Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 12 April 1884, page 23


Orton-Tichborne Evidence.

The following letter has appeared in the Launces-ton TELEGRAPH :-To the Editor.-Sir,-For some time past great efforts have been made in Sydney by Mr. Daniel Smith, the agent for the "Tich-borne Release Association" in London, to get a patient named William Cresswell removed from the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, in order to take him to England under the supposition that he is the very identical Arthur Orton. The late Guildford Onslow, in his letter to me, has distinctly stated that Arthur Orton was tattooed AO-AO on his arm. Onslow also sent to me a

printed tabulated description of Roger Tichborne, of the claimant, and of Arthur Orton, in which, under the heading "Arthur Orton Evidence," it is stated, " Family evidence, Chilian Evidence, Australian evi-dence, Wapping evidence, showed that he was tat-tooed AO, each nearly an inch long." To all that I add my Tasmanian evidence, which is my testimony of having seen the tattooed AO on Arthur Orton's left arm, when he was leaning with his elbows resting on the counter of tho bar talking to me one morning in the Royal Oak publichouse in Launceston. The Tichborne claimant has the cicatrice on his left fore-arm, caused by the removal of the tattooed AO, and he could not satisfactorily account for it when on his trial. You will, sir, perceive from the above that for the lunatic William Cress-well to be truly like Arthur Orton, he (the lunatic) must have the tattooed AO upon his left arm, or the consequent effects caused by its removal : but, unfortunately for the very numerous persons who believe that Arthur Orton is in the skin of tho poor lunatic Creswell, he has not the ghost of a tattoo mark upon any part of him, which is sub-stantial proof that that lunatic is not in the skin of Arthur Orton. Since Mr. Daniel Smith'a applica-tion, made in the lunacy jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, was dismissed by his Honor Mr. Justice Faucett, a monster petition, said to be signed by 10,000 residents of Sydney and New South Wales, has been presented by the Hon. A. G. Taylor to the Legislative Assembly. Herewith appended is a copy of my affidavit, drawn up by the Crown Solicitor, which, before sending you my first letters to Souper, Lady Ogle's secretary, I trust will be interesting to those who have done me the honour of carefully digesting the hetereogenous facts to which I have from time to time directed and solicited attention. Yours, &c, J. D. D. JACKSON, Gordon-street, Pad-dington, Sydney, New South Wales, March 5, 1884. P.S.-" An application having been made to the Secretary of State to advise her Majesty to liberate the claimant on a ticket-of-leave, the Home Secre-tary has caused the following communication to be sent :-' Whitehall, October 23, 1883. Sir,-In answer to your letter of tho 9th instant, I am direc-ted by the Secretary of State that the convict Arthur Orton, or Castro, will be due for license in the ordi-nary course in October, 1884.-I am, sir, your obe-dient servant, GODFREY LUSHINGTON.' "

In the Supreme Court of New South Wales, in lunacy. - In the matter of the Lunacy Act of 1878, and of an application of Daniel Smith, late of Clerkenwell, London, England, but now of No. 4, Charlotte-terrace, Castlereagh-street, Redfern, the duly appointed agent in this colony for the purposes set out in affidavit of the said Daniel Smith, sworn on September 17,1883, and filed in this matter of an association in London, England, called "The Tich-borne Release Association," that William Cresswell, otherwise Arthur Orton, now confined as an insane person in tho Lunatic Asylum, Parramatta, in the colony of New South Wales, may be removed from the said colony to London, England, on November 16th 1883. John Dettmor Dodds Jaokson, of Gordon street, Randwick, pianoforte manufacturer, being duly sworn, maketh oath and saith as follows: -1. About seven years ago I attendod at Parramatta sylum in company with Dr. Taylor, then the medical superintendent of the said asylum, and Mr. Pass, then of Parramatta. I saw the person confined in the said asylum as a lunatic, under the name of William Cresswell. 2. During the latter part of the year 1855, and the early part of 1856, I was in busi ness in Launceston, in Tasmania, as a pianoforte manufacturer, and became acquainted with a man named Arthur Orton, who was commonly called "Arthur Orton the Sailor." He was then residing at tho Royal Oak public house, at the corner of Bris bane-street and Tamar-street, Launceston, Van Diemen's Land. This public house was kept by, or was under the management of a Mrs. Mary Ann Tredgett, said to be a widow, and the sister of the said Arthur Orton. The public house did not, to the best of my recollection and belief, belong to Mrs. Tredgett. The said Arthur Orton was said to be Mrs. Tredgett's brother, and he acted as barman for her in the house. I particularly recollect that he brought a musical box for me to repair, which he said belonged to his sister, Mrs. Tredgett. I became acquainted with him, and in the course of conversation he told me that he had been at Valparaiso, in a store there. I saw him repeatedly after this, during a period of three or four months, when he left Launceston, and I did not see him again at Mrs. Tredgett's house. There was at this time residing at Mrs. Tredgett's a man, who went by the name of Edward Souper, who was introduced to me by a man named Robert Clabburn as Sir Roger Tichborne. Tho so-oalled Sir Roger Tichborne was a tall, dark, slight man, who spoke English with a foreign -I think a French-accent. He could speak a little Spanish. I lost sight of him in the year 1856, through his leaving Launceston. 3. I am certain that the man I saw in the Lunatic Asylum at Parramatta, with Dr. Taylor, and who was called Cresswell, is not the man I knew in Launceston as Arthur Orton, nor is he the man who was introduced to me as Sir Roger Tichborne. I never saw him, so far as I am aware, until I saw him when I was in company with Dr. Taylor as before-mentioned.

J. D. D. JACKSON.

Sworn by the deponent on the day and year first above-mentioned at --before me, H. Henry Ould, a Commissioner for Affidavits.

A Now York builder of repute says that, owing to tho erection of many largo and extensive flat», r the building of small three-storey houses has deoréásed. Tho off eot will bo an increased demand for them in the spring. .

sf John Morley has considerable popularity in America, probably beoause of his incisive style and his independence. Yet an English, critio says that he could not be eleoted to Congress if he were an

Amerioan citizen.

Says the London Correspondent of the Melbourne AGE :-Taking him all round, there oan be little doubt that among all English painters John Everett Millaisisthe greatest of his timo. This is about right. Millais is f acile princeps as a portrait, land-scape, and hiBtorioal painter.

An American lady, Margaret De Vane, has leased Sadler'B Wells Theatre, London, for the Spring sea son, and she will appear in Shakespearian characters. Miss De Vane hails from Alabama. Her grandfather was formerly governor of that State and judge of the Supreme Court. She is also a nieoe of Senator Wil-liam King. i