The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-11

pS tae Hedu OL one OI the udllS or J1e
 flooring by raising this spring is re-
 leased and a trap door opened, reveal
 ing large hole with a narrow ladder
 leading down into it. When this hiding
 place was discovered in 1880 it contents
 were significant, viz, a crucifix and two lancient petronels.
 On the occasion that mass was to be
 celebrated in these secret chapels it
 was customary to inform the neighbor-
 hood by some such understood signs as
 the hanging out of linen to dry on the
 hedges hard by.
 The narrow escape of some of the persecuted priests would fill several volumes, and for thrilling excitement
 that of Father Blount at Scotney Cas- 1 tie, the old house of the Darralls on the
 borders of Kent and Sussex, is a good
 example.
 1 One Christmas night, toward the close
 of Eizabeths reign, the castle was
 seized by a party of priest hunters,
 who, with their usual mode of pro-
 cedure, locked up the members of the 1 family securely before starting on their 1 operations. In the inner quadrangle of the mansion was very remarkable and | ingenious device. A large stone of the solid wall could be pushed aside. Though of immense weight, it was so balanced and adjusted that it required only slight pressure upon one side to effect an entrance to the hiding place within. Upon the approach of the enc my Father Blount and his servant has, tened to the courtyard and entered the vault, but in their hurry to close the Weighty doors small portion of one of their girdles got jamnled in, so that a part was visible from the outside. Fortunately for the fugitives, some one In the secret in passing the spot hap pened to catch sight of this tell-tale fragment. and called gently to those within to endeavor to pull it in, which they eventually succeeded in doing.
 At this moment the pursuers were at work in another part of the castle, but hearing the voice in the courtyard rushed into it and commenced batter ing the walls, and at times upon the very door of the hiding place, which would have given way had not those within put their combined weight against it to keep it from yielding. It | was pitchy dark night. and it was pelting with rain, So after time, dis | couraged at finding nothing and wet | to the skin, the soldiers put off further | search until the following morning.
 Few hiding places are associated with | so tragic a story as that at Moyles 1 Court. Hants, where the venerable l Lady Alice Lisle, In pure charity, hid | two partisans of Monmouth, John | Hickes and Richard Nelthorpe, after | the battle of Sedgemoor. for which hu- mane action she was condemned to be burned alive by Judge Jeffreys-ii. sen tence commuted afterward to behead- ing. It is difficult to associate this old Jacobean mansion and the simple tomb in the churchyard hard by with so terrible history. A dark hole In the wall of the kitchen is tradition ally said to be the place of concealment of the fugltives who threw themselves 'n Lady Alice's mercy, but dungeon Ike cellar, looks q much more likely place.
 A weird story clings to the ruins of Minister Lovel manor house, Oxford ;hire the ancient seat of the Lords 4ovel. After the battle of Stoke, Fran is, the last Viscount, who had sided with the cause of Samuel against King Henry VII, fled back to his house in iisguise, but from the night of his re- urn was never seen or heard of again, lnd for nearly two centuries his disap- ,earance remained a mystery. In the meantime. the manor house had been and the remains tenanted " a farmer, but strange discovery vas made in the year 170S A concealed i 'ault was found, and in it, seated be- ore 6 table, with prayer book lying pen upon 1t, was the entire skeleton of
 man. In the secret chamber were ertain barrels and jars, which had con- aimed food sufficient to last perhaps ome weeks, but the mansion having cen seized by the King soon after the nofrtunate Lord Lovel is supposed to ave concealed himself, the probability that unable to regain his liberty, the eglect of the servant brought about lis tragic end.
 Hale House, Islington, had a con- 1aled recess behind the wainscot over le mantlepiece, in which the Lord Pro- ,ctor was hidden. A dark hole in one [ the gable ends of Cromwell House, [ortlake faken down in 1S6O), locally nown as old Noll's Hole, also afford l him shelter when his life was in
 1