THE TICHBORNE BARONETCY.

West Coast Times, Issue 627, 27 September 1867, Page 4

THE TICHBORNE BARONETCY.

(FBOM THE PALL MALL GAZETTE JULY 13.)

We have been favored with a perusal of the affidavits put in on the plaintiff's behalf in this extraordinary case. They consist of the affidavits of the claimant to the succession, of the claimant's mother, and of thirty-four persons who have seen the claimant, and who believe him to be the person he represents himself to be. The story told by the claimant is that lie embarked at Rio on board the Bella, of Liverpool, bound for New York, on the 20th of April, 1854 ; that four days afterwards the Bella sprang a leak, and foundered at sea — her crew, consisting of seventeen persons and himself, having previously left her in two boats ; that the boat in which he (the claimant) was, was separated from the other by a storm ; and that on the fourth day after leaving the Bella, he and eight of his companions were picked up by a ship bound for Melbourne, in Australia, where they were landed about the end of July, having been on board of the vessel that picked them up nearly three months. Neither the name of the vessel that thus saved the claimant's life, nor of her captain, nor of any of his rescued shipmates, are given in the claimant's affidavit. On reaching Melbourne, the claimant states that he vras utterly destitute, and that being a good rider, he obtained employment on the stock farm of a Mr William Foster, having assumed for family reasons (not explained in the affidavit) the name of Thomas Castro. In 1865, the claimant, being a Roman Catholic, intermarried with Mary Ann Bryant, spinster, also a Roman Catholic; but, for the better maintenance of his incognito, they elected to be married by a Wesleyan minister, After remaining in Australia from 1854 till 1865, without communicating with any member of his family or with any other person in England, the claimant heard for the first timo in the latter year of the death of his father, and early in 1866 he wrote to his mother informing her that he was alive, and about to return home, and asking for a remittance to enable him to do so. Before receiving any such remittance the claimant, his wife, and their infant daughter, left Sydney, and returned to England via Panama and New Tork.

And now comes the strangest part of the story. The claimant, on landing in England, did not present himself to any member of his numerous family, from all of whom he had parted oif excellent terms in 1854, nor did he present himsell to any of the officers of his regiment, in vrhose society he had passed the last four years of his sojourn in England, and who are of course the most competent persons to establish his identity. After a hasty visit incognito to Tichborne Park, and an interview with Messrs. Gosford and Cullington, the solicitors of the Tichborne family, and a Mr Plowden, a distant relative — none of whose names appear affixed to any of the affidavits in support of the claimant's identity — the claimant joined his mother in Paris, and was at once recognised by that lady as her son. The affidavit of Dame Henriette Felicite Tichborne, widow of the late Sir James Francis Doughty Tichborne, Baronet, follows that of the claimant. Lady Tichborne, whose maiden name was Seymour, is a half-sister of Henry Danby Seymour, Esq., M.P., and of Alfred Seymour, Esq., M.P. ; her mother was a Frenchwoman, and she herself was born and educated in France. Her affidavit states that her eldest son was born in 1029, and was educated in France until he was sixteen years of age, when he was sent to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire ; that in October, 1849, he joined Her Majesty's 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabineers) in Dublin ; that he served with that corps until February, 1853, when he left the regiment for the purpose of travelling in South America ; that in the year 1854 news reached England that the claimant had embarked on board the Bella, and that that vessel had never since been heard of; and that, after the customary enquiries and the usual lapse of time, she had been dealt with by the underwriters at Lloyd's as a total loss. Lady Tichborne's affidavit goes on to state that she could never bring herself to believe that her son had perished in the Bella ; that she entertained from the very first a presentment that he might have been picked up at sea, which she freely expressed ; that she once obtained some faint corroboration that her presentment might possibly be well founded from a strange sailor on the tramp, who solicited alms from her at Tichborne-park ; and that in the year 1863 she caused advertisements, offering a reward to anybody who would find her son for her, to be inserted in " The Times'' in the English, French, and Spanish languages, and that she communicated at the same time with Mr Arthur Cubitt, of the "Missing Friends Office," in Sydney, authorising him to announce the death of her husband in the Australian papers, and to offer a reward for the discovery of her son. In 1866, according to her ladyship's affidavit, she first received a letter from the claimant announcing his existence and his resolve to return home, and asking for money to enable him to do so ; and on Thursday, the 10th day of January, 1867, the claimant arrived in Paris, and put up with his wife and child at the Hotel de Lille et d' Albion in the Rue St. Honore, where she first saw him ill in bed, overwhelmed with emotion, recognised him as her son, and thenceforward allowed him LIOOO a year. From that day Lady Tichborne and the claimant have constantly lived together. Her ladyship declares that his features, disposition, and voice are unmistakable, and must, in her judgment, be recognised by any impartial and unprejudiced persons who knew him before he left England, and that his memory as to everything which occurred to him up to the time of his leaving England is perfect. We have not spece to enter into detail as to the statements of the thirty-four persons whose affidavits follow those of the claimant and Lady Tichborne. Many of them are important enough, if the deponents can endure cross-examina-in the witness-box. Many are obviously false, absurd, and worthless, being those of persons who, never having seen the claimant before he left England, are nevertheless convinced that he is the person he claims to be. One is made by a blind man who once heard Mr Roger Tichborne speak before he left England, in 1853, and having heard the claimant speak in 1867 io convinced of his identity, because ho has " a Tichborne voice." Perhaps the most important of all is the affidavit of Major Heywood, late of the Carabineers, who served with Mr Roger Tichborne in that regiment for nearly two years. Major Heywood says :—": — " I have this day, July 1, 1867, seen and had a conversation with tho claimant, and I state my full belief that he is the Mr Roger Charles Tichborne, my brother officer, whom I formerly knew ; flnd I have f .<) $p#bt vrhjtever a« to hi* identity,"

