The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-02-14 00:00:00

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY.TIFFH DAY.

[On Monday] the Lord Chief Justice in resutelne his review
tieci later part of the defendant's life in Australia after
the Met suggestion ha claim, posted out the great
Importance of Me earlier statements to we crone', am,
while he was yet at Wagg• Wegea, and before he had the
meals of he ormat on wlech he afterwards acquit ed. The
Lerd Chief Justice cbselved upon what he celled the " start-
Beg tact" that the denude& when asked where he wee born
raid t•lit Dersetahlre," whereas Rogt r was bard In Paris, and
yawed there the first 16 yeses tot his life. So. when ask, d &wet
the estates, he said they were 'tied rip," and would, on
his death, "go to his wreath," not mentioning the brother,
Alfred ; nor did Mr. Chimes remember his menttonirg Alfred
mil the Dowager's letter arrived mentioning his death.
Ou the other baud, he said he bed had two sisters born in
Paris, who died young, which was true of Roger Ticitio ,roe.
According to Mr. Glebes, Indeed, the defendant stated he
waa born In January, leo9 which would be currett ; but
the quota n was whether this was said by him before he
had acquired Information, and there was this difficulty in
that view—that the defendant had previously described
himsetl, the year het ve, as thirty years of age, which would
mute him bore in len Then there was his statement,
according to Globe., that he had "dl. Vita, dame,"
which, the I. ad Chief Juliet, observed, was one
of the most important Delete in the case, as It was
an undoubted fact that Roger never had that disorder.
The defendant, indeed, in his crows-examination had not
positively deeded at first that he had made such • state.
meet, hut had only said that he did "not remember," and
that he " might have said it," hut, being preseed, he at last
swore that he had not made the statement, so that it became,
sale the Lord Chief Justice, • question of verse ity between
the defendant and Gibing, his attorney. Nor was this all, for
it waa to be borne In mind that fir. Gibbets had written at the
time to Lady lacnberne that the defendant had made that
statement, and that Mr. Hodson, a gentleman who had left
In the same steamer with the defendant, had sworn that the
defendant had made the same statement to him, and this also
the defendant in his crosaelsmination denied. Again,
the defendant told Gibbn, in connecli. to with 'the
Brighton card case," that he had been • gambler ; but an
cording to the evidence, there was no reason to suppose
that this had been the case with Roger. Again, he told
Glebes that his family had been in the habit of paying 3t, in
the pound out of their income to the Rowan Catholic
Church, but for this silo there was no foundation In fact
and,perhaps the defendant had got hold of some story of
the " lichboree Dole," and had misunderstood It then
bespoke of two modes of spelling the word lichborne, with
and without the letter "a." Again, his statements as to the
family property were very 'Unordinary. Ile spoke, laid
Mr. Gibbs., of the Doughty. in counexion with the pro-
perty. but never mentioned his relationship to them : and
he stated that hie father had the seat In Dorset-
shims. at Hermitage, whereas It was bequeathed to his
uncle, Sir Edward Doughty, and was at Upton, and there was
no family estate at any place called Hermitage, In Dcnete
shire. Again according to Mr. Whites, the defendant
never mentioned his education at S;oeyhurat or his lie
as an officer in the army ; and afterwards he dented
both these parts of Roger's life, which Rotor mold hardly
have forgotton. Here, then, said the Lord Chief Jestice
there was an extraordinary medley of knowledge and
Ignorance, and therefore it was natural to Inquire whether
there were any sollrex• of information open to the defendant
at Wages Wages. There wcre the obituaries In the 1111 r,
(rated Neter., there were the Dcwager's advertimmente, and
there was a Hampshire men named Slate, an acquaintance of
the defendant, who he said first drew his attention to the
advertisements, and who, therefore, it might be Inferred, had
some knowledge of the Tichborne family. The Lord Chief
Justice pointed out that the obituaries In the Illuatrated
News would have conveyed Information at to Ito lawile
being • R. man Catholic family, and the two daughters
toeing born to Paris, and part of the property comtng
from the Doughty!. No doubt, if read attentively,
they would have conveyed some further hotelman.),
which, it appeared, the defendant had not acquired,
as, for instance, tee Dowager's Christian names. Bet
then it might be that the information had come to him
at second-haed, through the lisnipthire man, and no had
come to him Inaccurately and lucompletaly. Coming to
the time when the defeudaut, sitar a Rood deal of cone-
spoudence, in which they spoke of their "share of the
spoil," was led to come forward and assert Ina claim under
the amerces of Glebes and o abut, the Lord Chief Justice
drew attention to some of the note. the defendant wrote to
'adobes, containing pressing entreaties for small sums ef
money, and describing his distressed condition, then In the
service of a butcher, Hiatus ; and he contrasted the position
of the defendant, as thus described by himself, with the real
position of It 'ger Tichhorne at that time, possessed for
year. an Inc mast of 11000 • year, and fence June, 1862,
when his father died, entitled to an Wale of £26,000 • year.
