The record-union., 1893-06-03
ID condition throughout the United

tilieS, dlu Ola Alng JO'in raw. Many
mem 0ers Of the faa family have attained
wealth and political preferment in Scot
land. The once wealthy Falls, merchants
OF lumbar, are gypsies. One of the Falls
became Colonel in the British army.
Another served a term in Parliament.
Hosts have been and are under-sheriffs
and baiiitfs. Lady Anstruther, wife of
the late Sir John Anstruther of Ellie. was
Jenny Faa, gypsy woman of great wit
ana beauty. These Falls or Faas of Dun
bar are also connected by marriage with
the great banking family OF Coutts, widely
known IN America through the frequent
social intelligence concerning the noted
baroness Burdette Coutts. While the
celebrated poem, The Gypsy Laddie,"
commentaries the abduction by the then
gypsy King John Iaa in 1913 OF Lady
Caslllls, wife of the Earl Of Casillis, "a
sullen and ill-tempered man, more given
TO theology than to ilka-day goodness"
VINO was absent on deputation TO ratity
the solemn league and covenant of that
year at Westminster.
This noted line OF British gypsy roy
atty still exists in direct descent in the
person OF the most hopeless outcast OF all
outcasts an outcast gypsy, whose ac
qualntance l have the honor to possess,
although the same Is esteemed almost
dlshonor from even gypsy point of
view, and the same royal line, in dis
trlouted strains, is still proudly recog-
nlZed In nearly seventy families or tribes
personally know in England, Scotland
and America. All these tribes hold to
the right of succession within their sep
arate tiny kingdoms Of population rather
than territory with the same tenacity and
sacred inviolability as any Euro
pean monarchical dynasty. Where the
line becomes extinct, which seldom Oc-
ours, It is nearly always reintroduced by
marriage with members of other tribes
where the hereditary line IS superabund-
ant. In instances where it is permitted
10 become and remain extinct king or
or queen, or both, are always chosen by
popular election. In nearly all such cases
the sovereign is elected from a family
possessing the next requisite TO royal
DIood-age without faint of crime. Thus
1t Will be seen that both British and
American gypsies, while purely cOmmu-
nIstlc in actual application of tribal gov
ernment, are among the most exacting Of
all strictly monarchlcal people in holding
TO the principle o. royal heredity.'
The climax OF visible British gypsy
royalty was undoubtedly reached at an
clent Kirk Hetholm, just across the Eng
llsh border, among the Cheviot Hills, at
about the middle of the present century.
At the death, at Kirk Yetholm in 1917, of
the King of all the Scottish, and many of
the English gypsies, William Faa, or
Aud Wull Faa,' as he was Familiarity
known, they were mustered from ct
holm and its immediate neIghborhood
800 gypsies and 300 asses as an escort for
his remains from Coldstream to the parish
burying ground at Hetholm. Shortly
after his death, on the sudden decease Of
Charles Blythe, King Williams imme-
date successor, a remarkable contest took
place between the late Faa's two daugh-
ters, 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 reyerting to one or the
other of the two Eaa Princesses. Helen.
the younger, urged her claims on the
well-known and otten-expressed wish of
the dead King that she should eventu-
ally succeed him. Esther, the elder,
claimed the succession on the grounds Of
seniority. For months the liveliest i'm
aginable political canvas 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 accredited TO gypsies i'll
y etholm.
They were both women of powerful
frame, and the encounter has been de-
scribed to me by an eye witness, now
living, as having been of the most savage
and ferocious character. Esther was vic
torious, and Helen, or black bearded
\ ell, as the villagers called her, got
hersel weel lickit." This ARRAY appa-
rently decided the contest, for on
testing day." or Shrove Tuesday, OH
which the famous Bowmont games are
still notably celebrated, Princess Helen
and her followers urged no objection to
Princess Esther's election snd corona
ton.
The browning of Queen Esther-whose
full name was Esther Eaa 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 a royal brother, several princes
ert her son, to whom l have previously
referred, and a great retinue Of over 300
gypsies and as many toWns-peOple and
gentry of the surrounding country. The
cavalcade proceeded to the Yetholm
Cross. y jolly old blacksmith, named
George Gladstone, who had performed
a like office for Charles Blythe, and thus
secured the title of Archbishop of Yet
holm," wrought a respondent coronet of
tin, sustaining a tremendous Scotch
thistle. In presence OF the great multi
Jude he made proclamation of his right
to exercise the high office, and, having
in the most solemn fashion set the en-
blem of royalty upon her head, pro-
claimed the swarth heroine "Her ROYAL
Majesty, Esther Faa Blythe Rutherford,
Sovereign and Queen of all the Gypsies
in the Kingdom of Scotland-challenge
who darep' Addresses OF cOngratulatiOn
were read from loyal subjects in the diff
ferent shires, from the citizens of kelso
and other near cities and villages, and
from HethOlm tOwnsfolk after which a
levee was held at the royal palace, a
81 fpl, a.l
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 gypsv
relics, died at kelso, dozen miles to the
north of Eetholm, in July, 1888. Her
cortage from kelso to Kirk YethoIm.
where she was buried beside hundreds of
her race, was memorable one. Thou
sands Of people came to y etholm. Upon
the coffin lay the royal red cloak of the
Queen, and an enormous white wreath of
roses, sent by Lady John Scott OF Spot-
tiswood, surmounted this. Both We're
inferred with the body of the Queen
The Rev. Mr.. Davidson, for thirty-two
years minister of the Kirk Yetholu
Church, tells me he never witnessed
more remarkable scene than at this burial
The services were held at Kelso, but such
vast crowds massed about the grave at
Yetholln that though Mr.. Davidson made
effort to reach it to say few words over
the body, the grief of the gypsies and the
density of the crowd prevented.
At the death of Queen Esther. British
gypsy royalty, in its large, old time sense.
came to an end. No one ever aspired to
her regal honors. Prince Robert, her
son, had become worthless vagabond.
and even Old Princess Helen, with whom
was once quite a tavorite, told me that
she was so ''weel and fairly lickit'' in the
original contest for succession that she
had completely lost all ambition for royal
life. Four years ago the present sum
mer study iii oil of Queen Esther's
faca. done hv some Xagrant artist ,ras