The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-07-01
ANOTHER TICHBORNE CLAIMANT:

y
$ nounced that another Roger Tichborl
: had been found. Whether he is sstl
. real Roger Tici,borne" or another frau
' is 4 question that remains to be settle
= The new claimant to the Tichborl
name and estates lives ut San Dieg
California. His statement is that sint
; leaving England he has been in tn
; United States most Of the time. II
says that he served in the army durin
our civil war, and that he married i
: Brooklyn, New York. He must tell
pretty straight story, or such person
as General w. III. l.. Barnes, the Dull
of Sutherland, and DR.. Russell, th'
eminent correspondent of the Londol
Times, would not have paid any atten
ton to him. The Duke Of Sutherland
and DIR. Russell reached Now Yorl
some weeks ago, and are now, it seem:
stated, has written out the claimant:
story and sent it to England.
1t seems curious that if this claimant
is the heir Of the Tichborne estates liz
has not made himself known before
this. lie can hardly plead Ignorance
| OF the fact that not many years age
great efforts were made to discover il
Roger Tichborne Were alive, and, il
! not, when and where he died. A man
claiming to be Roger Tichborne had
appeared in England and demanded
possession of the Tichbornc estates. His
claim was denied, and accounts of the
legal proceedings which followed ap-
peared in the journals Of this country
ana Europe for many months. This
San Diego claimant could hardly have
missed seeing these publications, and,
II ne IS what he claims to be, it is diff
cult to conceive what motive prevented
him from making himself known.
The great Tichborne trial has no
parallel in England or anywhere else.
a brief account Of ii may not be unin-
tercsting at this time.
Roger Charles Tichborne was born
on the 9Th of Janurry. 1929. He was
educated in France and entered the
British army in 1910. In 1852 he met
with great disappointment. Ho
asked permission to marry his cousin
Kate, the daughter of Sir Edward
Iichborne, and WAS refused. He left
the army and went to sea. Iuforna-
tlon which appears to be reliable is
that he arrived at (Valparaiso> in 1852,
and that from there he went to Rio
Janciro, from which port he took
passage on the ship Bella for New
York. The Bella was lost at sea, and
EoSer Tichborne is supposed to have
perishcd with her. Rogers father
succeeded to the Tichborne title and
estates in 1858. He died in 1862, and
rs Roger was thought to be dead,
Rogers younger brother, Alfred. in.
herited the Tichborne property. He
died however, in 1856, and was sue
ceeacu by his son, born three months
after his death. In 1860 Lady Itch
borne, Rogers mother, began to adj
vertisc for him, as she believed that he
was alive. The advertisement was
answered by an Australian butcher,
who went by the name of Tomas
Castro, but whose real name was claim
Pu 10 be Arthur Orton. He asserted
that he was Roger Tichborne, and that
he had been rescued from tho wreck of
the Bella. After some correspondence |
with Lady Tichborne, he went to Eng
land, where he succeeded in getting Il
good many people to recognize him as
Roger TichbOrnc Lady Tichbornc was
living in Paris, and he met her there.
She recognized him as her son and sup |
piled him with money to prosecute his
claim. He was, of course, resisted by
the ctrustccs of the minor heir. In 1867
nc commenced q suit for the Tichb0rne
property. On account OF the vast |
bi testimony taken III South |
and Australia a trial was not
until 1871. 1t lasted one hun
arcd and three days. At the end of
that time the jury declined to hear fur
thcr testimony, being satisfied that the |
claimant wasan impostor. Lady Itch
borne died before the trial began.
With the termination of tho civil suit !
4 criminal prosecution was undertaken
by the government against the |
claimant for perjury. He was indict-
ed under the name Of Thomas Castro,
otherwise Arthur 0rton. The trial
aSlcn one hundred and eighty eight
!mya, and resulted in 4 verdict of guilty.
The convicted man was sentenced to |
o,rtccn years penal scrvitudc. He is
yet serving out his sentence. Both the
:ivil and criminal trial excited cXtraor-
!inary Interest in England and in this
The costs amounted to q good
many hundreds of thousands of dol
ars. Among the lower classes in Eng
and the belief that the claimant was
Roger TichbOrnc was very general.
Indeed, among the better classes he |
lAh many partisanS and he found little |
iiiiiculty in securing money TO prose-
ute his claim and for his defense on
he criminal charge. 1T is wonderful |