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never acquiesced in the general belief as to the death of her eldest son. Every rumour of shipwrecked mariners and every tale of the sea gave her fresh encouragement ; every tramping sailor found a welcome at Tichborne Park; and from time to time, snatching at some idle story, she would write to perfect strangers who were reported to have been on board the Bella. It was said that she kept a light always burning on dark evenings in the hall at Tichborne to guide the feet of the wanderer, and lapse of years and absence of news only strengthened into cer- tainty the conviction that her son was alive and would return. It was in vain that Sir James combated the delusion, in vain that lie drove the itinerant sailors from the door, and on his death this fixed idea took even firmer hold. She was more alone in the world than ever, and now, freed from her husband's restraint, began to advertise for news of her long-lost son in many papers and in many languages. These advertisements began in 1863, and bore no imme- diate fruit. In May 1865 the Dowager wrote to a Mr. Cubitt at Sydney, whose name she had seen in the Times in con- nection with a `missing friends' office, asking him to see what he could do. Mr. Cubitt entered into correspondence, and caused an advertisement to be inserted in various Australian papers; and at last, on the 9th of October in that year, there reached him from Mr. Gibbes, an attorney at Wagga Wagga, and an old acquaintance, a guarded letter saying that the latter had `spotted R. C. Tichborne.' Wagga Wagga is a fair-sized Queensland township, with a population of several thousand inhabitants, and Mr. Gibbes had only settled down there in the preceding July. One of his earliest clients was a man named Thomas Castro, who, after a chequered career in the lower walks of colonial life, was desirous of obtaining legal assistance in going through the insolvency Court. He was a big brawny fellow, who had been in the employment of a Mr. Higgins who kept a hotel and butcher's shop, and his dex- terity as a slaughterman had attracted the attention of more than one visitor, to whom he accounted for it by saying he had been used to cutting up meat in Newgate Market. He had latterly started a butchering business of his own which had proved unsuccessful; and while giving instructions to Gibbes, he asked what would be the conse- quence if he omitted from his schedule in bankruptcy some entailed property in England, adding that Castro was an assumed name, and that he was the eldest son of a distinguished English family, and heir to a title. Gibbes mentioned this to his wife, who at once referred him to the advertisement in the Melbourne Argus, and he became convinced that lie had got the missing man. Some leading questions put by Gibbes at a subsequent meeting on the subject of shipwrecks, and the climate of South America, strengthened the conviction, and shortly afterwards he met him smoking a pipe on which were cut the initials `R. C. T.' `Shall I call out your real name ?' said Gibbes. ` No,' was the answer, `for God's sake don't.' ` Oh, I know who you are,' continued Gibbes ; `you are Tichborne.' Whereupon Castro took the pipe from his mouth and held it up, saying, `Is that it? Are those the initials ?' The advertisement in the Melbourne Argus was in the following terms:- 'A handsome reward will be given to any person who can furnish such information as will discover the fate of Roger Charles Tichborne. He sailed from Rio Janeiro on the 20th of April 1854 in the ship La Bella, and has never been heard of since, but a report reached England to the effect that a portion of the crew and passengers of a vessel of that name was picked up by a vessel bound to Australia, Melbourne it is believed. It is not known whether the said Roger Charles Tichborne was among the drowned or saved. He would at the present time be about thirty-two years of age, is of a delicate constitution, rather tall, with very light brown hair, and blue eyes. Mr. Tichborne is the son of Sir James Tichborne, now deceased, and is heir to all his estates.' The information for this advertisement was supplied by Lady Tichborne herself in her first letter to Cubitt ; and it is remarkable that while she gave the wrong age, thirty- two instead of thirty-six -- for Roger was born in 1829 -- and described his hair as being light brown, whereas it was really black, she explicitly stated that he was `rather thin,' a detail which Cubitt unaccountably omitted. The letter, in which Gibbes expressed his confidence in having `spotted' the missing man, contained a request for further facts respecting `R. C. Tichborne,' which would throw light on the nature of his delicate health, on the causes of his leaving England, and on the nature of his education. Mr. Gibbes had now elicited from Castro that he was born in Dorsetshire, at his father's seat the Her- mitage, that his early years had been spent in Paris, and that he had been afflicted with St. Vitus's dance, which had rendered any regular education impossible, and he not unnaturally desired corroboration as to these matters ; but the information hitherto supplied by Lady Tichborne did not enable Cubitt to say more than that Roger had left his home from caprice and not from necessity. On the 19th of October Cubitt wrote off to communicate tile joyful news to