Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-07
THE GAZETTE: FORT WORTH TEXAS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER l.

mass OF fat and corruption weighing 900 pounds
TO his grave in 1914. For some little time before
ms death his physical Joys and sioti9 lions COM d
younger hands. The unfortunate man was Da-
va Laing,
oAENY ULSTER FRESHMAN,
and pack peddler. who had married Psisley's
granddaughter No one disputed the legitl-
macy of the succession, a. David Laing had ooth
hard fist and character: and though rivals oc-
casionsIIv intercep;ei a tribe Of the trafc, he
controlled it so effectually and gave It such
eclat that his death in R!f-havlng
England. to give evidence at the trial of Lord
wakefield. who was indicted, convicted ana
punished by two years imprisonment loT the
ing been celebrated at Gretna-hls memory was
thus perpetuated by Thomas Hood:
sleep, David LIing!-sleep
In peace, though ang J governesses spurn tnee!
Over thy grave a thousand maidens weep,
And honest postboys mourn thee!
sleep, David! safely and seteneiy Sleep
Bewept by many a learned lega! eye!-
To see the mould above thee IN heap,
browns many a lid that heretofore was dry
Especially OF those that. plGngins deep
In love, would ride and tle!.
Had command. thou should'st have gone thy
ways
In chaise and nair-and lain in Pere la Chaise!
The third Bishop of Gretna, slmon LANG,
son of ''auld Davie,'' induoted himself into
office Immediately after his father death. and
continued the Gretna marriage business until
his own death in 1871, fEct not generally
known. with constant increase OF franc until
1856. In this year. by permission OF Scottish
representatives in the British parliament, an act
was passed making civil contract marriage I'M
possible id Scotland unless one OF the CON
tracing parties became resident OF scot
preceding marriage. With this modifcs-
lion the old law stands intact.
But the prev ailing idea, which exists
even in Scotland, that Gretna marriages were
thus abolished is incorrect, as TO my amaze
ment vas discovered on my visit to the old post
man. There found. not the ogre in blue and
rod h1Fa fla old
years, with white locks. great horned specta-
cles half hidden behind that wonderful nose,
OF clerical black, whose name was William
Laing This is the fourth Bishop or
GreJna," having succo eied his father on the
death of the latter in ISL, and who, in addition
to his services to her majesty as postman OF
Springfield and Gretna Green at seven shllln'
saxpence the week, is continuing the Gret-
ma service to runaway English couples, who
overcome the the twenty -one-day residence re-
striction without difficulty. TO this very day:
receiving, as he himself informed me, as lit lie
as ten shillings and as much as ten POUNDS rs
q marriage fee, The unique character sat IN
sACRRDoTAL STATE
by greasy deal-Lable beside the one httle WIN
dow OF his cottage, impatlently awaiting my
arrival; for was there not slller ahlnt II!
One arm rested npon pile OF ancient ieather-
covered record books. AT his feet was stout
oaken box wi; h tremendous paddock stand.
ing, rather lettering about the middle OF
the room, the old III, n wife. deaf for hiry-
eight wears, her voice faded to pathetic falsetto
surgle and her ia ,e and thin old for suggesting
some ghostly white field flower trembling IN
the wind whipped autumn of its life. The old
man fiercely grave and dignthed. The old
wonan was all feeble smiles. swaying salaams:
soft and piteous cackings. For four hours
TINA was busted in examination OF the musty
records of this martial curiosity shop. tlrst,
the OF IN box opened. This contained the
original records, now scarcely more than 4 mass
of shreds, but still legible, and, on lnnumeT-
able occasions, worth in Scottish and English
courts far more than their weight in gold.
There the transcript record books we're exam
ined. These place at 8 glance in chronological
order every marriage recorded as performed oy
Paisley and the three Laings, down to the pres
ent time The first marriage was that OF John
Edgar with Jean Scott in l77l. The last one,
celebrated in this very cottage by William
Laing, May 20, 1890, was OF Thomas beatLle
Parish OF Bewcastle, county Cumberland, En-
gland. with Mary McGre gor, Parish OF Gretla,
Damtries-shire scotland, involving certihcatlon
of the Scottish twenty-one day residence. The
records comprise nearly 500 marrlsges; IN
Guiding such noted members OF the Engllsh
aristocracy and nobility as Thomas, Lord
Erskins. with Sarah BucE; Edward Conroy with
Lady Alicia Parsons, daughter OF the earl OF
Ross: John George hampton, grandfather OF the
present Lord Durham, with Miss Choln undleyi
Edward Gibbon, Lord Wakefield, with Ellen
Turner, for which Lord Wakeheld snfteTed TWO
years Imprisonment; and Lord George William
Coventry. with Mary Beauclnire. or these
Joseph Paisley, in forty-three years time per-
formed about 23OO David Laing, during the
next thirteen years. 1900; Simon Laing, between
1927 and 1871, about 3l0O; and William
Laing, postman, during the past nineteen
strange and weird experience this at the
cottage of William LANG. postman and ''meen-
ESTER at Gretna Green. But give fair warning
to all who come after me tn at they Will not only
find the genuine records attesting Gretna's
fame, but that while enjoying the studies OF one
Of the most extraordinary characters in Scot
land they will also experience at departure,
from the rapacious and almost fendlsh levy OF
''silIer ahint it, illustration Of the apotheosis
OF drunken thrift, savage ignorancs and az
gressiye avarice, such as the pen OF the greatest
master of delineation in fiction and fact has
never yet been wholly able to depict.
EDGAR l.. WAKEAAH.