The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-01-16

still sleeping and so still that she be-
came alarmed and called her husband.
The baron was dead.
A great concourse Of people attend
ed the funeral of the man they loved
so we'll 1t was held in the chapel of
the castle. and after the ceremony the
body was lowered into a vault under
the chapel floor. Then the throng.
having left many garland on the re-
placed marble slab. withdrew.
That night--it was rather In the
small hours of the morning-those
sleeping in the castle were awakened
by crash so loud that it was heard,
like the mysterious sounds of the bell,
for miles around. No one got out of
bed to learn the cause Of the noise; all
lay shivering with an unaccountable
dread But with the first light of day
many jumped out of bed and, putting
on their clothes, went out into the
court yard with a view to learning
what had disturbed their slumbers.
They huddled together exchanging re-
marks and looking about them to see
II there was any evidence that any
part of the old walls had fallen. But
the walls were the same as the night
before Then one man went to the
clock tower and looked inside. He saw
a heap of old rusty iron and rotten
wood 1t was the clock.
The event, happening the night of
"a nr1Se f1rnn OF hnr cd he
position of those who had averred that
there was something more than human
In the mysterious strokes which had
been heard at the close Of the previous
year. Might not they have foretold
the barons death?
How could that be-" protested the
doubters, ''since there were but three
strokes and the baron did not die for
four months?"
Granted" was the reply. But he
died in the third month of the year
And, as to the clock, surely it gave
notice of its own as well as the baron's
DEATH"
One thing puzzled all-the fact that
the old man when his son announced
to him that a grandchild would be
born to him not only replied that it
was not news to him. but manifested
no interest that 1t might be a boy
Most of them believed that, whatever
the message the clock had given, the
baron alone was accorded a power to
understand it.
fhnk hn
child would be born in October Then
some one remembered that October
was the tenth month in the year and
that the number of the second series of
strokes that had been given by the old
clock had been ten.
At this discovery nearly every one
who had doubted the supernatural be-
havior of the clock gave in. and those
who did not admitted that If Bar
on Ludwig's grandchild should be a
boy they. too, would be converted On
the 10th day of October a baby boy
came into the world, and not a soul
within the castle Enclosure or among
the retainers living roundabout but
believed that the baron's brother
had foretold the day of his death. of
its own destruction. and that he would
be blessed by the birth of a male
child to perpetuate the family name
of which he was so proud
The establishment at this prophetic
announcement was nothing to that of
one who was in the secret of the mys-
FERROUS strokes. A young man with
a mania for climbing. by throwing
looped rope over a projection of the
tower, had succeeded in getting up to
the clock and had made three sounds
with a piece of iron. which he follow
ed by ten more with a piece Of wood.
So astounded was he with the coin
ridences which subsequently occurred
that he almost believed he had been
sent to the tower by some guardian
spirit of the baron to make the an
nouncement to him Of events that aft
erward occurred When the frs,
flush of wonder had died out the climb
er confessed that he had done the
striking Only few believed him
and they accused him of witchcraft.
He left the place to save himself
from being burned alive and never re
turned
The child born at the time became
the father Of many children. most Of
them boys. and the title is still in ex
lstence.