The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-07-01

moned 5000 citizens to the statenouse
square. who pledged themselves to the
cause Of liberty. July A., 1776, 1t an
nounced the signing OF the Declaration
Of Independence. Andrew McNair was
the man who rang 1t on that memorable
day. On Sept. 20 Of the same year the
bell called the assembly Of PennsyI
va4ia to meet for the last time. On
Sept. 3, 1873, 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 silvery notes Of
the Liberty bell. July s, 1885, f~fty-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 1t 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
Its home. First when Philadelphia
was taken by the British and the state
house was used as q hospital and
morgue for English soldiers. Then the
bell was carried to Allentown, Pa,
guarded by North Carolina and Vir-
gihia troops. 1t was returned to Phila-
delphia in 177S. Its later journeys
have been more auspicious. In 1886
1t was taken, under a guard of honor,
to New Orleans for the worlds indus.
trial and cotton exposition. greeted ev.
erywhere along its route by cheering
thousands. In 1893 it went to Chicago,
in 1895 to Atlanta, In 1902 to Charles
ton and last year to st. Louis. 1t
now rests In a sacred room In indie
pendence hall, and, though Its presence
at the jamestown exposition has been
requested, 1t is likely never TO be dis.
turbed again.
The old statehouse is now used as q
historical museum and Il full Of relics
Of Revolutionary days. Recently II
was restored al nearly as possible ia
its condition In 1TTG Little change
was needed In the room In which the
founders Of tho Union affixed their sig.
natures to the Declaration Of Independ,
ence and drew up the constitution OF
1857, 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 ornamentat1on restored
according to the picture of 1.-The Sign.
ing'' painted by Jonathan Trumbull
The chandelier which hangs in this
room is the original, impc ted from
France In 1885. More extensive alter
atoms were made elsewhere In the
building, Ine result Of years of study
and labor on the part Of those who car
ried out the project. The arms Of Great
Britain, which one adorned the walls
Of the supreme court room and which
were taken down and burned in 17T6
were not replaced, but the chairs Of the
chief Justice and his associates occupy
their original positions.
Looking from Chestnut street upor
the exterior walls Of the building, one
IA surprised to see them SO well pre-
served. They r as upright and un
broken as In the days when the fathers
met within them. With proper care
they will surely stand, the objects Of
patriotic pride and generation, at the
second centennial Of American indie
pendence.