The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-01 00:00:00

THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.

On Friday in last week, at the invitation of a com-
mittee of about 40 persons, of whom Mr. Cross (ac-
countant and auctioneer, formerly attorney's clerk, was
chairman, the Claimant" visited Bri4ol, The pro-
ceedings are thus reported in 7 he Times :
Owing to a statement circulated during the morning to the
effect that he would arrive by the express at 20 minutes past
2 o'clock in the afternoon, about three or four thousand
persons assembled, hut there was a delay or two hours, (lur-
ing which the crest d was reduced to about 700. The Claimant
arrived at half past 4 o'clock with Mr Guildford .Mslow,
M.P.. and Sir. Anidjah, his agent for Westbury, having tra-
velled from Alreaford. Ile was much hustled on alighting
on the platform, and having been pushed into a brougham
by the excited crowd, who pressed upon him for the purpose
of shakiug him by the hand, an effort was made
to start the pair of horses. So persistently did the
crowd cling to the vehicle that the door of the brougham
was broken off its hinges, and left in the hands of the
crowd. There was more excitement, laughter, and expres
Mons of feeling, resulting from gratified curiosity, than en-
thusiasm or sj mpathy. Efforts had been made to keep the
arrival a secret, and the Claimant was taken quickly to his
h. tel at Clifton. In the eveuing there was a public meeting
held at the Broadmead Rooms. The room was about three
parts full, but a large crewd assembled outside the doors in
the hope of getting a sight of the Claimant. Mr. Cross pre-
sided, and was supported by Mr. Collins, of the Wine
'Vaults, Christmas-street Mr Levi, clothes dealer ; Mr.
Guil ford (Insley', M.P., Mr. Charles Shackell, and the com-
mittee men. The Claimant was received with cheers, at
nest faint, but afterwards more warm, and followed by
laughter, "Hurrah for Sir Roger," and cries of " Ah, aft'"
The Chairman briefly introduced the business of the meet-
ing by remaeking that all they sought to obtain by that meet'
fig was justice and fair play for the Claimant.
Mr Ewen,, a commercial traveller, moved the first resolu
Mon That this meeting is of opinion that the recent
Tichborne trial was not conducted in that spirit-of fair play
which Eneliehme n have a right to expect, and that the lan-
guage of the Attorney-General was entirely unworthy of the
British Bar." (Cheers.)
Mr. Sheekell, outfitter, seconded the motion, and it sma un-
animously adopted.
Mr. laylor, corn factor, preposed the !second resolution,
which was as fellows:—" That this meeting considers the
eimming of six counsel in the present prosecution is an at-
tempt to crush a defeuceless ninn, and hereby protests against
the enormous waste of public money." (Applause).
Mr Frank Collins, tobacconist, seconded the motion,
which also was carried unanimously.
Mr. G. Onslow, M.P., then came forward to address the
meeting, and was loudly cheered. Before entering into the
details of the great rose, he said he mnst avail himeell of
the earliest oppertnnity of ti - enkhne them most kindly for
the flattering reception whit (31-ind given, not only is
Sir Roger Tichhorne, but to is ! • ill It had been truly raid
that that meeting was Import/lint, becanse it was the first
great place where they had enlisted public sympathy on be-
half of Sir Roger Tichborne (cheers), and he trustol that the
cheers which they heard tinat evening might, througimut the
pilgrimage which they were about to take, he, as it were, an
augury of future prosperity and success in the undertaking
he had adopted, and which he believed to be a right one.
(Cheers.) Haring referred to his friendship with the late Sir.
Henry lierkeley and Mr. W. 11. Gore -Langton, former repre-
seutatives of the city in Perliament, Mr. OnelOW saint he
had in his pocket a letter from Mr. Langton saying how
deeply he regretted his inability to be present that evening.
(Cheers.) They were well aware that the great case which
had occupied the attention of tine world for more than a
year was suddenly and most unexpectedly brought to a
standstill by the jury saying that they had heard suffi.dent,
and by doing that they forced Sir Roger, much against his
will, to accept a non-suit. Now the( jury by their conduct
ignored the evidence of so Immourable, rmpectable, and die-
interested witnesses, not one of MI in, the Claimant in-
cluded, ever broke down, and accepted the evidence of 17
witnesses who, with the exception of the Messrs. Seymour,
were all Jesuits (cheen), and every one of them more or less
interested in the case—almost as much as the Claimant him-
;el( ""!!!-• es.) Who were those 17 witnesses? They were corn-
e, t_eltes and geet., who, with the exception he
believed, of Mr. Alfred Seymour and airs. Radcliffe, never
took the opportunity of examinieg Sir Roger Tichborne to
ascertain by word of mouth whether he was Sir Roger or not.
