When I first read this my mind completely dismissed the fact that this poor young man was found in his coffin in a storeroom and I immediately saw a strangely pale and quiet person sitting in the station waiting room. Just waiting.
Townsville Daily Bulletin 24 Aug 1929 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60238235
I saw the swirl of the soldiers and travellers moving around him like a scene from a movie, the camera focussing on him, seemingly sleeping, completely unmoving, while people came and went.
Yes, I know that article clearly states that his coffin was stored in a lonely cellar, safe from the public gaze, but that is not the way my brain works.
What a sad end for him. He dies, far from home, in 1915 and then his remains are shoved in a corner, forgotten until a 1929 spring cleaning. I wonder if they ever worked out where he was supposed to be sent?
This young Turk was a student, not a soldier, so I am sure his death was completely unexpected to his family. Did they ever try to find him? Were they still waiting for him out there? What was the eventual fate of this forgotten man’s remains?
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Last year I did a post about a forgotten skeleton, left in an attic for 22 years before surprising a plumber, although that one had been far, far older before he was lost.
It’s sad that his family never found him before this but I suppose they asked. I wonder if anyone ever found out who he was and where he was supposed t go.
I found this a really sad tale. I will keep looking for the happy end to the story but I doubt there was one. Just putting an unnecessary downer on your day!
Seriously sad and weird too. I guess if the conditions were perfect his corpse was ‘mummified’ otherwise the smell or presence of maggots would have alerted someone. Right?
The saddest part for me is the idea that his family and friends probably imagined an entirely different fate. Perhaps they thought he’d become a criminal? Or maybe they thought he’d gone off on a great adventure and would contact them eventually with a treasure of some kind?
We can only hope they knew he had died and that his body was on its way. They may have understood it might be delayed by the wartime restrictions on travel, but they probably expected he would turn up at some time. The thought of them never knowing his fate makes it even sadder.
It was just as well he was properly embalmed, wasn’t it, although if the undertaker had done a terrible job the smell probably would have ensured he got home a lot quicker!