his client in England, and the following months were taken up by a long correspondence between Cubitt and the Dowager on the one hand, and Cubitt and Gibbes on the other, in which the burning question of finance played a leading part. Cubitt insisted on the necessity of a remittance ; Lady Tichborne, under the advice of her friends, held back until she could get some- thing more tangible than the fragmentary information which was all that Cubitt could supply her with; and Gibbes declined to produce his man from the seclusion of Wagga Wagga until a satisfactory arrangement was arrived at. He alleged that he had promised not to reveal the missing man's secret against his will until the end of March, adding cryptically, ` He is so far changed from his original intentions that he is anxious to go, but his present identity must be closely disconnected from his future.' At length, convinced by the details furnished by Castro, uncorro- borated as they were, and dissatisfied with the slow progress that was being made, Gibbes opened up communi- cation with the Dowager on his own account, and, what was more important, induced the `missing man' to write himself. It was nearly thirteen years since Lady Tichborne had parted from her eldest son ; and though his letters to her up to the sailing of the Bella had been constant, from that hour the silence as of the grave had been unbroken. It was no easy task to resume the thread of a correspondence so long interrupted ; but after taking a seat in Mr. Gibbes' office, and rejecting a draft letter suggested by the latter, which began in true professional style, ` My dear Madam,' Mr. Castro delivered himself in the following terms :- WAGGA WAGGA,
January 17th, 1866.
` MY DEAR MOTHER,-The
delay which has taken place
since my last Letter, Dated 22nd April, 54, Makes it very difficult to Commence this Letter. I deeply regret the truble and anxsity I must have cause you by not writing before. But they are known to my attorney and the more private details I will keep for your own Ear. Of one thing rest Assured that although I have been in A humble condition of Life I have never let any act disgrace you or my Family. I have been A poor Man and nothing worse. Mr. Gibbes suggest to me as essential That I should recall to your memory things which can only be known to you and me to convince you of my Identity. I don't think it needful My Dear Mother. Although I send them. Mamely the Brown Mark on my side. And the Card Case at Brighton. I can assure you My Dear Mother I have keep your promice ever since. In writing to me please enclose your letter to Mr. Gibbes to prevent unnesersery enquiry as I do not wish any person to know me in this country. When I take my proper position and title. Having therefore made up my mind to return and face the sea once more I must request to send me the Means of doing so and paying a fue outstanding debts. I would return by the overland Mail. The passage Money and other expences would be over two Hundred pound, for I propose Sailing from Victoria not this Colonly And to sail from Melbourne in my own Name. Now to annable me to do this my dear Mother you must send me --' The rest of the letter is not forthcoming ; indeed, the whole of the Australian correspondence as we possess it is in a defective and mutilated condition. It is clear, how- ever, from other sources that the missing portion contained some reference to the writer's grandfather, and a request for £200 to pay his debts in addition to the £200 pas- sage money. Before it could reach England Lady Tich- borne had sustained a fresh bereavement in the death of her remaining son; and on the 25th of February, unre- servedly accepting the identity of the claimant without having received a single detail or having seen a line of his handwriting, she wrote to her `dear and beloved Roger,' imploring him to come back to his poor afflicted mother, and assuring him that the necessary funds would be found. The letter was signed ` h. f. Tichborne.' To this the claimant replied on the 24th of May : -- `MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER, -- I receved your note dated 25th Feb. and was very glad to hear you where quite well. I was very sorry to hear of poor Father and Alfred death. I hardly know my Dear Mother how you have borne the suspence of knowing my fate so long. You must not blame me mother for I believe fate had A great deal to do with it. I wrote to you on the 16th of Jan. for the first time since I been in Australia . . . . I am trying to get away by the Panama rout which leaves Sydney on the 15th of June. But I do not know weather the Banker here will advance the money or not . . . .