Therefore their evidence only amounted to this—they did
not recognise the max whom they had known in former days.
The jury accepted their evidence, which was negative evi-
dence, and rejected the affirmative evidence of seventy-
five gentlemen, who were honourable men. Mr.
Onslow went on to remark that his friend Sir Roger
T.chhorme appealed to the British public for fair play.
(Cheers.) It was a most serious and important moment
for him, for he wits about to be tried for perjury
and forgery (cries of " Oh, never, "He shan't"), and
the result of that trial would either send him into
penal servitude or into the posseaston of his title and
estates. Now, it had been said that he The speaker), in
arguing the case for Sir Roger Tichborne, was attempting

to Set class against class (" No bat allow him to say that
they were, with very few exceptions, deserted by the upper
classes of this country. The upper classes did not like one
coming forward to claim his title and estates from the hands
of those in possession of it. (Hear, hear.) Their mind was
blinded in that ease ; but they had appealed to the British
public, and they knew how nobly the British public had re-
spouded to that appeal. The working clones were the clasees
who, with their sixpences and even their pence, had come
forward to give their support to the fund for the defence
cheers); and it was an honour to the working classes that
they hid done so. That gentleman (pointing to the Claimant)
did not belong to their class, and yet they supported him.
they would not see any man, high or low, crushed or
tmmpled upon. (Cheers.) The British public were hi
his favour. and he had never known the British public
wrong. (Cheers.) Mr. Onslow went on to remark
that the Tichborne Case was unknown to the public.
(Laughter) It never was pleeded. It never was replied to.
The Attorney General spoke for days and weeks, but never
was replied to, and they knew nothing of the Tiehborne
Case. (Renewed laughter.) Serf emit Ballantine never
replied He had not an opportunity given him. (Shame.)
He could not say that Serjeant Ilallantine would hove
quailed, but he, like Englishmen, did not light so well
as he would have done under different circumstances.
;Cheers and laughter.) It was their misfortune to have
starved the trial. They had to stern) the counsel,
but the little money they had was used to the best
purpose. Sir Roger 1'it:111)0rue would have been at that
moment in Newgate, and his beautiful children and wife in
the workhouse, it it had not been for him perseverance. Sir
Roger Tichborne tad been five years in this country, and if
Ile was an impostor it was a disgrace to the laws of England
that they had not found it out before this. (Cheers.) He did
not hesitate to say—and he said it with a certain amount of
grief, for he was the 'last man is the world to use abusive
irteguage towards anybody—he said, after deep considera-
tion. and after having made the case his study for years,
that the speech of the Attorneydreneml was a gloss mis-
representation of facts, was a foul assumption am( en
abuse of language, (Cheers.) It was unworthy if
lawyer and unworthy of a gentleman. (Cheers.) lie could
take that speech in his hand, and detain them nearly
as long as the Attorney-General in proving what he
had said. (Laughter.) The Attorney-General's bad blood .
was up ; his bad feelings were aroused at being
baffled and beaten by that gentleman (pointieg to the Claim-
ant). (Cheer.) Hence his ill-temper, hence his rancorous '
abuse. the said he never had met a cleverer man, and ad- ,
mitted himself he never could break him down. (Cheers)
Let them picture to themselves Arthur Orton, the butcher ,
of Wapping, standing 28 days of the most severe eras ex-
amination that ever happened to a British subject and not •
breaking down. It was against common sense to say that
an impostor could have stood what the Claimant stood.
(Hear, hear.) He (the speaker) said he had charges to make
against the Attorney-General. (" If ear, Ike.," and a voice,
'Give it to him ") When Serjeant and Mr. !
