THE DRUCE CASE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13449, 22 November 1907, Page 2

THE DRUCE CASE.

REWARD FOR A DIARY. GATHERING. EYIDENCE. • Press Aissnc.iation—By Telegraph-Copyright Received. 9.41 p.m., November 21nt. LONDON, November 21. A reward of £IOO is ollc-red for the recovery of Muis Robinson'.; diary. Detective: lluckle has discovered at Ontario a housemaid who was formerly in Dr Shaw's employ in London. She declares that' Dr Shaw attended Druce in 1863-1864. A 1 FIGHT FOR MILLIONS. The object "of d'he druce claim is to prove that Uiomas Charles Druce. who at one time kept : a large bazaar: in -Bakerstreet, and -was <iiipposed to have- died on December 28, 1864, and to have been buried in igH-hgave Cemetery, was, in reality, no oilier person than VVilliam .John Scott-Beiiwinek, ; tne ecentrie-•-Filth; Duke of Portland, wljn died on December 6, 1879, and wa.j.buried in Ken sal (iren Ce meter'v. ■ .

Wl/iit the establishment ol tins- claim wouki! mean to the piesent .duke, Wi.liam Cavendish Bentinck, cousin ol ;the lihh duke, is. obvious io everybody, in view of the enormous valueUt the Portland 'estates. Ibe 'Porthirid property -in and about Oxford-street and alone is said v« yield a rental of between £250,000 and £300,000 a year. Upon the 'eccentricity of the fifth-, duke rests the whole .trouble that lias, befallen. Tlie last century did not produce,a, noble-, man of stranger habits. For twenty-live years he was almost reciiis-e at Weibetk Abbey. 'J.lie story goco that' . he. con-stiuct-ed a labyrinth ot undergvound presages, and lived most,.of' his■: time tlieie with ii, few . atr^ndants, 1 . .who .were' bound, co-secrecy as to his movements. 1-1 e ,woi\v pegtop ,trouses-, stritpped- round the ankle, and a silk, .hat two feet: high,: and cai i led an umbrella of hug© proportions. In winter time lie would wear three.,frockcoaw and three overcoats; one on top of t-lit 1 other. oN butchers meaJt- ever lorrn-ed part-, of his ion ot wigs, in which he delighted to disguise himself. He was unsociable, secretive, suspicious, -ai/cj ' exceedingly distrustful, and lie had a habit of disappearing and reappearing in' a nifr.t unaccount»bl« way. People testify that .on* many occasions' lie annomic-ed himself as Thomas Charles Druc-e. Here were incentives to doubt as to his ■ identity and suspicion as :o ! liis actions. The fruit was seen in the' claim put forward by M.ig. Druce,. in. 1897, and prosecuted for several years altei - wards on behalf of'her son, Sydney. That iady once declared that tshe had spent £SOO in tracing her ■■ pedigree, and was able to prove that- the failier of her husband, Thomas Charles■''. Druce,. was the fifth duke, "and, therefore, that.- upon' the ,'dea;h of h?r husband her son became tne legitimate successor. That, of course, in-, fol'ved the ; theory that tlie-.re was ; a bogus funeral, either at Highgate or : Kei.Bal Green. Accordingly, application 'was made for power to exaivme .thp' .coffin , al(eged o contain, the remains, of her-'husband, and granted, but no exhumation ever took, place, owing, in some degree, to the appearance on the scene of Mr George Hollamby Druce, the latest; claimant, who seeks to -establish his title as . the child by a former mariiage Of Thomas Charles Druce. .." -

, Bud iMiri. Druce' : s allega,-tion of a bogus, funeral recMyed -a severe rebuff when 'ner case was before the Courts, for a .wom ui came forward who had been nurse ui.ithousekeeper to Thomas Ciiarko, I». uw. and she swore on. oath 'that not only V!IS . sli© present- 'at the death a but she saw thei body soldered in a lfa'den . shell, and saw. the shell placed ;ip an oaken coffin and taken from the house. By her eccentricity-of behaviour Mrs. Druce doubtless,diet much, to discount the value of her ease. Her last substantial effort was to seek the revocation. of a will and codicil executed by Thomas Charles Druce, but the jury found both were duly executed in "IB6o* and 1864, respect-' iveiy, and that- Thomas' Charles Diuce died in 4864. ; THE NEW CLAIMANT. • The question of identity is; liowever,' not yet- satisfactorily settled in ' the; minds of very many''people. ' The claimant, as already indicated, : js Mr George Hollamby tlruce, an up-coun.ry Australian, who asserts that. Tliom.is Charles Druce was his grandfather, \ind was identical with- the fifth Duke of Portland. If that can be. established' there eeems - to be .no . barrier between Mr G. H. Druce and the dukedom. The proposed line of action-is new. Instead of proceeding, against, the Duke of Portland, I\fi- Druce names r>r^. defendants in-his writ Lord Howard de Walden and one trustees .of . the Po.rtland estates under the fourth duke—Mr Edward-Hoi sBailey, Mr.-William George Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, ad Sir Arthur Edward .Augustcfi Ellis.- The claim is, briefly, .for la- • declaration that : under the will of the fourth cluke {he plaintiff is entitled, as tenant-in-tail male; to the estate; for an account of .ienrs,, profits,-' invce'ments, payment of tlie same, arid surrender of the estates ; or, if necessaiy, an inquiry as, to what the estates, hereditaments, lands, and property consist of. It is necessary to explain that by his will the fourth duke left a life, interestn the istatei; to the fifth duke, to go, if the fifth duke died without heirs, to his brother, 'Lord Henry Bentinck, and ;hen to the-., siiivivor- of the four sisters of the fifth duke, and then to the. descendents of tliab survivor. As the fifth duke- is supposed to have died without heir, the life 'interest went- to -Lady Howard d'e Walden, of whom Lord . Howard de Walden, the first- defendent, is. tlie preeent inheritor. He is -at: present the e&itimate recipient of the rent-roll if tlie fifth duke died a bachelor and 'c-liildless; but if that eccentric nobleman actually -poseil as Thomas Charles Druce, and left descendento of the marriage which un-. "questionably Thomas Charles Druce '.contracted with . Elizabeth Crickmer, at Bury, St.; the rent-roll may be diverted in the direction, of the present claimant, should lie be able to prove thathe is the grandson, of Thonias Charles Druce, / That the duke died in 1879 seems not; t<i be in doubt. Therefore, if it; can be shown that T. C. Bruce died before that time, by the production of the certificates of death and burial, there would seem to be an end of the case. Up to now a certificate of the birth of T. C. Druce has not been produced . There is, however, a certificate of the death of such a person and a certificate of the burial of T. C. Bruce in Highgate Cemetary on December ■2B, 1864, but . the certificate of death has the eerious' defect of not bearing the signature of a medical man. It is more than ever'' apparent,.'..therefore, that the -course, followed, in tlie -former action of applying for exhumation will be followed in this.

Tn shorty all the old romantic history will be revived, with its tables of eccentric behaviour. secret. passages,. mock burials. and of the Baker-street. Hazaar. d. and' stocked; • it- is.,a.-i>erled. with a disregard of . .money that none but a man <>!' great, wealth oculd afford to show, one. fable bring'■< si iiiialed to Ik>- worth £IOOO.