Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-22

The directness of sound with which the
Ginning OF the bells reached my ears had
a.ready told me that the belfry must be
situated directly above my head i now
perceived that what I had taken for a
>olid heavy roof was in fact the massive
and enormous weight of the great clock.
| was Imprisoned in the bottom of the
shaft into which the weight descended
TIE pOnderous block of solid metal was
falling at the rate of abou four inches an
hour, or rather more. In less time than
il takes To trace these words the conse-
quence OF this flashed through my mind.
In fifteen hours the weight would de
scend through a space of five feet Long
before | could expect release, the enorm-
Gus mass would be upon me, and would
crush me helplessly against the pavement
of my prison.
My sensation upon making this discoy-
cry will not attempt To describe. Often
very oten-in the course of my life, have
| had occasion To remark the truth OF the
saying: The avenues that lead TO death
are numerous and strange." Little did
think how nearly | was myself to afford
an example OF its truth. Yet surely no
mortal was ever before the victim OF an
accident SO wildly singular and so full of
horror There the great weight WAS
above me. Slowly, surely, il was creep
ing downward in the darkness and silence
of the night.
And far up in the soft air of sunset the
bells were still ringing the evening hymn.
/ For many minutes after making this
discovery | remained motiOnless striving
yainly TO realize the most singular yet
deadly peril which threatened me. l do
not know how long it was before | so far
recovered my faculties as to become capa-
ble of Thought At length, rousing my
self by an effort to examine whether any
way 10 escape lay open to me, l turned
my attention 10 the interspace between
the weight and the wall; but it was far
too narrow To admit of the passage Of my
body Then-to such extremeties may
desperation drive its victims-l thought
of attempting TO arrest the great weight
by supporting II with my stick as it de-
scended might as well have attempted
To support falling avalanche.
Then An idea occurred to my mind
which brought with il a CLEAN of hope. |
thought it possible that by applying my
strength 10 the weight itself, l might be
able to impart to it by slow degrees a
swinging motion, like that Of pendulum;
and this being continued, might at length
bring the ponderous mass in contact with
the door, and so burst it open. Raising
my yself from the floor of the cell, upon
which had agsin sunk down, l applied
my strength TO the weight and by exert
ing all my energy in a succession of ryth-
micRl impulses | gradually succeeded in
imparting to il an almost impreceptible
movement Gradually this increased;
and but for an Unforeseen circumstance
the scheme might have been successful
But presently found that the weight did
not hang exactly In the center Of the
shaft. The consequence Of this was that
it struck the wall opposite the door before
it reached the door itself The extent Of
its swing being thus checked, my utmost
efforts failed to bring il into contact with
the door. The attempt had therefore TO
be abandoned, and hope again died within
me.
Hope died within me. And now my
sensations were those of extreme horror
and dismay. l for the first time felt the
certainty OF my fate. deadly sickness
seized me. In a paroXysm of despair
flung myself again upon the floor Of my
prison, and lay there without motion
will not dwell upon the long hours
ludi NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. IlOuTs VI more lfldH
mortal agony OF mind. The sensations of
those who have stood face to face with
death for hours, watching with starting
eyes his slow approach, are To Inc no mys
terry. But the mind of man has mrrci
fully been so ordered that agony pro
longed beyond a certain point ends in be
numbing the power of feeling. Thus il l.
that criminals condemned 10 execution
slaa,, llv "A
a fact which seems amazing TO those who
consider how comparatively slight de
gree Of mental distress has power to rol
the night OF Fest and To turn the daintiest
foVd to poison. They do not reflect that
mental agony in its extremity ceases &c
lie felt But thus it is, and thus it Was
with me.
believe also that the air of the shaft
must have acted upon me with some
stupefying or bewildering influence, like
that of the vapor which often gathers al
the bottoms OF old wells The agitation
of my mind gradually gave place to 3
strange feeling of indifference. The peril
under which lay ceased 10 trouble me,
and at last no longer occupied my
thoughts.
| began instead to be curiously dis |
trivial in itself; by sound, which reached |
my senses from somewhere in the still |
ness; a sound low, muffied, throbbing and |
mysterious, like the beating Of my own
blood. Had my mind been clear could |
not have failed to recognize it for what i, |
was. The sound seemed in my ears; but |
this WAS merely owning to my position il |
the shaft. In reality, it was the the |
fiEE iprr of tho clock for ahn
head |
For hours l sat there, listening mechan- |
ically, half uncOnsciously, TO this monot- !
OnOus sound, broken at intervals by the |
notes of the deep-toned bell At length, |
probably owing in great measure to the |
heavy effect of the air upon me, must |
nave passed into a sort of'stupor, which |
lasted very long.
When | came to myself was conscious |
Of a very singular sensation The pitchy |
darkness was about me, and of course
could see nothing. But, in some unac |
cOuDtable manner, of which fear il is |
impossible for me to convey notion, |
was aware that during my trance the |
weight had descended a great way, and |
was now close above my body. I could |
feel, though nothing touched me, the huge |
and threatening mass mass brooding o Vel |
ME in the darkness. With a mighty ef |
fort-fOr like a person in a nightmare ] |
seemed TO have lost the power Of motion
| raised my hand. Ny expectation was a
correct one. My hand struck against the |
under surface Of the weight, at an eievs- |
ton Of less than three inches from my |
facet At lsst-after an eternity Of unut |
terable suspense-at last-it touched me. |
1t touched me. At first lightly; then |
with perceptible pressure; then with a |
pressure which grew distressing. In vain |
| sought relief; In vain 1 strove to writhe |