Gilfard stated that they bad acted without fees, and Lord
Chief Justice fluent said it did them infinite credit, up
jumped the Attorney-General and said It would abio
apply to their side when the Attorney-General knew that
that very day he touched a crisp £5O ante; when the At-
torney-General knew that he had drawn £6,000 out of
the estate; when the Attorney-General was paid at the
rate of as. 4d. a minute. (Hear, hear). Its made an
assertion that did not apply to him. Ile allowed that to go
forth to the country, it was distributed throughout the
whole of England and 'believed hy many to be the case at the
present moment. It was not until the evening it had gone
forth that he made an apology and said be did not know what
was meant. Mr. (Miaow went on to express his confidence
in the et ttement of tar. Lipscontbe. and complained that the
Attorney-General abused the dead Ile abused Lady Tich-
borno, the mother of air Roger Tichborne (" Shame )" and
hisses.) He called her a poor imbecile woman. willing to
junip at anything. He had the honour of knowing Latin
Tick-
borne many years intimately. She was an honourable and an
honest woman. She was a lady who, if she hat one faule it
was that she was suspicious of everybody and everything
she was the very last lady who would take up a per-
son se thought was an impostor. (Hear, hear.) He next
read Lady Tichborne's own words, in which she distinctly
and positively swore that the Claimant was her firstborn eon.
The speaker went on to say that he was present at the
funeral of Lady Tichborne, and there he stood in a position
where he alone would coummud a view of Sir Roger VlM-
borne as he sat at the head of the coffin containing the re
mates of his mother If he lived for a thousand years, he
could never forget his face at that moment, he was broken
down with grief, and in team, which rolled deen his face.
The movements of his face spoke of the grief of his mind. He
never was no struck with the effects of grief, and he was
the only one who cow it. But those were not the tears
of the Attorney-General with £6,01 0 In his pocket (cries
of "Ah !" and " Hear "); but the tears of Sir Roger
were felt in his heart. Coming to au incident of a different
character. Ile created much laughter by stating that Miss
Loiter, said to he the lover of Arthur Orton, fainted in
the arms of a detective at the sight of Sir Roger vs alking
with him through Tichborneasaark. Though he had the
highest respect for his friend, Sir Roger, he did not think
his was exactly the sort of figure that a 10008 lady
would faint away at (laughter)— this was alias Loder,
of Wapping, and he would leave them to judge what sort
of a witness this was that they were going to put
into the box to swear that the claimant was Arthur
Orton (laughter) ; but he did not believe that the
British public would be made fools of like that. (Cheers.)
Having next animadverted on the attempts during the
trial to crush the Claimant by the iutroduction of forged
letters, Mr. Onslew pictured the Claimant Buffeting inno-
cently in Seagate, where he heti assured him that the
thought he mostly suffered from was that Vela-lone should
ever be in such a Burro. ful place as that. (('heers.)
Asking what the Court was composed of that judged
Sir Roger, the speaker said, in the first Iz:stance it was
all but a packed court, as people were only adniated by
tickets, and it was crenated by the aristocracy of the
country. None of the working classes meld get in unless
they secured a ticket, which it was impossible to get.
The jury were men of education, taken from the
aristocracy, either of wealth or rank, to try a case which
touched the aristom.y, and when beaten, and tired, and
exhausted, they retreated from their duty. (Applause
lie maintained the jury did not do their duty, and if he
had been on the jury he should have said that
having undertaken the duty, if he sat there all his
lifetime until he had heard the reply, he should not give
a verdict. (Applause.) There was an aristocratic Court, an
aristocratic jury, and a would-be aristecratic Judge. (Laugh;
ter and cheers.) Concluding a speech of great 'meth by
giving an outline of the Claimant's Gamer, alai specially
dwelling upon his defective education, he remarked that he
came out of the bush degraded in mind, and when he first
met him he was very little better than a savage. (Laughter.)
But the old principles imbued in han in early life aeon came
to him, and the speaker would now say that a more gentle-
manlike or nicer-mannered man, or a man noire amiable in
society, especially the society of ladies—)a laugh)-- he never
had the good fortune to meet Ile meant to do what he bath
promised Lady Tichbome, Sic Roger'. mother—that was, that
be would never abandon her son, and he intended to stand
by him to the end. (Cheers.) And even if they hanged him
he would follow him to the grave. Loud cheers.)
