DRUCE CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9022, 8 January 1908, Page 5

DRUCE CASE.

CHARGE AGAINST HERBERT DRUCE. CASE WITHDRAWN. Received January 7, 8.18 a.m. LONDON, January 6. Evidence given at the hearing of the perjury charge against Herbert Druce showed that T. C. Druce's grave had apparently remained untouched since made. A crowbar had been driven 16in into the clay under the brick floor. Dr Pepper, the well-known surgeon, who had charge of the exhumation of the body at Highgate cemetery, described the clay as undisturbed virgin soil. There was ample evidence, he said, that the cause of death was in accordance with the death-certificate. The face bore a striking likeness to Druce's photograph. It had A heavy bushy beard. He ridiculed the idea that the beard had been grown after death. Thackerah, a partner in the bazaar formerly the property of the late T. C. Druce, positively identified the body as that of Druc=. Mr Atherley Jones, K.C., counsel for George Hollamby Druce, the claimant to the Portland estates, said that after thi* evidence he could only withdraw from the case. The charge of perjury was dismissed.

DRUCE-PORTLAND COMPANY. MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS CONVENED. MORE FUNDS REQUIRED. Received January 7, 10.10 p.m. LONDON; January 7. j A" meeting of the shareholders in the Druce-Portland Company has been convened for three weeks hence. .Mr T.. IL Coburn states that he has been informed that the proceedings have already cost nearly £7,000. Further funds are required for the civil litigation. MAGISTRATE'S SUMMING UP. j "THE SILENT VOICE FROM THE GRAVE." HERBERT DRUCE VINDICATED. Received January 7, 11.36 p.m. LONDON, January 7. Mr Plowden said that after the silent, but important, voice from the grave, it would be impossible to continue the prosecution without serious injury to justice. But apart from this new dramatic feature Mr Jones must have felt the foundation of his case slipping away after the collapse of his most important witness and his long and fruitless cross examination of Nurse Bailey. At last the bubble which had floated so long and mischievously out of reach had been effectively pricked. No one could nuw doubt that Druce died amid his family and was" buried at Highgate. His existence dtands out clear and distinct arid undeniable as that of any human being who ever lived. How the myth and confusion of him with the Duke of Portland arose it was idle to speculate. The case was a fresh instance of how fove of the marvellous is deeply ingrained in human nature, and striking proof of the truly unfathomable depths of human credulity. The Court thanked Herbert Druce in consenting, in the interests of justice, to the distasteful sttp of opening the grave. He left the Court with his character for truthfulness absolutely and conclusively vindicated.

NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. A MONSTROUS AND WICKED FABRICATION. Received January 7, 11.20 p.m. LONDON, January 7. • The "Times" says that the Druce prosecution came to a fit and ignominious end. One of the greatest delusions of modern time had been exploded and disposed for ever of the popular legend regarding the identity of Druce and tie Duke of Portland. The "Telegraph" says that it is j difficult to adequately characterise the prosecution rebutted by such impressive testimony, 'and it expresses the hope that the Justice will put some pertinent questions to those bolstering up the monstrous and wicked fabrication of a mock funeral. "UNDESERVED OBLIQUY." THE PROSECUTION COMMENDED. Received January 7, 10.59 p.m. LONDON, January 7. i Mr Plowden, the, Magistrate, asked Mr A. Jones what impression Dr. Pepper's very remarkable evidence had produced in his mind. Mr Jones said that it was impossible to press the case further. He complained of the undeserved obliquy cast upon the prosecution, considering that except with regard to o-e I witness their large body of evidence was unshaken by strenuous and prolonged cross-examination. After the exhumation it was impossible to deny that it had been clearly demonstrated that Druce had died in London and wa3 buried at Highgate, and that the body exhumed was the same body as that buried. There was also strong evidence to show that the body was Druce's. While Herbert Druce was right in refusing to open the grave undei" menace, the prosecution had shown wise judgment in yielding to the moral pressure of public opinion.