SCOTTISH CROWN MTSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 13

SCOTTISH CROWN MTSTERY.

.... _ I A TH3ILLING STORY. '', Very much the same sort of thing hap■psned to the Royal regalia of Scotland as ■ hns happened to the Crown jewels in Ireland, only it took a century and a half to set to the bottom of the Scottish mystery. , hoir it disappeared from under the very j nose of Cromwell's forces, and was Btougj^ a COapie of woulen "to safe biding Sumdard") a thrilling story; \io~" it 1 was eventually brought to light and secured jin Edinburgh Castle is the link connecting ■ the first disappearance with the equally mysterious secoud. Not until ISlS—more j than a century after previously being seen— I Scott believed that it lay lost in Edinburgh ! got a commission of search appointed. I! j was "ROB ROY'S YEAR," J and Croker wrote to him. "Do yon think j that such a fellow as Rob Roy would have ; ciriveu cattle while there was such a prize lat Edinburgh Castle?" They are driving J cattle in Ireland to-day, while the treasure lof Dublin Castle is still to seek. J The Scottish crown was naturally j , precious to the people over the. ! iiorder. They would not let it come :to England ior the coronation of Charles I. ;He had to go North to be invested. Twenty-eight years later the rapid advance ! iof the Cromweliian forces rendered it de- j sirable that the regalia, which they greatly wished to seise, should be removed beyond | their reach. It was committed to Duuottar j Castle, which was gallantly defended by j ' George Ogilvie. of Barras. and Ms wife. It 1 became evident that the besiegers must in tirce force a capitulation, so OgiJvie wrote to the King, praying him to send a vessel to carry the treasure away. Tiiis couid j not be done. Therefore the brave wife, a I I daughter of the house of Douglas, hit upon | • a plan of her own. Her immediate agent j was the wife of a minister named James ' Grainger, of KineCf. a parish four or five I miles from Junottar Castle. She was per- ' mitted by the troops to enter the castle. I When she came out she had the crown HIDDEN IN HER SKIRTS, ; while her maid carried the sword and sceptre concealed in a bundie of flax, which they pretended was for spinning. The Eng- 1 lish general. never suspecting, gallantly! 1 helped the lady to her horse, and saw her j j safely out of the camp. She gave the j I articles to her husband, and he. at dead of) j night, buried them in his church. He raised the stones about the pulpit, and be- , ueath them hid the crown and sceptre; the | sword he hid beneath the flags underlying ! I a heap of old seats at the opposite end of ' j tbe church. Two months later the castle | J was surrendered. The only thing sought was the vegalia, aud that had gone. Ogilvie . and his wife were treated with great severity, but he could truly declare himself inuoI cent, for the secret was his wife's, and she ! would say nothing. The minister and his J wire fell under suspicion, and were closely : examined and even tortured, the records ' say. but they remained faithful, end no ! Puritan hand touched the precious jewels. jAt last Ogilvie's lady "confessed." She ; had smuggled the articles away through j ' the instrumentality of John Keith, second I j sou 01 the Ear! Marischal. she said. He had I taken them abroad to the King. She caused ' this young man to write her from France, j telling how he had got the jewels safely abroad, and how the King had received 1 them. This stilled the suspicions of the ', English, but the lady died as the result, It i iis said, of the persecutions which she en-' ! dured. John Keith, returning to his native j j land, bore out the story which she had j j told, but all the time the regalia was safe jin KineflT parish church, where from time jto time it was visited and wrapped in new ■ cloths by the minister and his wife. A' the j Restoration the articles were brough*. again Ito light. Keith, who had done nothing out I adopt a fictitious story, was REWARDED WITH AN EARLDOM. 1 while the valiant Osilvie. who had received 1 the secret when his wife was dvinc, "ot I ! only a baronetcy. Keith had a pension of I £400 as well as his peerage, he and his I mother declaring to the KiQg that they j alone were responsible for saving the rcj galia. Ogilvie. ill-content with the course lof events, published a pamphlet telling the • j true story of the adventure. This Keith I declared to be a libel, and the Privy CounI cil fined its author, and caused the offending ! document to be burned by the public hang-1 I man. When the Scottish Tarliament was | finally dissolved, so acute was public feeling 1 that it was deemed unsafe to bring the j ! crown to England. So it was locked, bolted. j and barred in a huge chest, which was placed in the crown room of Edinburgh | Castle. By some means the keys were j I lost, and everybody forgot all about the | contents of the chest until Scott began to j ! rcake inquiries. It was generally assumed i that the chest was empty, that the treasure ! had been secretly smuggled to London. But i when at last permission to open was given, I there everything was found, deep in Cast, ! j just as it had been deposited, showing the j signs of rongh usage in Kineil Caurcn. but ' i otherwise intact, live and a half score j years after it had been placed under lock I and tey.