The Claimant, on rising to address the meeting, met with
an enthusiastic retention. The meeting rose to their feet
cheering and waving their hats. When silence was restored
the Claimant said,—Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen,—
em a eery halo limiter, suit therefore I don't intend to say
very much to-night la fact, my friend, Mr. Guildford Om
slow, haa almost exhausted every subject that I multi speak
on. the knows the case almost as well as Ido myself, and
therefore the principal thing I have tall do is to thank yon ior
your kindness in coming forward to assist me (hear, hear),
and for the very kind manner to which you have invited me
down here, and for the support you have given me. Without
It I alueffi certainly not have a fair trial. (Hear, hear.) There
was one subject on which I should like to speak, and that
Is about Mr. Alfred Seymour, my uncle. He stated in the
court that when I was examined at the Law Institution he
knew I was an impostor because he knew that his nephew
was tattooed on the arm, and that I had no tattoo.
(Laughter.) I ask you, gentlemen, is Mr. Alfred Seymour a
gentleman fit to represent this country? I mean is he fit to
he a membet of Parliament? (Hear.) If the man knew an
impostor was living with his sister why didn't he go and
kick him out of the house? 1 ask any of you, if you
knew a vagabond and forger—for that is what they call
me—was Imposing upon any of your sisters, would you
not immediately kick hint out? (Cheers) Would you
not do it all the more if you thought or believed
that your sister was not in her right senses? (Cheers.)
If I am an impostor, has he acted right in allow-
ing me to borrow thousands and thousands of pounds
to carry on my cause? (" No.") lie allowed me to swindle
the public when he had it in his power to unmask me and
hold me up to the public as an impostor at once. (Ilear.)
don't hesitate to tell you that the tattoo business is neither
more nor less than a conspiracy from begienitig to end, and
principally got up to prevent tient putting one man into the
witness-hon. If they had not done no they were bound to put
In Sir Goaford, and I ask you, as Englishmen, to imist upon
Gosford being put into the witness-Ims, and then you
will know where the conspiracy commenced. (A voice—
"How about the sealed packet?") Mr. Gosford came
down to Gravesend shortly after my arrival in Eng-
land. I was away from my hotel at the time, said my wife
was subjected to great annoyance during my alamice
When I returned to the hotel I was met by Mr. Gos.
turd aid two other gentlemen, and more disgraceful conduct
I never aaw before in my life; no much so. that I passed
upstaire without speaking. I wont to my room, butt didn't
lock myself in as was stated, hut merely to dregs for a
few minutes before I went into the sitting.room In
those live minutes in my room I sat clown and wrote a letter
to Mr. Gosford, which be denies having received, principally
because he didn't wish the letter read (Oh, oh a There
are papers cause to light when were very kindly sent by
Mr. Robertson Gladstone during the trial, and which my at-
torneys have read. When those papers are read, and when
Sir. Gosford is put into the box and is examined from other
papers, you will then know if I am Roger Tichborne or not.
(Loud cheers.) You will then know whether I spoke the
truth about the sealed packets. (Cheers.) You will know
whether the sealed packet was destroyed in 1816 and Le 49,
because he swore it was destroyed in both years. (" Hear,
hear," and loud cheers.) Mr. Gosford is a very valuable wit-
ness, inasmuch as he say our of my dearest and best friends.
Ile was my most confidential friend, almost my confidential
adviser in my 3 sung days. When I left England I left him all
my letters, and almost everything I had to leave in Englaud,
and, th.efore, if any one knows me thoroughly it is Mr.
Goeford. Why, then, not put him into the box? Hear,
hear," and cheers.) They can either prove or disprove the
ease by his evidence, and why don't they dolt? (Hear, hear )
Again, I thank you for your kindness to me, and for the kind
support you have rendered, and without which I certainly
should have been crushed, and never had a fair trial. I
should have remained in Newgate without even a hearing
before a magistrate for 10 or le montha to suit the Attorney-
General's cor venience that he might boast what he could
have done at the head of the law. .Loud and eustaiued

;M-niaMse.
The meeting terminated with chews for Sir Roger Tich-
borne.

During the above proceeding,s a Mrs. Fitzpatrick, an
old servant in the Tichborne family, now living a,
Clifton, who stated that she recognised in the claimant
the Sir Roger Tichborne whom she had known in his
youth, forced her way to the platform and shook hands
with the Claimant. In the course if Saturday te
committee vi‘ited the Claimant at St. Vincent's Books
Hotel, Clifton, and were introduced to a groom and
two women who formerly lived in the service of the
Tichborne family, and who believe the Claimant to be
Sir Roger.
It has been estimated that the two meetings held at
Bristol on behalf of the Tichborne Claimant will
result in a profit of £lOO, which will be paid over to
the fund.