Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1903-11-19
sHuDDER IN SECRET
OF THIS CASTLE
The Mystery OF GIamIs Known
Only to Three Of the
Strathmores.
TALE OF HUMAN MONSTER
In a Hidden Chamber This Terror Il
Said to Be kept-Others Tell Of
the Bones of Prisoners Who
Starved to Death.

Glasgow letter: 1t would be rather
interesting to know whether Lord and
Lady Strathmore's golden wedding fes-
~tivities, held at CLAIMS castle h other
day, had n shadow cast upon them
by the strange secret" which for so
many years has hung like a pail over
this historic Scotch pile. What this
secret is only three-or perhaps four
people in the world know. these being
the lord of CLAIMS himself, his heir and
the steward of his estate. For this Sc
cret in real life. like those in the old
tales, is revealed by every earl of
Strathmore to his eldest son. when the
latter comes OF age, and he, in turn,
passes it down.
Toward the solution of the mystery
which is famous throughout Scotland
AN number of theories
AVE been advanced. 1t is known that
the Secret" is connected with one of
the rooms in CLAIMS castle, and so
most people believe that in this cham
Der. into which coming earls of Strath-
more are taken solemnly on their 21st
birthday-conceals some monster. The
most fantastic and grewsome Of the
legends TOLD throughout the country
side has it that, at one time a human
oad"w was born to the of Strath-
more, and, moreover, that this mon-
strosity was imbued with something
like Immortality, for which reason 1t
has had to be guarded from the sight OF
the world all his time. But a saner
legend declares that the secret room
holds the bones of a band of prisoners
, who, in Scotland's days of strife. We're
, incarcerated there and starved to
death.
Is Really a Secret.
There really seems to be no doubt
that in some room of CLAIMS castle
there is something that the Strath-
mores are unwilling to have seen. Some
years ago. so say the Scotch peasants,
a workman was called in by the earl
and set to repairing the castle roof. He
had not been at work long, however.
when he came down actually shaking
with fright, evidently as h result OF
some terrible sight which had met his
| eyes, and, as soon as he had
his nerve to some extent 10
see Lord S~trathmore. A long inter-
view resulted, and the outcome of it
was thai the workman suddenly fOund
himself possessed of the desire and
rather more than the means to emigrate
to Australia and to establish himself In
that country.
There Is another we'll vouched for
story of how some guests Of the Strath-
mores once attempted to solve the mys-
terry of CLAIMS castle. These folk took
advantage of the absence of Lord and
Lady ~Strathinore. who We're paying an
afternoon visit away from the castle,
to enter every visible room in the man.
sion and to hang a towel out of the
window of each. Then they went out
side the castle and got Il rather I'M
pleasant thrill when they noticed that,
high up on n of the turrets, there was
a easement from which no towel was
\ ~, ,,rfV,rr Ar2 ,@,,.r <1D,, vn nt,toVo1
the castle and hunted for the mys-
FERROUS hidden chamber, it was all IN
vain.
The S%trathmore family is. of course.
one of the most historic in Scotland,
the earl's ancestors back as fara as 1925
having been men of prominence in the
affairs of their country. The present
owner of CLAIMS is 70 and his son who,
by the way, is Lord Glamis, is now 48.
so that he must nave been taken into
the secret chamber and had it's mystery
revealed to him in 1876.
Many Places Of Mystery.
Naturally, considering the number OF
lfamily seats in Great Britain which date
back to remote times, there are not q
few ancient names of this country that,
like CLAIMS castle. have some mystery
surrounding them. Fol instance. there
is Littlecote in Wiltshire. a certain
popularity in connection with which
has puzzled many a historian. In one
Of the bedrooms of Littlecote is a bed
stead with blue drapery. now faded and
widowed owing to the lapse of time
since it was hung. And just at the
bottom of one of the bed curtains there
is a place, where a small piece of the
cloth has been cut out and then sewn
in again. Why, no n knows, and
though it seems so small a matter that
mysterious little patch has been the
subject of yuesses by many famous
men, among them Sir Walter Scott and
Lord Macaulay. both of whom con-
fessed that they gave it up"
In Haddon hall, the ancient home OF
the Duke of Rutland, there is one
strongly barred door which is supposed
to lead to a hidden room. But for what
reason the bars We're placed there is a
profound mystery, n one, moreover
which the Rutlands respect and make
40 attempt to solve.
BY the way, one OF our American
duchesses must, by this time, nave beer
initiated into one of these venerable
mysteries, the lady in question being
the Duchess of Manchester. For Kim
bolton castle. the dukes seat which
has so many memories of Queen Cath
crime of Arragon, has also, its secret
which has been handed dow through
the generations. This secret, however
unlike that of CLAIMS castle, is known
to the most important members Of the
Manchester family. In the castle there
is a magnificent chamber known as
the queens" and in this room, or
every Holy Thursday, the reignine
duke, his duchess and his heir. fore
gather and go through with some cere.
mony. What ceremony. the outside
world kens not. but 1t is understood
that a secret panel in the queen:
room" plays an important part therein
Plenty Of Prizes, but.
New York Times: Braggsby-Why d.
you call marriage a lottery-there are No
blanks: everyone draws a prize?"
Waggsby-That's SO; but most of then
are BOBBY prizes.