The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-01-21
A Singular Story.

q George, fifth Earl of Wintoun, possessed
excellent abilities, but from his early
wears he displayed strange eccentricities of
character. Some family misunderstood
ings caused him to leave home while a
mere youth, and to spend several years IN
France, where he hired himselfas bellows
blower in the workshop of blacksmith.
Ii was queer whim: but such oddities
occur in the aristocracy. A late Earl OF
Aberdeen, il will be recollected, sank his
high rank and princely fortune and be-
came an obscure and toiling sailor IN
merchant vessel, in which position he was
unhappily drowned. Young Seton was OF
this sort. His foible was love of bellows
blowing, in which he eXcelled. 1t Is a
poor art, but requires tact to blow slowly,
firmly, and with regularity. With this
overpOwering fancy, the young nobleman
did not disdain to take hand at the ham,
mer and file, and occasionally welding
these implements, under the instructions
of the blacksmith, he worked with might
and main, as if his means of exist
ence depended on his ply steal eXertions.
We expect that ecccntricities OF this
kind may sometimes arise from the pleas
ure of battling the researches of perpleXed
and almost heart-brOken relations. The
family at home, in their palace at Setoni
mourned over the boss of George, and
hearing nothing of him, gave him up as
lost, vanished from the face of the earth.
On the death of his father, the next heir,
taking for granted that the young Earl
was dead, was proceeding TO take posses
sion of the inheritance, when he suddenly
appeared, claimed, and made good his
rights. 1t was aftcrward ascertained that
a confidential servant in the family kept
him acquainted with what was taking
place, and had sent him intelligence OF his
fathers death.
The Seton family had always been noted
FIR their loyalty and their attachment tc
! tie old Church, AMI George, the fifth earl
| inclined firmly to the political leanings OF
his ancestors. He was living peacefully al
Seton Palace when the rebellion in l115
| broke out. Probably he would, in any
| circumstances, have taken part in the IN
surrection, but his doing so was fastened
if not absolutely caused, by body of the
Lothian militia, who fOrcibly entered anC
rifled his house, as alleged, through pri
vate pique and revenge. The most sacred
places, as he said, did not escape their fury
and resentment. They broke into his
chapel, defaced the monuments of his an
cestors, desecrated their sepulchres, tor,
out the remains of the bodies, and treated
them in a barbarous manner. This un
provoked brutality, which met with NJ
check from the authorities, determined
the earl to to throw himself into the cause
of the insurgents. 1t was from the first ;
hopeless adv enture, and badly carried out
| The Earl of Wintoun and other rebel lord
rendered themselves prisoners at Preston
and were carried to London for trial fO
high treason.
The trial of the Earl of Wintoun tool
place at the bar of the House of Lords
and, with tedious formalities, lasted from
the 18th to the 10Th of March, ZIG. Hi
! lordship pleaded not guilty, and in his de
tense urged certain eXtenuating circum
stances, which were deemed unavailinS
The principal witness against him wa
the Rev. Robert Patten, who, as
chaplain, had taken part in the insurrec
ton, and lived to write its history
At the trial of the Earl of WintOun h
cut a poor figure as kings evidence. ]
was clear from what he stated that, al
though the earl only took what might b.
called mild part of the rebellion, the fac
of being present with drawn sword oil
several occasions when the Pretender wa
proclaimed was sufficient to prove his com
plicity in the affair. Being found guilty
he was condemned 10 return 10 the lower
and then taken to the place of execution
to be hanged, beheaded, and quartered
He was accordingly removed to an apart
ment in the Tower, with the prospect o
having only short time to live.
The period of his confinement, hOweve
limited. was not spentin idleness. Through
the ingenuity of his wife the Earl of Niths
dale was struggled out of the Tower oil
the night previous to the morning as
signed for his execution. The Earl o
Wintoun was equally fortunate in cscap
ing his doom through the mechanical skill
which he had acquired while working as
blacksmith in France. Being secret,
furnished with files and other instrument
by trusty servant, he sawed through tn
iron bars of his window, and, dropping t,
the ground, managed to make his escap
to the Continent. His titles, so far a
concerned himself, and any issue he nigh
have, were attainted, his estates were for
feited to the crown. and there was practi
cally an end of the ancient house of Seton
The earl died at Rome, December 10, 1749