Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1902-04-03
TILE Of NEW NETHERLANDS
fOriginal.1

Q1StruSted the 4anKGeS-One evening uf~
rected his attention to a silver crescent
in the sky, remarking that it indicated
bad weather. The governor looked up
1t the heavens, then eyed the Yankee
Guspiciously and said knowingly:
THAT ISIS a ferry goot representation
Of the Moon"
In the town Of Albany, about the
middle of the seventeenth century,
Dietrich Ten Eycke had a dispute with
one Killien van Giesbeck, after which
Van Giesbeck disappeared. Ten Eycke
was arrested for murder, and, not over
conf 'ent in the legal attachments OF
his Dutch brethren, be engaged for
counsel a Yankee lawyer who had re-
Gently come to town.
|"Ill take your case," said the Yankee,
~provided you consent beforehand to
everything 1 may do"
The Dutchman agreed, and the case
came to trial. The Yankee, we'll ac-
Quainted with the obstRiiacy Of the
Dutch jurymen, instead of trying to
prove his clients innocence made as
bad a defense as possible, at last break
ing down and begging the court to be
merciful. His client was convicted and
sentenced to be hanged on Friday, Nov.
IS, which would come round in about
q month. The case being settled, he
prisoner was taken back to Jail to
await the end.
The next morning the town clock
astonished the good burghers by strik-
ing the hour of noon an hour later than
the day before. Those of the Dutch
men who had timepieces of their own,
thinking that they were in error, set
the hands back an hour. On the Sec
ond day the clock was forty minutes
slow, ana the timepieces were moved
back by the same amount. This went
on for several days, when the matter
began TO attract attention. The burgh-
ers stood around the clock, wondering
at the strange action OfsFtheir time
pieces, when the Yankee lawyer came
by and averred that the clock had gone
wrong. This settled the matter, and
the timepieces were all set back as
usual.
The day before the time set for the
execution the Yankee applied to the
Judge for q "stay" on the ground that
the legal day for the hanging had pass
ed. He produced IN affidavit of Frau
Ten Eycke that she had set back the
hands of the town clock twenty-fOur
hours, thus losing, he claimed, n day.
The judge sat up all night deliberat-
ing whether or no a day had been thus
lost. At midnight, not having reached
any conclusion, he assembled the
twelve jurymen who had convicted
Ten Eycke and ~propounded the prob
lem. Some argued that the u had
risen and set as usual notwithS+aSC-
ing the loss of the clock, and there haS
been no loss; others declared that the
clock was their only calendar, md, the
hands having been turned back TWEEN"
ty-four hours. one day had slipped by
without their knowing it. At daylight
q vote was taken which resulted in a
tie. The judge, being much perplexed
what to do, granted a stay for forty
eight hours.
The next day the jurymen got to-
RGLIlGI Ii L1IC WInCOIOP VI NAS Wv Al
lighted their clay pipes and consulted
what to do about the matter Of Die
trich Ten Eycke. After smoking sew
en- hours and consuming as many kegs
of beer, during which they vainly en-
deavored to solve the knotty problem
whether the loss of an hour a day for
twenty-four days would cause the loss
80 = Iory Ahou still hI0 RI rsc oh
a conclusion. They would probably
have discussed the matter without
coming to a decision as long as they
lived had not the Yankee come into the
presence of these doughty citizens with
the person of the murdered man him.
self. There stood Killien. van Gies-
beck, and there beside him stood Tie
Yankee. The burghers looked from
one to the other, first I'M stupefaction.
then with an intelligence superior to
any Yankee or any Yankee trick.
"Tell EN- where you have been," said
the lawyer.
after pelts."
Then arose the PATRON In his dig
nifty and, eying the Yankee severely,
said:
'"This man is not Killien van Gies-
beck. He may be his brother, but he is
not Killien. Killien is dead. and Die
trich killed him. A great thought has
come to me. What say you. neighbors-
shall we not try the case over, convict
the prisoner again and
Hang him for killing a mar who
went for pelts and is now here2" the
Yankee put in.
AS much as they detested the Yankee,
there was no answering the argument.
But every Dutchman sat scowling and
6ercely smoking till so dense was the
cloud that neither the Yankee nor
Killien could be distinguished. The
Yankee, feeling that he had gone too
far for his own safety, was about to
withdraw under cover Of the tobacco
smoke when the PATRON stepped to the
door behind him. locked it and put the
key in his breeches pocket.