The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-07-09
LEAPS INTO THE PEERAGE.
Tricks Played BY the Law OF Success
sion Bring rifles Never
Expected.

law of succession regarding the no
bility sometimes plays strange tricks
of this kind, not only in fiction but
In real life, says the Chicago Tribune.
Unexpected leaps from obscurity
to the perage, from poverty to great
wealth, are not uncommon in Eng
land. Many such instances have
been recorded in recent years, the
elevations in some cases going to
persons who did not even know they
were 10 the line Of succession for .
title.
The present duke of Hamilton, by
sequence of accidents, found him
self transformed seven years ago
from an unknown lieutenant TO the
premier peership Of Scotland, with
three ducal titles and as many mar
quisates, to say nothing of earldoms
and baronies sufficient to equip half
dozen average peers.
How slight was the prospect Of
Lieut.. Alfred Douglas-Hamilton ever
succeeding to the family honors may
be gathered from the fact that, al
though he is the thirteenth duke of
Hamilton, he derives his descent
from a third son of the fourth duke.
who was born in the faraway seven
teenth century, and that all his in
termediate ancestors were younger
sons. How many lives might in the
ordinary course have come between
the young lieutenant and the duke-
dom it is impossible to estimate; b0t
as it was said in sporting parlance
at the time of his accession, the odds
we're thousands to one against his
ever wearing the strawberry leaves.
BY a similar series of accidents the
present duke of Portland succeeded
to the title and wealth of the Ben
tinclrs. The son of a third son, who
in turn was a third son Of the third
duke. there seemed as much chance
Of the young subaltern Of the guards
ever being the head of his family as
Of his becoming emperor of China
The fourth duke alone had four sons,
all OF whom were considerate enough
not to marry; and the third duke
was alro blessed with four sons, who
were sufficiently amiable to make the
way clear for the lucky young sol
dier.
When Master William Grey first
opened his eyes in Newfoundland 80
years ago his prospects of coronet
would have been considered dear at
half crown, for his father was but
the third son Of the third son Of an
earl Of Stamford, and there were
many lives between him and rank
and fortune. His father was a poor
clergyman, and the future earl had
to face many vicissitudes of fortune
before he was suddenly exalted from
the position Of a London diocesan
reader to be earl Of Stamford and
Baron Grey of Groby-
Probably no one was more sur
prised than the late earl of Caithness
when he realized that he was heir to
bis distant cousin, the fifteenth earl.
AS young man there had been so
many lives between him and the title
that he would have laughed at the
suggestion that one day he would
wear an earl's coronet, and he made
himself quite happy as a bank agent
in Scotland. while his son, the earl
Of to-day. tended his farm and herd
ed his sheep in the states.
There was equally little chance of
Augustus Arthur Perceyal ever quail
fying for seat in the house of lords,
for his father, poor army officer,
~.~ :, -nnr,,I ~,.x - A. Ef41, 49,. -
the second Baron Alden. who himself
was not within measurable distance
~ the earldom of Egmont.
AThere are few more dramatic
stories in the peerage than this Of
the elevation of the hall porter Of
Chelsea town hall 10 the rank Of
earl, viscount. and baron by a series
Of accidents only less remarkable
than the hard blows that Fortune
had dealt him before she revolution
ized his life in this startling fashion.
A still more dramatic story is told
of one Of the earls of Huntingdon.
who before his elevation to the earl
dom was an obscure barrack master
In Ireland. One day he chanced to be
looking through some old corre-
spondenee of his grandfather. a man
Of a position as humble as his own,
when he saw reference to a posi-
bic claim to the extinct earldom of
Huntingdon. Following up that clew
the barracl master discovered that
he was really heir to the title. and
after a long struggle succeeded in
getting his claim admitted and In
taking his seat in the house of lords.
The history OF the Bellew family il-
lustrates the strange vieissitudes by
which title may fan TO a seemingly
impossible person. At one time there
were no fewer than ten lives between
the present holder and the title. and
yet within the short space Of two
years every one OF these intermediate
lives was removed. four heirs perish
ing together through the upsetting
Of boat IN a squail
Good WORK teams lor -sle See G.
}. Newman.