Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-04-24

ceptiOn. The Basil emisssaries were
much enraged, and demanded that
the inventor make a duplicate of
his wonderful machine. He agreed
to the proposition, but the Strasburg au-
thorities would not permit the master
artist to construct another clock on the
same principle. The inventor declared
that his talents were his own, and that
he would not ask the leave of any one to
exercise them. This aroused the ire Of
the presiding magistrate, who ordered
that the clockmaker have his eyes put
out. He asked to be allowed the prtyi-
lege of adding some final improvements
to his work before his light was shut
out forever, and the request was granted.
Long and tenderly he gazed upon
his browning work until the revengeful
magistrate gave the surgeons orders to
pierce the inventors eyeballs. Nerved
to madness, and knowing that his time
had leone, the gray-haired artist snatched
spring from the clock. The works be-
gan to whiz, the weights fell rafting to
the floor, while the bell pounded out
hundreds of hours in the course of a few
minutes, breathing out its final sound in
tone of despair. The inventor, whom
the surgeons had blinded while the
clock was wrecking itself, stood erect
and cried out at the top of his voice:
Rejoice, proud citizens, in my work;
the clock is destroyed, and my revenge
ia complete"
The clock, according to the authority
last above cited, was silent for nearly
two and half centuries, when it was
fully restored by q young Partisan arti-
san in 1912.
From the above accounts it is safe to
conclude that there is really wonder
full astronomical clock in the Strasburg
cathedral, but it would be out of the
question to decide with any degree of
certainty by whom or when made, and
what its past and present condition. 1t
is sad commentary on the unreliable
ty of history that the story of such
wonderful inventor and his work should
have become mere legend in the short
space of three centuries.
1t is a well-known fact that the great
emperor, Charles W, was a skillful
watch and clock maker, as we'll as a
diplomat and ruler. After his abdica-
ton, Charles retired to the monastery
of st. Just and occupied his entire time
in studying the mechanical arts, being
delighted beyond measure at his success
as an artisan, in what was then, as now,
the most skilled of the handicrafts.
That he was head and shoulders above
the common bred tradesmen may be in
ferred from the fact that at that early
date, when the art of watch and clock
making was in its infancy, he construct
ed a striking clock small enough to be
worn as an ear pendant, and which for
perfectnesS has never been equaled.
This wonder is still preserved among
other monastic relics at st. Just and is
viewed by hundreds of ambitious young
clock makers, who wish to become per-
feet in their art, each year. 1t is less
than three-fourths of an inch tall and
only half that wide, yet it has forty-two
distinct pieces, including wheels, screws
and springs, to say nothing of the nine
teen pieces of which the case and alarm
are formed. Charles kept his clocks ar
ranged around the sides of his cell on
shelves and his watches on a plush COW
cred table in the center of the room, all
except his marvellous pendant clock,
which he continually wore in his ex-
royal ear.
Before it's destruction by the French
soldiers in 1893, the Heidelberg clock
occupied a prominent place in the dome
of the Town Hall. As the hammer
struck each hour the figure of an old
man, almost life-size, opened the door
and walked out in full view of the
streets below, removed his hat, bowed
and returned to his niche. As he closed
the door a cock tapped his wings and
crowed; Father Time made some blind
strokes with his scythe while some
soldiers dressed as French and Germans
fought on platform below. At midnight
and noon the chimes played national
airs, and once each twenty-four hours the
life of man was illustrated with figures
depicting the seven ages. The astro-
nomical charts and diagrams were said
to have been even more intricate and
complicated than those of the Strasburg
clock. The French soldiers debated
the matter long and earnestly before
destroying such a marvel, until they
saw the French soldiers in the automat-
ical fight on the clocks platform over
come by the German troops, after
which they willingly ruined both clock
and hall.
Early in the present century Lon
don clOckmaker of great wealth caused
marvellous piece of clock work to be
contracted and given as present to the
Emperor of China. The body of the
clock was chariot, to which was at
tached, in imitation of Cupid's outfit,
two tiny doves. Behind figure of Mer-
curry seemed to be aiding the dove
horses in the task of pulling the lady,
the umbrella and humming bird, which
went to finish up the curiously designed
affair. The lady stood in the front of
the chariot, covered with the umbrella,
which rested on two tiny columns of
gold, holding in one hand the face of
the clock, and two ribbons attached to
the heads of her birds with the other.
The humming bird, which swung be-
meath the clock face, acted as a pendu-
lum and continually moved from right
to left in seeming perpetual ecstacy.
The umbrella above, although to all ap-
pearances not at all connected with the
clock-work, was in reality the bell which
the hour, half hour and quarter hour
hammer struck upon. The birds in
front were fixed upon spiral springs
which kept them moving all the while,
conveying sort ofjerking motion to the
lady's hand which held the ribbon,
which, in turn, seemed to be impaired
to the humming-bird pendulum below.