THE GREAT TICHBORNE TRIAL.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3974, 10 December 1873, Page 3

THE GREAT TICHBORNE TRIAL.

We make the following extraot from the clever letter of a correspondent of the " Australasian," dated London, October 3. These letters on the Tichborne case give a much clearer and more conseputive accouat of the proceedings than anything else we havo seen published :— When th« great Tichborne trial was young people used to come down to the court in their greatcoats, and fires sent a pleasant warmth through the building. Since then, rammer has come, and jurymen hare been carried out of court fainting with the heat and the oppreßsire atmosphere of a crowded hall. Now we are once more in the greatcoat season, for dull October is here with fogs which penetrate' into the court, and make the aspect of the bench and the jurybox dismal and depressing. In fact,' to us who Bit daily here from week to week and from month to month, it seems already ages sinca counsel rose to open the long list of charges agait.st the stout individual who has contrived to fill so large a space in his country's annalsStill, however, the trial goes on. It began on

the 23rd April, but there have been delays and brief holidays. The Court, however, has actually sat through 108 entire days, and hits examined no less than 380 witnesses ; but the names of 100 more have been furnished, and how many more still may be coming not oven the defendant's counsel know, for the daily eight or ten colnmns in large and small type which every newspaper publishes, and the fashion of assembling ia multitudes to witne ss " Sir Roger's" arrival and departure, keep up the excitement, and every day new witnesses come forward who knew, or fancy that they knew, something about Mr Tichborno of the Caribineers, or Arthur Oiton of Wapping, or Tom Castro of Wagga Wagga. The Government, who, in an evil hour, undertook to pay the expenses of all witnesses who appeared to the judges to be honestly called, have been compelled to give notice that after a certain date, now gone by, no witnesses of whom notice had not been given would be paid. The necessity for this step had indeed become painfully obvious, for 6cores of witnesses liad been called who admitted in the box that they never saw tho defendant until after notice had been given to the prosecution i that they were coming to prove that " the defendant is not Arthur Orton, and is Roger Charles Tichborne." Tiie desire to see the renowned Tichborne claimant face to face, and the ambition to play a part, however humble, in this great judicial drama has proved too much, it is to be feared, for the veracity of many a Tichborne witness-. The great nursery of these witnesses was till lately the claimant's evening appearances at musicballs, theatres, and particularly at his Saturday afternoon pigeon mutcheß, at which the announcement that " Sir Roger Charles Tichborne, Bart., would shoot for £500 aside sufficed to attract thousands. Tho Couit rises daily at 4, and docs not sit on Saturday?, and on ordinary days it has frequently happened that the " claimant," after judicious placarding and posting of bills ornamented with his poi trait, lus addressed large audiences at towns a hundred miles distant from the court, and has turned up with his customary punctuality to ten the next morning. On the Saturday holiday ho has gone further afield, and 300 or 400 miles ha 9 not been too much for him. Thus he has visited all the principal towr.s in England and Wales, where his arrival has been hailed by the ringing of bells, the firing of guns, the decoration of high streets with banners and flags ; and not unfrequently an admiring mob has actually taken the horses from his carriage and drawn the perspiring Sir Roger, in company with his faithful supporter?, Mr Whnlley and Mr Onslow, members of the British Parliament, in triumph to the scene of the contest. Though there have been speeches and dinners, and flushed and excited individuals, male and female, have made their way through the crowd, and declared that they knew something about Mr Tichborno or the Ortons in former years, and could certify that this was iudeed Sir Boger and not the Wapping butcher, forthwith Mr Onslow or Mr Wh alley have explained to tha meeting t ese accessions to the roll of witnesses, and shouts have rent the air with cheers for Sir Roger, and groans for his persecutors. All this for a man on his trial on a grave charge, who has actually been committed by a judge in a way never done except where there is the strongeet prima facie case against- him, is certainly unusual, indeed, unprecedented ; but it would probably have gone on indefinitely but for the fact that the defendant, emboldened by his impunity, foolishly took to abusing the judges, denouncing th/ 3 witnesses as perjurers, and otherwise committing eueb contempt of Court as made the very wigs of the bar relax their curls. So at last the Court Fpoke, and delivered solemn admonition that this kind of propaganda would no longer be tolerated. The Lord Chief Justice remarked that the excitement thus " purposely and designedly kept up" had risen to such a height that the judges were insulted as they left the court, and the lives of the jury had been threatened. Hence pigeon matches, and indeed every kind of public gathering, are strictly forbidden ss far as the Claimant is concerned.