A GREYMOUTH WITNESS IN THE TICHBORNE CASE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1238, 18 July 1872, Page 2

A GREYMOUTH WITNESS IN THE TICHBORNE CASE.

Even Grey mouth can claim to have its name associated with the Tichborne mystery. It might have done so some time ago on the grounds that there existed a local legend of one Arthur Orton having lived in the neighborhood and having abruptly and mysteriously disappeared las soon as he found 1 that' he was "wanted." But there happens to be no particular proof of the accuracy of the story, and it, therefore, has not been mentioned in the public prints. There is, however, obe gentleman in Greymouth who, withojut any pretensions to inheritance of the Tichborne estates, or any pretensions jto personal acquaintance with the Tichborne family, may be able to give evidence iof considerable importance in connection with the case of the world-renbwnfed claimant. That gentleman is Mr Ed ward - Ancher, of the: Commercial Hotel. It may be remembered that in a recent number we printed an extract from the Exirope\n, Mail, in which it was stated that another witness connected with the Tichborfae case had "cropped up." The person inferred, to as having so " cropped up" wias described as a Captain Carmichael, who had in 1854 commanded a schooner called the Osprey, who while in such command called at the Cape of Good Hope, and who, on leaving the Cape for Melbourne, sailed with several persons as ship hands or passengers, one of whom might prove to be the Tichborne heir, or, at any rate, the Tichborne claimant, considering that the claimant states' that he was conveyed to Melbourne by a vessel of the same name as Captain Carmichael commanded. The following, was part of the paragraph referred to :— " Captain Car-, michael, who is a man under 50 years of age, states that the Osprey, under his command, sailed from Glasgow for Melbourne in January, 1854, leaving Rothesay Boy on February 12. The Osprey re^ mained ten days at the Cape, and left in June, after taking on board a Scotchman, two Irishmen, a Dutchman or Dane, and an English gentleman, who, Captain Carmichael supposes, may have been the Tichborne claimant. The stranger stated that he had been in the army and navy. On the voyage they amused themselves by catching albatrosses— a pastime of which the young gentleman was very fond, The captain, it appear*, from hia imperfect knowledge other than Gaelic, was not able to talk much with the English gentleman, who chiefly conversed with pno of the crew, now the captain of a sloop engaged in the coasting trade." Mr Ancher, of 'Greymouth, on reading this paragraph, had reason to identify himself with the Dajie referred to, seeing that he is a Dane, and that in 1854 he sailed from the Cape for Melbourne in a vessel called the Osprey, and commanded by a captain whose name was Carmichael. That the vessel mentioned in the paragraph; and the vessel by which. Mr Ancher sailed, was one and the same is more certain from the fact that the description given of Captain Carmichael exactly coincides

:«\ f- A - A" '■ v ■■■"'■ \ ■ . : witi the character of -the captain. of the Ospey-by wbiph Mr Anchor came to Mel-, jboirne, ' and the., dates of departure and arrival also coincided Mr Ancher corrobo-; irat^s^ the .statement of Captain Carmichael "thalijpa^otr^hose^Kp took passage by the Osprey to Melbourne, there was a young; Englishman whose appearance and occup'atlons on board ship agree with the de-scriptions-given of ypung.Tich,b.oisie, : ot,^ "at ' least j with the descriptions given of , ■the persbri ! who pretends to have been young Tichborne at that particular period. -And,^althdugh a considerable number of years have elapsed.since then, Mr Ancher Jiaji-.a^ recollection of particular circumStance* occurring on board' the vessel which: should also be remembered by any of Vis shipmates, arid Which, if proved by the Tichborne claimant, will at least prove, though it may prove nothing else, that he did arrive in Melbourne by a vewel called tHe; Osprey. The Osprey in question put into the Cape for the purpose of obtaining a Biipply of water, and the original crew were there landed and imprisoned. Mr Ancher, who had been anofficer on board a brig called, the Royal William, shipped by the schooner for Melbourne, which was the great centre of attraction at the time, and,besidesthisyoung English gentleman, as he is described, the number on board included a John; Mackay, who was in Greymouth a few years ago, Samuel Fairfather, whom Mr Ancher subsequently met in Victoria, and a Scotch shipwright named Andrew, one of the original crew. Some of these, if alive, may "crop up," as Captain Carmichael has done, and be able to corroborate his and Mr Ancher's description of the peculiarities of their fellow-passenger. Captain Carmichael, it may be mentioned, "cropped up" in one of the New Zealand ports a few years agp^-nattiely,. in Port Chalmers. He was then commander bf a fine ship, in which he. made what he called a "ferry fine passitch" of only a' few hundred days from London docks. He was somewhat similar to his countryman, "thePhairson"— a very "superior, person" in size, and, for this time of day, 1 he was an exaggerated Highlander in speech. He was more intimately acquainted with the Gaelic language than with any others, ancient or modern, and the most likely circumstance, among all the circumstances referred to in the paragraph! which appears in the Home papers, is that not until two months: ago did he ever hear of ihe .celebrated Tichborne case. jWe should add that Mr Ancher has communicated to the legal representatives of the Tichborne claimant Buoh facts as he knows regarding the Osprey. and the young c • English gentleman" who was' his felloe-passenger to Melbourne.