The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-09-17
FAMOUS
Bloody Tower Is Open For
Inspection
(London Times)

The public has at last been admitted
to the Bloody Tower Of the Tower of
London at the fee of IL cents a head.
This charge has been wisely imposed,
for the Bloody Tower is so small and
its stairs are so steep and narrow that
anything like crowd might lead to
great discomfort.
The Bloody Tower rises adjacent to
the Wakefield Tower (where the
Crown jewels are kept, at the south
east corner Of the Ballium, or inner
rampant, and Immediately above the
archway that leads from the Traitors
Gate to Tower Green-that archway
under which, for hundreds of years,
every state prisoner must pass. The
present tower dates from the reign of
Edward III.
Entering from Tower Green, the Wis
itor will see on his right hand the
huge old windlass and the portcullis,
still practicable, which 1t let down on
the roadway from the Traitors Gate
and the river bank
But the public will be in no hurry
to get to Raleigh's Walk, for on the
way turn in the stairs will lead them
to the only remaining piece Of first
story floor-the small chamber in
which long tradition maintains that
the young soas of Edward Nv. were
murdered by Tyrrel and his minions
at the instance of King Richard III.
From the tradition Of this deed, per-
haps, came The name Of the Bloody
Tower, which is found first In 1897 or
1898. BY the time of Charles H., in
whose reign the bones of two boys,
found at the foot of the White Tower,
we're buried In Westminster Abbey,
the tradition had become crystalized.
Very probably 1t was in this Bloody
Tower that the Princes were murder
ed; but quite certainly 1t was not in
this little room; for according to the
best expert opinion, there was no up
per floor in the tower till the end of
the reign of Elizabeth or the early
years of James |.
In all this matter of the prisoners
in the tower, indeed, there is very lit
tie evidence to great deal of tradi-
tion. The Bloody Tower is peculiarly
rich in the tradition of eminent pris-
oners. OF Raleigh we have spoken; it
was not In the Bloody Tower but in
the neighboring Summer House that he
wrote his books and concocted his cor
dial; but in the Bloody Tower he
lived with his wife, who, some have
said, gave birth here to a SON. Gran
mer was imprisoned here, as were Lat
liner and Ridley also for time. Here
Henry Percy, eighth Earl of North
cumberland, shot himself. Here Sir
Thomas Overbury died of poison; here
Jay Pelton, the murderer of Bucking'
ham Here came Buckingham's great
enemy, Sir John Eliot, in the first year
of the reign of Charles L., and two
years later he was here again with
| DenXll liOlIeS anu seven QUIET Hleu-
bers of Parliament. Eliot wrote here
his Monarchy of Man. and died hire
in 1852.
| Here Laud lay in prison, while
Prynne. his former victims, came and
rified his papers, and from window
of this tower he blessed Straiford on
his way to execution. Here, in 1862.
Edward Somerset, Marquess of Wor-
cester, watching boiling kettle, for
sa wthe steam engines. Here Judge
Jeffreys, committed to prison the day
after the flight of his master, James
H., died in 1858 of drink, said his enc
mics. and of remorse; and here, In the
same year, lay the seven Bishops. The
last eminent prisoner in the Bloody
Tour was Thistlewood. of the Cato
Street Conspiracy, 1920
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