WEBVTT - A Victorian Mystery: Was Arthur Orton the Tichborne Claimant? 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:15.080 partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to another 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.520 episode of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives and 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.040 motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:26.520 I'm Maria Tramarqui and I'm Holly Fry. And this episode 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.360 is chuck full of good history stuff that we have 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:36.040 a shipwreck, a contended inheritance, and a butcher. Uh. It 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.640 doesn't come with butchery violence literally, just a vocation. Like 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:46.559 You're gonna meet three men sort of Arthur Orton, Thomas Castro, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.519 and Sir Roger Tichbourne. And we're going to start with 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:55.200 the man named Arthur Orton. So there's actually nothing particularly 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.840 noteworthy or interesting about Arthur. He was born in March 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.560 of eighteen thirty four in London, and he was the 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.600 son of a London butcher, and he did as he 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.920 grew up, learned his father's trade. Arthur, in his young adulthood, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.759 spent some time at sea and a year in South America, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.000 mostly in Chile. By the middle to late eighteen fifties, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.319 though Arthur was living in Australia. It was around the 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:24.920 same time in eighteen fifty four that a twenty five 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.920 year old man named Sir Roger Tichbourne was lost at sea. 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.920 So a little bit of a spoiler alert here, but 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.960 he is the man that the center of this whole affair. Indeed, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:40.200 so let's talk about the baronet Sir Roger for a minute. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.319 He was born into a wealthy London family. He was 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.960 raised in Paris and he was given a first class education. 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.600 Actually he was just given a first class everything. Uh. 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.560 He was in love with his cousin Catherine, but the 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.760 families wouldn't allow the marriage, and perhaps to take his 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.760 mind off of not being able to be with the 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.240 when he had fallen in love with a brave Sir 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.080 Roger decided to join the sixth Dragoon Guards in Dublin 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.040 when he was twenty, and that regiment had a fairly 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:13.080 prestigious history, reaching back to six five when it was 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.240 formed as the Queen Dowager's Horse, which is a great name. 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.120 But Roger did not stick with this. He sold his commission, 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.320 which was for a long time the way you would 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:28.480 actually gain a promotion intolitary uh. And he sold his 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.000 commission just a few years after he had entered in 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:35.080 eighteen fifty two. In eighteen three he became the heir 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.960 to the Titchborne title and fortunes. At this point we 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.480 know Sir Roger was a wealthy, well educated young man 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.240 from a good family. I mean he was practically at 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.640 this time a model of an eligible bachelor. Right, everyone 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.520 would have wanted to marry him, because not only was 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.640 he worldly, insophisticated, but also title and money. Yeah, he 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.480 was mented. But even before he had inherited that family 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.320 fortune and taken on his title, and with no marriage 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.440 plans in sight in eighteen fifty three, prior to that news, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.520 Roger had decided to live in the sunshine, swim the sea, 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.280 and drink the wild air. Okay, So Ralph Waldo Emerson 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.560 wrote that not Roger, but Sir Roger is the one 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.840 who actually did those things. In April of eighteen fifty four, 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.840 Sir Roger, upon completing a tour of South America, boarded 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.919 a ship called the Bella, and the Bella was headed 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.960 for Jamaica, although there are some accounts of the destination 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:39.240 that are other locations. But just four days after departing, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.520 the Bella was reported missing, and subsequently its wreckage was 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:48.520 found off the Brazilian coast. No survivors were found, and 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:54.800 Roger was declared dead in eighteen fifty five. Distraught Lady Tisborne, 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.440 who was Roger's mother, refused to believe that her son 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.280 had drowned, and courage by a Claravoyne's assurance her son 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.960 was alive, she began running notices seeking news about his whereabouts. 