The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-04

N..0..N.NN''.a
. Throughout the United States.
/ Tlc moss noted ROYAL gypsigs of SCOT
T .aut were King Auth0Hius Gawiuo. pro
I vi1usly rafcrreI %, the EailVOws, after
I ward The bulllics aud old King Johu Faw.
/ MANY members of the Fua family have
attained wealth and political urcicrmcut
/ Goa Scotland. The once wealthy Falls,
merchants Of Dunbar are gYpsics. One
OF the Falls became colonel i'm the
British army. Another served a term iu
parliament Hosts have been and are
/ under shcrins aud bailiffs. Lady An
struthcr, wife OF the late Sir John
Austruthcr of Ellie, was Jenny Faa, a
gypsy woman Of great wit and beauty.
These Falls or Faas of Dunbar, are
also connected bymarrilge with the great
banking family OF COutts, widely known
In America through the frequent social
intelligence concerning the noted Baroness
Burdctte COutts While the celebrated
poem, the Gypsy Laddien commcmo-
rates the abduction by the then gypsy
king. John E'aa, in l643, of Lady Casilis,
wife of the Earl of Casills. "a sUllcn and
i'll tempered man, more given 10 theology
than 10 ilkd-dHY goodness" who was
absent on a deputatiou toratify the solemn
league and covenant OF thar year at
Westminster
This noted line of British gypsy royalty
still exists in direct descent in the person
Of the most hopeless outcast Of all out
casts an outCast gypsy, whose acquaint-
ance have the honor TO possess although
the same is esteemed almost q dishonor
from gypsy point Of view; and the same
royal line, in distributed strains is still
proudly recognized in nearly seventy
families on tribes / personally know in
England, Scotland and America. All
these tribes hold TO the right of succession
within their separate tiny. Kingdoms Of
population rather than territory with the
same tCuacity and sacred inviOlability as
any European mOnarchial dynasty. Where
the line becomes extinct, which seldom
occurs, il is nearly always reintrOduced
by marriage with members of other
Tribes where the hereditary line is super
abundant. In instances where it is per
mitted to become and remain extinct a
king or queen or both are always chosen
by popular election. In nearly all such
cases the sovereign is selected from a fam
lily possessing the next requisite to royal
bloOd-age without faint of crime. Thus
it will be seen that both British and
American gypsies, while purely cOmmunis-
tic in actual application Of tribal gov
are among the most GXacting Of
all strictly m0narchial people in holding
to the principle of royal heredity.
The climax Of visible British gypsy
royalty was undoubtedly reached at
tlllNl'llb MIN Cblblll. Juhb tAtIObS INC
English border, among the Cheviot hills, |
at about the middle Of the present cen
fury. At the death, at Kirk YcthOlm in
1877, of the king of all the Scottish and !
many Of the English gypsies, William
Faa, or AUD Wull Faan as he was
Familiarity known, they mustered from
YethOlm and its immediate neighborhood |
800 Rypsios and 800 asses us an escort for !
his remains from COldstream to the |
Vpf.ial4 hYtr.sfy1rr frpottpH ~ Nrathn1rs,
Shortly after his death on the sudden |
decease of Charles Blythe, King Will |
JAMS immediate successor, a remarkable |
contest took place between the late Paa's |
two daughters, Princess Esther and |
Princess Helen.
The Blythe line was extinct in Scot |
land and no one could be found to dis |
pute the royal line reverting TO one or the |
other Of the two Faa Processes. Helen,
the younger, urged her claims on the |
and Often-0Xpresscd wish of |
the dead king that she should eventually
succeed him. Esther the elder. claimed |
the succession on the ground OF seniority |
For months the liveliest imaginable DO
litical canvass was waged throughout the
gypsy camps of Scotland and England. At
last the contest waged so bitter that these
sisters of royal blood came to blows, the
first and last breach of the peace ever ac-
y
They were both women of powerful
franc, and the encounter has been de-
Scribed to me by an eyewitness now liv-
ing as having been of the most savage
and fefociouS character. Esther was vic
tOriOus and Helen, or black-bearded Nell
as the villagers called her, 'got hersel
Weel Ii exit. - This ARRAY apparently de-
cided the contest; for when testing
day. or ShroVe Tuesday, on which the
famous Rotx-y1,Crat ~
Princess Helen and her fol
lowers urged no objection tn Princess
ESthCr'S election and coronation.
The browning of Queen Esther-whose
full name was Esther Faa Blythe Ruther-
ford-the Blythe and Rutherford addenda
coming from marriages with worthless
men of her race-was an affair of great
note at Yetholm. Her majesty was at
tended by royal brother, several princes
and princesses of the blood, Prince Rob
ert her son, to whom l have previously
and a great retinue of over 300
gypsieS and as many tOwnSpeOple and
gentry Of the surrounding country. The
caValCade proceeded to the YethOlm
Cross. a jolly old blacksmith named
George Gladstone, who had performed a
like Office for Charles Blythe. and thus
secured the title of archbishop of
Yetholm, wrought Respondent coronet
OF tin, sustaining tremendous Scotch
thistle. In presence OF the great multi
tude he made proclamation of his right TO
exercise the high Office, and, having in
the most solemn fashion set the emblem
of royalty upon her head proclaimed the
swarth heroine Her Royal Majesty
Esther Faa Blythe Rutherford, Sover-
eigu and Queen of all the Gypsics in the
Kingdom Of Scotland-Challenge who
darei' Addresses of congratulation were
read from loyal subjects in the different
shires, from the citizens of Kelso and
other near cities and villages, and from
Yetholm towusfolk after which levee
was held at the royal palace. d" u matched
cottage with hard clay floor, and the
night was passed in all manner of rustic
revelries.
Queen Esther, whose life-sized portrait
in oil is one of my most priced Of gypsy
relics died at Kelso a dozen miles,to the
north Of YethOlm, in July, 1888. Her
cortege from Kelso to Kirk YethOlm,
where she was buried beside hundreds of
her race, was q. memorable one. Thou
sands Of people came to Yetholm. Upon
the coffin lay the royal red cloak Of the
queen and an enormous white wreath of
roses, sent by Lady John Scott of Spotts-
wood, surmouuted this. Both We're in
TERED with the body of the queen. The
Rev Mr., Davidson, for thrty-two years
of the Kirk Yetholm church,
tells me he never witnessed a more re-
Ii