So, I think it is pretty safe to say, that the actual reason Thomas made a run to the states, was because first and foremost, he knows next time he's facing charges the legal system is not going to treat him kindly, and maybe he was an embarrassment to a powerful family (I have yet to find one shred of evidence for this that isn't purely speculative, and the names and dates don't match up for the Earl of Angus or the Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, to whom's first born son goes the title of Earl of Angus, at the time) and they are done with him (hence no titles for Tommy). It is important to acknowledge that Thomas has moved up from plain old theft, to robbery as well. In the sense that it applies to Thomas, the court is essentially saying "not only are you a thief, but you are of poor character, and an all around bad person as well." This is getting ready to lead to stacked charges next time he screwed up, which he would, as records and stories about Tom all say he was a raging alcoholic. In civil law it is the reputation of being married which, coupled with cohabitation. “Habit and repute, in the law of theft, means the reputation of being a thief, the words being used in aggravation of the particular charge. habitus et reputatus, held and reputed (to be so and so) also used substantivally = the fact of being held and reputed, reputation. When you preface "habit and repute" with "theft" it completely changes the meaning. In Scotland at the time, if the charge of "habit and repute" is used in a civil sense, it means an illegal or common law marriage, so the authors that chalked it up to that would have been correct if the theft charges weren't already in the mix. Then he is back in a few years later for "Precognition against Thomas Douglas for the crime of robbery, or theft, habit and repute, and previous conviction." And I think this is where the confusion lay. The first one we can see a record of shows the charges levied against him and a conspirator as "Precognition against Thomas Douglas for the crime of theft and previous conviction." So by this time, the court is already looking at him as a potential career miscreant. He shows up on Scottish criminal records standing trial for theft, multiple times before he leaves for the US. It seems to be a simple misinterpretation that no one has questioned thus far. I'm not convinced that is what happened, at all. Hodges book, "Mining in the Pacific Northwest" does not list the claim, but there may be later records in the Chelan County Courthouse in Wenatchee that might help in locating his claim. Perhaps his cabin was located on or near his claim. A turn-of-the-century map of the Blewett townsite or town directory might exist that would show the location of Tom's cabin and the Jupiter claim. Tom's cabin may have been one of those buildings. 97 was completed through Blewett, many of the old buildings were in the way and were destroyed. It is possible that his family lived in Seattle. He also took train trips into Seattle and other unknown places. Tom made regular trips into Leavenworth and may have had a bank in town. He bought the "Jupiter" mining claim, but there is no records that he worked it. He didn't work, but he appeared to have enough money. It is unknown where they lived before Tom arrived in Blewett without wife or children. His father didn't approve, so Thomas and family headed for America. Douglas married a woman named Jenny for love. It is even more unlikely that he would have kept gold coins at or near his cabin after showing them to others. The story of the poker game using gold coins sounds unlikely. We don't really know if there is a cache of gold coins near his cabin site. Here is a link to a larger, cleaner version of the above photo:īlewett washington 1895 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Cemetery was located by Kate Bailey and Roy Wilder, both grew up and attended grade school at the Blewett School. Look for a giant fir and lovely big mountain ash. Then turn right along side a magnificent cedar tree and the grave place is just 50 feet away. To reach go up Olden Gulch, near Culver Springs, Count 275 feet uphill from the bridge. The cemetery is near Culver Springs, west side of Highway 97 and west of Peshastin Creek. Heir to a Scottish earldom which he lost, arrived in Blewett in the 1890's. Most of the cabins were located up the canyon you see in the picture. Aside from that, the town had a hotel, 2 saloons, a post office, a general store and a couple dozen shacks that the miners lived in. At the time, the town was basically centered around the Stamp Mill, which is the large building on the right hand side of the picture.
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