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.160 In the Times, she shared that he had set sail 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.640 on a ship called the Bella, but there had been 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.560 a shipwreck, and her son, named Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichbourne, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.279 was presumed lost at sea. She wrote that she would offer, 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.760 and I'm going to quote this most liberal reward for 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:28.720 any information that may definitely point out his fate. There 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.080 had been rumors that some of the passengers and crew 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.320 had survived that shipwreck and had been rescued by the 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.799 crew on a ship called the Osprey, which was headed 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.400 for Melbourne, Australia. Lady Titchbourne heard these rumors, and of 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.960 course they naturally buoyed her hopes that her son might 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:50.039 still be alive. So she contacted a man named Arthur 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.760 Cubit of the Missing Friends Office in Sydney to place 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.680 notices on her behalf in the press in Australia, and 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.480 it was agreed upon, and the notices gave the tales 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.880 of the Bella's final voyage. Sir Roger was described as 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.599 quote of a delicate constitution, rather tall, with very light 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:14.200 brown hair and blue eyes. Just less than three months later, 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:19.039 Lady Titchborne's advertisements did begin to appear in Australia asking 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.680 for any information about her son, Sir Roger Tichborne, whose 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.760 ship disappeared at sea off South America in eighteen fifty four. 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:31.480 She never actually had to reply though, until May sixty, 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:37.200 shortly after the notices were published, a butcher named Thomas 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:43.240 Castro revealed some compelling information during a bankruptcy examination. So 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.960 that's a lot to process, yes, But as it is, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.080 he had opened his own butcher's shop, but that did 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.840 not work out well. He apparently was not great at 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.880 business and went broke. While he was going through this 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.320 bankruptcy discussion, he talked about how he had once survived 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.440 a shipwreck and that he actually the owned large properties 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.839 in England. And if anyone were observing closely, they would 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.640 notice that Castro smoked a pipe engraved with Sir Roger's initials. 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.240 So this pipe had the letters RCT engraved on it. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:20.719 That's when in November and Australian solicitor named William Gibbs 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.880 wrote to Lady Titchborne about a man who claimed to 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.960 be the long lost Baronet. It was at this point 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:31.239 when Castro and Lady Tichborne began a correspondence. But here 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.560 there's another oddity. His correspondence was full of misspellings and 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.840 grammatical errors. And what makes that odd is that Sir Roger, 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.279 if you recall, had been a very well educated man. 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.280 So we're going to take a break for a word 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.960 from a sponsor. Was Arthur Orton, also known as Thomas Castro. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:07:02.320 We're going to find out when we come back. Welcome 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.479 back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what's known as the 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.480 titch Pin claimant. The story can get a little confusing. 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.400 You might feel like you need a flow chart, so 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.920 to revisit and review, we're going to jump back to Arthur, 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:17.560 who we mentioned at the top of the show for 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.760 a moment. And if you're thinking there might be a 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.800 direct connection between Arthur and Thomas the Butcher, you're right. 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:32.080 They spoiled it, I know, I mean two butchers both 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:36.200 in Australia, got some confusion. Can't have that. It's not 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:40.240 that there was only one butcher ever in the Greater 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.120 Sydney area. Presumably there were more meat needs than that. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:50.120 But in this case the same person, So Arthur at 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.880 this time was actually delving in Australia and had also 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.560 around this time started using a new name, Thomas Castro, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.480 and Castro was employed as a butcher in Wagga Waga. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.880 So one thing that was a little strange in our 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.160 research efforts here that we both hunted for and never 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:16.000 found any real solid evidence around. We couldn't find any 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:20.480 real reason that Arthur might have taken on this new identity. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.120 There's plenty of speculation. I saw one article speculate that 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.440 he owed some debts and was just trying to dodge 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.520 them too. And that's very possible, you know, I mean, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.200 it makes logical sense. But we literally have nothing other 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.040 than a guest to back that up. So we can 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.280 only speculate why he started using a new name or 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.000 why he chose this particular name. We just don't know 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:44.800 this part of the story. Who knows. We could do 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.880 an entire show on speculating we can make up so 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:57.680 many I have so many theories. Um, When Castro saw 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.200 Lady Titchburn's notice in a local paper, saw opportunity. Castro 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.520 claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne, who had been declared 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.800 lost at sea. Wagga Wagga and Riverina residents, though knew 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.959 who Thomas Castro was before his claim to the Titchbourne estate. 