Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-11-09
BOY BROKE LIBERTY BELL,

several boys whom he spied in the
square. After he had corralled six or
eight OF us-I dom remember exactly
now many-he old us tina he wanted
us to ring the liberty bell in honor of
Washfngton's birthday. The idea
pleased Us very much-we boys were
MOI I'm the habit OF ringing the old bell
We agreed to do 1t.
Downing climbed into the
steeple of the state house and tied a
rope to the clapper of the bell. Coming
GOWN again. he put the end of his rope
int" our hands and instructed us to
pun WIN all our might, which we did.
were working away, and the bell
mad struck. so far as 1 can recall, about
lo or Il dozen times. when we noticed
a Grange in the tone. We kept on
ringing though. but after a while the
s.aeplekeeper noticed the difference,
too. Surmising that something might
DC wrong. he told us to stop pulling
the Then he climbed back into
the steeple. we boys following behind.
ON the side of the bell that hung
toward Walnut street we found that
inches long. Downing then told us to
run along home. We obeyed.
What happened after that l forget
l didn't do amy worrying.
and heard no more about the cracking
OF the bell until some years later. Then,
W oilA lCl lllll0S SIllCo. i nAV6
read of how the bell came to be
cracked. but never have l seen the YER
sion which i have Just given. i nom
estly believe it is the correct one" : =
Investigation of what is known re-
garding the cracking of the liberty bell
fauch's narrative. First. there is, IA
has been already mentioned. confusion
as to just how the bell was cracked.
1t was the custom to ring 1t on Inn
portant occasions. notably OF each re-
curing Fourth of July. but according
that day after 1881. This would explain
how. II he bell was indeed cracked,
as Mr.. Rauch maintains. on February
%. 1886. the crack was not discovered
on the following Fourth of July.
Coming to the theory that the bell
was cracked while tolling for the flu
neral of Chief Justice Marshall. we ara
reminded that:
"While tolling'' is an ambiguous
phrase. is it not possible, probable
eVen. tina as stroke after stroke of
the clapper smote the sid of the bell,
those who heard detected something
wrong in The sound, exactly as did
Downing and his youthful helpers I'm
Mr.. Rauch's narrative. and promptly
arrived at the conclusion that the dam
age had been done on that very day.
'>sAS w NiieSC tIUC UGH IldO OScH
cracked before? In view of the UNI
hesitating nature of Mr.. Rauch's state
ments. this view seems distinctly
plausible.
There is something else which lends
the color of truth to the o-ctogenarian's
narrative. AS he relates. it was by no
means customary to have boys ring the
bell. Major Jack" Downing evidently
astonished young Rauch and the rest
when he pressed them into service as
his coadiutors. When the lusty efforts
OF the squad of urchins cracked the
bell. may not Major jack have de-
cided. perchance. to say nothing about
it? The harm had been done-there
was nothing to be gained by crying
1t from the housetops.
So, perhaps. Major Jack" babe the
little BOYS run home. supposing that
nothing would ever come of the incl
dent. eve If they told their elders
what a befallen the bell. Granted
that the Rauch version OF the cracking
of the bell is right. and that the
s~teeplekeeper reasoned as here suggest
ed. his reasoning was not bad. APP
parently, the damage to the bell has
never been laid at the door of the band
of boys who acted as bell ringers
OH that Washington's birthday 76 years
ago.