-- I remain, your beloved Son, was accentuated by the non-arrival of funds from Eng- land, and the claimant, who had abandoned his humble trade, was now entirely dependent upon the bounty of his attorney. A lurid light is cast upon his circumstances by the following note to Mr. Gibbes : -- `DEAR SIR, -- If you could spare me two pound I shall feel oblige I wish to settle with Cater the baker before he leaves for England. If its convenient you can Like- wise send me an order on Love for three pound.' Moreover, in the preceding year, previous to the first approaches made by Gibbes, the soi-disant Castro had been married by a Protestant Dissenting minister to a young girl named Bryant, a domestic servant, perfectly illiterate, and only able to affix her mark to the register. She was now about to become a mother, and the de- spairing husband wrote to his patron on the 14th of March 1866 :- 'My reason for writing instead of seeing you personaly is I am really ashamed of trubling you so often. Your kindness to me will be remembered more than a Medal of Honor on my breast. What I wish to consult you about is this, my being Idle is drawing remarks from many and what to do I no not I don't wish to leave the Town before we receve our letters from mother Which I hope will not be long first. But how to live in the meantime is what trubling me. I paid the Baker with part of the Cash you where so kind to lend ine . . . . I expect Mrs. Castro will be confined before Saturday. And believe me Sir I am more like a Manick than a B. of B.K. to think that I should have a son born in such a hovel.' B. of B.K. is supposed by the best commentators to stand for `Baronet of British Kingdom.' Seldom has a baronet with a rent roll of £20,000 a year found himself in a more parlous case at such a crisis, and a letter written to another person a few weeks afterwards shows him somewhat wanting in the pride of paternity. Cater the baker, who has already been mentioned as a creditor of the claimant, received on the 18th of April, just as he was about to start for England, a packet with the indorse- ment ` to be opened at sea,' and these were the contents : - `At any time wen you are in England you should feel enclined for A month pleasure go to Tichborne in Hamp- shire Enquire for Sir Roger Charles Tichborne Tichborne Hall Tichborne And you will find One that will make you A welcome Guest But on no account memsion the name of Castro. Or alude to me being a Married Man. Or that I have being has A Butcher you will understand me I have no doubt. --Your truly, THOMAS CASTRO.' Although in the letter to her `beloved Roger' the Dowager unreservedly acknowledged him, yet by the same post she wrote to Cubitt a cautious epistle in which she resolutely declined to make any advance without more satisfactory assurances : - `You cannot wonder if the money is not paid before- hand, the more so as you do not give any details whatever about the person you believe to be my son. You do not name even the town where he is, and you do not say any- thing about the way he was saved from the shipwreck.' She refrained at the same time, whether under advice or not, from herself furnishing any further personal details, but in a letter to the same correspondent dated ten days earlier she had unwittingly made a statement of the utmost importance : -- `There is a man of colour at Sydney who could tell you how family the family stands. His name is Bogle, and is quite black; Roger knows him very well; he was valet to Sir Edward Doughty, uncle to Roger, and he lives now at Sydney.' On the 10th of May she again wrote to Cubitt express- ing her willingness to find £200 for passage-money, and giving a more explicit account of her son's career than she had hitherto furnished: -- 'Roger Charles is born in Paris in the year 1829 or 30. He used to speak French, and being very delicate in health, he was kept at home till he was fifteen or sixteen. He then went to the Jesuits to the College they have at Stoney- hurst, in Lancashire. He remained there three years and a half. Afterwards he went into the Carabineers, and was there for a year and a half. He sailed at Portsmouth on the 13th of March 1853 to go to Valparaiso. He remained in those countries about a year, and then sailed on the 20th of April at Rio Janeiro to go to New York . . . . He is a Roman Catholic, and used to be a very good one. His father Sir James was a Roman Catholic and I am one myself, and all the family is.' A letter of the same date, conveying a good deal of the same information, was received by Gibbes. It was very far from tallying with the story hitherto told by Castro, and he was somewhat disturbed by it, but when it reached him the latter was out of his hands. The claimant1 had gone to Sydney to endeavour to raise a loan from the Australian Joint Stock Bank, and before starting had made and executed his will in Mr. Gibbes' office. After devising 1 I shall henceforth from motives of obvious convenience adopt this designation for the hero of my story. to his wife ` her lawful dower out of my estate,' he went on to bequeath to his mother, `Lady Hannah Frances Tich- borne, in addition to her dower, the whole of my property at Cowes in the Isle of Wight.' To his daughter he gave ` the whole of the Wymmering estate in Hampshire, and also the property at and near Hermitage in Dorsetshire,' and his property near Ryde in the Isle of Wight. He appointed `John Jarvis, Esquire, of Bridport, and Lady Hannah Frances Tichborne,' his executors, and failing them, `Sir John Bird of Hartfordshire'; he made Mr. Gibbes the guardian of the persons and estates of his children, and in case of his death or inability to act, he appointed Henry Angel, Esquire, of Dorset, in England. Important questions will arise at a later stage in con- nection with this document; but it may be pointed out that Lady Tichborne's Christian name was not Hannah Frances, but Henriette Felicité, though in her correspon- dence up till now she had only used the initials H. F., and that the family had no Wymmering nor Hermitage estates, and did not own a rood