Arizona republican., 1916-01-02
Baron Astor

We see by the Associated Press dispatches that our old friend former fellow citizen, William Waldorf Astor been erected English baron. Thus, at length. has patience been rewarded, and "Baron Astor" if be the title he will bear or the Baron of Hever" pays for all the contumey th9r EngIishmen have heaped upon him and all the American anathema that hurled against this expatriate who believed that America place for a gentleman live. William Waldorf Astor for twenty-five years has crawled British soil glad of the opportunity. whenever it presented 'tsef to tie or loosen sanda-strings of British nobility. Of his great wealth he gave profusely for mere nod He would have given his very soul and have bartered his hope of heaven for royal smile.
 His persistence m pursuit a tisle has been equal that of his great grandfather the former peas ant of Waldorf pursuit of the fur-bearing ami mas of the northwest, the earliest contributors to the fortunes the Astors.
 We are vcrsed the science of honorary distinctions and armoriaI bearings but would undertake commission to design coat of arms for the barony of Astor. It would be quite original. should take the seal of the state O Missouri which a distinguished humorist has said consisted of two tipsy trying em- brace each other across the end of barrel We would substitute for the bears each q beaver a mink. both rampant with skunk couchant be- hind the barrel There should be gules. argent and dor The animals should suggest the origin of the barony, and the barrel, the receptacle for whiskey which old John Jacob Astor traded the Indians for furs.
 But, doubtless the new baron has a coat of arms by this time; he has probably had it cold age for many years He began collecting the mater ials nearly years ago when he employed a senealogist to trace his lineage back to noble source. He gave him carte blanche trace it in direction that might lead to royalty to nobility. IL made difference how many bars sinister might lie it. It nothing that cestresses might have lacked virtue. The geneaI- ogist probably honest as genealogists run for the best he pretended he could do was connect by devious line, William Waldorf with an SclIre Spanish sveshbuckler O the name of Astor- (not Easter-Egg,) fourished the middle ages though his been lost to recorded history. A less scrupuIous genealogist would have done better; he might found that William Waldorf was descendant of the goddess Astoreth or Asatoreth of the Canaanites, the Ishtar Assyrians the BabyIonans or tEe Greek Astarte. Or the baron might have been found be a linea if lawful descendent of Julius Caesar Atttla. There is length to which the genealogist may not go when there plenty of money to meet tie expenses of the journey.
 We have ne .er seen a connected tracing of the line from Baron William Sir or My Lord Astor- and do how came to sag toward the latter part eighteenth century when the now only known head of the house O Astor was German peasant of a village near Heidelberg.
 But, to the barony All the rest we have to say is that the have been harder Great Britain than we thought and we had heard that thousands of the best families had fallen the various battle fronts We knew that many ancient houses had become extinct but we had idea that the stock of material for nobl- ity haH so low