Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-07-20
The IichbOrna Case-


According to the London correspondent of the
New York TIN 5 this celebrated case, as TO the
IDENTITY ofthe claimant 10 the Tiehborne baron
etey and ostat- :, which has engroSsed public
st'en1on Tor a1me months, has t.ken a new
Phase This is the parodozical fact that the
cia'mant Is both TieLbOIne (as claimed by him
seif,) and OTtDn (as asserted by the defense). in
o'1er words, that he is not Roger Tichborne.
ol' the hiegitimate son Of Rogers father, Sir
jams Jichborne, by his cook, Mary Orion.
To understand the case a brief review OF its
81 ny may be necessary. When Roger G..
TichboTne left England for South America. his
uncle, Sir James Doughty, was in possession OF
the TichtOrne estates. He, dying childless, the
title and estates fen to the claimants father,
who, also dying, his eldest On, Roger c., would
inherit had he survived. As il was believed that
Roger persisted in 1t53 in the shipwreck of the
ship Bella, in which he Inquestionably sailed
from Rio - New York, his younger brother.
Alfred succeeded, and he, dying at the age or
twenty-six years, lett an infant who, had not
tie claimant appeared, would unobstructedly
on arriving at legal age, have assumed the title
and proprietOrship OF the estates, producing
$4,000 income.
The theory now is that the claimants father
had an inegitimatc child by his cook, Mary
Orion; sister Of old George Orion, who the
defense have held was the claimants father
and by whom the claimant, unr the name of
Arthur Ort N, was brought MP. The boy was
ignorant Of his true parent.ge, and after many
strange vicissitudes settled in Australia, where
he was found in 1856, under the name of Tom
Castro, pursuing the calling of his putatlye
rather, butchers. Old Lady Tichborne was
o. an crate and uD ound mind, and though
thirteen years had trarSpired without tidincs
from her long-lOCt On, she was mOnOmaniaeal
on the subject, and not despairing of his
being alive, continued to advertise and offer
rewarps. There was in the family of the Itch
borne NEGRO named Boyle, who, perhaps.
alone was in the secret of the natural son OF the
claimants father, who would be half brother 10
the real RO-er c., who went of quietly 10 Svd
ney, and there finding Tom Castro, alias Arthur
O-ton, revealed to him the secret of his parent
age and the situation of the title and estates of
T1chborne. With this revelation the mystery
disappears. for frOm EOgIe and Lady Tichborne.
who was easily persuaded 70 recognize the
Claimant as her own aon, the claimant acquired
his knowledge of the history of the real Roger,
after his sixteenth year, from which time he re-
sided in England, when Boyle was with him
almost constantly. and as Boyle and the other
servants OF the family knew but very little of
Rogers bOyhOOd IN France, we have an expIa- /
nation of the remarkable fact that the claim
ants evidence as to his history prior to his six-
tStnlh year : so lame and unsatisfactory.
The ground taken by the defense up to the
time of the adjournment of the trial for three
months, was, that the claimant is Arthur Orton
the son of the WaPIing butcher, George Orion.
The plaintiffs case, despite all his Iapses of
memory, disclosed such strength on the cross
examination that the defense will il is believed
Gu the reassembling of the court shift their |
ground, and attempt to defeat the claimant as |
the natural ION of Sir james TichbOrne In the
meantime the claimant, if he is the iuDo~ter
asserted, viii have three months in which r, |
search fresh particulars about the real Roger |
following the hints supplied by the Solicitor |
Generals crOSS-examinatiOn,) and II dress m |
and reheaTse the elaborate fiction by which he |
hops 10 gain much.
IL is a curious case in every aspect and hears
remarkable analogy in many OF its features IN |
the powerfully written fictitious case put forth |
by Samuel Warren in the novel of 80 Ten Thous !
and Year" in which the hero, Tittlebat Tit
mouse, an ignorant, weak-minded young man
Is raised from the position of shop boy to a linen
draper TO the posse. sion of an estate with An
income of ten thousand pounds a wear througb |
the agency Of firm of sharp, unscrupulous
lawyers, who take his care I'D on speculation
Subsequently he is ousted through the dayelon-
ment of the fact that he is ilegitimate. The |
story, with its wonderful y.aisemblance and
vivid delneatiOn of the actual law proceedings
in such case, created a great futter at the
line OF its appearance, among the aristoeratir. |
owners Of real estate in England and caused n
general oyerhauling of titles. TO see that there
were no missing links, or unaccounted for era
sures and interlineations in deeds through the
negligence of clerks.