The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-05
CLOCK THAT SAVED
YOUNG GIRLS LIFE
Queer Story That Was Told TO
the BOarderS
HAD AN ELEMENT OF LOVE
Thought Young Woman Was Dead,
But Clock Kept on Ticking
and She Came Back
to Life

From the New York Press.
The boarders were talking about how
foolish it is to be superstitious. The
landlady said every person was entitled
to his or her opinion. AS for herself
she laughed at superstition until a few
years ago. Then something happened
that made her believe in things uncanny'
and she was loath today to ridicue any
thing. no matter how absurd it might APP
pear.
Two women occupied the second-story
front room of the house l used to keep
down in Nineteenth street. said the
landlady 1.-THE women were sisters. one
was a widow named Mrs Belden the
other was a Miss Carlton. Miss Carlton
was engaged to a man who Travelled Tor
a big Photographic concern. His busi-
ness took him pretty much all over the
| world, and the young women's room
was cluttered up from floor to ceiling
with mementos he had sent them from
| the various countries he had visited.
| Among these curos was very peculiar
clock that he had picked up somewhere
In Southern Europe. Miss Carlton was
especially proud of that clock. she SAID
| she thought 1t the rarest treasure
James had ever found anywhere and L
guess it must have been pretty valuable
! because | know for a fact that some
/ dealer down in Fourth avenue heard
about 1t and offered her $3.50 for It, But,
of course Miss Carlton would not sell
the clock, and the way things turned
out afterward it was a mighty lucky
thing for her that she didn't
along in July Of the year they were
with me the two women planned
months vacation. but before they could
get away Miss Carlton was taken SICK.
She was sick four days. On the morning
of the fifth day she died. 1t was Just
10 minutes past 0 o'clock. / was In the
room when the end came, and Mrs. Bel
den was there, and the doctor ana Two
servants The minute we saw it was all
over Mrs. Belden made a dash Tor that
clock
Tried to Stop 1t.
- must stop the clock, she said. She
opened the door and caught hold OF tlle
hands of the clock, but 1t never stopped
ticking So long as she held the hands
they could not move, but as soon as she
let go they hurried on TO mark the num-
Der of seconds that had been licked OH
while they had stood still.
Mrs. Belden got frightened. What In
the world ails this clock2' she said
can't stop it..
"The doctor came and tried to stop It,
and | tried and the girls tried, but no
matter what we did the clock kept on
ticking. We turned 1t upside down; we
laid 1t on its face; we did everything IN
fact. except break it, but it licked stead
| ily away When night came that clock
developed another crazy freak. 1t was
built to run only "a hours without wind
ing. Eleven o'clock at night had been
Miss Cartons time for winding II, ana
Mrs BeIden said that when that hour
came around II would surely stop or It's
own accord, because the clock had never
reen known to run five minutes over
the "a hours But that night 1t broke
the record. 1t did not stop at ii O'Clock.
1t ran all night and all the next DAY.
By that time Mrs Belden was nan
crazy with grief and superstitous rear.
The funeral had been set for o'clock on
Thursday but when the time came Mrs.
Belden would not allow the undertaker's
men to take the body of her sister
away,
THE persistent ticking of that clock
in the face of all natural laws means
something she said, and / am not go
ing to have Mamie buried till l find out
what it IS.
Heard Shrek.
$50 all day Thursday and Friday we
kent Miss Carlton in the second-story
front room, and all the while that clock
on the mantel beside her kept up its
everlasting ticking. Saturday morning
about 10 o'clock l happened to be passing
through the second-story hall and L
heard a Embarrassing shrek let out by
some one In the front room. | rushed
in and found Mrs. Belden on the point
of faintins, while Miss Carlton lay on
the bed with her eyes wide open and
, her lips twitching as II she wanted to
say something. l tainted. too, but be-
20 and
enough to bring everybody up from the
parlor floor and the witchen, and they
all set to work to revive Miss Carlton.
Mrs Belden and l were allowed to come
to of our own accord, and by the time
we were fully braced up the doctor had
, come and had taken Miss Carlton in
hand He was scared almost as badly as
we were when he found that Miss Nan
, ME was not dead but he worked over
her all that day and by night she seemed
so much improved that he had hopes of
her recovery.
, stopped Miss Mamie was conscious.
and she noticed when it stopped ticking.
. She asked her sister to wind the clock.
She did wind 1t. but it wouldn't run 1t
never did run again. We did as many
things to get it TO go as we had pre-
viously done TO get it to stop, but not all
the winding and coddling we could give
, | II would ever persuade that clock to
start up again. Miss Mamie was very
much disappointed about that, but when
, she got well enough to understand how
the clock had behaved in her trance she
didn't have the heart to feel very hard
, toward It for stopping as soon as she
got we'll
The landlady tilted her head back and
closed her eyes as II her story We're
ended.
But what made the clock keep run
ming all that timer" asked the young
woman who had insisted upon hearing
! the story.
don't know" said the landlady
"Nobody ever found out. 1t is because
the strange freak was never explained
that | am superstitious now, at bottom
even though I always say am not"
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