Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-21

him the peerage in 1880, but becoming
dissatisfied, he sided with Charles Ed
ward. and. although he did not himself
appear in battle array at Culloden, he
sent his son. the Master of Loyat, to
head the clan Fraser on that disastrous
day. Simon bore himselfwith courage
during the ordeal of his trial in the
House Of Peers, and surrendered his
head to the block, uttering the line from
Horace Dulce Ell dec0rum est pro
p0tria mori."
His eldest son. the Master Of Loyat,
fought CALAMITY against us in the Revo-
luton and became a general in the
British army. He secured a pardon
and the title and estates, but upon the
death, in 1915, of his successor,
younger brother, without issue. the
line of Thomas of Beaufort became eX-
tinct. The title was finally, in 1857,
after some thirty years of controversy,
conferred upon the representative of a
remote collateral branch. Thomas Of
STRICKEN, and his son is the present
Lord Lovat, who defends the suit insti.
tuted by the mining engineer.
Who is the miner who now comes
forward to claim this ancient peerage,
dating back to the fifteenth century:
He is the iineal descendant of a man
whose name will not be found in the
ordinary peerage books. 1t seems that
the famous Simon never was entitled to
the barony, because he had an elder
brother, Alexander. from whom the
miner of to-day is direct de-
scendant in the male line. This
Alexander was rather lawless par
son. lie took part in the rebellion of
Viscount Dundee in 1859. Suisse
quently. when dancing with Miss
Campbell at wedding at Mr.. ChisOlm'S
farmhouse. the fiddler incensed him
by playing the tune Tina BiOtag air
Mac Thomais," the words connected
with which were derisiye, and Alexan-
der struck the musician and killed him.
To avoid arrest and trial he fled to
Wales, and as the Government was
then looking about for persons con-
cerned in Dundee's rebellion, the
relatives Of the fugitive gave
out that he was dead. lie took refuge
with the Marquis of Fowls, Jscobite,
and worked as an ordinary miner in
that nobleman's lead-mines. He de-
voted himself to mining pursuits, pros
pecting for several years among the
lead-mines, and finally discovering the
Parys Mountain copper-mines, near
Almwich, where he passed the remain
der of his life. While in exile he mar
ried the daughter Of Welsh gentleman
named Edwards, by whom he had four
sons, the eldest Of whom, John, was
the great-grandfather Of the petitioner
of to-day. Alexander died in l776,
when he was over one hundred years
old. His son John and his grandson
John worked in the same mines, and
the present claimant. his great-grapl son
John, was first miner and is now a
mining engineer. The mass of docu-
ments and evidence in the cause is
enormous, and great lawyers are re-
tanned, Sir Hardinge Giflard and Mr..
Charles Russell leading for the claim
ant, the Solicitors-General of England
and Scotland representing the present
holder Of the title, and the Attorney
General and the Lord Advocate watching
the case for the Crown.
The petitioners chain of title seems
perfect, and it is not his fault that the
claim has lain dormant for over a cen-
fury. His grandfather went to Inyer-
ness to claim the estates in 1915, his
fellow-miners having raised purse to
pay his expenses. He sought in vain
TO get his case taken up in Edinburgh
in forma pdnperis, and later made a
fruitless effort in London. and it is only
recently that John Fraser has had
money enough to collect the evidence
and bring forward his claim.