Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1903-07-22
FREAKS OF CLOCKS.
The STRANGE WARNING cn,uso
FROM eTRAss5URG CATHEDRAL

fec"iiaritie- OF the Timepiec~ n, ,.
british House of Lord.-rh. ~,
ness OF Nechlin's Clock .vn.u
Clocks Go Crazy. Things co Dnf,,
There is an old saw which declares
that when clocks 20 crazy. things 20
daft"
At a. IN. on Sept. -. 1860. the
world famous clock i'm the great cathe-
dral at Strass5urg commenced to chime
without rhyme or reason IL sounded
1870 peals. then stopped. and after an
interval slowly began 10 toll as ii for
a great one dead
The political atmosphere OF Europe
ut that time was Indicative OF pro-
found peace Nothing OF danger or dis
grace could by any possibility be CON
ceived OF as threatening Strassburg or
its inhabitants. Yet less than a year
afterward the German armies had en-
circled the city with a ring OF steel and
fire. The German shells were falling
thickly I'm her streets and squares and
exploding even within the precincts
Of the stately cathedral itself. And
precisely at ? a. IN. Sept. -. 1870. Gen
eral Uhrich signed the capituIation
which was TO deliver StrasSburg INFO
the hands OF the invaders
In the house OF lords is a certain his
torical umepiece which Is said to in
variably suffer from temporary aber-
ration whenever member OF the roval
family Of Britain passes away. The
popularity was first noticed when vii
liam ". died Very early in the morn
ing the clock began TO emit a series Of
peculiar gurgling noises. as though
gasping for breath. went suddenly
slow and finally stopped altogether
All efforts TO start il failed. and on the
evening OF the day OF the funeral IL
restarted OF its own accord. nor did II
give any further trouble whatever for
many years afterward.
II has over and over again been no.
dced that clocks. especially those sit
uated i'm the turrets OF high buildings
having unusually deep foundations. are
liable To 20 wrong in sympathy with
seismic disturbances happening I'm dis
tricts sometimes very far away.
ON Nov. I. 1853 for instance. fully
half the timepieces In Edinburgh were
affected. Many stopped altogether.
Others went slow or fast or started
striking wrongly. In this the supersti-
uOus saw some calamity impending.
and IL was not until news arrived OF
the great Lisbon earthquake that the
alarm was allayed. II was then discov-
cred. by comparing times and dates.
that the first shock must have Travelled
from Fez I'm Morocco 10 Cape Wrath
In less than eight seconds.
y curious coincident was then recall
ed ON the evening OF April =. exactly
five years previously. several thou
sands OF persons. particularly those OF
rank and fortune. had camped out In
Hyde park and had thus passed the
hours from dusk TIL daylight.
This was To avoid an earthQuake
shock which had been predicted for
the early morning OF the Sth by an al
legged ''madman.r Tie threatened
quake. however. failed to materialize.
and the scared ones got heartily laugh
eel nj for their pains Nevertheless. Il
was noted at the time that several OF
the public and private clocks Of the
metropolis stopped nj precisely the
same moment on the morning I'm cues
ton, and this fact at once took on
new and sinister significance.
WAS IL possible" people began 10
ask, that the 50 called mailman was
not 50 very mad after all and that
London had providentially escaped
what might possibly have been a hid
eOus and unparalleled catastropheTr
The 50 called madness" OF Mech
Inns clock constitutes one OF the most
mysterious incidents Of the Napoleonic
wars. II happened in 1906. Two
years previously the Corsican usurper
had RACED portion of the city 10 the
ground, ami the place had also suffered
severely ga other ways. But the mag
nincent cathedral had been spared. and
then. as now. its massive tower rising
four square To "a height of more than
500 feet and bearing four dials. each
forty-eight feet in diameter. was one
Of the most striking landmarks FOR
miles and miles around.
Inside the tower was the gigantic
clock, the biggest In the world. Ii had
doomed the hours Tor longer than the
oldest burgher could remember and
had never gone wrong. When. there
fore, in the early dawn OF one summer
day the great bell began changing furI-
ously small wonder that not only the
city, but the whole countryside. was
reused. Mechiin itself was ike n dis
turbed hive, men rushing from their
houses half dressed, but all armed.
while from every town and village
within 4 radius OF twenty miles angry
peasants poured cityward.
1t was n false alarm. however. after
all. No assault followed No column
of dust on the horizon heralded the ad-
vance OF the enemy. although anxious
eyes watched all day. But when to-
ward evening one more curious than
his fellows bethought him 10 examine
the interior of the clock tower in order
TO discover II possible the reason for
the clocks strange behavior a grew
some sight met his view.
Entangled in the massive works or
the huge tlmepiece. torn. gaShcd. every
bone broken. was the body Of French
officer. He had evidently climbed into
the tower unobServed and had been
caught ny the machinery while en-
gagged in tampering with il. What his
object was in 50 doing none ever knew.
That IL WAS something sinister there
could Ice no doubt. Probably he had
intended 10 80 arrange the interior
mechanism OF the clock rs 10 cause il
10 sound Il signal later in the day At
all events. whatever his plan. IL mis-