Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12231295

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LONG SEARCH FOR BODY

Police and Boy Scouts

Parties of police and others had great   difficulty in finding a body which had been seen in scrub near the Plenty River on Frlday. The search occupied 13 hours on Friday night and Saturday because of wrong directions which were given to the police. The body was that of James George Craig, aged 30 years, who had been a patient at the Mont Park Mental Hospital. He had been missed from the hospital early last week.

The body was seen by a party of hikers on Friday afternoon. They informed the Russell street police by telephone, and the police at Diamond Creek, Eltham, and Heidelberg were ordered to search for it. Before a search party could be organised   the police were summoned to a serious motor accident on the Lower Plenty road, and were unable to return until 9pm.

The party, comprising First-constable Bradbury, of Diamond Creek; Constable Hauser, of Eltham, Constables Light and Abbott of Heidelberg; and three residents of the district left with electric torches at 9.30 p.m. on Friday to find the body.     They searched the bush until 3 a.m. with- out seeing it. The search was then post- poned.

Assisted by three farmers, Messrs. W. Goss, J. Gangel, and J. McNally, and 20 Scouts, who were camped near the river, the search was resumed at 9 a.m. on Saturday. In the cold and rain the party penetrated through the dense undergrowth for six miles on the south- ern side of the river. At 1 p.m., when the body had not been found, the party returned to Greensborough, crossed the river, and continued the search on the other bank.

Three and a half hours later the body was found in Paradise Gully, five miles from Diamond Creek and Greensborough, by First-constable Bradbury and Con- stable Häuser. It had been lying in the bush for more than four days. It was placed on a stretcher and the party re-   turned to Diamond Creek. Because of the rough nature of the country the men who were carrying the stretcher soon became exhausted and had to be relieved every 20 yards until they reached open country. The body was taken to the city

morgue.

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