Adelong and Tumut Express and Tumbarumba Post (NSW : 1900 - 1925), Friday 3 October 1924, page 3


Tichborne Claimant.

STARTLING STORY OF MURDER.

DAUGHTER'S CONFESSION.

A cable from London states that 'The People'' publishes an amazing statement by Theresa Mary Agnes Doughty Tichborne, aged 51, who, in October, 1923, was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for sending threatening letters to Sir George

Lewis, the well-known solicitor. The woman is the daughter of ArthurOrton, the Tichborne claimant. She has just been released. Believing herself dying in Hollo-way Gaol, she wrote to the Home Office, revealing her father's secret, confided to her in 1885 : ''I'm Roger Tichborne. Arthur Orton, whom

I'm supposed to be, was my confed-erate in many exploits in Australia. I shot him dead at Wagga Wagga in 1866, during a quarrel, in which he threatened to expose me.'' She explains that her father's visit to Orton's relatives at Wapping was carried out for the purpose of dis- covering if the family had been ap-prised of the. murder.

She adds that she wanted to re-veal the secret when she was tried in 1913 for attempting to shoot a member of the Tichborne family. Her sister dissuaded her. She recalls that she acted as her father's secretary on a lecture tour, and left him because she disapproved of his drunkenness and immorality. She became an actress. She declares her belief that her father's claim dominated his life. Roger Charles Tichborne (1829-54) heir to an ancient Hampshire baron-etcy, sailed for Valparaiso in March, 1853. He wrote home constantly un-til April 20, 1854, when he sailed from Rio de Janeiro for Jamaica in

the Bella, which never reached its destination. From that date he was never seen or heard of again. In October, 1865, in response to world-wide advertisements issued by the dowager Lady Tichborne, 'R. C. Tichborne' turned up at Wagga Wagga, Australia, in the person of an impecunious butcher, locally known as Tom Castro.' At Sydney he put on record that he was wrecked in the Bella and pic-ked up by the Osprey, bound for Melbourne, and on Christmas Day, 1866, the claimant landed in Eng-

land. Roger's mother professed to recognise him, as several others. He became popularly regarded as the rightful heir, and bonds were issued to provide money for his claim, but his story contained too many dis-crepancies. Finally , Castro was identified as Arthur Orton, the son of a Wapping butcher. His claim was nonsuited, March 6, 1872, after a cross-examination lasting 22 days by the Solicitor-General, afterwards Lord Coleridge. After 'the longest criminal trial (April, 1873, to February, 1874) in British annals, presided over by Chief Justice Cockburn, Orton was sentenced, on two counts of perjury, to 14 years' hard labor. Released on ticket-of-leave, 1884, he published a

confession in a Sunday newspaper in 1895, which he subsequently recan-ted. He died in London in April, 1898. The defence of the family alone against the claim in this remarkable case cost over £90,000.