The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-04-26

heap and all the chimes are set ringing. |
Twice each day tho image of a cock |
which sits on the top of the framework |
rises, flaps his wings and crows aloud"
Williams 'Rarities of Mechanical In |
genuity' says that it run continually |
for two centuries without repairs. |
'Rhineland Tales" makes statement |
strangely to the contrary. 1t says:
- = The inventors name was
soon on every tongue and members
of the guild from Basil tried in vain to
purchase the clock. Strasburg became
alarmed lest the maker (name not
given) should sell it to rival city, and
made sure that it would not leave the
town by purchasing it and selecting a
chapel in the cathedral for its re-
ception. The Basil emisssaries were
much enraged, and demanded that
tho 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 privi-
lege of adding some final improvements
to his work before his light was shut
out forever, and tho request was granted.
:. Long and tenderly he gazed upon
his crowninG work until the revengeful
magistrate gave the surgeons orders to
pierce tho inventors eyeballs. Nerved
to madness, and knowing that his time
hadcome, the gray-haired artist snatched
a spring from the clock. The works be-
gan to whiz, the weights fell rafting to
the floor, whilo the bell pounded out
hundreds Of hours in the course of 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:
''Rcjoice, proud citizens, in my work;
the clock is destroyed, and my revenge
is complete"
The clock, according to the authority
last above cited, was silent for nearly
two and a half centuries, when it was
fully restored by a 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 Il sad commentary on the unreliabili
ty oil history that the story of such
wonderful inventor and his work should
have become mere legend in tho short
! space Of three centuries.
1t is well-known fact that the great
emperor, Charles ", was skillful
watch and clock maker, as we'll as
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 al artisan, in what was then, as now,
the most skilled of the handicrafts.
| That he was head and shoulders above
tho common bred tradesmen may be in
ferrcd from the fact that at that early
date, when the art of watch and clock
making was in its infancy, he construct
ed striking clock small enough to be
worn as an car pendant, and which for
perfectncss 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 threefourths 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
toen 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 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 its destruction by the French
soldiers in 1898, the Heidelberg clock
occupied 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 marvel, until they
saw tho 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
plocL cbor;of fn ,,,h;ok ,.x.a -