Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-12-04


the man who saw Sir Roger die and who
buried him on Sydney Island, in the
South Pacific Ocean. This island lies
southeast from the island of Rotumah
200 TO 300 miles, and is occasionally
visited by vessels in quest of btcAe de mer
George Claridge is the name of the man
who claims to have seen the last of
Tichborne. He is a person of limited
education, being able to read but little
and cannot write. He Is an Englishman,
and, so far as our correspondent Is aware,
bears a good name. Recently, in looking
at the engravings of the Tichborne
family in some numbers of the Illustrated
Ne,os, he pointed at that of Sir Roger
and exclaimed: That is the man whom
| buried on Sydney Islandp The follow
ing is his statement: Like many others
of his class in the Pacific he had drifted
about from one island to another, and in
1854, as near as he can remember, he left
a ship at Rotumah. After he had been
on that island some time schooner
named Annie, engaged in the bicle de n,er
fishery, called there. On going on board
Ularidge found that she' was just out
from home, and that off the River
Platte she had picked up a boat con-
tanning two men in famished condi-
tion and they were then on board the
schooner. The master of the schooner,
who was Frenchman, told Claridge that
one of the rescued men was an English
gentleman, very sick, and that he spoke
French as well as himself. He thinks
this was the early part of 1856, but does
not remember distinctly. The vessel, he
believes, was American, but he remem-
bers no particulars about her, nor the
names of any of the crew. Five days
Of 1a, nl,aH GtrA
ney Island, where they found no inhab-
itants and plenty of 6iche de mer.
Claridge, with some natives of RotHmah,
went ashore to pursue the fishery and
the sick gentleman, at his own request,
was also put on shore, with everything
the vessel afforded to add to his comfort.
The schooner sailed away, intending to
return in a short time, but Claridge has
heard no tidings of her from that day to
this, and conjectures that she was lost.
He was two years on the sl island bef9Ts sTf,t il
time after landing on the island the sick
gentleman said but little to anyone; but
as he got worse he called Claridge to
him and told him that he was near his
end, and requested him to procure
quill from one of the wild birds that fire.
quented the island to make pen of. He
had scrap of paper in which had been
wrapped a bit of cheese from the
schooner, and on this, with blood from a
bird, he wrote something. This paper
he gave to Claridge and told him to keep
it sacred, and the first ship that came to
have it copied; to keep the original him.
self, but by all means to make it public
whenever he got to civilized land. He
then informed Claridge that his name
was Roger Tichborne. This happened
the tenth or twelfth day after landing on
the island. After this the sick man was
frequently delirious until he died, about
the eighteenth day after landing. In
his lucid moments he stated that he
sailed from Rio in ship deeply loaded,
that she went down in squall, and that
himself and seven others got into boat
which drifted about until all perished
except himself and one other, who were
forty days in the boat before being
picked up. He said that if he could get
to Hong Kong he should find plenty of
friends and money. In his delirium he
frequently spoke of his father, with
whom he appeared frequently to have
quarreled, and he often fancied himself
talking to his mother, whom he addressed
in French. Claridge kept the paper as
directed and showed it to the Captain of
the ship who eventually took him from
the island, but 1t met with no attention.
After getting to Wellington Island
New Bedford boy named Mandell copied
a part of the writing (some of it being in
French, but Claridge does not know
what disposition he made of it. Claridge
kept the original until eight years ago,
when it was lost with other papers by
the upsetting of boat. Such is the
plain and, it appears to US, probable
story of the man who believes that he
buried Sir Roger Tichborne Many of
our readers have doubtless become
familiar with.th remarkable trial in the
Court of Common Pleas at Westminster
in 1871, entitled Tichborne Us Lushing-
ton, and the no less remarkable second
trial of the Claimant and his ccnvic-
tion for perjury in 1873. Sir Roger, it
will be remembered, left Europe in March,
1858, for Valparaiso. Arriving there in
the course of time, he travelled across
the continent to Rio de Janeiro, whence
he took passage for New York in the
month of April, 1854. That ship, called
the Bella, is believed to have foundered
at sea, the owners and underwriters hav-
ing treated her as lost, but no tidings
were ever heard as to the fate of her
crew, except that one boat, identified as
belonging to the Bella, was met with at
sea with no one on board. The Claim.
ant it will be remembered, stated in his
affidavit that the Bella sprang aleak and
was abandoned on the fourth day out
from Rio, and that himself and eight of
the crew, after being three days and
nights in the boat, were picked up by
vessel called the Osprey, and landed at
Melbourne in July, 1854"