Exiled Earl Drinks Himself Into Early Grave

The inhabitants of Big Spring awoke on Jan. 14, 1885, to the sobering fact that the party was over now that their boozy benefactor had finally drunk himself to death.

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 inherit the throne for 37 years, so he passed the time drinking, womanizing, and hunting. Since those happened to be Heneage