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.320 For instance, the Honorable James Gormley first met Castro in 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.679 Danilla Quim, where Castro was working as a butcher at 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.600 the time. Other people met him after he relocated to Hey, 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.920 which is also in New South Wales, and he worked 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.959 in a slaughterhouse for a man who went by the 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:36.839 name Parramatta Jack Ward. Claiming to be Sir Roger Tichbourne 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.800 was a bold move for Castro. I'm going to speculate 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.240 here that maybe it's possible that Arthur began using the 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.760 Castro identity around the time that he decided to claim 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.280 the Titchborne estate. But maybe not like Hollywood saying we 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.560 actually have no idea, I just like making up theories. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.480 We do need to point out that there were a 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.320 few very noticeable differences between these two men. So while 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:06.040 Castro was described as stout and boorish. Sir Roger, who 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.600 we described earlier, was quite slender, he only weighed about 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.000 a hundred and twenty six pounds, who was very thin, 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.040 and we found this great quote while researching that he 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.960 was all narrowness, which is how I'm going to refer 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.200 to anyone who is tall and lean going forward. I 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:28.040 love that quote, all narrowness. He had a long, pale face, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.479 and he notably had a tattoo on his left arm. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.000 That might seem straighty to you, but tattooing in England 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:39.440 in the nineteenth century actually became popular among the wealthy 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.520 in general. By the late eighteen eighties, tattoos were often 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:49.439 literally a mark of wealth in European aristocracy. Their physicality 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.120 between these two men was not the only difference. Castro 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.360 could not speak or understand a single word of French. 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.679 But Roger, if you recall we mentioned at the very 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.080 beginning of the episode, grew up in Paris. He was fluent, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.720 fluent fluent. He had lived in Paris for almost all 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.600 of his childhood and his adolescence, and was so ingrained 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.600 in Parisian language that he actually spoke English with a 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:19.520 French accent. Lady Tichborne sent for Castro, who traveled under 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.520 the Titchborne name, and at the urging of William Gibbs, 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.520 Castro wrote a will before he left. Well, there's nothing 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.120 odd about writing your will. Some of the contents of 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:38.040 Castro's will did seem actually a bit wrong, just wrong. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.719 So let's do two examples of what was wrong. Um 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.840 One he mentioned family properties that did not exist, and 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:50.920 two he referred to his mother as Hannah Francis when 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:55.679 actually Lady Tichborne's name was Henrietta. So here are things 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.600 get curiouser and curious er. He did arrive in London, 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.360 that was in December of eighteen sixty six. When he 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:06.840 got to England, Lady Tichborne actually was not there. She 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.680 was away in Paris at the time. So at that 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.880 point Castro traveled to East London in search of the 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.679 Orton family. But he found out when he got there 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.800 that they had moved. And when a neighbor asked after 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.640 his business, he claimed that he was an old friend 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.760 of Arthur, who happened to now be one of the 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.760 richest men in all of Australia. And we know that 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.920 was a big fib not to brag or anything. He's 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.320 the richest butcher in aust That's why I was having 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:42.640 a bankruptcy meeting. Um So after this trip to see 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.560 or not see the Orton family, Castro met, I mean 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.280 he's air quotes around this one his mother and he 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:55.160 appeared it said to have a round face, fair wavy hair, 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.720 and that he weighed actually more than a hundred pounds 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.280 than Sir Roger when he was last seen, and curiously, 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.880 he did not have a tattoo on his left arm. