A ledger with fourteen months of entries is found in the cellar of a Reedtal counting…

A ledger with fourteen months of entries is found in the cellar of a Reedtal counting house. The counting house is closed for a week. The entry rests on the report in the Herald of the day, which the Encyclopedia cites; it has no other source.^[1]

Those concerned

• The Crown v. O. R. (prosecution)
• The Ministry of Chronology (actor)
• Otto Ronnfeld (questioned)
• Reedtal (location)

Place

Reedtal (town), Kesselhöh.

Grand Chancellor at the time: Karl Nagel. The Chancellery's roll gives the Grand Chancellor in office on the date.

Background

• 10 April 1987: Over three spring weeks a four-digit number is painted on more than three hundred walls in the Reedside district of Vellmar. The Ministry of Chronology describes it as 'an unlicensed date'.
• 18 June 1984: A page of a soldier's journal, undated but describing grass, is found in a Brennholt bookbinder's stock. It is seized.
• 13 March 1984: A priest at Vellhausen takes down a dying man's account of a long walk east. The priest is transferred.
• 6 February 1983: A clock face at Ostrabruck is found to carry an unlicensed year on its calendar dial. The clockmaker's licence is revoked.
• 11 November 1979: A clock face at Marschau is found to carry an unlicensed year on its calendar dial. The clockmaker's licence is revoked. Among those questioned is a S. Wendl.

The same year at Reedtal

• 10 September 1987: The Ostra rises 40 centimetres above its mark at Reedtal. Cellars in Ostra Street are flooded.
• 29 June 1987: The bells of Reedtal church are recast. They are rung for the first time on Sunday.
• 12 May 1987: A wireless set is installed in the town hall at Reedtal so that the evening bulletin may be heard in public.

Aftermath

• 7 February 1988: The Court of Chronological Offences rules in The Crown v. O. R.: 4 years.
• 20 January 1989: A gravestone at Sudfurt is found to bear a year that does not exist. The stone is replaced at the Ministry's expense.
• 15 February 1991: A licensed printer at Lindenmar surrenders an almanac found in a wall during renovations. The Ministry of Chronology declines to describe its contents.
• 25 January 1994: A priest at Brennholt takes down a dying man's account of a long walk east. The priest is transferred.
• 7 July 1996: A gravestone at Weinwick is found to bear a year that does not exist. The stone is replaced at the Ministry's expense.
• 21 August 1999: A priest at Berging takes down a dying man's account of a long walk east. The priest is transferred.
• 19 December 1999: A licensed printer at Grauburg surrenders an almanac found in a wall during renovations. The Ministry of Chronology declines to describe its contents. Among those questioned is a T. Wendl.
• 2 October 2000: A four-digit number appears overnight on the Vellhausen market cross. It is removed before dawn. Three people are questioned.

References