THE DRUCE CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8983, 18 November 1907, Page 5

THE DRUCE CASE.

CALDWELL'S EVIDENCE. FINISHING TOUCH OF DECEP TION WANTED. Received November 17, 4.42 p.m. LONDON, November 16. Caldwell, a New York accountant, deposed, in connection with the Druce case at the Marylebone Court, that an Italian and a German, and not Indian rajahs, paid him £5,000 each in India, in Bank of England notes, for curing bulbous noses. He declared that he treated the Duke of Portland with ointment. When reminded that! he had sworn that he used medicine, he said he put medicine on his nose. He refused the Duke's cheque, and was always paid in bank notes. He kept no bank account, and pinned the bank notes inside his shirt. He said that liveried n.en servants waited on the' table at the Baker Street bazaar. It was covrsct that there were no bedrooms, dining room or kitchen at the bazaar. If he said there were, his story would be untrue. He stated that no plate or inscription was placed on the coffin to indicate the death.

When the magistrate remarked that the finishing touch of deception was wanting, Caldwell said that he merely executed the Duke's orders. He adhered to the statement that he saw underground apartments at Welbeck Abbey in 1864, when counsel said that the Abbey was not constructed until 1872.

Caldwell further stated that the Dulce superintended arrangements at the bazaar on the day of the mock funeral. He was positive that no funeral of Druce occurred on December 31st, 1864, and that he was never in the service of Gilliland, owner of Rock Mills, Londonderry, in 1861. He knew Nathanial Inch, the bank clerk, in New York. If Inch.swore he and Caldwell had been in the service of Christie, of Londonderry, the statement was untrue. He admitted that he knew Matthew Ballanytne, of New York, and denied telling him that in 1889 he had been in the employ or Christie. It was with his brother William, with whom he as a boyish prank. His brother had been accused of embezzling Christies' money. When shown a document, signed by Robert Caldwell, assigning all his property to Christie, Caldwell declared it was the signature of his brother who was now dead. They both wrote, looked and spoke exactly alike. LONDON, November 16. Caldwell, under a severe cross-ex-amination, continually contradicted his previous evidence. He deposed that fifty coaches, filled with all the servants from Welbeck Abbey, to whom the Duke paid 5s apiece, attended Druce's funeral. He made other fantastic statements.