The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05
BY EDGAR l. WAKEMAN.
Copyright 1894

blOOdless faces and barbaric barns with
dirty faces, first eying the old man and
then myself, INDUCED in shruggincs and
derisive smiles, or leered and hooted at
us as we passed.
chose the Maxwell Arms at nv com
paniOu's suggestion. and rs it was first
reached Its proprietor was veritable
Meg MerrIlics' of q woman, and the
ground floor of her inn chiefly given over
10 drunken brawlers and reeking with
filth, was crowded with plowmen. herds
men and wage bonds OF the road, in var
iOus stages Of stup0r or citation.
All of these seemed TO regard nv com
panion and myself in the light of such
hilariously fortunate arrivals that not
until j had paid a reckoning for nearly
two score thirsty Scottish outlets could
avoid sundry demonstrations savOring OF
hustling and finally secure the seclusion
OF a musty, dark and vermIn-infeSted
apartment. Turning TO close the door.
the huttering, fun bling hands and the
ogre-like face of the old man still con
fronted me
"Wor We seekin' tn meenister?" he
asked with a sidewise, uncanny leer.
The Minister
"Oh, ay, tn meenister; tn bishop O.
Gretna"
No; was not seeking that worthy:
was looking only for the dead I managed
TO explain.
'Wor ye seekin' perteeklar ains2' he
urged with cunning iusistance.
oh, those it will not be difficult to find
account Of" l answered temporiziugly.
Ion, ay." he muttered with
trem bling, deprecatOry jerk of his head
Then, a long pause with that hateful
glitter of calculation flashing from the
little green eyes; and suddenly, while
his snriveled old hands rubbed greedily
together:
Its lang road frae London to Gretna
Ye cud ma come for naught, We ken; wad
ye noo2"
Gentlemen often travel for pleasure"
parrled.
Mere tae Gretna; ne'er tae Gretna:n
he reported with Impotence. And then
wheedhngly: Eye cud ma be seekin' tn
records?"
/ subsequently understood the old
wretch meaning. At that moment did
not. But it occurred to me that he was
a very old man; postman; had probably
always lived a Gretna; though almost
unbearably repulsive and offensive to me,
he might somehow be serviceable in my
investigations, and / asked him plainly if
he could be.
He regarded ne for time with look
OF lncredulity, suspicious cunning and
positively piteous greed; when he solemn
ly asserted that he was the only
soul living who could give any one of an
lnqulrlng turn Of mind complete informa-
ton upon the subject of Gretna mar
rlages, past and present. This he would
reveal TO me on the morrow, at his own
cottage, the third one north of the Sark
brldge-''if there's siller abint 1t ~ he al
most savagely concluded.
/ assured him there was a reasonable
amount of silver behind" whatever he
could do for me, whereupon the old man
tumbled and tiuttered out of the room
into the dark hallway, stumped down the
creaklng stairs, and went his way
Before visiting my strange acquain-
tance, / had discovered curious facts re-
gardlng Gretna marriages, and the ham,
let's line e self-appointed bishops"
Before the decease of the first Bishop"
of Gretna, old Joseph Paisley, which oc-
CURED in 1914, he delegated his Office to
one David Laing, the husband of his
granddaughter. This Bishop I.aing
died in 1927 The third bishop was his
son, Simon Laing, who fatted upon the
traffic until 1896, when something of a
check was given to Gretna marriages oy
parliamentary enactment imposing the
slight condition upon the Scottish civil
contract marriage, that one of the con-
tracing parties shall have been a resi-
dent OF scotland for period of but TWEEN
ty-one days preceding such marriage.
This Simon Laing died in 1873. Inquiry
disclosed that his son, one William Laing,
had succeeded to his Office and emolu-
ment; was still living; that Gretna was
almost as much resorted to then, and still
IS, for irregular marriage ceremony as
ii was 100 hundred years ago; though the
fine color and great clamor of the old
coaching days, when the Carlisle and
Glasgow road resounded with ringing
nx,1 Sc IL, ~. i
suers, are simply eliminated by the use
of the more speedy and convenient rail
ways
These discoveries quickened my eager
ness TO keep my appointment with the
old postman; for | saw through his cum
ming and cupidity means of reaching
that curious parsonage, the then Bishop
of Gretna, whom my Imagination had
conjured as pompous and merry old
wag, and through him the real object of
my visit in our clients interests.
Down at the edge of the brae forming
the last vestige of Scottish land beside
the river Sark, stands stone cottage
drear and forbidding as grim prison
keep.
Here I found not the previous days
ogre in blue and red, but a weakened, old,
shifting-eyed man OF full seventy years
with thin white locks, great horned
derful nose, and the same dwarf-like
form clad in a threadbare suit of clerical
black.
The old fellow chuckled grimly at my
establishment, and while taking a huge
pinch of SNUFF, croaked triumphantly:
Yesterday, the pOstman Tn day,
tn Bishop O. Gretna, We ken :"
l nodded as the truth flashed over me,
and looked about the bishops palace won
deringly
II comprised but one room and a garrett
The little street door was at corner of
the house front. Behind this was a re-
cess and a bed A back door opened
upon tiny walled kail-yard. Opposite
the bed was a wide fireplace where food
was cooked upon and against a peat fire
as In ancient times. Opening upon the
street was one window, wide and low
Against this stood deal table, and I'M
derneath this was a stout oaken iron
bound chest.
The unique character who / afterward
learned had performed more than a
thousand Gretna, or civil-contract mar
riages-simply consisting Of an agreement
by man and woman 10 become husband
and wife, in the presence Ole witnesses.
with subsequent official registration OF
the same-sat in sacerdotal state beside
the deal table, one arm resting upon a
pile of ancient leather-cOvered record
books his whole manner one of impa-
tient reckoning as to how much "siller"
there might be "ahint' any possible
action hatuaaF4 g,e