The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1903-07-09
FREAKS OF CLOCKS.
THE STRANGE WARNING Ct1IMED
FROM STRASSBURG CATHEDRAL.
PecuIiarities of the Timepiece In the
British House of LOrds-The Mad
ness of MechIin's Clock - "When
Clocks Go Crazy, Things Go Daft"


British House of Lords-The Mad
ness of MechIin's Clock -"When
Clocks Go Crazy, Things Go Daft"
There is an old saw which declares
that when clocks go crazy, things go
daft"
At 2 a. M. on Sept. 27, 1869, the
world famous clock in the great cathe-
dral at Strassburg commenced to chime
without rhyme or reason. 1t sounded
1870 peals, then stopped, and after an
interval slowly began to toll as if for
4 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
it's inhabitants. Yet less than year
afterward the German armies had en-
circled the city with ring of steel and
fire. The German shells were falling
thickly in her streets and squares and
exploding even within the precincts
of the stately cathedral itself. And
precisely at a. m. Sept. 27, 1870, Gen
eral Uhrich signed the capitulation
which was to deliver Strassburg into
the hands of the invaders.
In the house of lords is a certain his
torical timepiece which is said to in
variably suffer from temporary aber-
ration whenever member of the royal
family of Britain passes away. The
popularity was first noticed when Will
liam Nv. died. Very early in the morn
ing the clock began to emit series of
peculiar gurgling noises, as though
gasping for breath, went suddenly
slow and finally stopped altogether.
All efforts to start it failed, and on the
evening of the day of the funeral it
reStarted of it's own accord, nor did it
give any further trouble whatever for
many years afterward
1t has over and over again been no
ticed that clocks, especially those sit
uated in the turrets of high buildings
having unusually deep foundations, are
liable to go wrong in sympathy with
seismic disturbances happening III dis
tricts sometimes very far away.
r. l.
half the tinlepieces in Edinburgh We're
affected. Many stopped altogether.
C+hais went slow or fast CT started
striking wrongly in tbs tie s,llersti-
tots saw some calamity IL! ,22ding
and ii was not until news arrived OF
the great Lisbon e,,:.is IL. II. TT tie
aarn was al,ayeG. II was then tiStov-
II !, - ?
t.i%t tie FIRST sh~rN tn. h.re ir,.veie,l
:eo..l I'ez ia Horace - ~. E'r,,;il
IL less tam est 5 co::G$
curious coineitnn: was hen recall
ed. On Tie evening" Of Arr. {. raact.y
Eve years prev i2Es y. several tl.ou
sanGs OF persons, particularly ..i;,se OF
rank anti for.1ne. Lad c;:l:lpeG cut II
Hyde PARK and had thus passed the
hours froEi dusk t.! day,.:-A.
'I,-is was TO avoid an eth. ,ua.:e
shock which had been predicted for
the early morning of the Ssh by an al
legged ''madman.'' The threatened
quake however. failed to materialize
and the scared ones got heartily laugh
ed at for their pains. Nevertheless. it
was noted at the time that several of
the public and private clocks of the
metropolis stopped at precisely the
same moment on the morning in ques-
ton, and this fact at once took on
new and sinister significance.
''Was it possible" people began to
ask, that the so called mailman was
not so very mad after all and that
London bad providentially escaped
what might possibly have been hid
eous and unparalleled catastrophe?"
The so called madness of Mech
Inns clock constitutes one of the most
mysterious incidents of the Napoleonic
wars. 1t happened in 1906. Two
years previously the Corsican usurper
had RACED a portion of the city to the
ground, and the place had also suffered
severely in other ways. But the mag
nilcent cathedral had been spared, and
then, as now, its massive tower rising
four square to height of more than
300 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 1t had
iloonipa the hours for longer than the
eldest burgher could remember and
had never gene wrong When there
fore ia tile early dawn OF on simmer
day the great bell began changing furi-
uusly SnaI wonder that net OILY the
city. but The wiloir countryside. WAS