Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-06

the old rafnshackle houses were fringed with sullen-looking minds, filthy and wrangling children and old danes with short skirts and "mutch' caps, yellow with age and dirt; and all these uncanny folk, first eyeing the old man and then myself, indulged in shrugs and derisive smiles that were disquieting indeed. There were two inns, the Kings Arms and the Maxwell Arms, equally forbidding and vile; and chose the latter at the old mans recommendation, as it was the first reached. Its proprietor was veritable ''Meg Merrilies" of a woman, and the ground floor, chiefly given over to drunken orgies and reeking with filth, was crowded with ploughmen, herdsmen and tramps in various stages of stupor or elation. All of these seemed to regard myself and my companion in the light of such a hilari ously fortunate arrival, that not until I had paid a reckoning for two score thirsty Scotch gullets could I avoid sundry de- monstrations which savored overmuch of hustling and secure the seclusion of a musty, dark and vernin- filled room. Turning to close the door, the wrist-fiut- tering hands and the ogre-like face of the old man prevented
 '..Noo, waur ye seekin' the meenesters- he asked with an uncanny leer.
 ''The minister!"
 "Oh, aye-the meenester O Gretna."
 No, only those who were dead; whatev- CT could find out about them; and per haps the old Gretna records, if they were to be discovered; managed to explain.
 "Maun be yer'e seekin' ony perteeklar ainsf'
 "oh, no, my good man; simply any thing of general interest,"
 ''Oh, aye" Then a long pause with that glitter of calculation flashing diaboli- cally from those specks of green eyes; and suddenly, While his shriveled old hands rubbed nervously together: 'Its no wantin' the record, ye're seekin'.'
 subsequently, well understood the old wretch's meaning. At that moment did not. But it flashed over me that he was an old man; a postman; had probably al- ways lived at Springfield and Gretna; might be very serviceable in assisting in my investigationf; and I asked him plain ly if he could be; to which, after long time regarding me with look of incredu- | lity, suspicious cunning and positively l piteous greed, he solemnly asserted that he was the only man living that could give l any one of an inquiring turn of mind
 complete information upon the subject of Gretna marriages; which he would do if I would join him on the morrow at his own house, the third from the Sark bridge ''if there's siller ahint iti" he concluded | almost savagely. I assured him there was
 a reasonable amount ''of silver behind" | whatever he could do for me, whereupon
 the old wretch went his way.
 | Just one hundred years ago this village of Springfield was built by Sir William Maxwell. The necessity for the place had | its origin in the marriage trade of Gretna, | which became so popular under its origi- nator, Joseph Paisley, that Maxwells own
 residence at the old village was trans
 formed into an inn, and this in little
 time was so overcrowded that other ac-
 commodations had to be provided. The
 Kings Arms across the way from the Max | wells Arms, in which l am writing. by
 1900 had become the most famous posting
 establishment in the two kingdoms From Paisley's marriage of the Cumberland,
 England, couple in 117l, as chronicled in
 my last article, to the time of his death, in
 1874, it is computed that the traffic
 brought annually to Gretna and Spring
 field ten thousand pounds in fees, expenses
 of those who pursued runaway English
 couples, outlay of barristers who visited
 the places to establish proof of marriage
 other barristers who came for clients vhC
 hoped to find lack of proof, the curious | who were attracted by the extraordinary
 character of the place, and from the gene
 ral recklessness and extravaganza on ever, hand where marriage fees from runaway
 English common folk, gentry and nobilit, ranged from five to one hundred guineas as they did. with any amount of the ssyel
 low stuff" for the hories of ''witnesses,
 handy-men and satmps who lived perma
 nently at the inns, filled the rude cottages
 or swarmed like harpies about the theI
 busy stable-yards. The present owner oi
 the estate on which Springfield stands i,
 Sir John Maxwell, the third Sir John, O the descendants of Sir William Maxwell
 He lived in London. renting the estats de
 mesne at -Springkell, some seven miles ais tant, to Lord Antrim, now here for hi
 fourth year, as a shooting-box for grouse shooting and a summer residence, at tw' thousand pounds per year. The wretche, | habitations of the now woebegune village originally parceled out on ninety nine year leases which are just now expiring. a | the present time are based at an averag
 annual rental of but five pounds per year and house a most miserable population So much for the village. whose easterl | end is but few rods from the boundar- line between England and Scotland. at tn old stone bridge across the Sark, wher the olden Gretna marriages were cOnsun | mated. many times in less than thirty seC | onds, and indeed where they were ofts
 performed at the bridge-end itself, wit
 old Paisley running alongside the thunder 3 ing coach with its foaming horses, 50 clos r had been pursuit.
 Tracing the successors of Paisley. fin , | that their line was established in this wis
 High living, half gallon of brandy dail, and frequent debauches when gallons { a lcognac would be nightly consumed B brought Paisley, mass of fat and corrul
 | tion weighing four hundred pounds. to hi 5 grave in 1874, For some little time b [ fore his death lis physical joys and affii, t tions compelled him to delegate his office , to other and younger hands. The fortI
 nate man was one David Laing, cam
 Ulster Irishman, and pack-peddler, wh had married Paisley's granddaughter. N r. one disputed the legitimacy of the succe a sion, as David Laing had both hard fiji ;. and character; and though rivals occ: sionally intercepted trifie of the traffi l. he controlled it so effectually and gave > such eclat that on his death in 1S27-ha' ing caught fatal cold on his visit to Lal
 | caster, England, to give evidence at u U trial of Lord Wakefield, who was indicte convicted and punished by two years ir Il prisonment for the abduction of his b e trothed, their marriage having been eel ! brated at Gretna-his memory was thu u perpetuated by Thomas Hood:
 Sleep David Laing.-sleep
 )1 In peace, though angry goNerneSses spurn tile :, | Over thy grave a uoDusand maidens weep, RI And honest post boys mourn theel
 l. | Sleep David! safely and serenely sleep,
 Bewept by many learned legal eye,- D. To see the mould above thee in heap,
 Drowns many a lid that heretofore was dry re ! Especially of those that plunging deep ,t In love- would ride and tie."
 Had command, thou should'st have gone |
 In chaise and pair-and lain in Pere Ia Chaise,
 The third Bishop of Gretna," Sim, al Laing, son of s'auld Davie, inducted hil m self into office immediately after his fat S. CTS death, and continued the Gretna ms IS riage business until his own death in 1S7 ns a fact not generally known, with a co D. stant increase of the traffic until 1856. e. this year, by permission of Scottish re u- resentatives in the British parliament, Ill act was passed making civilcontract ms m riage impossible in Scotland unless one at the contracting parties became reside ,h of Scotland for twenty-one days immec ne ately preceding marriage. With this mo le ification the old law stands intact. B a the prevailing idea, which exists even le Scotland. that Gretna marriages were tn if abolished is totally incorrect, as to n ,I- amazement was discovered on my visit l. the old postman. There l found not Il s. ogre in blue and red, but a. venerable O ut wretch of sixty-eight years, with whi Id locks, great horned spectacles haif.hidd' ir behind that wonderful nose, and his we h. zened form clad in a threadbare suit ifs clerical black, whose name was Willia ,d Iaing. This man is the fourth Bishop he Gretna," having succeeded his father