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:12.840 Castro claimed that his traumatic experience of the shipwreck explained 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.560 the way any of the discrepancies and facts he couldn't 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.200 remember or didn't know right. We've all heard of instances 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.080 where someone gets conked on the noggin and they lose 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.320 some of their language capabilities or they forget certain details 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:29.360 of their lives. It doesn't really explain where the tattoo went. However, 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.120 it is not I was in a shipwreck at my 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:36.559 tattoo fell out. It just fell off. It's not like 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.600 you could easily have them removed. And you know, eighteen 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:49.319 sixty lots of sand and rubbing. Uh so, yes, it's 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.959 certainly possible that a sea voyage and then a shipwreck 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.080 could change a person's appearance a bit right, maybe some 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:03.800 weight gain or weight loss. Uh, maybe he'd contract scurvy. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:09.600 But Castro's appearance was really such a drastic transformation from 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.839 that of Sir Roger. But ultimately none of this matter 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:17.040 at all, though, despite the obvious discrepancies between the men, 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:23.480 when Lady Tichbourne reunited with her son, she immediately said 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.920 he looks like his father and his ears look like 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:32.000 his uncle's before everybody piles on Lady Titchbourne. It is 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:36.080 really easy, as an outsider with no stake in this situation, 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:40.080 to think that she was being just ridiculously foolish in 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.080 so readily accepting Thomas Castro's claim that he was in 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.640 fact her son Sir Roger. But do keep in mind, 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.080 this is a mother who had lost her son and 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:53.119 had been left without any definitive proof of his passing. 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.840 So when you think about it in those terms, especially 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.640 that she had been wondering what had ultimately happened to 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.840 him for decade at that point, who can blame her 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.920 for clinging to hope or the idea that she could 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.560 in fact be reunited with the person she told was 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:15.120 a lost loved one, right right, Um, Just because Thomas 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:19.720 Castro claimed to be the missing baronet and Lady Tichborne 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.720 was elated to have him back, that actually didn't mean 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:28.440 that everyone else blindly believed who this was. There's even 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.640 an account that the blacksmith in town didn't believe Castro 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.120 was Sir Roger and told him frankly and we quote, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.160 if you are Sir Roger, you've changed from a racehorse 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:43.320 to a cart horse couch. Pretty Much the entire Titchborne family, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:48.120 except for Lady Titchborne, also believed Castro was a fraud. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.440 So when she died in eighteen sixty eight, Castro lost 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:57.240 not just his only advocate, he also lost the Titchborne 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:02.440 family support, which had included a helf D monthly allowance. Yeah, 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.960 it kind of seems like the family just played along 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.240 while Lady Titchborne was still alive, had brought her comfort, 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.120 but when that was over, it was over. So with 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.680 those in the Titchborne family who were not convinced Castro 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.760 was Sir Roger learned through a hired contact that they 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.280 had made in Australia that Thomas Castro was not even 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.880 actually Thomas Castro. This is when they learned that he 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.640 was Arthur Orton, a man who had been born in 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.600 London and made his way to Australia by ship years earlier. 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:42.560 Whether or not Arthur Orton's slash Miss Castro was or 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:47.040 was not Sir Roger, this story and the trials that 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.640 follow captivated Victorian society. The press was ravenous and published 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.680 daily reports of the trials progress. And the way that 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:00.520 Titchborne case played out turned an impostor into the celebrity. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.840 Arthur was honored at shooting parties and other gatherings and 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:08.080 then and then he went to prison. That's sort of 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.600 fascination and celebrity reminds me a little bit of Princess Caribou, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.680 who they're like, yeah, yeah, we know you're fake, but 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:18.679 this is kind of fun. But you're fun. We are 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.080 going to take another break for a word from a sponsor, 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.960 and then we're going to talk about the trials. And 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.360 yes I did say that as a plural on purpose. 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:40.479 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's start talking about the civil 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:45.280 and criminal trials, right, So there were actually two trials 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.879 for Mr Orton slash Castro. The purpose of the first trial, 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.320 which was a civil trial that began in May of 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.520 one was for Thomas Castro to prove his claim that 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.240 he was Sir Roger Tichbourne because he asked to be 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.720 given something which he thought he should be entitled to legally. