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This San Jose fire bell was placed into service in 1891--designated a memorial to San Jose firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty.

In 1994, the bell was surreptitiously moved from its place of honor in Plaza de Cesar E. Chavez and moved to St. James Park (next to the Replica Fountain). The bell was moved to make room for the Aztec snake-god Quetzalcoatl--a God sated by countless human sacrifices.

2001 Update: The bell has moved again, to Fire Station #1 on North Market Street. This seems a fitting resting place for the bell. Flowers were strewn over the base after the Sep 11 attack on America.

Rape of the Bell
Dale Warner eloquently tells the story:
"One night, at the direction of Mayor Hammer, city staff cut down the century-old native oak tree at the south end of Plaza Park and uprooted The Liberty Bell, and transported it to St. James Park - the boneyard park for unwanted monuments in San Jose."

"I remember this well because my route to work took me past that intersection that morning, and I can still remember the violence I saw after the midnight rape of The Liberty Bell. There was sawdust steaming in the cold morning air and the raw tree stump was still trickling sap. All this on the morning after the midnight destruction of the century-old native oak tree, and the hijacking and removal of the Liberty Bell from its place of honor and dignity."

"And who can blame Mayor Hammer for doing all this in secret? Had her plan leaked out to the public, as did her plan to rip the Baby Jesus figure out of Plaza Park, there would have been an uproar and she would have been thwarted in her illegal scheme."
Dale Warner

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