Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-09-11
CAUGHT IN A BELL ROPE.
ADVENTURE OF A DOCTOR WHO
TRIED TO USHER IN A WEDDING.

Peal He Hung for Several Hours.
III al hngiahu no county mas 50 Ii",'9
churches as Llncolhshlre' IN $50 the
writer was taking charge OF a somewhat
widespread country medical practice for an
old friend at Osbournby, village about
t,ventv miles from Grantham and eight
fran, Sleoford Nv bonse ,vas the old mar.
..',.'.-I...,,..,.
son'se' anu us "inUo" . Ciii'iiO"'iS o,io'S
Ior uocVor' looheu rlsnU ouO oh 10 Uhe
churchyard
The lord of the manor (all the manors
have lords in England, you know was Sir
Thomas Wbichcotp He had n daughter
She WAS as the apple of his eve. beautiful.
foremost in kindly works among the people
on the estate and in the surrounding vii
lagos beloved bv everybody.
And she was to be marred-1narried
unon her twentv-Grst birthday to the
voung Lord of Burleiph. the descendant of
the lord who married a peasant Girl and
brought her to his home thinking she had
welded a common laborer. only to find
herself the Lady of Bureiuh.
To saw that the people of the entire
Whichcote manor reioiced is TO employ a
term weak in its mildness. The prepara.
tions for the celebration of this iovful
event surpassed ANYTHING that ANYBODY
within miles of Osbournby had ever heard
or dreamed Of and the old DAYS when Eng
land was merry England still were to be
recalled in all their glory and gorgeous
ness.
There was. however. in Osbournbv one
man (who. bv the way. ought to have
known better who thought that in the big
programme something very important had
been left out. 1t was all very well to have
all these merrymakings and bell riugings
on the dav of the great event, but who was
going to usher it in, and how was it going
to be doneY
sCHEMING.
The individual in question was myself.
l wanted all the world-that is, the little
world of Osbournby, to wake up with the
day and herald the glad event with cheers
A brilliant idea occurred to me as l sat
looking out on the old churchyard.
would ring the bells of the old church at
midnight and so usher in the happy day.
There was a triple peal of three bells in
Osbournby church. / knew nothing about
bell ringing, but surely it wouldn't be very
difficult to pull three bells one after an
other. 1t was not like chime of eight
The bells were swung on big wheels, the
ropes going over the wheels and so making
the movement of the heavy pieces of
metal very much easier than had they
been without. l didn't know this at the
time, and also omitted to make another
discovery, namely, that loop of iron
fixed to the floor was intended to slip the
foot of the ringer into
| knew the big front doors would he
closed and bolted, quite likely, too, the
vestry door would be closed, but the win
"a Y
open, and could creep in through that.
The door was closed, but the window, as |
thought, was little way open. To push
it up and crawl in was the easiest thing in
the world, and found myself inside the
church. A few more minutes and | had
CROPPED my way along the side aisle to the
door of the belfry and was in the ringer 5
room with three worsted padded ropes
hanging nicely within my reach.
SUSPENDED.
l grasped one of the ropes and deter
mined that Immediately following the last
stroke / would let her go for all she was
worth.
At last the hour came and the clock
struck out l. g 3, 4, 5, g. 7, S, 8, TO- II.
took fresh hold of my rope little higher
up and began to pull-l2!
Then | gave a good haul on the rope
/ Not SOUND. l mad not pulled hard
enough
Another swing, gently, so; back, forth
up, down, now! Away | went almost
down on to my knees with the swing, and
then | heard one sudden clang from the
big bell overhead and all was over No
not all. The rope, which in my anxiety tc
excel ! had wound once round my wrist
took n sudden Jerk upward and | went
with it. gave two or three dancing-like
motions. then stopped-and | WAS hanging
there. suspended at least TWENTY-FIVE feet
from the stone floor of the belfry.
What could doy dared not let 90. TO,
TO drop on to that stone floor meant a fear
full mangling. if not certain death. Tc
hang there ali night would be terrible. We,
there was nothing else for it. So there
hung. | dared not 90 to sleep. for that
meant the fall, vet every now and then a
horrible desire to slumber came over me
and only the strongest effort of nv will
overcame the desire. BY dint of aimos,
superhuman exertion, for nv arms hat
been almost dislocated by the fearful Jerk
managed to haul myself M a eoupIe Of
feet and. drawing the rome mn after me