Ile read the defendant's first letter to the Downer In
January, 1866, and asked the jury to contrast this sod
other letters of the defendant with the lone letters of
Roger written before he went on board the .Beila He then
commented on the fact that the Dowager, lo Februery,
before receiving this letter, stmt. to Cubitt that she had to
reason for believing the man to be her son, and by the same
post wrote to the man himself, addressing him as her son.
The centred between there two letters, the Lord Cold
Justice observed, was most extraordinary, and, apparently,
inexplicable. And he proeeeded to point out what a mere
pretence It was to suggest, at had been suggested on the part
of the defendant, that he tint resolved Income home when
he heard of the death of Alfred, the fact being that he did
not know of Alfred's death until after he had sent the letter
announcing his claim. Golug on te notice the entries in the
defendant's pocket-book, the Lord Chief Justice particularly
noticed the entry "Sic R. C. Tichborne, Bart., I hope "
language, he observe], not likely to he used by Roger. Ile
also noticed the entry " Hobart Town, July 4. 1854," a
date, he observed, not applicable to Roger. Then there
were entries describing " Tichbornitehall " as in Surrey,
Instead of flampehlire ; and there was the address of
Miss Mary Anne Loder, in Wapping (the young woman to
whom Arthur Orton was attac tied), which, the Lord Chief
ladles, observed, is to be coupled with letters the dereli-
cts& cauaell to be written to Mr. Richardson, of Wapping,
saltine after old Orton and his family. The Lord CAlet
Indica went on to notice the will made by the
defendant while still at Wagga Wages in June, 1966,
&Wafting the estates as In the tele of Wight (where the
family never had any) and in " Wymmerteg," Hamp-
shire, and at "Hermitage." Dorsetshire where they
had no estate.), and describing his mother as Lady
•• Hannah France. ' Tickborne, Wetted of Hewlett. Foll-
ette, and appointing as executors "John, Jarvis. of Bridport "
(a person known to Orion), and "Henry Angel" (another
of Orton'. acquatatencee) and Sir John Bird, of Hertfordshire.
He then noticed the defendant's explanation of this—that
he "executed the will wrongly" on purpon ; and that,
though it was made with the view of raising money, it was,
in fact, executed by him knowing It to be false from begin-
ning to end ; aed that "hi. obj‘et was to keep from Gibber,
the knoelsege of everything about him "—in ether words,
that It was a fictitious, will, not intended to have any effect
at au. Bat this might be, sant the Lord Chief Justice,
what the estates were or anythingthrough his not knowing
snout thorn. With reference to the names of "Angel" and
" Jarvis,' the Lord Chief Justice noticed the defendant's
answer in cross-examlnstion that he put these names
In at the Instance of Arthur Orion. who, he said, ex.
pected to receive a share of the money to be obtained
under the will. The names, said the Lord Chief Justice,
were unknown to Roger if ChbOrllo, though they would
naturally hare occerred to Arthur Orion, And why should
Roger Tichborne have put them in? Why did he not
pot in the names of ale Gosford or Mr. Slaughter,
the executors of his former will, or his cousins the
Seymour., or some other of his numerona relative, or friends?
Moreover, the defendant's own to .uns-1 threw over with the
utmost morn this explanation of his cdent, and resorted to
soother, which, however, the Lord Chief Justice ridiculed
as too abrurd aa to require refutation—that Arthur Orten's
memory and identity had absorbed and superseded It eier'e,
so that Roger had forgotten an his own friends nod rela-
Mom and remembered only Orton's. There was the start-
ling fact that in • will executed as Roger TichbOree's there
o were the lISMOI Of two persons as executors who were un-
known to Roger Tichborne. The Lord Chief Justice went
on to notice subsequent letter, of the Dowager when the
defendmot was at Sydney, declaring that she must see him
tint before she timid identify (having already acknow•
edged him), alluding to some inquiry by the defendant
after his "grandfather," whom, she wrote, "Roger never
knew," and stating that Roger was educated at titenyharst,
and was three year, an ofa ,er in the Army—statementa
altogether Incontisrent with those which bad been
mad* by the defend mt. Then came Impartss of the detail&
ant is. answer te which he made the startling statement/
that hie brother was brought up at " Wincesater College,
Yorkshire" (there being no such place), that he himself wm
e. sorted at Sonthamoton, and that he had been In "the
136te Regiment," and that he did not know the name of the
of the I la:tram. estates. Couto Roger fichborne giver
have reinesed inch answers 1 Not know the name of Me