Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-03-30
4 BELL WITH \ HISTORY.
Now Swinging Over IA Country Hotel in
Ohio. After Rare Record.

On the top of the little hotel at
Elmore. small village north of Findlay,
Ohio. is q bell with peculiar and inter
eSting history 1t Is the property OF ID.
b. Day. the proprietor of the house,
who takes pride in reciting the origin
and subsequent tribulationS of this relic
of by-gOne period. In 1872 jarvis
SpatfOrd built tavern in PerrySOug,
once the site of old Fort MeigS, of the
war of 1872 fame. In those days hotel
was not complete without bell swung
ON the top TO call the guests 10 their
meals Bell foundrieS were not plent-
ful I'm those times. but after consider
able inquiry Mr.. SpatTord heard OF a
man I'm Detroit who cast bells.
Detroit. then i'm the Territory. OF Mich
igau. was quite remote point, as as
lance was then calculated. but Spafford
had 10 have a bell. and he finally made
his way thither 20 have il cast. The
bell man was found and the job under
taken. bnt when the foundry endeavorcd
To make the cast il was discovered that
there was not enough metal for the pur-
pose. Here was a dilemma, but Spaf-
ford was equal 10 the emergency. He
threw 36 Spanish dollars into the molten
mass and the bell was east.
With his treasure. almost worth its
weight i'm gold. Spatford returned to
/ PcrrySburg and hung the bell up In a
tree I'm his yard, SO that it might be IN
veStigatcd by the curious. The Indians
who were then quite plentiful in and
about PerrySburg- caught by the
novel attraction. They went crazy over
/ the bell. and climbed the tree TO keep
/ 10 ringing all the time At all hours OF
+ the day and night the bell was ringing,
until il became an intOlerable nuisance.
and Spafford had about concluded to
/ take 10 down when the Indians relieved
/ him by stealing and carrying it away.
This act made SpatfOrd furious and
me determined 10 recover the bell if IL
cost him his life. Securing the services
of sam Brady. an old scout who had
killed a score or more of Indians, and
| Frank NcCalliSter. the first white man
who had settled at PcrrySbnrg, they
started toward Upper SanduSky. They
| travelled three days and nights, and on
the morning of the fourth day, while
they were eating their breakfast, they
heard the bell i'm the distance. Hastily
finishing their meal, they hurried IN the
direction whence the sound came, and
soon bcheld "A sight that was laughablc.
The Indians had tied the bell around the
neck of a pony. and the whole tribe,
bucks. SquawS and youngsters. armed
with hickory switches, were running
the poor animal around an open space
no the very top of its speed. and yelling
like demons. as an accompaniment TO
the furious ringing of the bell.
Spatford and his companions made a
charge ON the crowd and succeeded i'm
driving the pony away from the village,
where they could secure the bell with
out trouble. which they did, and got
safely home without being pursued or
molcsted The bell was taken back TO
. PcrrySburg where il remained ormany
wears. performing the mission for which
il was east. When Mr.. Spatford died
his daughter. now Mrs. Day. claimed
the treasure. and it is still doing duty as
a hotel bell ON her husbands house i'm
Elmorc.