The Washington bee., 1893-04-15
A CURIOUS TWIN CLOCK.
1T WAS KNOWN AS "THE LITTLE
BOY IN THE WALL"

| A Mechanical Genius Constructs Peculiar
| Timepiece in His Residence-An Appa-
rition Appears, After Which Half the
Clock Refused to Work.
| There is a house on Main street, Ger.
mantown, says the Philadelphia Press,
which contains curious twin clock.
| It is large double house with great
brass knocker on the door, and project
ing caves above the second story as
we'll as at the gables. In the partition
between two of the rooms on the first
floor clock with two faces was bui t
| in both chambers. The owner was
very ingenious man, and he not only
| wanted to set the time for the FANNY
sitting room. but to have as good a
| clock in his bedroom. The clock was
carefully constructed in the wainscost.
ing, and was surrounded by holdings
| carved and beaded in the manner SO
fashionable in the early part of this
century. The dial was about a foot be.
low the cornice, and was much larger
than the ordinary clock dials, but still
was in proportion to the rooms, which
were large, square apartments, well
lighted, and with ceilings of medium
height. Its case was of mahogany,
and it was fine piece of work.
"Old Mr.. Farley" said the clock
maker, who told the story, was an
amateur astronomer and mechanica.
genius, and his twin clock not only
showed the time on its dial, but vel.
low moon as big as a saucer showed
the quarters, while circle on the 9th r
side of the clock contained panorama
of the months and seasons. At the
lower part of the dial the days and
weeks were told off, It was an unusual
clock for those days. No one knew
bow to run it except Mr.. Farley, and
he wound it every night punctually.
MIR. Farley, however, became i'll, and
DIS physician advised him to try
Southern trip. Travelling in those
days was not what it is now, so when
the old man started for the springs in
Southern Virginia, it was several weeks
before the return mail gave the family
information of his arrival and condition.
He went in August and died in Decem-
ber. He had given minute instructions
about winding the clock while he was
absent, and it had been going very we'll.
In his declining days the clock had be.
come more of hobby than ever, and
Its variations were ever on his mind.
He called it the little boy in the wall.
The night of December 5, Miss Far.
ley, the old mans niece, who was about
forty years of age, was sitting in the
living room reading, as was her wont,
chapter of the Bible before retiring.
The door leading into her uncle's room
was ;siar, and while she sat there, intent
on the doings Of the Children of Israel
Is recorded in the book of Exodus, she
was conscious of blast of cold air
over her shoulders. She did not re.
member having left window up in her
uncle's bedroom, which she used in his
absence, but she hastily stepped into
the room to see what caused the draft,
when to her surprise and terror she saw
her uncle standing by the clock as had
been his habit for years. There he was
in his long dressing gown winding the
clock. The whole scene was surrounded
by luminous glow, as if from small
candle
'As the stupefactior of the moment
passed away Miss Farley rushed for
ward and gasped, 'Oh, uncle, uncle, is
it you?' and with that the room re-
sumed its old appearance; the appari.
tion was gone.
Miss Farley's screams rang through
the house, and when the servants came
in they found her in faint. When
she was resuscitated she related what |
had happened and insisted that her
uncle must have returned. A search
of the house and visit to all the neigh.
bors proved that Mr.. Farley was any.
where but in Germantown. Miss Far
ley did not sleep in the first floor bed. |
room that night.
The next day, when the household, |
made brave by daylight and the force |
of numbers, examined the room, they |
discovered that while the hands on the |
face of the clock in the sitting-room
marked time as correctly as ever, the
hands in Mr.. Farley's were hanging
limp.
They sent for my father, clockmaker,
Immediately, but the strangest thing
about it all was that he couldn't dis.
cover what the matter was. The works
that moved both sides were so ingeni.
ously blended, and so intricate was the
gearing that ran the moon, the month
and the days of the week, that it was
to get at the secret. All he
could see was that one-half was going,
while the other half was not, and he
couldn't start the hands in Mr.. Farley's
bedroom. They stood still at half-past
ten o'clock.
"a week passed before the two ser.
wants who had gone South with the old
man returned with his body and told |
the story of his death. He died be-
tween ten and eleven o'clock Decem-
Der 5. His last thoughts were of his
boy in the wall, phrase which some
Of the Yirginians who were by his bed
could not understand. The clock, so
nv father said alwavs kant oood tima