The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-03-24


tofia. who ts~tss 70 cali her Annie
They were married June q, Iss9.
nearly 10 years SEQ, AMI did mot live
happily together ever afterwards as
noble people do in fairy tales. The
duchess ancestor. the Earl Of Cro-
mart1e. espoused the cause os Prfrte
/ Eharies in the rising OF f945 The
& title was attained and the estates
se9uesteresi. About the year lst0 the
title and estates we're restored by
i Queen Victoria. and the duchess
came into possession with the title Of
Countess OF CroFnarfis Five children
have been the issue of that union
Lord Cover, who died in esgix youth.
the Marquis Of Stafford, Lord TarbaE.
Lady Florence, who became the wife
OF the Hon. Henry Chaplin, Nj. p.
and who died in 1851. and the Lady
Alexandra. still unmarried.
j The first duchess was utterly nueon-
genial TO her staixart husband. and
they drifted apart. she busying her
self with her children. her queen and
her charities, he negiecIing none OF
those--save perhaps. the queen, who
/ never loved him much-hut finding in
outdoor sports the moving principle
of his life, and on the water especially
which she detesfed--his ere atest de-
light.
Some people who have met Mrs.
Blair already, and great many more
{ who are likely to meet and TO like her,
/ will i4. interested 10 learn that her
+ first husband, Capt. Arthur Alfred
Blair, was friend of the Duke of
Sutherland, who promised him on
Blair's death bed that he'd look out
for the widow. And faithfully has he
kept his word. Before this parting
pledge the friendship. it seems. had
been mainly between the two men.
Afterwards between the widow aud
the duke it deepened into genuine
love, which has just vindicated itself
/ in the most gallant style at the hymen-
cal altar, and which certainly
| has bred an uncommon sympathy for
a number of years between his grace
and the brilliant woman who would
/ long ago, no doubt. have borne his
name had the laws permitted. The
story that Mrs. Blair, now her grace,
i was the widow OF a game-keeper who
lost his lie by an accidental shot of
the dukes in Sutheriandshire is not
credited. Mary CarolYe Blair is de-
scrihed as appearing on her wedding
| day. last week, as "a stout, snowy
of age She couldn't become
her grace until within very few
months. for the reason that the late
Duchess of Sutherland didn't die until
the 26tll day of last November, the
news of her demise reaching her hus-
band the day after he had landed here
with Mrs. Blair, after pleasant voy-
age from Liverpool on the Inman line
{ steamer (fitv af Riehrslapa
Another, but uRcorroborated ac-
count OF the romantic courtship which
has just been rewarded at Dunedin,
Fla, declares that Capt. Blair blew out
his brains when he should have pur-
sued similar course towards the
duke, and that the then Duchess of
Sutherland had instituted divorce pro-
eeedingS, alleging the statutory cause,
which would have been pushed to IN
pleasant prominence had not the grim
divorcer interposed a grave between
the husband and the tribunal. lit was
only natural that Mrs. Blair and the
duchess shouldn't get along well to-
gether, They didn't. The Sans Peur
was the dukes home, and Mrs. Blair
was his companion in Southern waters
for the major part OF several years be-
fore the decease of the duchess. A
particularly jolly voyage was that
made TO Florida after the dukes first
glimpse of American society, when
the Sans Peur carried besides Mrs.
Blair, and his grace. Admiral Sir John
Mcdonald, Mr.. John Bigelow, Miss
Smith, Mr.. Hugh A. Ferguson, Lord
Frederick Hamilton and MIR. Oswald
Ames OF the Second Life Guards.
This gay party reached Jacksonville
=
1.-THE American Nice. From Fernan-
dina. where they landed from the Sans
Peur, they went on Receiver Duval's
sar To the Florida capital and were re-
ceived with private and public honors.
The strength of the attachment be-
tween Mrs Blair and the duke was put
to "A public test in December. 1877,
when he was thought to be fatally i'll
1T his great seat of Trentham in Stat
fordshire. Mrs. Blair was there with
him, and until his illness was pro-
nounced probably fatal the duchess
ami her daughter. Lady Alexandra,
would not 60 near his sick-bed. The
doctors and her noble relatives begged
the duchess TO swallow her pride She
finally gave way To their entreaties and
journeyed down to Trentham. accom-
panied by her two sons and daughter,
Lady Alexandra. and her daughter in
Law, Lady Stafford. Within a few
hours after the arrival OF the family,
however. the duke improved so rap
idly that all immediate danger was
passed. A terrible scene then took
place between the injured wife and her /
children on theson sisR and the in /
truding lacy on the other. A vigorous
attempt was made TO drive Mrs. Blair !
from the house and put an end TO the
scandal, which was by that tire the
enc subject of gossip all over the Uni
ted Kingdom.
All the antiquaries agree in giving a 1
long and distinguished line of ances- I
tors 10 the Sutherland Family, and an 4
Anglo-Saxon origin: but they differ as
to the identity of its founder, some /
alleging him To have been Sir Alan /
Cover. lord OF Stiltenham, in York 1
shire. said TO have been sheriff Of the +
county in the time OF William T., I
whilst others named William Fitz- i
Guver Of Stiltenham, who was
charged with mark for his lands in \
the sheriff $ accounts in the year 1867. f
The Sutherland peerage, according I
TO the Evolutionary details of some of 1
the Scottish writers, IS the most an +
cfent IN NsrrtheTn Britain. and gives i
way 10 few. ii any. in al f irope be- +
sides. IL was created about the year
lbs 1t has. however. been stated to
have been created in 1867. Upon the 1
visit OF George VI. TO Scotland. in
lS2G2. il was determined by his majesty /
that the right of carrying the scepter
before the king was in the earls al !
Sutherland, and his majesty was
graeiously pleased upon that occasion /
To permit Lord Francis Leyeson-Gower
To at a deputy for his mother, the
Countess Of Sutherland.
The titles OF the duke are: Duke OF
Sutherland Ia the peerase OF the
nited Kin gssom. marquis of the
county 81 Stafford. Earl Tower and
+ AiScount Treuthanl. county stafford.
IN the pcerage of Great Britain, and
karon Cover. of ~tiltsnhaGn. county
T 81 York, IN the peerage OF England
lsasI OF Sutherland, etc. etc, etc
surely these are enough 10 keep Flor
& sciians busy for some time. His grace
represented The county Of Sutherland
+ - the house al commons foc some
time and has been major commandment
since ist0 OF the FirstSutheriand Rifle
Volunteers lie owns I,I7ti.s43 acres.
has an income from them of S3s5 GO
year. and j. au enthusiastic and scien-
tsiiC farmer. His grace is a biz man.
with broad brow and fine gray eve
he ought 10 be valuable acquisition
90 Florjda's agricultural population
DISTRICT COURT