AN ECHO OF A FAMOUS TRIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 158, 25 June 1908, Page 4

AN ECHO OF A FAMOUS TRIAL.

A short obituary notice in llic lluine papers of April -it announced the death of Sir Tcrcival Radi-liltc, and recorded the fnet that in. IS.U lie was married to Kalherine. only daughter of Sir Edward Doughty. Hidden in this ] >aru^ra ph lies a reniinisceiKe of a great ami lainous law-siiil. The lady he married, and who predeceased liim a year ago, was the principal witness against the claimant to the Tichborne estates', ami it was ill respect to a wicked slander lie iuveuteti concerning her that one of the assignments of perjury was made upon which he was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude, half of his entire sentence. Miss Kate Dmighty was first cousin tti lioocr Tichborne, and before he started (mollis ill-fated lour in South America in I,S.Vi they exchanged vows of affection. which "tlwy arranged to say nothing about until his return, lie never returned, and Miss Doughty, two years afterwards, married Mr. Itadcliffe, who by the death of his father in 1872 beenioe Sir Percical Kadcliffe. When the claimant came 011 the scene in 1870 anil brought an action for ejectment against the Tichborne trustees, it wa*s of course, recognised that she was tha one person beyond all others who could tell whether lie-was Roger Tichborne or an iniposlor. lie avoided a meeting wilh her arranged by the solicitors, and ill his evidence «t the trial tried to destroy her forthcoming evidence by making the atrocious statement for which he was juslly punished. Air. ltadelille was in daily attendance with her at the trial during the year it lasted, and when she was called as a witness lie led lier to the witness box and stood under it while she was giving evidence, a pathetic figure, overwrought by indignation. He was, I believe, the last survivor of those connected with the Tichborne family, who gathered together at the trial in large numbers, and the only surviving actors in the great trial are Lord Halsbury, who held the second brief for the claimant, and Lord Llandaff, who represented the trustees, but who had 110 locus standi to intervene in the proceed' ings.—London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian.