The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-10-02

One can fancy the little figure, In its
clothes Of green camlet,' or mixed par
gonep and @cIoak with pasmcnts,' wan.
5dering with his bow and arrows aboutstne
parks, or, maybe, escaped from his watch
full ..spedagog, Master W liam Forrettt
Importing himself, boyNke, on the battle
sments Of the castle:
But to get to the story Of the heart one
must leave the life and hasten to the
death Of Monrose. His sister and BROTH
.erain-laws had died long. before, and the
sownerSo Of SMerchfston in 1850 was Mont
roses nephew, the second Lord Napier.sA
great2affection existed between Monrose
and his niece by marriage, Lady Napier;
and as mark Of 1t he bequeathed to her
his sheart-a strange, and, if one must tell
the truth, an embarrassing. legacy; but
looked upon by the lady herself as asssu-
premes honor and a. sacred trust
MoHtrose was executed at the Market
Cross Of Edinburgh on Tuesday, Mays1s
1850 The extraordinary composure and
calamity Of his bearing are well Esattested.
Ansunsigned 1ettern the British Museum,
written bya spectator while ecuton
was. actually going on, says: neverSsaW.
a. more sweeter1 carriage In a man; Sinsal
my; life He is just now turning OF from
the ladder; but his countenancesch changes
not Another account says: He slept
along the streets with so#great state,aso
much beauty, majesty and gravity as
amazed the behoIders. And many sgof his
enemies did acknowledge him to he the
;bravest subject IN theSWorld and in nina
ssgal1anry that graced an the crowd.
Clothed II fine scarlet richly shammaded
vii golden lace, and linen with fine
5pearling about, his delicate white gloves
in his hand, his stockings of incarnate
SILK, his shoes with their ribbons ons his
feet, his dress was more becoming a
bridegroom than a criminal -
After hanging on#the g1bbet for: three
hours the body was taken down and the
head was affixed to the ToIbooth: the
{ limbs were dispersed to various places
throughout the Kingdom, and the dis1neIn-
bered trunk was enclosed In little short
chest and buried on the Boroug ghmuir
The sBoroughmuir was the usual place@of
execution and burial for the worst Artn1i-
mails; twas a place of evil reputationsl1t lit
stle sought during the day and much ztosbe
stunned by night. ,sssss1.s:
No wonder, then, that some adventu-
rous spirits were required who would
stel to that grewsone spot, raise the
hastily and none too deeply buried body,
and cut from it the heart Of Monuose.
The master Of Merchiston was in exile In
Holland; twas Lady pier alone who
planned the night excursion and saw5it
carried out. Did her heart fair her that
May night, waiting at the foot Of the tur-
ret star until her messengers, returning
put In her hands something not seen, but
felt, with the square Of fine linen all
.tricked with bloody gilles?', That same;
SQUARE OF linen ard the pair Of stockings
sof ofssincarnateo silk showing a. still darker;
stain have remained ever since among the!
treasured possessions Of the sNapair fam
lily. a.
For a. time, then, the heartswas safe at
Merchiston. It was embalmed and In. l1l
closed ii a, little steel case made Of the
blade. of Montrose's sword; the case was
placed In a fine gold fligree box which
had belonged TO John Napier, the tnven-j
tor Of logarithms:: and the box ini turn:
was deposited In a silver urn.
Beforevery long,. however, Lazy. Napier
dispatched the casket by some faithful
hand to the young Marquis Of Montrose,
who. with Lord Napier and Others Of the
connection, was still living in exile IN Hol-
land, and here begins the first part Of It's:
adventures, Of which, fortunately, no.
record now remains.
For many years the heart was complete:
ly lost sight Of, and any hope OF ever re-
gaining It had long been given up, when a.
friend of the Napier faniI " recognizedt the;
among a collection of curios!ties In Hol-3
land. He purchased the relic at once and
returned 1t to Merchiston, at that time.
the property Of Francis, the fifth Lord
Napier There for assecond time the heart;
reposed, but not for long. On the death
of the fifth Lord Napier it passed into the
keeping of his only surviving daughter.
Hester, afterward Mrs Johnston.
Some years after her marriage Mrs John.
ston was on voyage to India With her
husband, her little, son, and all their
household goods, when their Ship which
formed part Of the feet under Commodore
Johnston, was attacked by aFTench
frigate, and stiff fight ensued. Mr. john
ston busted himself with four of the guns
upon the quarter deck. while his wife, who
had refused to go below, remained beside
him, heroically obstinate figure, holding
by the one hand her little boy, and In the
other a thick velvet reticule, into which
she had hurriedly cranmed all the things
she valued most, including. of course, the
heart. sIn the middle of the fight a splin-:
ter struck Mrs Johnston on the arm,
wounding her severely The velvet reti-
.cule gave little protection to its precious
contents, and the gold fligree box was
COnQlGI0lvS vSeSfldllClSO,.I0 I0S A1AS AAA1iS4 sStSSA
case remained unharmed. 1t must have.
been some consolation to Mrs Johnston
that, when the attacking frigate retired;
the English commodore left the flag ship
and came on board the Indianman to offer
his thanks and congratulat ations to the lady
and her husband. who had set the crew
so gallant an example.
Arrived in India, it was easy to find a
clever goldsmith. who Constructed another
gold filigree box in place Of the one broken,
also a, silver urn like the original On the
outside of the urn was engraved in two
native dialects a short account of Mon
trose's life and death The urn soon came
TO be regarded by the natives as something
uncanny. aud the report spread that it was
a taIis,nan, and tina. its owner would
never be wounded or taken prisoner in BAT
tie. So one is not surprised to learn that
before long the urn and its contents were
stolen. and in spite of every effort could
no: be traced. Mrs Johnston. however,
discovered after some time that it had
been sold for large sum Of money! a
powerful chief in the neighborhood Of Ma
dura.