Autopsy on Sir George Douglas, A.D. 1636.

ON 12 March 1636, the inhabitants of the town of Demmin in Pomerania were astonished to hear the bells of Saint Bartholomew's Church ringing out. Their astonishment was due to the fact that it was not a Sunday when the church services took place but a Saturday and the time was eight-thirty in the evening when most good people were abed. As the bells continued to ring loud and strong, the governor of the town Colonel Cunningham, summoned the three burgomasters to find out from them the cause of this unusual occurrence, and when they could offer no explanation, he suspected that a traitor was giving a signal to enemies outside the town. He immediately ordered the guard to be increased and sent men with lights to climb up to the belfry of the church and find out if someone was hidden there. To their surprise, the soldiers found the bells hanging motionless in the steeple and giving out no sound, yet for more than one hour and a half the people in the town continued to hear the peals of bells until they stopped suddenly at the third stroke of ten o'clock. This unusual occurrence impressed the citizens and authorities so much that on 28th of the same month, the Burgomaster and Council drew up a declaration describing all the details of the incident and signed it with their seal. By that time, another incident (which will now be described), had happened in their town, and they realized that it was a portent of the death of a man in high position. Whilst the bells were ringing at Demmin, Sir George Douglas, Charles I's ambassador to the court of Poland,2 was staying with Francis Rithwein, the governor of Anklam, a few miles distant. Sir George had been, for some years, a most successful diplomat in Poland, and among his many achievements he had managed to secure cessation of the war between Sweden and Poland. As a result, he stood in high favour with Sigismund III, the Polish king, whose interests he had fostered. Suddenly, however, and for no apparent reason, Sigismund, who had previously described Douglas as his closest friend amongst the ambassadors, attributed all the credit for the truce to the French ambassador, and shortly afterwards for some offence not specified, caused Douglas to be recalled to his own country. At the very time the bells were ringing …