Contact: Stewart Webb.
Correspondence with Stuart Webb ..
Dec 23
9 Comments
X3239 – All questions and no answers
If Carl Webb arrived in Adelaide from either Broken Hill or Melbourne to see either Prosper or Jessica Thomson he could only have learnt of their phone number prior to leaving.
Never mind Romeo, wherefore art thou Charlie?
And a bit of a chat with dude47 while he justifies his position .. Was Carl Webb a car thief?
Dec 16
Whoops !! Did the Professor pick the wrong Charlie?
Charles Richard Webb. Enlisted 1940 aged 23 (VX 45944)
Photograph of the man claimed by Derek Abbott to be Carl (Charles) ‘Charlie’ Webb (born 1905) taken prior to 1939 (the year his father died)
Never mind the 3 inches, I think the hair-do has it.
… and it’s more likely a cheeky young bloke would flap his hand over the head of an older relative in a family shot, not an older man.
Three Inches – and an update from the office of Dr. Fitzpatrick.
The Somerton Man mystery, according to Professor Abbott is a mystery no more, a little tidying up here and there, a few more headlines and life should return to normal.
Except for just three small things.
Putting ‘Charlie’ and Roy into height perspective.
The argument being sustained is that the relative distances between Charlie, Roy and the camera have both diminished Charlie’s height – him being further away – and increased Roy’s – him being closer, therefore making any height comparisons arbitrary in nature. This became apparent in a recent survey I undertook where most respondents judged Roy as being the taller of the two, including a senior detective I bailed up at the local police station.
However if we were to ask Charlie to please move closer by a couple of inches and Roy to move back an inch or two until he was level with Charlie then ask him to stand up straight for the camera I think we might be in a better position to judge between them with regard to their respective heights. And it’s cautionary to note here that Charlie has his hands on the shoulders of both of the old folks so he’s not standing back any great distance to begin with.
We know Roy was noticeably less than 5’9” from his enlistment photograph (below) so if we were able to shuffle both men around as per above my view is they would both appear to be the same height, meaning ‘Charlie’ at close to Roy’s height of less than 5’9” couldn’t possibly be the Somerton Man as he was measured at 5’11” – more than two inches taller (5.08 cms), a more than noticeable difference, particularly if you use the height gauge below and see the difference between the top of Roy’s head and what would be an inch below the 6’ mark.
It would appear that everybody may have got it wrong …
Mark-up courtesy of GC
Dec 10
We have a photograph of a young blonde man somebody tagged as Charlie ..
From blond-haired to brown-haired tinged with red - From less than 5’9” to 5’11” - Who tagged this man as ‘Charlie’?
Was the fair-haired Charles Richard Webb the ‘Charlie’ in the photograph?
There has been some confusion about the tagging of the older couple in the photo as Grandpa and Grandma when some think they should have been tagged as mother and father. Well, it looks like everyone's right. They are the grandparents of the fair-haired man tagged as Charlie as he may be the fair-haired Charles Richard the son of their son Russell Richard , and they are the parents of Roy, Russell's brother. The photo may have been taken from Charles Richard’s album and not his uncle Carl’s, Roy’s brother. Confusing, ain't it?
The Somerton Man Survey .. Who is the Highest?
Five foot nine inches beats five foot eleven inches - in other words, never run a survey thinking you'll get the result you want.
Dec 5
Charlie Webb here is supposed to be more than two inches taller than his brother, Roy Webb … But he isn’t.
... and is Richard the real Charlie?
Charlie Webb’s World
Russel Street detectives believe the unknown man whose body was found on Somerton Beach, Adelaide on December 1 was well-known in Melbourne baccarat circles.
Guess who’s coming to dinner? Gangsters at the Webb’s dinner table.
How involved was Charlie Webb with the older criminals who were part and parcel of his family?
The Criminal Connection: Roy Webb’s father-in-law was an associate of one of Australia’s most notorious criminals.
Meet Squizzy Taylor, a thoroughly bad man.
“He didn’t have a match on him.” PC Moss
“For instance, the fingers of the dead man were heavily nicotined and yet, although there was half a packet of cigarettes in one of his pockets, he didn’t have a match on him.
I guess it’s all over and done with now, right?
ABC’s Australia Story has just settled the mystery, everything is bedded down: Webb was the Somerton Man. We have his family, the photos, the whole story. A tragic man lost and alone, a dead stranger found on the Adelaide shore.
Everything in place. A lonely suicide far from his family and friends,
Derek Abbott finally triumphant, his wife less so, the South Australian Police in the wings and awaiting the result of their own DNA investigation, slivers of doubt weakening the strength of some of us who think the mystery has yet to be fully resolved.
Because there are questions …
Like where he died and who carried him from there to the beach, who planted a box of matches on his body to support the finding of a part-smoked cigarette wedged under his chin, what poisoned him, whether there was a relationship between Webb, the man seen lying by the steps the previous evening and the fellow Olive Neill saw looking down on him for an inordinate length of time .. add to that the fact that the police investigation appeared to be inexplicably delayed until the inquest was adjourned and most importantly, when and how did Jessica meet Charles Webb and under what circumstances.
It ain’t over until it’s over.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-21/my-name-is-charles-somerton-man-mystery/101680520
All you need to know about barbiturates and who used it to commit suicide.
Fitting Charles Webb into all this isn’t too hard.
Did Carl Webb come calling at 90a Moseley Street?
And was it in response to an ad placed in the Advertiser three days before he was found dead?
The Bloodstained Shirt .. Part 2
This bloodstain casts a new and peculiar light on the circumstances surrounding the death of Charles Webb as there was no corresponding wound found on his body.
(Plus a measured response to Gordon Cramer's explanation of the origin of the bloodstain.)
What’s this? Bloodstains on the neck of Webb’s shirt and a MUTILATED copy of the Rubaiyat found in the back of a UTILITY TRUCK?
And we find out what pocket had the tickets and dispel all the silliness of Webb having a ‘secret’ pocket sown into his trousers.
Where to now with Jessica Harkness’ involvement?
This is where we ascend into the universe of speculation again.
Carl Webb’s ‘Beautiful Shape.’ How come?
X3239 was the Melbourne phone number for a physical culture instructress in Brighton Vic. .. and as if there aren't enough coincidences in this case, read about seeing a muscular male figure going through athletic gyrations on the beach at Glenelg on a Sunday morning.
The Somerton Man 