of land in the Isle of Wight. Once arrived in Sydney, the claimant passed into the care of Mr. Cubitt, but the funds from the Bank seemed further off than ever. Their solicitor examined him and put questions relative to his military career, which he declined to answer, on the ground that he had only been thirteen days in the army, having enlisted as a private in the 66th Dragoons, and been bought out by his parents and sent abroad. The Bank hesitated ; and at the sugges- tion of Mr. Gibbes, who had come up to Sydney, the claimant made a statutory declaration to the effect that lie was the eldest son and heir-at-law of Sir James Francis Doughty Tichborne of Tichborne Park, and that ` I arrived at Melbourne on the 24th of July 1854 ; that I left England in the Jessie Miller on November 28, 1852 ; that I sailed from Rio Janeiro April 26, 1854, in the Bella, which was wrecked, and the boat in which I was picked up by the Osprey, Captain Owens, by which vessel I was conveyed to Melbourne, where I first assumed the name of Castro.' It is capable of proof that Roger Tichborne was down at Upton, in Dorsetshire, all the autumn of 1852, and we have soon that he sailed from Havre in the Pauline in March 1853. What the Jessie Miller was, and who sailed in her, is another story. Even after this declaration it seems doubtful whether the claimant's credit would have been established but for a Mr. Turville, a gentleman of good position, who was then in Sydney as secretary to Sir John Young. He had never seen Roger, but had known Sir James and Lady Ticliborne well, and he proceeded to test the claimant by putting three questions. To the first of these, whether his mother was stout or thin, he replied that she was stout, a tall, large woman, the very reverse of the truth. In the second place, he was asked where his parents were in 1852, and he answered, `They were in Paris, and I was in Dorset- shire,' which was correct. What the third question was, Mr. Gibbes, who narrates the interview, was unable to recollect; but this curiously superfcial display of knowledge satisfied Mr. Turville, who shook hands with the claimant, and said he was convinced of his identity by the strong resemblance to his father, especially about the mouth. The floodgates of credit were now open, Sir Roger Tichborne's name at the back of a bill was security good enough for any one, and he was able to take up his quarters at a fashionable hotel ; but the letters from home were not satisfactory, and in answer to one from Lady Tichborne which was never produced, but which must have betrayed signs of hesitancy, the claim the 24th of July: -- `MY DEAR MAMMA, -- I receved your letter yesterday morning. And was somewhat dis-appointed that you do not acknowledge me has your son. Surely my dear mama you must know my writing. . You have cause me a deal of truble, but it matters not. Has I have no wish to leave A country ware I enjoy such good health I have grown very stout. Yesterday one of Uncle Edwards Old servants call on me. He has been living here a long while. He is name Guilfoyle. He knew me has soon as he see me . . . . You spoke of Bougle in your letter to Cubitt. I have made enquire but cannot find him. . I have enclose a photograph of myself, that you may see how greatly I have emprove. Hoping my dear mama to see alive once more. But I am afraid not has I cannot get surficience of money to come home with. Good-bye my dear mama and may the Blessed Maria have mersy on your soul.' In connection with this pious ejaculation, for a parallel to which the early correspondence of Roger Tichborne may be searched in vain, it may be remarked that the claimant had been remarried to his wife with the full rites of the Church, at a date very shortly after the receipt by Mr. Cubitt of the Dowager's letter mentioning that the Tich- bornes were Roman Catholics. But to return to the letter: Guilfoyle, who had been in Sir Edward Doughty's service as gardener both at Upton and Tichborne, and was now in prosperous circumstances at Sydney, afterwards gave a very different account of the meeting, and denied that he ever recognised the claimant; it is clear, however, that considerable conversation took place between them, and that a good many Hampshire and Dorsetshire associa- tions were called up. Nor was the claimant more accurate in saying that he had failed to meet with Bogle. `Old Bogle,' as he was afterwards affectionately termed by the British public, was a pure-bred negro, who had been taken by Sir Edward Doughty from the West Indies when a boy, and had remained with him till his death as valet and factotum. He had married the Tichborne schoolmistress, and since Sir Edward's death had been in the receipt of an allowance from Lady Doughty, which he was enjoying at Sydney, where he lived with his grown-up sons. He had kept up corre- spondence with Lady Doughty, and was well aware that Lady Tichborne had never abandoned hope of her eldest son. The newspapers had informed him of the reported discovery of Sir Roger Tichborne, and of his being at the Metropolitan Hotel, Sydney, and thither went Bogle not many days after the interview between the claimant and Guilfoyle. Sir Roger was out, and Bogle sat down in the courtyard. After a short interval there came by a stout man, who looked at the old negro seated there, and said, ` Hallo, Bogle, is that you? ' ` Yes, sir,' said