The Press., 1915-09-01
|AAAAKAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAA 1 Anneke Van
 Wrinkles Wit A Story of an Old Dutch Town.
By E. A. MITCHELL
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 The city of Schenectady, N. Y., until
 the latter part of the nineteenth cen tury was sleepy Dutch village.
 In the early days, when the Indians
 used to come into Schenectady to dispose of their belts in exchange for
 various articles, the principal of which
 was f1rewater, there lived in the town
 young man named Hieleger Van
 Tromp. He was in love with Anneke
 Van Wrinkle, a fine specimen of a
 Dutch girl, who, when wearing all the
 petticoats she possessed, looked very
 much like Il hulAming top.
 Some twenty miles from Schenectady
 the remains of historical mansion that was occupied by Sir William John-
 son. prominent ill colonial times, still
 stand. A fur trader named Martin Smith lived in that region and made | frequent trips to Schenectady in the
 way of business. On one of his trips
 he caught sight of Anneke Van Win
 kle and fell violently in love with her. | A neighbor of Hielegers told him that he had better look out for his sweet heart, for the Englishman was then at her house begging her to go back with him to the Long house, as the residence of Sir William Johnson was called. This is the only recorded case of Hieleger showing any animation. He got up from his chair, dropping his pipe, which was shattered, and triangu- lated to Anneke's house. Smith saw him coming, his eyes afire, and with | discretion withdrew. Hieleger chased | him out of the town, and when the former returned his shirt was bloody. It was supposed that the Dutchman had given the Englishman nothing more than good trouncing until man came in from Johnson's to learn what had become of Smith, for he had come to Schenectady for a day only, and though week had passed he had not returned. The fact that when Hieleger had come back from chasing his would be rival blood was on his clothing was proof to the Dutchmen that he had killed Smith. search was made for the body, but it was not found. But this had little weight for 1t was supposed that the murderer had buried it.
 Hieleger was tried and convicted. The fact that Smith had disappeared after having been chased, that blood was on the shirt of the man who had chased him. was quite enough for those who tried Van Tromp without wasting words over any possible ex- planattOn. The Dutchman of that perl cd was not imaginative or ingenious. What was before his eyes he saw; of what might be behind his back he took no note. That Hieleger had killed the man who sought to take his sweet heart from him they did not doubt. Some were inclined to leniency on ac- count of the provocation, but these were overruled by the wise heads who declared that murder was murder and that was all there was about it. So Hieleger was condemned to be hanged one month from the day on which he was convicted.
 Anneke received the verdict stOlidly At least she appeared to do so, though her face was so fat that it is not prob
 
 appear in her lineaments. Neverthc- less she loved Hieleger, and her. love for him had been much enhanced on seeing him chase away the man who had thrust his attention upon her. She went to her home, sat down in the liv- ing room and, taking up her knitting. began to think, for Anneke could never think unless her fingers were working the needles.
 It would be a mistake to suppose that because Anneke's face was as round as an apple and her little eyes were set above a pair of exuberant cheeks she had no power of thought. She had considerable thinking appara- tus-that is, for those times in the stu Did Dutch town in which she lived And she was not so slow in her thoughts as one would suppose. While she was knitting a pair of stockings she thought out a plan by which she might possibly save her lover from the gallowS. It was not plan that would work in any other age or among any other people. but for them 1t was admi- rably adapted. for the Schenectady burgher was a man accustomed to moving in a single plane. Out of that plane he at once became befogged and could not move at all.
 There was in those days one church in which all the people of Schenectady worshiped. In it's steeple was a clock that furnished them the time. The sun might rise and set irregularly, but the clock went right on just the same In decd, it would have been treason to doubt its accuracy, for 1t was the only calendar in the town. By the hour it marked all things were decided. If a | man promised to pay a sum of money | in thirty days the expiration of the pc | riOd was not marked by the fact that | the sun had risen and set thirty times, l Sut that the hour hand of the clock | Aad noted the passage of thirty days
 The people ill Schenectady were used | in those days to getting up at in the morning. One plorning large num- Der of persons awaking at their usual time were surprised that they remained awake an hour before the clock struck G. But they were slow in comparing notes. and even if they had done so they would not have suspected that there was anything wrong with the dock. They would have attributed the iact that so many of them had lain awake an hour in the morning to 
 The next morning when the people awoke they discovered that the dock Instead of registering 6 or 5, as it had done the morning before, registered 4. This circumstance created q greater dis in the village than anything hat had ever occurred there since the great Indian massacre. It was evident hat the clock had lost considerable ime, for two days before the sun had risen at 6. and now when the cock struck that hour the sun was high in he heavens.