The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-20
STRANGE HISTORY OF THE
 FAMILY OF QUEENsBURY


 Perhaps the most eccentric family in the British peerage Is that of the house of Queensberry. name insep- arably connected with the prize ring by reason of the pugilistic activities of the eighth Marquis of Queensberry, who was born sixty-efght years ago today, July 20, 1S44, and who was the author of the famous rules which new govern all fistic exhibitions. His son, the ssninth Marquis has followed in his ftfather's footsteps and is a sporting writer and authority on box ing. Lord Percy Shelte Douglas, Mar quis of Queensberry, Earl of Queens berry, Viseount Drumlanrig, Lord Douglas of Harwick and Tibbers, his full honors-not long ago aston ished the British nobility by shaking the dust of his native land from his feet and declaring his determination to become a full-fledged American
 The family of Queensberry is one of the oldest of Scotland, and it's his- tory is replete with deeds of gallantry and with grim and terrible tragedies. The present Marquis can boast of collateral descent from that Black Douglas who fought with Bruce in the dim days of Scottish chivalry, and for hundreds of years his ancestors were always among the great men of Scotland. In the early. part of the eighteenth century Queensberry was a Lord High Treasurer and a Lord High Commissioner of Scotland, and a commissioner to arrange the union of 1707.. His oldest son and heir, then a boy of eighteen, was an idiot and a degenerate, and on one grisly occa- sion escaped from confinement stole the baby of one of the servants, and cooked and ate it. The eighth. Marquis of Queensberry. born sixty-eight years ago todo- succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1858 The stern Presbyterian, but his life held a romantic elopement to Gretna Green with the daughter of Sir William Robert Clayton. The latter after the death of her husband became a Sis ter of Mercy, and died in 1904 A brother of the seventh Marquis. Lord Francis Douglas, was killed in 1865, during the first ascent of the Matter horn.
 E The eighth Marquis was a radical in all his political views, and religi- ously an atheist. So. strong was his detestation of "supernatura1ism" that he even opposed the agnostics. accus- ing them of lack of moral courage. He was not really the author of the Mar quis of Queensberry'' rules, some authorities have declared, but he made no objection to the use of his name in that connection, and was a patron of scientific boxing, which he attempted successfully to elevate to a higher plane One of his sons was connected with the infamous Oscar wilde scandal. Tn accordance with a request made in his will, his body was cremated In that remarkable document he said:
 "I particularly request that no Christian mummeries or tomfooler1es be performed at my grave, but that I be buried as an agnostic. If it should be a comfort to any one. there are many friends who would come to say few words of common sense.
 The old Marquis, despite his pugills- tic ine1fnations was in many ways a learned and idealistic gentleman, with a pronounced literary talent, and he held many political views, then derld- ed as visionary that have since been acoentad hv the British government.