Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-01-08
DAILY SHORT STORY
THE SWORD OF THE CRUSADER,

hatred of the infidel Turk was some
thing terrible. From first to last ht
carried the same sword, one of those
immense weapons that have long age
passed out of date. Every time Geof
frey Burgess killed Turk he filed q
notch OH the blade of this sword just
beneath the hlt. At the conclusion OF
his campaigns there We're nOtches suf
ficient To reach Oh both edges from the
hlt to the point.
Sir Godfrey returned from the sew
enth crusade and was making prepa-
rationS for the eighth when he was
taken with Il fever and died. He was
buried with great honors i'll the town
in which he had lived, and fine
marble monument was placed by those
who revered him over his grave, sur
mounted by a statue of him.
Two hundred years after Sir 'Geof-
frey's death Mohammed H.. the great
sultan of the Ottomans. invested Con-
stantinople. and after II short siege the
cross which since the time of Constan-
tine had surmOunted the dome of ST.
Sophia was replaced by the crescent.
on the very day of this change Il
swept ONtl
and bolt of lightning rent his statue
in three pieces. Singularly enough.
they remained on the pedestal. 1t WAS
not doubted that the lightning waS an
expression Of the old knights anger ut
the fall of the Christian city, and the
fact that his statue remained erect
was taken as evidence of his infieXible
will
Another century passed. The cru
sades if unsuccessful in freeing the
holy sepulcher brought about Il COM
mercial intercourse between the west
and the east. There were Christian
merchants in Asia and Asiatic mer
chants i'll Europe, but never was Il
Turk seen in the town where Sir GeOf-
frey Burgess was buried. Some said
that the Moslems knew of his reputa
ton and dared not profane il; others
that the shade of the holy man guarded
the town and kept them away.
The knights sword was handed down
from father to son and at the close OF
the fifteenth century, when Columbus
was trying to find Il passage around
the globe TO India TO facilitate the trad
ing in spices. hung in the hall of John
Burgess, Il plain citizen. the title hav-
ing been lost sight of. One day John
Burgess was sitting i'll his house when
the door opened and a man came hur
riedly in from the street. He was
very soldierly looking man, wearing
an armor not at all like that in fashion.
The invention of gunpowder was then
to PUT armor aside, and what
was still used was plate, while the
stranger wore chain armor.
Sir" said the man in dialect so
different from that used that Burgess
could scarcely understand him. have
you a weapon handy" Burgess cast Il
glance at the sword of the crusader
and asked:
For what purpOseT
But the stranger without reply went
to the wall where hung the sword and,
taking it down, drew the blade from
the scabbard, ran his thumb over the
notcheS, thrust the steel back and with
both blade and scabbard started for
the door, handling the heavy weapon
ike Il plaything.
Now. Burgess had often lifted this
heirloom and had found considerable
difficulty in doing so. When he had
hung ii up on the wall he had been
obliged to call in Il neighbOr TO assist
him. When he saw the stranger take it
Town with one hand and carry ii like
/ rapier he was astonished. Indeed he
vas so startled by the sudden appear
lnce with its strange armor and fea-
ures that for time he sat not know
hnt fn Al DrnS flxv miro Sft x-
moved him, and he ran out after the
nan who had borrowed his weapon.
lie was nowhere to be seen. Burgess
an down the street and. turning a cor
Ter, came upon the body of man OF
warthy countenance lying on his
Jack, and standing up from the body,
Ike shaft to mark ii, was the sword
# Sir Godfrey Burgess.
\ crowd soon gathered. including the
watch Burgess, who had first come on
he ground, told his story of the stran-
,er taking his sword, but he was not
The watch took him. into
ustody. and he was thrown into pris-
n to await trial for murder.
The case was so plain against him
hat his counsel undertook it half
anu WHICH, a Cdnt
ntO town who said he was an. advo-
ate and offered to defend the accused
Burgess gave it into his hands. The |
dvocate called for the body of the |
murdered man to be brought into !
curt, and when this was done, plac |
lg his hand in the hair, which was |
lack and matted, he drew out a paper |
hat had been concealed there. Open
lg it, he showed Arabic characters. |
The man is disguised Moslem," said |
ne advocate, land such has never
cen seen in Your town before. An an
ell had taken the sword of the cru
sder and smitten the intrudery'
With this he went away and was
ever seen in the town again.
Whether it was that those were SUI
erstitious times or whether some one
eized the sword to dispa tch, and rob
n enemy none can at this dday tell