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CHAPTER XXL

In looking over some files of the London Mormitg
Herald twenty-five years ago (1839), I find that a per¬
son claiming to be the Earl of Stirling was arrested on
a charge of fiirgery. I allude to It, as it is of interest
to those who have read the Old Merchants, and those
who claim to be the descendants of our Earl of Sterling.
The person arrested in London was Alexander Hum¬
phreys, but what the nature of his claim upon the title
could have been, I cannot state. He averred in the
most solemn manner that he was descended in a direct
line from a younger son of the first Earl of Sterling,
who was raised to the peerage by that title in 1633.
The title became extinct, according to the Peerage Book,
in 1789. In 1760 it was claimed by William Alexan¬
der, to whom I have alluded, the father of our Lord
Sterling, who fought in the Revolutionary war as a
Revolutionary general. I have never seen any evi¬
dence that Mr. Alexander took any steps to establish
his title He claimed as descendant of an uncle of the
first earl.

Here is what relates to the arrest of Humphreys, the
claimant of the title in 1889 :

" The defender in this case was served heir to his
great-great-great grandfatlier, Williani Earl of Sterling,