The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-03-12
A Grim
Experience
The Way a Tourist Was
Shut Up In a Church
By HOMER wORTHINGToN

We were on our wedding journey II
Europe, doing picture galleries and
churches l will not assert that this
is all there is in that elderly country
for tourists to see, but 1t is the prin
cipal part of the matter. Lucia and
were one morning visiting a Roman
cathedral several hundred years old
looking at pictures hanging on the
walls, some of which must have been
painted for the purpose Of soaring
away the devil; at ghostly marble fig
ures lying on their backs, with theiI
hands clasped over their breasts
straining our eyes In dark chapels to
see hideous frescoes, the principal part
of which had been Clipped of, when
we heard the clock above us strike the
hour of noon.
At the moment we were looking at
statue, wondering whom it might
represent A gentleman-rather sin
gular looking person he was-hearing
our remarks, politely told us all about
the marble and of another much older
and more curious in different part OF
the church, offering to guide US to it.
Lucia said she was tired and would
go to our hotel and rest before lunch
con.
l would rather have gone with her,
but the stranger was so urgent
that / should see the curious statue
that l consented to remain with him.
l told Lucia / would be with her with
In half an hour, and she left me. Then
1 started to another part of the church
with my guide.
He showed me the statue, told me its
history, beginning back in the twelfth
century and ending in the eighteenth,
when, after having been stolen, buried,
resurrected, lost its nose, one Of its
ulously set up in it's present position in
the middle of the night, when the
church was locked, with no one inside.
AS he proceeded l thought l had new
er met a person more voluble. Why
he took so great an interest In me
could not divine. Instead Of listening
to what he said l was taking In his
personal appearance.
He was rather small, wore a little
bell crowned hat, which, of course, in
the cathedral he carried in his hand;
had coarse dark hair standing straight
upon his head and a short stubby
beard. His coat was a dark blue
cloth, fitting tight at the waist, with
a full flowing skirt. His trousers were
checkerboard and tight to the skin.
The most remarkable feature in his
face was his eyes, which twinkled like
a pair of stars in the heavens.
When he had told me all about the
statue and the archaeological disputes
as to just where it had lost its nose
and the other features / thanked him
for his kindness, bid him good morn
ing and was about to leave him when
he said:
There's something far more curious
in this church than this-the bones of
st. - q have forgotten the name),
that have come down to us through
800 years. 1t will require but mo-
ment to see them, and l shall be hap
py to show them to you"
Thank you very much" said. "but
my luncheon hour is at hand, and
must rejoin my wife,"
Il will not detain you five minutes"
he replied and looked so anxious that
/ should enjoy a sight at these old
bones in which be seemed to take such
interest that l went with him to see
them. Taking me to the forward part
of the church on one side, he opened
door that judged to be about five
feet high-at any rate. .one must bend
to enter it-and told me to step in
side. "After you" l said, but he stood
holding the door open so deferentially
that | went in. The only light there
was In the place came in at the open
ing through which | had entered. and
even that was shut off Immediately
for / heard the door close and a click
In the lock. My companion had re-
manned outside.
1t required a few moments for me
to realize my situation, to become
frightened Then l turned to the door
and tried to find a knob by which to
open 1t. There was no inside knob
l hammered on the door, but 1t was
of iron and made of several plates.
80 that my thumps were not likely to
be heard. l listened eagerly for the
door to be reopened. Perhaps it had
closed of itself and sprung bolt. In
this case my guide must find some
one to enable him to open 1t and
might have gone away for that pur
pose.
Then / remembered that starry look
In his eyes, and | became terror
stricken. Suppose he was insane! If
SO he had doubtless shut me up in a
dark room, seldom opened, and at
some future time, instead of the bones
of a saint, my own skeleton would be
found there. 1 felt around the walls
of my inclosure and was horror strick-
en- to find that 1t was but about by
feet. could not lie down In it.
looked up and could see llght-it seem
ed far above NEON the four sides of
the ceiling, as though let In by a mar
row strip Of glass. Reaching up,
even standing on my toes or Jumping,
I could touch nothing.
What would Lucia think when the
lrTn
turn? How long would she wait be-
fore becoming frightened, and what
would she then do? No one would
likely think OF looking for me in the
cathedral, especially in that dark hole
They would infer that l had left the
place and gone elsewhere. l thought o.
the many cases where persons have
started forth on some ordinary errant
and had never been heard of again.
remembered the old story of the bride
playing hide and seek" during hel
wedding festivities, getting into a ches
with a spring lock and not being found
for years, when the chest was opened
and her skeleton taken out. Then
gave way to uncomfortable terror.
| heard directly above me the stroke
n a bell / listened for more, but Nc
more came. This enlightened me upoI
my position. l must be in the CLOCK
tower. The clock had struck the hour
Looking up again Mt the rectangle Of
light the terrible fact thrust itself upor
me that the dark space within 1t was
the bottom of the weight that moved
the machinery and the hands. The
weight was slowly descending ant
would crush me. At the thought my
legs gave way beneath me, and / sanl
in heap.
Then ] arose and renewed my knock
ing OH the door. hammered with my
fists and kicked with my feet. But
since the substance on which l bella
bored was very poor conductor Of