THE DRUCE CASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3780, 4 January 1908, Page 3

THE DRUCE CASE.

Opening of the Grave.

London Dec. 31

George Hollam by Druce, the claimant to the Portland estates, and prosecutor in the perjury charge hgainst Herbert Druce, writing to the Daily Express, in an article based on information furnished by his representatives who were present at the opening of the Druce grave in Highgate cemetery on Monday, says the coffin was found to be air-tight. The cheeks of the corpse were a little .sunken, and the nose pinched, but the face disclosed bore no similarity to that in the photographs of T. houias Charles Druce which had been produced.

“ The skin,” the writef goes on, “showed no traces of the disease from which it is not denied that the Duke of and from which my" Vifctker also suffered. C » , , . “lam bitterly disappointed ; but I do not believe that the final civil action will be affected. While I am prepared to admit that a man known as Druce died and was buried in the Highgate vault, I. in no wise admit that this body is that of grandfather, who was the fifth Duke of Portland.” The Standard states that on the eve of the opening of the grave in Highgate cemetery shares in the G. H. Druce Company, Ltd., were quoted at £6. Yesterday they fell smartly to £2, and then were quoted at from nothing to £l. London, Jan. 1.

After Druce’s coffin was brought up it was photographed as it lay, including the dust and grime. Two journalists were admitted to view the shrouded remains the moment the coffin was opened. Thereafter the doctors withdrew.

When the doctors had completed their work the coffin was resoldered and returned to the grave. Mr Edmund Kimber, solicitor for G. H. Druce, interviewed, declares that the claimant’s case has been strengthened since the other side must call somebody to prove that the body was that of Druce. Caldwell is at Staten Island, N. Y., but his condition is so critical that the news of the opening of the grave is withheld from him.. Mr Kimber, G. H. Drucs’s solicitor, clings to the ilea of the mock funeral. He declares that he has received dozens of letters from all parts of the country from people who say they beard the story from their parents. The Daily Mail says the corpse in the Drnce case was marvellously preserved. One who knew Druce intimately legally identified the body. The preservation was due to the use of chloride of lime and the absolute exclusion of air.

[A peculiar form of skin disease is alleged to have been a feature in common between the fifth Djuke of Portland and claimant’s grandfather, T. C. Druce ; and has been urged by claimant as a proof of identity. Claimant’s argument would now apper to be; “the body exhumed shows no skin disease: ergo, it is neither the Duke nor the grandfather.” He is only prepared to admit that “ a man known as Druce died and was buried at Highgate.”

Claimant states that he does not believe that “ the final civil action will be affected. He says nothing about the present criminal action, which consists of a charge against Herbert Druce that he committed perjury in swearing that he . saw his father, T. C. Druce, dead and lying ill his coffin in 1864. Seeing that the exhumation disclosed not a parcel of lead (as sworn by Caldwell) but a corpse, as above described, the discovery is all in favour oi Herbert Druce as regards the charge of perjury against him. By “the final civil action” claimant means his civil suit for estates.