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.840 He was now referred to as the claimant, or in 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.239 this case, as the Titchborn claimant, which is kind of 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.200 a name that's stuck through the years, and that's because 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:19.200 he was officially claiming the Titchborne estate. Castro dodged any 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.280 and all questions about his relationship with Arthur Orton, and 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.080 he denied he and Arthur were actually the same person. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.720 So in response to that, the prosecution threatened to call 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.560 more than two hundred witnesses, which is crazy, uh to 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:39.400 the stand to prove otherwise. There was one big thing, though, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.640 that Castro did not know about. When the investigators hired 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.560 by the Titchborns were examining his life in Australia, they 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.600 discovered plenty of people who knew Thomas Castro, but they 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.879 knew him as a man named Arthur Orton, a butcher 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.200 originally from London. It's gotta be a terrifying whamo when 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.080 you're like no about that person that like really look, 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:06.480 we have literally a building full of people willing to testify, 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.520 otherwise two hundred people and probably a couple of folders 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:14.320 of information. But the threat of the two hundred people 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.920 was really not the big problem here. In the end, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.359 the problem of that magically disappearing tattoo was what was 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.320 the sticking point for the jury. So the first trial 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.160 ended here, and it ended with the jury rejecting his suit. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.040 A criminal trial was now needed to determine if the 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:37.119 claimant was guilty of perjury. This was a bit more involved. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.320 That trial was held between eighteen seventy three and eighteen 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.800 seventy four, and it became the longest trial ever in 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.920 English court at the time. It lasted one eighty eight 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.800 court days. As an assign because you're probably wondering too, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.399 that record was eventually overtaken by a much more recent case, 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.680 which came to be known as the Mick libel case. Legally, 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.880 that started out as the McDonald's operation versus Steele and Morris. 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.480 Further down the rabbit hole. That case began with the 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:09.480 defendants producing a leaflet title What's Wrong with McDonald's, which 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.480 resulted in them being found guilty of libel and fine 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:17.439 in the trial began. But then the long part is 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.120 that they filed an appeal, which was Steele and Morris 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.199 versus the United Kingdom, claiming that they had had an 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:28.119 unfair trial that was not resolved until the year two thousand. 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:33.119 So uh, that judgment was eventually found for Steele and 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.600 Morris that they had had an unfair trial. But even so, 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.160 it ousted the Titchborne case by more than a decade 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.800 in terms of its length, a decade in court, like 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:51.080 I got stuff to do, so okay, taking his back 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:55.080 to the trial of Thomas Castro. During the trial, Castro 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:59.960 had significant recall problems. Among other things, he couldn't remember 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.000 anything about the boarding school that he went to, including 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.560 its name, nor was he able to recognize his own 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:11.840 father's handwriting. There was testimony from a handwriting expert we 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.240 know now today like this is kind of a dodgy 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.680 area and not all people would admit this in a court, 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.880 but in this instance, his opinion was that the handwriting 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:25.960 of Sir Roger Tichborne and Thomas Castro did not match. However, 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.359 this handwriting expert determined that Castro's handwriting did match the 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:35.240 handwriting of Arthur Orton another problematic bit of evidence. I 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.240 could keep going on. There was in fact a real 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:43.360 ship called the Osprey, and it did arrive in Australia. Finally, 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.560 something about the claim of story that checks out right. