The tragedy centred around three protagonists: 33 year old 'domestic', Ethel Bradley; her 'young man' 24 year old Harry Jack; and 'tonsorial artist', Walter Sadler. It was played out off Cashel street, in a small lane that ran beside the Zetland Arms hotel (which joined Cashel with Lichfield street), in February 1911. Sadly, the Zetland has gone the way of many of Christchurch's heritage buildings.
Looking along Cashel Street in 1911, towards the river. Source: NZ Truth , Issue 297, 4 March 1911, Page 5. PapersPast
This cache will take you on a journey into pre-WWI Christchurch, through the intimate details of the life of a working class single woman from a respectable and well known Lyttelton family, and ultimately plunging into the seedier side of early 20th century Canterbury.
The published co-ordinates are the location of Harry Jack's lodgings, which in 1911 were on the corner of Durham and Walker street. To find the cache near by you first need to become a 'tec and solve your own mystery: find the correct numbers to match the eight letters of the alphabet listed below. Each letter has a clue, the answers you will find on the webpage link below. As you work through the clues, you will find one answer on each page of the post. Allow yourself at least half an hour.
http://lostchristchurch.org.nz/the-cashel-street-mystery
S 43°3A.BCD E 172°3E.FGH
A = How many months gone was Ethel?
B = There were ?0 bedrooms on the first floor of the Zetland
C = As Ethel waits, how many men stand talking outside the Zetland?
D = At what hour did Jack meet William Price at the Zetland?
E = The woman who found Ethel's hat, lived at 5? Montreal St.
F = The hour that Stringer says Jack met Ethel.
G = The number of months minus the number of times witnesses were called to give evidence.
H = Sadler's term of imprisonment.
When you find the cache, take a moment to remember Ethel Bradley, whose only failing seems to have been making poor choices in love! And if you have an opinion on 'who did it', add it to your log.
Take your own pen, no room for swaps.
We hope you enjoy this cache. For more stories from our city's past, visit www.lostchristchurch.org.nz