RELEASE OF THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1329, 24 October 1884, Page 4

RE LEASE OF THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.

' The release of the Claimant, -which was'cabled yesterday, marks another important stage m the his** tory of one of tbe most extraordinary cases ever known. A brief !re« cord of the sequence of events connected with it may not be without interest, for although every one knows something about the Claimant, a new generation has; grown up since. the wonderful trials connected with his case were tbe chief, almost the. only topic of general conversa* tion m all English speaking corns inunjtfes. Bcger Charles Tichborne son of Sir James Tichborue, Bart., was born m 1827, and entered the army m .1849^ : Iri 1852 he "was refused -by "Fris "cousin Kate Doughty, and m March 1853 -he left Havre for Valparaiso, .where he . arrrived on the 19ch June. On the 20th April pf. the fQllowingfear he. left Rio de I Janiero m the brig Bella winch 'was supposed to have foundered at sea 1 with all hands* The fact .of. 1 his death was legally established by a chancery~suit, but his mother ab> solu tely refused to believe he " was dead, and' in 1865 she advertised for informalipn concerning him. In 1866 the 'Claimant was discovered at .Wagga Wagga, m Australia, and asserted that he was Tichborne, and thaVh'e'aud^eight others had been saved from the Bella and brought to Australia, and _ that -he had lived there for 13 yeai-s under the name of Castro, lie claimed the Tichbo-ne estates, went Homp, and m Pari-< m. Jan .•/iß67,hemef r and Svas acknowledged as her son by the Dowager Lady Tiqhborne. TNione of tbe rest of the family acknowledged him, biit 6ir Clifford Constaible and other former brother officers professed to recognise him. The Claimant instituted first a Chaocen suit, and then an action m the Common Pleas, whioh was resisted on behalf of the heir, Sir Henry, then a minor. The ;trial began on , the 11th May, 1871, before Chief Justice Bpyille, and thY Claimant's examination lasted 22 days. , The trial lasted 108 days, the Attoroey*G:ener.al, Sir J, D. Coleridge, who 1 led' for ibhe defend dant, speaking f,or, 26 days. Gn the. 6th March, 1872. the plaintiff war ribu-'S'uited, The' cost of the trial, pai3*out of the^fainily estates, was £92,000. On the 7th of March, Tichborae alias Castro was arrested and lodged m 1 Newgate, : on charges of^eijuHyiiand] torgo^ry. ; On 23rd of A|)riil he.iwjal indicted aaUhoma* !Caßtro alias Arthur Orton, before ! Chief Justice Cpckburn and Justices IMellor and: Imsh atibar.^ The; case for the ''-prosecution ;^ lasted i 10th of July, and on Jts_l24th .day, ! thejleas^for %c defenpe^closed, jand 'theh^hiere-was 'rebutting evia.e~nce. |Dr Keneally's speech, as counsel for |the-prisoner,-lasted-rfrom-~the*-^tjd IDecember to the 14th of January, J1874, and Mr Hawkins' reply for :the-@rown|r'o'Hf th^ 15f o tbe^2Bth !of 'January. fTbe Justices' 'summing up lasted from 29th January to 28th February, and on the latter day, thi3, the longest crirainal itrial on record, terminated with a iverdict " that the false]y, Bwettr ; tliat hp wlasifßoger'Ch^rleß Tic&bpJcnd, tKat \e .seduced GatKer'ine N. E. Doughty m 1851, and that be was not Arthur Orton." For ■this he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, wijih hard labor; land this sentence wasV/after-^ 'wards" confirmed, pn appeal^ to fchfli^ House oF'L'ordsT Since that tjme^ie has been m .gaol,, b^ he , ( has. never, jfor oue moment' faltered ! ih the assert tion* that he is really Boger v Charles [richborne, and., ihere\ arP still a gteat many .people, wlio believe he is tnafc 'persbnA The will probably never be fully cleared up. His fourteen years' sentence has been reduced to ten years and a half by, good conduct, and once more he is a free man^ , v^hat-will, fpllpw, .fliß.reieake" 'Timains'Jp^h.e} ri A jl^te English' /p.apjer^ noteWthe • iormationof a Demonstration Comnii¥tee -^t'o icelebrate. hjs r release and.the .^passing bf'Vthy. folio wwi g by iti^-M I f That the friends .of ( .fche ( . cause] b^ flesired to augment "the Demonstration- l^nd, fpr giving. Tichborne a^ suiiabie reception oh' his liberationfand'°th^ mbnW^. -collected ' be f6r'< \ Warded to Mfs -KeWealey/^the trea<* sarer." The Claimant's adhefenl* are expressing, through the, branches of Jhe^Ma^na Charta Association 1 ," and other oXganisations, their fears that'hrß ticketfOf-leavl will^e ham«i pered with, such restrictions as will prevenj^ his ..participation m those^ public demonstrations; wbich tliey-j are, ;4- for*; nlm—espeeially"! m one to .be held immediately _onj the Claimant's r-ealea^e firom p'risoh. •; It has been reported fo the London branches f that o a-draftj address, to be j pr/sented ao' "th'el Claimant \_bn° the l pecapion of his releare^ _ has beei^j prepared by the Bristol Science Test" TicEboine'- Coin nVil'teeV ~T£ ppens thus : — " Sir Boger Tich-borne-rr-Wp offervi you -pur..- hearty' congratulaliions *fcbat cyon have Survived your long! an<d ing*-Hmprisorilhen't. % "You liave^ putlived the iniquitous -and illegal sentence^wjiich cpngigne^ you .to a. l i§rMi o| %en§l %e%vits[de|.ai sentence for which there was no known 'precedent." Other—bodiesare also preparing addresses. We should! not, be surprised if some ; more strange, phases \df this great jromatacejpf rearO,ijfß; v winvye.i>preßent v theibselves. — Post. \