Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-09-06
SOME LARGE BELLS.
One That Weighs 433,O00 Pounds. and
Others of Considerable Size.

Ono That Weighs 433,O0O Pounds, nnd
Others of Considerable Size.
For 900 years after the Bishop oI
Nola first set up his church bell In
Campania no attempts were made at
casting large ones. The bell presented
to the church at Orleans in the eleventh
century weighed but 1900 pounds,
being then the largest in the world.
In the thirteenth century bells OF one,
two and three tons weight were not
rare. In the year 400 the Jacqueline
was cast Mt Paris. the first OF the great
bells. weighing, without the hammer.
$4,000 pounds. or seven and one-half
tons.
The fpgo for big bells soon became
passion. Seventy-two years later
Paris almost doubled hor first effort in
the big bell line by casting one OF
twelve and n half tons. The bell OF
Rouen was cast in l5e. 1t weighed
36, 364 pounds.
The largest bell in the world at the
present time, or that ever has been, is
the famous King OF Bells, now at Mos
COW, Russia. 1t was east in the year
1882. partly from fragments OF another
great bell called the Giant, which was
broken in the early part OF the Seven
teenth century by falling from Its sup
port. r.-
J The Giant, although not as large as
the one OF which its fragments now
form part. was, nevertheless. no
pismy. MS the reader my infer upon
being informed that its weight war
not less than 2SS. 900 pounds. 1t Is
said TO have taken the combined
strength Of twenty-four mon to ring
the Giant In his palmv days. The
King OF Bells, like the Giant has had
the misfortune TO get broke. Five
years after II was cast, in 1887. during
n great fire, heavy timber fell against
the King and broke an immense three
cornered piece from its side. leaving
gap wide enough TO admit two men
walking abreast 1t is now on the
ground aud is said to have been used
about ten years ago as place OF wor-
ship, the gap In the side serving as a
means OF ingress and egress rhe wri-
ter is aware that this sounds like a
fairy story. but surely there is nothing
about 1t in the least improbable. mas
much as the monster is 10 feet inches
In height and 60 feet 9 inches around
the margin! The weight OF the colos-
sal folly has been variously given, but
never less than AS. 600 pounds!
Think OF it, 220 tons. BY some gross
carelessness several hundred pounds
OF gold wero said to have been! incor-
porated in its composition. Russia
leads the world in the matter OF great
bells, Moscow also claiming second
place in tho worlds championship in
its st. Ivan's which weighs 127. $50
pounds. eItis l6 inches in thickness
and 40 feet inches in circumference.
/. China has several large bells. for.
according TO Father lie Compile. PelSin
has seven bells, each OF which weighs
l20. 600 pounds.
The great bell at Vienna, Austria,
weighs i0.200 pounds. The largest
boil In Bohemia, that at Olmutz.
weighs exactly 10000 pounds. "Big
Ben, the pride OF London, would look
like farm-house dinner bell compared
with the monster Of Moscow, above
mentioned. weighing but fifteen tons
big BennAis is not the largest bell Of
London, however. St Paul's Cathedral
having one which weighs So, 40
pounds. The largest bell on that won
derful piece OF architecture, St Peters
Cathedral at Rome. weighs but IS. 600
pounds; hardly two-thirds the size OF
the largest bell in America, that at
Montreal, which Weighs 2S, $50. john
w. Wright, in St Louis Republic, Z.