A case commenced on Thursday in the Court of Common
Pleas which promises to be a cause célèbre. The plaintiff says he is Sir Roger Tichborne, son of the last baronet, and owner of the Tick- borne estates, worth, it is said, nearly 2.30,000 a year ; that at 25 years' of age he left home, partly from a disappointment in love, partly because somewhat eccentric manners subjected him to the ridicule of his brother officers, went to South America, and wan- dered for years, returning only to find his estates in the hands of trustees for his cousin, an infant. His mother recognized him at once, as did many old friends, and he will endeavour to prove a knowledge of the will deposited with his attorney, Mr. Gosford. All manner of evidence as to body marks and so on will be adduced, and there will be some curious evidence as to the possibility of forgetting a language. He ought to have known French, but does not. The theory of the defendants, on the other hand, is that the claimant is an impostor, named Arthur Orton, son of a pork butcher at Wapping, and they will try to set up their OW11 case, as well as destroy his. The trial is expected to last for weeks, and great efforts have been made to summon a high-class jury, which, after Lord Chief Justice Bovill had threatened to tine recusants .2500 each, was accomplished.
Previous page
