Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-02-27
THE TOWER OF LONDON.

An Account of Those Who Have lieen Ex-
ecuted There.
The White Tower was built by Bishop
Gundulph, of Rochester, under inslrue-
lions of William the Conqueror, shortly
after the battle of Hastings, in about
the year 1919, and is practically in the
same condition to-day as it was when,
in ll4o, King Stephen kept his court
there during Whitsuntide. Before
Stephens time, however, both William
Rufus, the same who in 1927 built West
minister Hall, and Henry l.. sons of the
Conqneror, had added other fortified
places in the immediate neighborhood
Of the principal structure. Rufus COM
plcted his improvements by adding
surrounding wall Of stone, nearly pro-
voking an insurreciion by his tyrannical
way OF forcing the people Of the neigh
borirg counties to supply labor and ma
terial.
The first prisoner Of state confined in
the Tower was Ranulph Flambor,H
Bishop of Durham, who was placed
there by Henry on the death Of Rufus.
as punishment for his expressions of
the commons, Henry was somewhat of
n demagosue, and posed before the
people as reformer. From this time
the Tower was for ages used rs d royal
palace or royal prison, with
the varying Accomplishments of
public bcheadings and secret assas-
slnations to add flavor to its history.
Gelfrey de Vaudeville, Earl of Essex,
grandson of the De Vaudeville who
fought under William at Hastings, was
hereditary custodian of the Towerunder
Henry H., and subsequently a prisoner
in the same pile. King John was be-
sieged in it by the barons who brought
him to terms at Runnymede. and was
compelled by them to cede its posses
sion to the Archbishop of Canterbury as
Il pledge for the performance OF certain
conditions of the Great Charter. But
John broke faith as soon as he regained
tie Tower aud the barons invited Lewis,
Dauphin of France, to England, and
bhNO pOooCS5IOu.
The citizens of London in those days
were desperately ill-disposed to the
Tower, looking upon it as threat to
their liberties. 1t was 50, also, with
tho barons and burgesscs of the king
dom generally. This was shown when,
in 1886, Henry Ill. summoned Parlia-
ment to meet him within the walls.
They unanimously refused to obey the
summons, and the King had to return
to Westminster. This monarch made
several attempts to further strengthen
the royal stronghold, but, after spend
ing 10000 marks on the undertaking,
the works he had erected fell to the
ground amid the rejoicings Of tho peo-
pie.
The saddest epochs in all tho sad his
tory of the Tower were when Henry VI,
the weak but amiable husband of Mar
garet of Anjou, after the final defeat of
the Lanca'trimis at Barnet, was null
Tered within its precincts; when George.
Duae of Clarence, brother Of the con-
qutring Yorkist, Edward w. was done
to death at the instigation of Richard,
and when the latter, the crook-backed
ruilian of whom Shakespeare has given
us such terrible picture, caused his
nephews, the sons Of Edward, to be
murdered. Tradition says that this last
crime was perpetrated in o certain
tower facing the south side of the White
Tower, and which forms sort of inner
gateway to the main entrance from the
river.
1t is, however, in connection with the
Beauchamp-pronounced Beecham-
Tower that the longest list of tragic
records is to be found This tower
stands eastward, apart from the main,
or White Tower, between which and
it is the ground which has been
Redeemed with the best and
worst blood of England. Here
the walls are eloquent with carven
work left by prisoners. The Percrilts
of Derbyshire; the Poles or Pooles de-
scendants Of Edward of York; the
Dudleys, the Denes, and hundred
others have left their names engraven
on the melancholy roll, with inscriptions
testifying to their sorrow and their
worth. There is one simple name there.
however, which will stir the sympathies
of mankind more than all else com.
bined. Jane is the word that is
twice repeated. 1t is the name Of the
poor girl who fell victim to the am
billions of Northumberland and her hus-
band, Robert Dudley; who was crowned
queen for but few days, and then laid
her gentle head upon the block that
Mary might reign. This, and such
tragedies as this, stain the annals of the
Tower; its bloody records were carried
on through the reign of Elizabeth and
the Stualts, and even within hundred
years some sad work has been wrought
there; but none that can touch the
heart like the short story that ends with
"Jane. $50, Louis GLOBE Democrat.