Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1914 — ACTED AS PENDULUM [ARTICLE]

ACTED AS PENDULUM

SOLDIER’S LIFE SAVED BY HIS* QUICK WIT AND NERVE.

Remarkable Story, Long Current In* North of England, of How Sir John Macdonald Escaped After Disastrous Culloden Battle.

A story is told of an old clock which * may very likely be true, though the* hero of it must have been very slightly built, says the Young Woman. After the fatal day of Culloden, a famous battle in Scotland, the soldiers of the defeated army fled in all directions, and one of them took refuge in a small farmhouse, where he found sympathizing friends. They gave him food in the kitchen, while' some one watched in case he was* pursued. He had finished his meal,, and hoping he had escaped notice, was, just preparing to set off again when there was a cry, “The soldiers are coming!” He attempted to make off by the back way, but it was seen that, the party had divided, and were approaching from both directions. There was a hurried look around for a place of refuge. “Into the clock* with you, lad,” said , the farmer, and. into the long case the fugitive* squeezed. But there was not room: for him and for the pendulum to* swing. “You must pull on the wheelyerself,” said the owner, and the clock responded with a steady tick! tick! “Has Sir John Macdonald passed this way?” demanded the captain, as the troop entered the kitchen, and, hardly waiting for a reply, began a thorough search upstairs and down. They were soon satisfied that he whom they sought was not there. “Well for you, farmer, he’s not,” said the captain grimly. “Give us some food before we start off again. We shan’t lose him in half an hour, as he’s on foot and we ride.” How slowly the seconds seemed to pass while the men ate and drank, till at last the welcome sound of pushed back stools scraping on the . flagged floor told the human pendulum that his task was nearly done. "Good-by, farmer. Your clock warns me we must be off,” and at last the captain marched off with his men. Tick! Tick! Tick! Hardly had the last man gone when the fugitive fell in a dead faint. The strain of keeping the clock going at an even pace had been terrible. He got safely away, but it is said that to his dying day the ticking of a clock in a quiet room made him feel faint