The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-03-21 00:00:00

REPORTED LOSS OF SIXTY-SEVEN

LIVES.

At the end of January last Mr. Gross, engineer,
R.N., residing at Plymouth, and Mr. Cornish, first
class assistant engineer, of Devonport, having been
appointed to Her Majesty's ship ()dark, 35 guns, now
in the Red Sea, proceeded by a mail packet to join
that vessel Letters have just been received from
each of these officers giving a deplorable account of the
disasters which have befallen them. It appears that
they arrived at Aden on the 18th of February, and
the same evening were transferred to a transport, the
name •of which is not given and set sail for the
Octaria. About midnight thAransport ran on a reef
of rocks during a heavy gale, and remained stuck fast,
the sea breaking over her. In this pitiful plight, ex-
pecting every moment that the ship would break
up, the unhappy passengers and crew, many of
whom appear to have been officers on their way to
j,,in the Abyssinian expedition, remained until noon
next day, when it being evident that the ship
could no longer stand the strain to which she was
subjected, seven of those on board, including Mr.
Grose and Mr. Cornish, resolved to trust themselves
to a boat, apparently the only boat left with the ship,
hoping to make land, although the tremendous break-
ers almost forbade the hope that they could be saved.
After a short but most dangerous trip the little party
reached land, and were immediately surrounded by a
body of Arabs, armed, it is said with pistols, who,
I under threats of instant death, compelled the seven
unhappy men to strip themselves of the whole of their
clothing, and of all eke they had succeeded in bringing
ashore, and then abandoned them to their fate in an un-
known country. The sevon survivors believe that soon
after they left the transport she broke up, and that all
the remainder on board, 67 in number, perished. After
waiting some hours the seven set off to walk to Aden,
and for two days and a night were without clothing,
even their boots having been taken, under the burning
sun by day and the cold by night. At length, how-
ever, on the 20th of February they reached Aden, and
were at once provided for on board her Majesty's ship
Nymph. They were, of course, very weak and ex-
hausted, their limbs being greatly swollen, and at the
date of the letters, the 2lst of February, were ex-
tremely ill and hardly able to write. A steamer was
despatched to the scene of the wreck to endeavour to
save some of the valuables on board, and hoping also
to pick up other survivors.

AN INQUEST ON THE BODY OF
LADY TICHBORNE.
The difficulties which surrounded the settlement of
the question of succession to the Tichborne baronetcy
are likely to become still more complicated by the
sudden and unexpected death of Lady Henrietta
Felicite Tichborne, upon whom an inquest was held
on Saturday by Dr. Lankester, in London, at the re-
quest of the claimant to the family estates, who made
a statement upon oath, from which it would seem that
he suspected the death to have been caused by unfair
means. It may, perhaps, be necessary, for the purpose
of rendering the case complete, to recall attention to
the fact, that recently a gentleman suddenly appeared
in England who claimed to be Roger Charles Doughty
Tichborne, tenth baronet, and heir to the title and
estates connected with the Tichborne family. He
stated that after meeting with various misfortunes con-
sequent upon a voyage he had undertaken twenty-
seven years ago he reached Australia, and had re-
mained there up to the time of leaving for England
last year. He was admitted by the deceased lady to
be her con, and was in immediate and friendly relation
with her up to the time of her death ; but his identity
was denied by the other members of the family in-
terested in the disposal of the property; and the case
yet 'tends the decision of the Lords Justices.
Upon the opening of the coroner's court on Saturday,
Mr. Locock Webb stated that he appeared on behalf
of Sir Roger Doughty Tichborne.
Mr. Alfred Seymour, sworn and examined, said: I
am half brother to the deceased. I believe she was
born in 1804, and was at the time of her death sixty-
four years of age. She was the widow of Sir James
Francis Doughty Tichborne. She has been in very
good health lately, but I have no reason to suppose
that she came to her death by any other than natural
causes.
Coroner: I believe the non of the deceased is present.
Mr. Dobinson, of the firm of Dobinson & Geer, Lin.
cola's-inn: As the agent of the estate, I dispute that
this gentleman in her son.
Coroner : That does not matter, so far as this inquiry
is concerned, if he swears that he is her son.
The gentleman in question, who had only been re-
ferred to by gesture, here stepped forward, and having
been sworn by the coroner, said My name is Roger
Charles Doughty Tichborne. I am the son of de-
ceased. I saw her last alive this day week. She ap-
peared to me to be in good health. I beard of her
death abhut ten minutes past two on Thursday last,
or rather, I was summoned to come to London from
Croydon immediately at that time. I found her dead
a little after four.
Coroner: Do you know how she came by her death,
or do you suspect any one of causing her death
Witness (after a long pause, during which he seemed
struggling to control his feelings) : I do not know how
she came by her death; but I wished the post mortem
examination to be made, because I sou fully aware that
one of my servants was offered £l,OOO to put me out of
the way.
At the request of a juror this stetement was re-