There are also the affidavits of two or three persons, formerly non-cominissioncd officers, privates, and servants in the Carabineers, who also bear witness that the claimant is co-identical with the Cornet Tichborne who formerly served with them in that regiment. No single member of either the Seymour or the Tichborne families, nor any of the numerous officers with whom he served in the Carabineers, with the single exception of Major Heywood, have made any affidavit of their belief in the claimant's identity. As, according to the dowager Lady Tichborne's affidavit, the claimant's person and manner are little changed, and as his memory is perfect, there can be no doubt that when the case comes to be tried the claimant will readily obtain justice. The name of a vessel in the Australian trade which in 1854 picked up at sea nine shipwrecked persons, maintained them on board for threemonths, and landed them at Melbourne, can easily be ascertained ; it is more than probable that some of the other survivors of the wreck of the Bella may be in existence ; the gentlemen by whom Mr Roger Tichborne at Stonyhurst and the Roman Catholic priests by whom his religious exercises were directed, must be accessible ; and at least a score of his brother officers in the Carabineers will all be available and unbiassed witnesses as to his identity. "We happen to know as a fact that Mr Danby Seymour, M.P., the claimant's iincle ; Mr M'Evoy, M.P. ; and Major Phillips, formerly of the Carabineers ; his brother officers ; his aunt, Mrs Nagle ; and his cousins, Mrs John Towneley and Mrs Radcliffe, have had interviews with him ; but as we do not find any affidavits from them in corroboration of his identity amongst the documents included in the volume now before us, we presumed that they failed to recognise in the claimant their long-lost relative.

A witness Bpoke of a particular person as having seen him " partially clad." Was he not quite nude?" asked the examining counsel. " No, sir," replied the witness, "ho wore a pair of spectacles."

A sea captain being at a ball, had been accepted by a beautiful partner, who in the most delicate manner possible hinted to him the propriety of putting on a pair of gloves. "Oh," was the elegant reply, "never mind me, ma'am, I shall wash my hands when I've done."

A man down East, describing the prevalence of duelling, summed up with — "They even fight with daggers in a room pitch dark." — " Is it possible ? " was the reply. " Possible, sir ! why, I've seen them."

A TRADESsrAN presented a bill for the tenth time to a rich skinflint. "It strikes me," said the latter, " that this is a pretty round sum. — " Yes," replied the tradesman, " I've sent it round often enough to make it appear so, and I've called now to have it squared."

It wasn't such a bad notion on tho part of the glover who hung up in his glove shop the following placard : " Ten thousand hands wanted immediately."

A friend of ours, who has been hesitating whether to keep a matrimonial engagement, informs us that he has at last bespoken his wedding suit. He evidently, on the whole, prefers a suit for the fulfilment of his promise to a suit for a breach of it. Some time ago, tho "Pall Mall Gazette" published what purported to be " John Mcrrisey's first speech in Congress," in which that gentleman was represented as having interrupted the debates in the House with slangy abuse of the other members, as having sent up the " rules of the ring" to be read by the Speaker, and as having been so riotous and disorderly that he had to be at last removed by the Sergeant-at-Arms. The New York correspondent of the " Daily News" has just pointed out that the origin of this miserable " sell" was a broadside issued by some enterprising pedlar of street literature soon after Morrissey's election, containing this speech, and sold as soon as Congsess met as " John Morrissey's great speech." The same writer adds, the pugilist himself, instead of being the disorderly ruffian tho " Pall Mall Gazette" evidently supposes him, is a pleasant, silent, and rather retiring person, always attired from head to foot in the richest black broadcloth, with a very extensive and snowy shirt front fastened by a large diamond pin, and with one or two diamond rings of great. size and lustre on his " mawleys."

A Spanish gentleman who deals in " patent blacking " proclaiines the merits of his wares to English visitors in the following circular :—: — " The First of Andalucia. — Grand Manufactory of Blacking, oily, and resinous, titled the Emperor of Blackings, Black Ink and of all colors to write of D. Joseph Grau, Member of the National Academy of Great Britain, rewarded in the Sevilian Exhibition of 1858, and that of London of 1862. Spain : Andalucia : Seville : O'Donnell street, N. 34. This blacking is knoconed to be the best for the conservation of the shoes, for its brilliancy, solidity, permancity, flexibility, and complete discomposition of the black animal. Mr Joseph Grau dus a present of L2O sterling to the person that will present hum a blacking in paste that will unite the same conditions as the Emperor of the Blackings."