The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-09
a Wonderful Lawsuit.


costs of the trial already run nm To NOR
than el2O,OOO. In order to meet This
heavy outlay the claimant of the Tich
borne estate issued bonds to tho anoount
of $1,000 Besides the funds thus re-
ceived, he has the personal Inheritance
left him by Lady Tichborne, who before
her sudden death in 1869 owned linn as
her son and made him her heir. Her
recognition of the impostor, if he be am
impostor, Is one OF the puZzling circum-
stances of the case. We add the follow
ing particulars:
In 1854 the real Tichborne was renorf-
ed lost in the British ship Bella the
vessel being supposed TO have perished
in the Atlantic with all on board. In
1852 Sir Roger TichbOrne, the father.
died, when his younger son took the III
tie and entered into possession of the
property, which would have belonged TO
the oldest son if he had been alive
Lady Tichbone, it seems, still enter
tained a hope that her oldest son was
still alive and might be found, and
therefore, in 1868, she put an advertise
ment in the Times, naming the ship in
which he was said to have been lost and
earnestly calling for information con-
cerning him. Two years having elapsed
without any answer to this call, the
/ lady was surprised by letter from 4
/ lawyer named Gibbs, in New South
I Wales, which stated that a portion of
the Bella's passengers had been saved
[ by a ship bound for Australia, and had
/ been taken to Melbourne. The lawyer
I then requested her to give him a de-
scriptiOn of and details concerning the
person whom the advertisement called
for, that he might search for him. To
this letter Lady TichbOrne at once re-
piled, suggesting that if her son had
been saved, he might probably have
changed his name and married-and she
also offered 4 large reward for success in
hunting up the lost heir. A few months
afterwards she received letter inform
ing her that the lost one was found, and
under the name of De Castro was living
in Wagga -Wagga. After a few months
more she received n letter signed Roger
TichbOrne, in which she was asked to
forgive him for his long silence, which
he would explain when they met. She
was also asked TO send the writer goo
To defray his expenses to England, as he
wished to return home Immediately.
As the handwriting of the letter was
strange to her, Lady TichbOrne did not
answer this letter, but she wrote to
Gibbs, the lawyer, that she could not
recognize her son without seeing him.
In reply to this communication she re-
ceived a letter with q photograph.
Though her son had been tall and slen-
der when she last saw him, while the
picture represented a very cOrpulent
person, she fancied that she detected
some traces of resemblance, and there
fore sent the passage money asked for.
Toward the end of 1866 De Castro ar
rived i'm England, hut instead of at once
going to see Lady TichbOrne, who was
70
named OrtOn, in Mapping, people who
formerly lived near the Tichbornes, and
were perfectly familiar with their fami-
" history. Only after a considerable So
jOurn i'll Mapping he went to Paris, and
was ut once recognized by Lady Tich-
borne Us her son. Until her death, three
years afterward, he was so looked upon
aud treated by her, but by the rest of
the family he was regarded as an i'm
pOstor and his claims to the property in
dignantly denied. Looking at the naked
facts of the ease most people, no doubt,
agree with them.
The true Roger Tichborne was delicate
and refined in appearance. The claim
ant IS very fat and coarse. The true
Roger was carefully educated, and spent
many years in France, where he became
perfectly familiar with the French Ian
guage. The claimant can hardly utter a
sentence without betraying the defects
of his education, and knows not a word
of French. When the true Roger en-
barled on his last voyage he had large
sum of money standing TO his credit in
bank, money never drawn for, whereas
the claimant had to beg for GOO to pay
his passage to England. A severe attack
of disease affecting the brain may do
much in overseeing the constitution
and changing the appearance, but hard
ly so much rs is asserted in this case.
On the other hand the claimant displays
the most astonishing familiary with the
English life of Roger TichbOrne, even
with minute details which it would seem
1 impossible for 4 pretender to master.
I His power of explanation, also of re-
moving difficulties and meeting oblec-
/ tiOns 50 as to give plausibillty ana eoh-
/ siStency to his story, is said TO DC aIlaN1
/ ing. The ablest lawyers are thWafIed
and confounded by him. II he IS an I'M
l noster who picked up his knowledge OF
/ ROGER TfchbOrne's early life ana IaIilIy
history at second hand, his mere memo
I ~ n,ol,es him a marvel. lt must, now
- bo mentioned that dozens OF wit
] S,oSs6s IF unimpeachable veracity, who
/ Enev the missing heir recognize IN MN
Tho much badgered claimant. lt must
,,,oroover. be admitted that the attempt
in which he Is enSaSeu was a very uh-
likely enterprise for the son OF butcher,
sattIed in Australia, to undertake. Some
readers may need TO be told that those
who deny his identity with Roger Itch
borne believe that his real name is Or
ton, and that he is the son of the family
with whom he lived i'm Mapping on his
first arrival i'm England. And their hope
at present is to find evidence in Austria
lia to substantiate that view. The pro-
cess may yet last for months, or even
years.