THE TICHBORNE TRIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 247, 14 October 1873, Page 4

THE TICHBORNE TRIAL.

THE LAST WITNESS. Mr Matbew M'Alister, the last witness in this great case, stepped into the box. The evidence of this witness went to show tbat he had originally been in the service of Mr John Foster, uncle of Mr William Foster, and that in July, 1858, on his retnrn from a journey, he found Arthur Orton in Mr Foste 's service. " The man I see before me," said the witness, pointing to the defendant, "is the Arthur Orton that was in the service of Mr Foster. I have a perfect recollection of Arthur Orton ; and I have not the slighest doubt about the matter." Arthur was, it seems known as "Butcher," and occasionally as "Big Butcher." He was an awkward, clumsy-looking fellow, and he had some knowledge of Spanish. Such was the subject of Mr M'Alieter's evidence j but to understand its full importance reference must be made to tbe defendant's old affidavits in Chancery, quoted in the Daily Telegraph of yesterday . Mr John Foster, af Gippsland, a large stockholder, had a farm or station called Boisdale, another .'called Dargo, and yet ■ third called Erinvale, some sixty miles distant from Boisdale. At Erinvale, from March, 1853, to April, 1856, resided Mr William Foster witb his wife, now Mrs M'Alister, and acted aB bailiff to bis uncle. In 1856' however, Mr John Foster appointed his nephew to the care of Boisdale and Dargo, and at Boisdale Mr William Foster remained until bis death, in May, 1862. In December, 1865, bis widow married Mr M'Alister, who had entered the service of Mr John Foster in 1858, and had continued at Boi3dale until Mr William Foster's death, in 1862. Thus, then, from 1852 to 1862, inclusively, the evidence of Mr and Mrs M'Alister giveß us a clear andcoaaplete history ofthe Boisdale, Dar^o, and Erinvale stations, which has to "be contrasted with the defendant's siafement, made upon his affidavit in Chancery. "On the day after I firat landed at Melbourne I was strolling about the town, and went into a yard called Bows-yard, situate in Burke-street, Melbourne, where a large numler of horses were being sold. I was much attracted by wbat was faking place, and a person, whom I afterwards discover! Ed to be Mr William Foster, an extensive stocskeeper of Gippsland, spoke to me, and after ascertaining that I was a good rider, offered to take me witb him to Gippsland, where there was good hunting and shooting. I accepted such offer, and for family reasons I assumed the name of Thomas Castro (after that of a friend named Don-Tbomas Castro, Melipilla, in Chili), and continued to use and was known in Australia by tbo name of Thomas Castro until shortly prior to my return to England. I immediately afterwards left Melbourne with Mr Foster and his horses, and proceeded to Mr Foster's Btation at Boisdale, in Gippsland, on the Avon river, nearly 300 miles from Melbourne, where I remained about 19 months. Mr Foster then gave me charge ol the Dargo Station, in the Australian Alps, rbont 115 miles further inland, where I remained about 18 months, and then returned to Boisdale, when, after staying there for about three months, I travelled about and remained at various places. Now it may be remembered that Mrs M'Alister yesterday deposed that Arthur Orton entered her husband's service in October or November '06, and remained in it until the end of '58 ; that the defendant was Arthur Orton, and tbat her husband had never had in his employment any man known as Tom Castro. This evidence was to-day corroborated by M'Alister, who like his wife, unhesitatingly recognised the defendant as Arthur Orton, and deposed that on his return from a lon" journey jn July '58, he had found the defendant in Mr Foster's employ as stockman and butcher.— Daily Telegraph, July 11.