Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-07-01

ment Of Great Britain uas reuuceG me
people 10 the level of slaves" On
June l. 1774, It tolled the closing of the
port of Boston. April "a. 1775. after
the battle Of Lexington. the bell sum-
mOned 5000 citizens to the statehouse
square, who pledged themselves TO the
cause of liberty. July 1, 1TT6, 1t an
nounced the signing of the Declaration
of Independence. Andrew McNair was
the man who rang 1t on that memorable
day. On Sept. % of the same year the
bell called the assembly OF PennSyi-
vania to meet for the last time. ON
Sept. 3, 1888, 1t announced the prOcla
nation Of peace. From then until 1885
every event in the history of the United
States was made known TO the citizens
of Philadelphia by the silvcry notes of
the Liberty bell. July s, 1885. fifty-nine
years after the proclamation of the
immortal declaration" it was rung for
the last time during the funeral of
Chief Justice Marshall. Suddenly and
without any apparent reason it crack
ed while tolling the passing of the great
jurist. That crack Is one of its proud
est markings. The last man to ring the
old bell was Thomas Downing.
The Liberty bell has many times left
it's home First when Philadelphia
was taken by the British and the state
house was used as hospital and
morGue for English soldiers. Then the
bell was carried TO Allentown, Pa,
guarded 10y North Carolina and Vir-
ginia troops. 1t was returned to Phila-
delphia in 11IS. Its later journeys
have been more suspicious. In 1885
1t was taken, under guard of honor,
to New Orleans for the worlds indus
trial and cotton exposition, greeted ev-
erywhere along its route by cheering
thousands. In 1892 ii went to Chicago,
in 1895 TO Atlanta, in 1902 to Charles
ton and last year TO st. Louis. It
now rests In Il sacred room in hide
pendence hail, and, though it's presence
at the jamestown exposition has been
requested, it Is likely never to he dis
turbed again.
The old statehouSe il now used as
historical museum and Is full of relics
of Revolutionary days. Recently IL
was restored as nearly rs possible to
It's condition in 1916. Little change
was needed in the room in which the
founders of the Union affixed their sig
natures to the Declaration OF Independ-
ence and drew up the constitution of
1877, where Franklin harmOnized the
quarrel between the advocates OF cen
tralizatiOn and state rights and where
John Adams presided over the first
United States senate. The floors were
relaid and the ornamentatlon restored
according to the picture Of The Sigh
ing painted by Jonathan Trumbull.
The chandelier which hangs in this
room Is the original, imported from
France I'm 1875. More extensive alter
atoms were made elsewhere in the
building, the result OF years OF study
and labor on the part of those who car
ried out the project. The arms of Great
Britain, which once adorned the walls
of the supreme court room and which
were taken down and burned in 1TT6,
were not replaced. but the chairs OF the
chief justice and his associates occupy
their original positions.
Looking from Chestnut street upon
the exterior walls Of the building. one
is surprised to see them SO well pre-
served. They are as upright and I'M
broken as in the days when the fathers
met within them. With proper care
they will surely stand, the objects OF
patriotic pride and veneration, at the
second centennial OF American indie
Dendence.