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.080 The wanna be Titchborn couldn't name any of the crew 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.199 members though he couldn't remember the captain, and there was 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.200 no mention in the ship's logs about rescuing survivors of 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.439 a shipwreck, which seems like a pretty significant event that 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:03.200 you might put my log right. Yeah, he did just 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:08.920 enough homeworked to get himself into trouble, but not enough 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:14.160 to sail him through. There was more than enough evidence 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.200 to the court that Arthur Orton slashed Thomas Castro had 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:21.719 in fact perjured himself. But during the trial there's this 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:24.560 weird little factory that I sort of love. Arthur Orton 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:28.800 drew cartoons, not just doodles. He spent his time sitting 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.520 there drawing just elaborate cartoons, right when he wasn't paying 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.960 attention at the trial apparently, But to like Arthur Orton 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:41.119 drawing cartoons this time. In this trial, the man named 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:45.119 Arthur Orton was found guilty. It took the jury about 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.199 thirty minutes to come to their verdict, and he was convicted. 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.520 He ended up serving ten years of a fourteen year 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:53.960 prison sentence, and in some sources I read it was 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:58.080 hard labor, but I'm not certain about that. So his sentence. 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:03.160 On April tenth, the London Times published the following quote. 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:07.800 Shortly before two o'clock yesterday, the grand jury came into 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:10.760 court and presented a true bill which they had found 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:14.639 against Thomas Castro, otherwise known as Sir Roger Charles Doughty 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:21.440 Titchborne Baronet, and otherwise Arthur Orton for perjury. So all 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:27.320 three men, well one man into not yeah anyway, you know, 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:30.640 to a K A S. I put down my flow chart. 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:36.159 I can throughout this whole tale. Thomas Castro slash Roger 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:40.560 Tichborne slash Arthur Orton didn't admit just one time that 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:44.320 he was Arthur Orton. But that's because he got paid 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:47.840 to say so, and once he had that money in hand, 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.719 he retracted the whole statement. So from that point on 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:54.960 he continued to maintain his lie, even though he no 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:58.280 longer would legally have any claim to any Titchborne money 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:02.320 or properties. So we're going to go straight now to 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.400 the end of Arthur's life. So Arthur died in poverty 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:11.959 on April Fool's Day, So April one in London. And 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:15.439 I kind of love that an impostor died on April 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:19.360 Fool's Day. It's pretty perfect. It's a little on the nose, right, 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:22.119 it's it's just a little too much for me. I 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:27.480 have to love it. Uh. The New York Times printed 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:32.040 a short obituary for him, including this quote. Arthur Orton, 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:35.680 who sought to acquire the two million dollars state belonging 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:39.040 to Sir Roger Tichbourne, died of syncope on April one 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.360 in London. So today syncope would kind of be considered 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:46.080 a symptom rather than a cause of death. You've heard 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:49.280 of it before, but probably under the word fainting. Right. 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:51.480 It's known to happen if you stand up too quickly 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:55.520 because your blood pressure drops suddenly, to quote John Hopkins 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.679 Medicine quote. For most people, syncope occurs once in a 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:01.399 great while, if ever, and is not a sign of 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:05.800 serious illness. However, in other syncope can be the first 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:09.520 and only warning sign prior to an episode of sudden 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:14.280 cardiac death. So while it's generally an unlikely sign of 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.480 impending death. It is a possible sign that Arthur Orton 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.000 may have had some form of undiagnosed heart disease, although 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:22.879 we don't at all know that for certain. We're just 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:25.680 kind of doing some back of the envelope maths regarding 0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:28.200 his health and his cause of death. Right, And it's 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:32.280 one of those conditions or symptoms where it could be nothing, 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:35.520 but it could it could be everything. Right. It's also 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:40.240 sometimes associated with strokes, but that was the only link 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:42.199 that I found that was kind of a direct Like 0:25:42.880 --> 0:25:46.040 sudden onset death is usually a heart disease issue. I 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:50.280 found the same thing. Yeah. Um, so there's also actually 0:25:51.440 --> 0:25:57.160 another odd twist to Arthur's already odd story. It checks out, 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:00.040 But it's hard to believe that Titchborne family had a 0:26:00.320 --> 0:26:05.840 plaque engraved as Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne placed in 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:11.240 Orton's coffin after he died. Strange a little. They either 0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:15.080 had like a very good humor or they wanted to 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:19.040 cover their odds in case they had all been wrong. 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:24.080 It didn't sound like they had good humor. I mean, 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:26.800 who would, I mean, they're up against this guy, so 0:26:26.880 --> 0:26:29.439 maybe you know, and I don't think I would be 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:34.720 very good. Right. Over the many many years since Orton's trial, 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:38.439