Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-14
DEATHS DRUM TAPS.
How the Boyle of the Ogiisies
sent His Dread Summons-A
chapter Of GhOsiIy Horrors.



London Special to New York World.l
Some curious statements are appear
ing In reference to o warming" al,
legged to have preceded the death OF
Lord Airlie out West. In the Airlie
the death-token is the beating
of a drum, aud this signal has ire
ouently been heard by reputable wit
nesses. The late DR.. Norman Nc;
Leod. the famous editor of Good
Words. lent the weight of his testi-
mony to some extent to it. Others
declare that just before the death oil
Lord Airlie's father in 184g they we're
STAYING at Airlie Castle, in foriar-
shire. and heard the mysterious music
long before they were aware that ne
nos diving in London. Ii is also
renorted that the ghostly drummer
how was again heard just before the
desth of the late peer in Colorado.
One of the servants heard it first IN
tbe corridor, and it is said that the
sounds also reached the room OF Lady
Airlie. whose great p%rostrstion was
partly caused by this dreadful visitor.
The affair has given rise to consider
obIe correspondence on the subject OF
ghosts, wraiths and second-sight
New York World.l
The Old World and the New come
together in a most unusual fashion In
the story which our London cores
pondent, Mr.. Jennings, cables US to-
day. that the hereditery death sum
mons of the 0gilvies, the beating Of a
ghostly drum, was heard sounding
through the corridors of Airlie Castle,
in Fortarshire. Just before the death
the other day Of the ninth Earl of
Airlie, 1000 miles away, in Colorado.
As Mr. Jennings reminds us, no less
grave and intelligent a person than
the late DR.. Norman Mcleod lends
the weight of his testimony to the
occurrence of this manifestation some
thirty years ago, just before the death
of the late Earl's father and prede-
cessor in the title. Scotland, the land
Of fell and food, is full of such super
stitions, as this Of the drumming
bogie Of the 0gilvies. The approach
ing death Of a Bruce is announced by
the specter Of a woman in white,
which appears to the doomed scion OF
that ancient and once royal touse.
The late Earl Of Elgin, a mau OF an
eminently sound and robust character
undoubtedly believed himself to have
been warned in this way, and was
profoundly affected by the vision. The
same thing is stated of his brother,
General Robert Bruce, who accom-
panied the Prince Of Wales on his
visit to this country in 1863. MOI
are such omens confined TO Scotland
The white woman Of the Hoben
zollerns went shrieking through tn
Schloss at Berlin on the eve Ofthe dealt
of the practical and unbelieving Fred
erick the Great, and for many a gen
Grafton past the spirit of the Stanley
has been seen and heard weeping ans
bemoaning herself before the death 0
any person of distinction belonging
to that family A like apparitioT
hauntst the castle ofone Of the O'Neills
of Ireland-in the shape Of a fair, pal,
woman, clad in the ancient Irish
dress, and with rudy, golden, DISNEY.
elled hair, the injured ghost Of q
daughter Of the people Of whom the
chief, who had married her, rldded
himself, by drowning her in the castle
moat. The Benedictine nun Of the
Middletons; the twin owls which perch
at midnight on a battlemeDt of War
dour Castle, f~oretelling the death Of al
Arundel, of Wardour; the white
breasted bird which 1utters about the
death bed Of the 0xenhams, Of Devon.
shire; the mystic sturgeon, which
forces itselfup the current Of thu
Trent, to call one Of the Cliftons, o
Clifton, into the unknown world, anC
the visionary trunk Of an unreal Gal
that floats at dawn in the lake Of Bre
ton Hall when a Breton is about t
die-these are all familiar to the lover
of the might side OF nature" Tina
such superstitions can grow in otbe
soil than that of ancient institution
and the hereditary pride Of race W
all know. The tale Of the double re
Election seen by Abraham Lincoln i
his mirror, and of the ghostly warnin
which he took from that phenomenon
is familiar. But one Of the stranges
and most inexplicable stories Of tn
supernatural in modern life, is tina
Of the mystery Of CLAIMS Clam
Castle, which stands, like Arli
Castle in Forfarshire, is one Of tn
/. stateliest and at the same time one
the weirdest aud most imposing hom0
Of the Scottish nobility. 1t is Of sue
vast extent that when the first Pre-
G tender James III" went there
n Ills TO join the fifth Earl Of STRAIT
more, who marched thence to die u
der the standard Of the Stuarts
! Sherifmuir, eighty bedrooms we
h prepared for the Prince and
1t retinue. The castle has been so mo
" ernized in parts as to make it a supe
residence, but it retains most Of
u early feudsl features and is full
n strange passageways, hidden chambe
e. stairs that lead one knows not width
ar and antique tapestries alive with gri
: fantastic shapes. For FIVE huudr
o, years it has been the home OF the q
ID Scottish race of the Lyons, Great
is Barons of Glamis in 1445, Earls
re KiHghorne in 1906, and Earls
- S~trathmore in 1877. What the N,
y terry ofGlamis may be no one knows
ne ever has known save the master
nc Glamis for the time being and
eldest son and heir, to whom he
bound to communicate it when tn
n. son and heir attains his mojority. T
present Earl ofStrathmore and XII
horne is now in his fifty seventh ye
-