peated.
Coroner We cannot go into that question here,
although if you can bring evidence in support of
what you can state you can take action in another
court.
The next witness was then called.
Edward fluent, a waiter at Howlett's Hotel, deposed:
Her ladyship had been living here for five months.
She had been in. general good health all that time.
I found her dead on Thursday morning at twenty-five
minutes past eleven, in her room, with her body on the

floor, by the fire-place, and her head on the sofa. She
had her dressing gown on. I had not seen her till then
since the morning before, when she went to Croydon.
Her maid and her footman were both with her the
morning she died.

Catherine Ifarr.-tt : I was her ladyship's maid, and
saw her on Wednesday night. She was in her usual
health. She got up at half-past six on Thursday
morning, and went into the drawing room, and said to
me, "You have not yet lighted my tire." She ap-
peared in her usual health still. She went back to
her bed-room, and slept till seven o'clock. She came
into the drawing-room again, and took two cups of tea.
I was called to her about half-past Line, and had some
conversation with her. I saw her again at a quarter-
past eleven, when she had a newspaper in her hand. I
never saw her again alive. She was not dressed. She
never dressed till twelve.

Mr. klenry Times, M.R.C.S. : I was called to de.
ceased at half-past eleven on Thursday morning. She
was quite dead. She had been dead a very few
minutes, and was quite warm. I could not detect any-
thing in the room like poison. Her laxly was
moderately nourished. I found extensive congestion
of the brain. There was a little fluid, but not enough
to account for death. There was some also in the
ventricle. I opened the chest and found the lungs
congested, and there was evidence of long-standing
disease. There was very little fluid in the pericardium.
The heart WSW very small and shrunken. The right
wall was very thin. The left wall was thicker, but the
fibrous substance was easily broken in. There was
fatty degeneration of the heart. The right cavities
were full, and there was a slight quantity of fluid
blood in the left. The valves were healthy. The
stomach hada little fluid in it, which I have preserved.
I did not perceive any indications of poison. Mr.
Tiernan and several other medical gentlemen who were
with me when I made the post morters examination
agreed with me. Mr. Tiernan said all the orAans were
healthy except the heart. The cause of death was
fatal syncope from a feeble heart.
The Coroner said that was a very common cause of !
death in persons of from 60 to 70. The heart gradually
shrunk from its natural size, and suddenly failed alto-
gether. There were circumstances connected with
the case that might lead them to suspect unfair play,
but there was an entire want of evidence to support
any suspicion. Everything seemed to be going on
properly in the hotel, and they could not suspect de-
ceased's servants. If, however, the jury thought
there was the slightest reason to suppose that she had
taken, or had administered to her, any poison, they
must adjourn, and send the contents of the stomach to
undergo a careful analysts.
After some conversation on the subject of further
medical evidence, Mr. Lewis, 'AL R.C.S., corroborated
the evidence of Mr. Times.
Mr. Times, in answer to the foreman of the jury,
said the death might have been hastened by ab-
stinence from food. Deceased was a strict catholic,
and might have been fasting He had often given
her medical certificates in consequence of her unfit-
ness for fasting, but she had not asked for certificates
lately.
After a short deliberation in private, the jury re-
turned a verdict, 'That deceased was found dead, and
, that death was caused by atrophy and fatty degenera.
lion of the heart"