Bogle, who explained that he had come to see Sir Roger Tichborne. ` I am Sir Roger,' was the answer, ` but I have grown so stout that you may not have recognised me.' And then followed a conversation, in which, according to Bogle, the claimant displayed so much knowledge of events and persons connected with the Tichborne family, and the early life of Roger, that lie recognised him without the slightest doubt as the missing baronet. Meanwhile, in default of a remittance from home, Sir Roger had discharged his obligations towards both Gibbes and Cubitt by means of bills for large sums drawn on banks in London, and accepted by him. He had raised money freely in other directions, and there was no reason why the journey to England should be delayed, though his purchase (on credit) of the Metropolitan Hotel at Sydney for £10,000 seemed to indicate an intention of returning to the land of his adoption. Altogether the liabilities he had incurred during a three months' stay in Sydney amounted to £20,000. On the 2nd of September he sailed for Europe in the Panama with his wife, their infant daughter, and Bogle, who henceforward was part and parcel of his establishment. A fortnight after the departure of the Panama and her precious freight, Lady Tichborne, worn out by delays and suspense, had resolved to supply the necessary funds; and, unaware that the money had already been raised, had transmitted £400 to a Sydney bank. The letter to Mr. Gibbes announcing this fact contained matter calculated to inspire him with considerable misgivings. `You say,' she wrote, and this is her first definite allusion to the facts contained in the claimant's letter of the 17th of January, `that I do not mention anything about the mark that he has on his left side : it is because I do not recollect it, and I do not believe I ever saw it, but it does not signify, as he may very well have had it without my knowing it . . . . I think my poor, dear Roger confuses everything in his head, just as in a dream, and I believe him to be my son, though his statements differ from mine. . . . As for St. Vitus's dance, he never had that malady ; but when he was travelling in South America his servant wrote to me, or to Sir James's agent, Mr. Gosford, that Sir Roger had rheumatism, and could hardly walk, but that he was better. I think Sir Roger has mistaken one thing for the other. I hardly like to write my ideas upon that subject. I do it because I know his disposition thoroughly, and it will not prevent me from recognising him for my son though his statements differ from mine . . . . I think the photograph very like Roger, at least to what he was when he was twenty, always adding thirteen years to it. For instance, he used to be slim, and was very thin, now he has grown stouter a good deal than he was before he went away. I have not mentioned to anybody, and I do not mean to say anything about Brighton, as I think it might turn people against him. But when you come we will talk that business over, and you had better not say a word about it to anybody, and you had better tell him not to mention it to anybody.' So the mother flatly denied the story about St. Vitus's dance, professed ignorance as to the brown mark on the side, and was strikingly ambiguous about the Brighton card case and the alleged promise. Moreover, she drew attention for the first time to the remarkable physical discrepancies between the man now on his voyage to Europe and Lieu- tenant Tichborne of the Carabineers. The latter, according to the universal testimony of his family, stood between five foot eight and five foot eight and a half, exceedingly slight built, with narrow and sloping shoulders, wiry and bony in frame, narrow-chested and thin, with a long, narrow face and dark, straight hair. The claimant, on the other hand, was nearer five foot ten, big framed and burly, with a large, round face, and abundance of fair and rather wavy hair. His complexion was blonde and somewhat high coloured, the features were coarse; and though he had not then attained the mountainous proportions which after- wards made him a household word, he could not have scaled much under sixteen stone. When he reached England, his weight was recorded at twenty, and it rapidly increased. The travellers went first to Panama, where they trans- shipped, and then to New York, lingering some weeks at these places, and showing no traces of hurry. From New York they took passage to London. On the various vessels the claimant, who travelled as Sir Roger Tichborne, was necessarily brought into contact with the officers and passengers, and he failed to create a favourable impression; every one was struck with the appalling defects in his education, including a persistent mutilation of the aspirate. He was conscious, however, of his deficiencies, and explained them as disadvantages arising from the St. Vitus's dance with which he had been afflicted as a child. With a Mr. H. Stephens, an American newspaper correspondent, he entered into fairly friendly relations, but otherwise he made few acquaintances among his fellow-voyagers. At last, on the morning of Christmas Day 1866, the steamer worked her way up the Thames. Arrived at the docks, the claimant asked Bogle where they should go. `Better go to Ford's in Manchester Square,' said Bogle; `that's where the family always go,' and to Ford's accordingly the party proceeded. |
