The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1911-10-13
SAYS He BROKE
LIBERTY BELL
{. J. Rauch Declares All the
Histories Are Wrong,
SCH00LB0YS CRACKED If,
Raueh and Others Were Ringing tine
Bell In Honor Of Washington. Birth.
day In 1885 When They Noticed
Change In Tone.


day In 1885 When They Notice.;
Change In Tone.
Nearly every American knows ac1ut
the Liberty bell. which for many years
hung in the belfry Of III" Old ;,,alc-
house at Philadelphia. now lndcpepd.
ence hall, and rang OF numerous days
that have become famous in A!ncri-
can annals-moSt. especially on July
4, 177G. when it proclaimed to all
within hearing and through them 10
the entire world that the American
colonies had declared their iEdcprnL.
encc of British rule.
For more than century the bell.
still preserved III Independence hail.
has been shrine for hosts at patriotic
pilgrims from every corner OF the
United States. These pilgrims us wei!
as other hosts Of Americans vino
knew the Liberty bell merely by seeing
pictures Of 1t are aware that in one
side Of it is wide crack. II, grow
ing curious. they seek to find ont how
that crack came there several conflict
ing explanations at once present them
selves
The one commonly accepted is that
the famous bell was cracked while toll.
ing for the funeral Of Chief Justice
John Marshall on July 4. 1879.
Rauch Breaks Silence.
Now. more than three.qrartcrs Of
century after the old bell WAS silenced.
comes man who declares that none
of the more or less accepted versions
Of how it came to he cracked Is cor.
rect; that his version alone is the true
explanation of the incident. For more
than fifty years. he declares. lie has
been reading III newspapers and else
where all the various conflicting sto-
ries Of the accident, hut inasmuch :ls
his has been an extremely busy life
he has never bothered his head over
much about them until quite recently.
So when n few days ago this man
saw yet another story Of how the Lib
erty bell was cracked and realized yet
again that his memory branded it as
incorrect he fastened to protest.
II was one Of those who werc
present and assisted In the cracking,
Of that bell. Perhaps l am the only
person now living who was present."
he stated.
The man who. as he says, helped
crack the old Liberty bell is Emman-
uel Joseph Rauch Of 3S6 West One
Hundred and Sixteenth street, New
York. He is eighty-six years old. Hc
was born at Chester. Pa, of Pennsyl-
vania Dutch stock, on Nov. 9, 1929.
and removed with his parents 10 Phil
adelphia when he was seven years
old. 1t was three years later. in 1897.
that, according to him. the cracking
of the Liberty bell occurred. That is
the year usually given as the one in
which the mishap occurred, but Mr..
Rauch is emphatic in bis statement
that the bell was not cracked on the
occasion Of Chief Justice Marshall's
funeral Here Is his own version OF
the occurrence:
1.-THE Liberty bell was cracked, as
remember, ON Washington's birthday.
1885. and this Is the way It was done:
How Bell Was Cracked.
II was then ten years old. On that
day / had been sent by my mother on
an errand to a shop not far from our
home On my return was walking
through Statehouse square when no.
ticed that The ialitor or stccpl" Keeper
of the | StatehouSe building was
reckoning to me- His name was Down.
ing-Major Jack we used to call him =
and he was Il we'll known character In
Philadelphia ut that time.
"'Come hprr!' he called to me and to
several boys whom he sried in the
square, After he had corra'lcd six or
eight of us-I don't remember exactly
how many-hc told us that he wanted
us to ring the Liberty bell in honor
of Wnshington's birthday. The idea
pleased us very muc.l-we boys were
not in the habit Of ringing the old bel!
and we agreed to do 1t.
"Then Downing climbed into the
steeple of the Statehouse and tied n
rope to the clapper of the bell. Com,
ing down again. he put the end of this
rope into our hands aud instructed us
to pull with all our might. which we
did.
1--WE We're working away and the bell
had struck. so far as can recall about
ten or Il dozen times when we noticed
a change in the tone. We kept on ring
ing. though. but after awhile the stee
pie keeper noticed the difference too.
Surmising that something might he
wrong. lie told us to stop pulling the
rope. Then he climbed back into the
steeple. we boys following behind.
ION the side of the bell that hung
toward Walnut street we found that
there was big crack foot or fifteen
inches long Downing then told US to
run along home. We obeyed.
"What happened after that I forget
Boylike. I didn't do any worrying and