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

town house in the hesfaSh1onablezSa zSannonSdts
One can fancy the little figure It's
clothes Of green camlet or mixed par-s
5gone, and .cloak with pasmcnts, van
dering with his bow and arrows aboutstne
parks. OF, maybe, escaped from his watch
sful sped2gog, Master w illiam Forrett,S
{ Sirnperiling himself, boylfke, on the battle
ments OF the castle.
But to get to the story Of the heart one;
must leave the life and hasten 10 Inc
death Of Montrose. His sister ana Drolh..s !.
er-in-Iaw had died long before, and the
soWner Of Merchiston In 1850 was Monr-Iss
roses nephew, the second Lord 81 apler.s- - -
great affection existed between; 1aontIoses
and his niece by marriage, Lady: Napier,
and as "a mark Of it he bequeathed GO zner
his sheart-a strange, and. If one must tel
the truth. an embarrassing, legacy; but
sl looked upon by the lady herself as aSsu-s
preue honor and sacred @trust.
~ NoHtrose was executed at the Market
Cross Of Edinburgh on Tuesday, MayssN,
1850 The exraordi composure and
gallantry Of his bearing are well attested.E
sAnsunsigned letter in the British Museum,s
written sbysa spectator while the execution
was actually going on, says: neVerzs saw =.
a. more sweeter carriage In a. man IN at al;
my life. He is just now turning oHsIromms m
the ladder; but his countenances changes
not, Another account say He stepl. .
along the streets with SO great state, so
much beauty. majesty and gravity as
amazed the beholders. And many of his:
enemies did acknowledge him TO asbe.sthe:
brayest subject IN the world, and In nina
galIantry that graced all the crowd
Clothed in fine scarlet richly sfammadedi
with golden lace, and linen y mime
pearIins about, his delicate white gloves:
in, his hand, his stockings OF @incarnate
SILK, his shoes with their ribbons on his
feet, his dress was more becoming g:
bridegroom than a scrimina II s5
After hanging on the g1obet forstnrees
hours the body was taken down and the
head was affixed to the ToIbooth the
limbs were dispersed TO syar1 places
Throughout the Kingdom, and the sdislnena-
bered trunkFwas enclosed In a Titles short
chest, and buried on the Boroug ghnat1ar:.
The Boroughmuir was the usual Place OF
execution and burial for the worst Ar1mt-:
mails: IT. was a place Of evil reputa alton, 1T
tic; sought during the day and muchstosb sbe.
stunned by night
NO wonder, then, that some adventu-
rous spirits, were required no would
steal to that grewsones spot raise the
hastily and none too deeply buried body
and cut from it the heart OF Montrose-
The master Of Merchisto was inSexlleEdn
sWdSfF1kdNy-t1NS
planned the night excursion and saw 1t
carried out. Did her heart fair her that
MAY ght, waiting. at the foot OF the tnr-
ret stair until her messengers, returning:
T put In her hands something not seen, but
felt with the square OF fine linen all
..trfcked with bloody gules2 % That same;
SQUARE OF linen and the pair ofsstockngs
dncarnate''s silk showing a still darker
stain have remained ever since among the;
treasured possessions Of esNapa1r fam tam:
tly. -.
For time, then, the heart safe at
Merchiston: 1T was en1ba lined and IN IN
closed In a. little steel case made Of the
blade Of Montrose,s SWORD; the case-Was
pIaced In fine gold fhgree box which
mad belonged to John Napier, the tnven-
Tor Of logarithms: and the box In Its turn
was deposited in a silver urn.
before every long. however, Lady Napier
/! iispatched the caSket by some: faithful
hand to the young Marquis Of Montrose,
! who. with Lord Napier and others Sof3the
connection, was still living nse3lle IN Hoi-
land, and here begins the first part of IFS
adventures, Of which, unfortun ately no
record now remains. iii
germany years the heart was complete
" lost sight Of, and any hope OF ever re-
lseainingsitg had long been given up,swhensa a
friend OF the Napier family recogntzed the
gold fligree box enclosing. the steel case
among q. collection Of curios.ties in Hoi-
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 a second time the heart
reposed, but not for long. On the death
isof the fifth Lord Napier it passed into the
keeping Of his only vlvingt daughter,
Hester, afterward Mrs Johnston.
Some years after her marriage Mrs Jonn-
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 Commod odore
Johoston. was attacked by French
.frfeate. and a stiff fight ensued. Mr. John
stop busted himself with four OF the guns
upon the quarter deck. while his wife, who
Ehad refused to go below, remained beside
him. a heroically obstinate figure, holding
by the one hand her little boy, and In the
other thick velvet ret1cule, into which
she had hurriedly cranmed all the Things
she valued most, including, Of course, the
heart. In the middle Of the fight a splin-
fer struck Mrs Johnston on the arm,
wo,,ndins her severely. The velvet reti-
! cule gave little protection to its precious
! contents, and the gold fligree box was
completely shattered, but the inner stee.
case remained unharmed. 1t must have
been some consolation to Mrs Johnston
that. when the attacking frigate retired;
the English commodore left the nag ship
and came on board the Indianman to offer
his thanks and congratulations to the lady
and her husband. who mad set the crew
SO gallant an example.
Arrived in India. it was easy to find a
clever goldsmith. who constructed another.
gold =fligree 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. and the report spread that it was
tal.sman, and that its owner would:
never be wounded or taken prisoner in bat
tle. So one is not surprised to learn that.
before long the urn and its contents were
stolen. and in spite ofsevery effort could
NOT be traced. Mrs Johnston. however.
discovered after some time that it had
been sold for a large sum of money to a
powerful chief in the neighborhood Of Ma
dura.