five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th
The men took the body on their shoulders and bore him to a barrow . The father walked before it bare-headed and pale , his eyes bathed in tears ; and to all who questioned him about this strange procession , carrying a dead man through the town without a priest , replied : `` It is my son , Councillor Fischer , whom the Prussians have killed . '' And thus the news spread over Frankfort . At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th , as the general had said , he sent to the bank a squad of eight men under the command of a sergeant-major , accompanied by two men with wheel-barrows for the seven million florins . His notion of the weight of the coin , which in gold would amount to more than fifty tons , must have been a curious one . Seeing his men return without the money , General Falkenstein declared that if it were not forthcoming the next day he would permit pillage and bombardment . Meanwhile the members Bernus and Speltz were arrested and conducted to the guard-room , when , having left them in view behind the bars for two hours to convince every one of his power over the town authorities , he sent them off to Cologne with four soldiers and a letter for the governor .