Abbott and Fitzpatrick set to work, scouring public records for information about him. They checked electoral rolls, police files and legal documents. Unfortunately, there were no photos of him to make a visual match.
“The last known record we have of him is in April 1947 when he left Dorothy,” said Fitzpatrick, founder of Identifinders International, a genealogical research agency involved in some of America’s most high-profile cold cases.
“He disappeared and she appeared in court, saying that he had disappeared and she wanted to divorce,” Fitzpatrick said. They had no known children.
FAMILY TREE
https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/tree/184165889/family/familyview?cfpid=372402315111
Courtesy of Byron Deveson.
All Carl Webb’s Earthly Goods ..
A definitive list (including items under dispute) of what was found and what might have been missing. The only clues we have as to where Carl Webb was and what he was doing before arriving in Adelaide.
The Somerton Man .. 