THE DRUCE CLAIM.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 7, 8 January 1908, Page 5

THE DRUCE CLAIM.

TTTTEK OF PROSECUTION. ■ : POKTLAItD'S BOXTBIE LIFE A MYTH. GREAT DELUSION EXPLODED. LONDON, January 7. j Mr Plowden, the magistrate, asked Mr Atherley Jones, in the course of the perjury proceedings against Herbert Druce to-day, what impression Dr. Pepper's very remarkable evidence had produced on his mind. Mr Jones said that it was impossible to press the case further. He complained of the undeserved obloquy cast upon the i prosecution, considering that, except in regard to one witness, their large body ' of evidence had not been shaken by the j i strenuous and prolonged cross-examina- j I tion. i After the exhumation it was impossible to deny that it had been clearly ! demonstrated that Druce had died in j London, was buried in Highgate Cemetery, and that the bedy exhumed was the i same body as that buried. There was I also strong evidence to show that the body was Druce's. While Mr Herbert Druce was right in refusing to open the grave under the j menace of a prosecution, he had shown ; wise judgment. Mr Jones considered, in yielding when he did to the moral pressure of public opinion. Mr Plowden said that after the silent but important voice from the grave it > vrould be impossible to continue the prosecution without serious injury to justice, but. apart from this new and dramatic j feature, Mr Jones must have felt the j I foundations of his case slipping away | j after the collapse of his most important j I witness, and his long and fruitless crossexamination of Nurse Bailey. "At last." , he continued, "the bubble which has floated so long and mischievI ously out of reach h;u been effectively I wrecked. >*o one can now doubt that I Druce died amid his family, and was ■ ! buried in Highgate Cemetery. His existence stands out as clear, distinct, and undeniable as that of any human being who ever lived. How the myth about his j identity with the Duke of Portland arose • it is idle to speculate. The cose is a fresh instance of now the love of the marvellous is deeply ingrained lin human nature, and a striking proof of the truly unfathomable depths of human i credulity." The Court thanked Mr Herbert Druce in consenting, in the interest of justice, to the distasteful step of opening the '. ! grave, and he left the Court with his ■ i character for truthfulness absolutely and 1 conclusively vindicated. '■ "'The Times" says that the Druce pro- ' seeution came to a fit and ignominious L end. One of the greatest delusions of modern times has been exploded, and gone for ever to popular legend. Regarding the identity of Druce and the fifth Duke of Portland, the '"Daily ! Telegraph" says that it is difficult to ade- , quatoly characterise a prosecution rebutl ted by siieh impressive testimony, and i expresses the hope that justice will put - some pertinent questions to those bolster- - ing up the monstrous and wicked fabri--3 cation of a mock funeral--0 A meeting of the shareholders of the - Drnee-Portland Company has been con--1 I vened and will take place in about three r weeks' time. .< Mr T- K. V. Cobum, the Victorian solicitor, who accompanied the claimant Home, states that he has been informed that the proceedings have already cost I nearly £7000. and further funds will bt required for civil litigation.