Evening star., 1935-04-07

BY RAFAEL SABATINI.
-OR some centuries the figure OF
William Tell, that foremost OF
r Swiss national heroes. has been
conspicuous in the Pantheon OF
History. To this day his image.
shouldering a croSsboW, Is TO be seen
on the Swiss stamps.
There is practically no important
fact of William Tells life with which
we are not acquainted. We learn that
he was born and lived at Burglen. A
chapel dedicated to his memory.
adorned with scenes from his heroic
life, stands upon the site. 1t was built
about 1880. Himself noble, he was
connected by marriage with the patrl-
clan house of AttinghauSen.
He was farming his lands at Burg
len at the dawn of the fourteenth
century, when the nucleus of the Swiss
Confederation was emerging from the
Forest States about Lake Lucerne.
Three of these States-Schwytz Uri
and erwalden-entered into a
solemn league to defend these Tree
communities from the encroachmentS
of the predatory Hapsburgs. In this
league William Tell is a prominent
figure.
An Austrian landvogt or bailiff
named Gessler, presumably suspecting
the existence of this anti-HapSburg
league, hit upon an ingenious device
for discovering the malcontents. He
caused a "cap of maintenance"-a
symbol of authority-to be set up on
a pole in the market place at Altdort.
and demanded that all passers-by
should do reverence to it.
Tell comes along. accompanied by
his little SON. He pays no heed to
the emblem. Challenged, he stoutly
refuses to uncover. He is seized.
Gessler intervenes Out of refine
ment of cruelty, aware of Tells great
reputation as marksman. Gessler
gives him a chance of saving his life.
If from a given distance he can hit
an apple placed on the head OF his
son, he shall go free; but if he fails
both he and his son shall perish.
Tell accepts the condition, having
indeed little choice in the matter.
His arrow unerringly splits the ap-
ple-which must have brought dis
appointment to the tyrant who sat
on his horse, witness of the feat.
Gessler is reluctant to let him go,
He questions him about second ar
row, which Tell had taken from his
quiver and placed ready to his hand
in his belt With the proud. reckless
courage of the hero, Tell avows its
purpose II the first had missed the
apple, the second would certainly
have not missed Gessler's heart.
Taken Away to Die.
Now, that is not the way to speak
to a man invested with deSpotic power.
Gessler orders him bound and brought
along to the Castle of KusSnacht,
where he proposes to give himself the
pleasure of hanging this stubborn
rogue.
They embark in Gessler's barge. so
as to cross the lake to Kussnacht.
A storm springs up. They are in
great danger. Tell Is powerful
fellow, a skilled waterman. He is
unbound and given the tiller. He
brings the boat alongside rocky
promontory. Then. snatching up his
cross bow, which had been carelessly
left within his reach, he leaps ashore,
and in the very act spurns the boat
back among the windswept waves.
On this rocky promontory, known
as Tells Platte, stands a commemo-
rative chapel built at the end of the
fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth
century.
He chambers up the mountainside
while Gessler and his men are left
to struggle with the storm. He makes
his way to the heights above the
Engegasse. the narrow way, or hollow
way, by Kussnacht, there to lie in
wait for the homing Gessler, and
there, eventually, he shoots him dead.
On this spot another commence
rative chapel was built about 1870.
Tells deed Is the immediate cause
of the rising of 1891 against the op-
pressors, in which he plays leading
part.
Again he is prominent in the bat
tie of Morgarten in 1915, which shat
tered the yoke the Austrians sought
to impose upon the Swiss.
Finally his death is placed in 1854.
Heroic to the end. he loses his life in
an attempt to save a child from
drowning in the Schachenbach.
A statue of William Tell stands in
the market place at Altdorf, on the
spot where he shot the apple from
his sons head; it was erected in 1895.
There is another well-known statue
of him in Lugano, and lesser statues
are dotted up and down Switzerland
in honor of this man who for CEN
turies has been an inspiration in
patriotism to the Swiss people.
To his skill with the cross-bow and
his feat of Workmanship at Altdorf
we may attribute the zeal with which
the Swiss have aimed at rendering
themselves a nation of marksmen.
Periodically in Switzerland great
shooting competitions are held, at
tended by competitors from every
country Of Europe. And these un-
doubtedly rest upon the inspiration
derived from the memory of William
Tell, which again they serve to COM
memorate.
Accretions to the Story.
Now, the story of Tells adventures
with Gessler presents many suspicious
features. There Is an opportuneness
about the events and a liberal sea-
soning of coincidence to help out
dramatic situations. We are justi-
fed in suspecting that accretions
have swollen the story. But it is
staggering to find upon investigation
that, in spite of numerous statues
erected ia his memory In spite Of z