Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-07-16

in preventing the exhumation. even
after permission had once been grant,
ed. This seemed to lend color to Mrs.
Druce's charge of a bogus corpse.
Mrs. Druce's lawyers asserted that
Druce had been seen and recognized
after the date of his supposed death.
Another suspicious circumstance was
the fact that the death certificate OF
Druce did not bear the signature OF a
physician. Nor was there produced
certificate of the birth OF Druce'
which, under the strict registration
laws of England, must exist some
where If the merchant was a distinct
personality instead of the duke mas
querading as shopkeeper.
The fifth Duke of Portland, who
died in 1870, was an exceedingly eccen-
tric character. He succeeded to the
title and vast estates in 1854, and for
a quarter of q century he lived the
life of a recluse, so far as the outside
world knew. He was never seen at
court and did not mingle in society.
Even his lawyers were not allowed per-
sonal interviews with him. He was
supposed to have been a bachelor all
his life, and to have died childless. 1t
WAS public rumor that he was leper.
which may be the foundation of Mrs.
Druce's charge concerning the offensive
skin disease of Lord George. But the
ownership of large part of London,
and city rent roll bringing in ST.
100000 a year in time led the world
to accept the Dukes eccentricities as a
matter of course.
The Duke had a passion for archi-
lecture, and much of his vast income
was spent on the estate and its build
ings. 1t is estimated that he spent
from S1O,O00,000 to S15,000,000 on his
subterranean works alone.
There Is a subterranean picture gal
lery that is larger than any other pri-
vate gallery in England. Among the
other underground halls We're large
riding room, dining room, ball
room, chapel and baths like those
Of the Romans.
There is maze of private tunnels,
through which three persons can walk
abreast. They are comfortably heated
and are lighted like the main tunnel.
All this is remarkable monument
to human eccentricity, but none of the
late Dukes friends apparently sus-
pected that remorse was gnawing at
his vitals or that he had constructed
the wonderful and splendid labyrinth
as refuge
1t was the famous Bess of Hardwick
who bought the site and remains of
the old Premonstratensian Abbey Of
Welbeck for her son. Sir Charles Cav
endish. Welbeck Abbey, which had no
abbot for centuries, is in Robin Hoods
land. 1t stands near the centre of
what was Sherwood Forest, where
Robin and his merry men were wont
to despoil the rich to help the poor.
Welbeck Park, which contains q part
of Sherwood Forest, is one of the fin
est woodlands in the Kingdom. The
chief of the oaks is the Greendale. The
legend runs that a huge opening was
made through it's trunk, already gap
ing, in order that the first Duke of
Portland might win his bet that car.
riage and four might drive through it.
That was in 1924.
The fifth Duke of Portland was Will.
lam John Cavendish Scott Bentinck.
He was born in 1900, succeeded to the
title in 1851 and died in 1879. He was
buried at Kensal Green. His success.
sor, the present Duke, was his third
cousin. He was born in 1857, and In
1899 married Winifred, daughter Of
Thomas Dalles- Yorke of Louth, one
| Of the handsomest women in England.
The Bentinck family took to horse
racing 100 years ago, and the present
Duke has revived the stables, which
were neglected by his eccentric prede.
cessor. There are twenty-five farms
in the Dukes domain, and sixty houses
are needed to shelter his people.-Phil-
adelphia Record