The Bell by Edward Heon

From the June, 2005 Leeds Civic Association Newsletter

A wonderful old Bell once hung in the tower of the upper Main Street mill in the Village of Leeds, MA. The Bell called workers to their places for many years. From World War II through the Cold War, it was rung every Saturday noon as the Village’s civil defense warning, taken very seriously by most of the residents – except perhaps for a few “active” teenage boys, affectionately known as the “Leeds Gang”.

During the summer months, The Bell could mysteriously ring at any hour of the night, and traditionally rang in the 4th of July with a loud and long midnight greeting. While never proven, this was generally believed to be the handiwork of the “Leeds Gang”. The Bell was rung by gaining access to the 4th floor hallway of the mill, where The Bell’s rope hung temptingly down through a hole in the ceiling.

One late June evening, circa 1953, the police conducted a meeting on Mulberry Bridge with a group of teens (presumed to include members of the Leeds Gang), and informed the group that there would be no ringing of The Bell on the 3rd of July, or at any other time by the likes of them. “The rope is gone, and the tower locked, so you guys might just as well stay home that night!” What an inviting thing to say!

At 12:01 a.m. July 4th, a miraculous event occurred in the Village of Leeds. A large group of villagers had gathered that evening in the common across from the mill, including representatives of the police, who were undoubtedly there to witness the undoing of the “Leeds Bell Ringers”. But at midnight, to “everyone’s” total amazement, The Bell began ringing in the 4th of July. The police unlocked the building, rushed up to the tower, with the deafening clanging of The Bell shattering their ears–––and no one was up there! The Bell, to the delight of its young friends and most of the villagers, was ringing all by itself!

Many attempts that summer to coerce alleged Leeds Gang members never revealed anything beyond the answer: “It was a miracle”! The mystery was never solved; until almost five decades later, when the grandchildren of one of the alleged Leeds Gang somehow got hold of the story and “went public” with it. 

It goes like this: The Mill River ran directly behind the factory, with a small wooded area across the river. On July 3rd, some of the alleged Leeds Gang members, who worked in the mill, got the janitor’s keys to “get some stock from the 4th floor”. While performing that routine duty, they also unlocked the doorway to the bell tower. A bit later someone entered the tower, tied the end of a small spool of black wire to top of The Bell, and threw the spool down and across the river into the wooded area. Waiting “associates” tied the other end of the wire to a tree. The mechanics were quietly tested, the trick was set, and the tower relocked. At midnight, The Bell was gleefully rung from the woods across the river, with most of the suspected Leeds Gang Bell Ringers watching innocently on the common along with the other villagers.

The Bell is long gone from the tower now, but a few 60+ year-old kids claim they can still hear it ringing in the 4th of July every year.