ARTHUR ORTON TRACED.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1218, 9 October 1874, Page 2

ARTHUR ORTON TRACED.

[gIPPSLATSD TIMEj.] In an old copy of the pioneer of newspaper literature in Gippsland, the GHppslaud Guardian, of June, 1856, now before us, we have ample evidence! of the fact so obstinately disputed by Dr Kenealy, that there was an Arthur Orton in Gippsland in 1856, employed as a stockman, and in this respect, as in most others, the evidence of Air and Mrs Macalister is thoroughly corroborated. It will bo remembered that the date mentioned was shortly after the close of the Russian war, when subscriptions towards the Patriotic Eund for the relief of the widows and families of soldiers of the allied army killed in battle were being collected throughout the British dominions. The Guardian published a list of subscriptions collected by Mr John Johnson, who was then the proprietor of the Mewburn Park run. He, and his neighbor of Heyfield, Mr James Macfarlane, head the list with £SO each ; other well-known squatters (somo still resident hero) follow with amounts varying from £25 to £5; then under the heading " Eroin the men en Mewburn Park," we have among a score of other names, that of "Arthur Orton, stockman, £2." Now this man was either the criminal known as "The Claimant," or he was somebody else, and if Mr "Wkalley can establish the latter as an absolute fact, he will find unlimited scope for further energetic research, for the whereabouts of Sir Roger would still remain as profound a secret as the individual of the Iron Mask, or the author of Junius. That the person who for some eighteen months, between the end of 1855 and the winter of 18-37, passed at Boisdale, Mewburn Park, and Sale as Arthur Orton, was intimately acquainted with young Sir Eoger Charles Doughty Tichborne is perhaps capable of proof. On one occasion, Orton, whoever he was, bought a horse of a gentleman who has been a resident of Sale for the last twenty years. The animal was » bay with black points, tolerably ) well bred and spirited, and like most horses broken-in by stockmen in those days, given to the pastime of bucking with strangers. Orton was warned of this little peculiarity, but remarking " that he would cure him of that," sprang quickly into the saddle, and was as quickly deposited on the turf again, lie was not hurt, however, and again he essayed the " curing" process, but after a prolonged struggle i'ov tho mastery, with the same result. "Ah," said Orton, who was certainly a good rider, whatever else ho may have been, " You've got some pluck in you, and some of the right blood, I'll call you ' Tichborne,'" and so the horse was named accordingly. Old residents of Sale and neighborhood can recall many similar stories equally well authenticated of the sayings and doings of Orton.