The people of Big Spring mourned the passing on Jan. 13, 1885 of the English earl who had been their boozy benefactor for the past year and a half.

Thirty-six years earlier, Joseph Heneage Finch was born into the good life of the English aristocracy. His father was the sixth Earl of Aylesford, which made Heneage the seventh in the series if he succeeded in outliving his sire.

In late 1874, Heneage began hanging around with none other than the Prince of Wales. The future King Edward VII would not i...