The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-07-12
eral of England, and four other counsei oil
celebrity annearinr for the defence.

celebrity appearing for the defence.
The oaths of more than thirty witnesses.
with every degree Of positiveness that they
were sure he was Roger Tichborne, some
of them as convinced of 1t as of their own
existence, made out case so strong that
the Solicitor-GeneraFs acute cross. exami-
nation could not shake it. The claimants
| seeming knowledge of the affair OF the ITCH
borne family Immediately upon his arrival
from Australia, although lame in some par
ticulars, was wonderfully accurate in the
main details and most witnesses who had
conversed or had business with him were
satisfied, from his conduct and manner,
that he was the true heir, accounting for
his ill-breedipg. his defects in English spell
ing and grammar, his loss Of all knowledge
of French (Which was taught at Stony
hurst), and other facts suspicious in them
selves, on the theory Of forgetfulness and
the effects of dissipation and low company
in The Australian bush.
ANOTHER ROBERT MACAIRE.
But since the witness himself has been
on the stand-now almost daily for a
month-his case has been torn to pieces by
the Solicitor Generals mastery cross exam
ination. 1t is not that the man has contra
witness may be made to do That by the
badgcring and trap-setting of skillful
lawyer-but he has been forced to confess
that ne has been trickster, that he has
committed crimes in Australia, that he is q
notorious liar, that he has an impudence
SURPRISING that Of Robert Maeaire. In his
answers to the Solicitor General he has
painted his own portrait, and it is that of a
man who would have all the requisites ne
cessary for the preparation Of so bold and
gigantic fraud as the passing off of a
butcher named Arthur Orton for the long
lost heir of the Tichborne estates. Accord
inc to the claimants own statements, be is
none too good for such an imposture.
TIE CLAIMANTS BREAKDOWN.
His testimony on the point of identity,
while striking in portions, breaks down
completely in the main. While his recollec-
ton is minutely correct about some trifles,
in respect of which he might have been
"posted up" by other persons, he is to-
tally oblivious concerning hundreds Of mat
tiers which the genuine Roger T1chborne
must have known about, especially OF
events occurring in his schoolboy days,
when the mind receives indellibe impress
sions. The only school which Roger ever
attended was at Stonyhurst, land he was there
for three years, but the claimant is ignorant
Of the school, of the studies, of the names
of his teachers and playmates, of the num-
ber and description of the school build
ings, aud of all else about the place. The
real Roger had studied Greek and Latin at
Stonyhurst. and it is incredible that boy
who had ever been obliged to learn lessons
from textbooks in those languages should
not, to.say the least, know which was Latin
and which Greek, and never forget it and
yet the claimant being shown Dolphin
edition OF Virgil, and asked by the Solicitor
General whether it was Latin or Greek
book. said, after moments hesitation,
"Greek.'
Other points OF his testimony are marked
with wrongreples or 81 don't remember"
confessions which no school-boy not an
idiot could ever have forgosten. There are
probably more than Il hundred other wit
nesses to be examined pro and con. Be-
sides being the most famous OF recent times,
1t also promises to bethe longest lawsuit on
record. If the claimant does not get the
estate, the lawyers among them will have
fair slice Of it before they are through.