| Huť 46826 |
The road from Dolní Černá Studnice to the glass-making village of Huť is fraught with never-ending hairpin bends. Just before the first right-hand bend an old forest track branches off to the left, a track which leads to the second forest (Siřišťov) glassworks. The road, which was rebuilt during WWI to its present-day condition was previously known as Brückelweg (the bridge road), apparently due to the large number of wooden bridges constructed to carry it over the many bogs and streams in its way. Today it is known as Prostřední Beranská (the Middle Ram) Road. A few hundred metres along the road on the left, on the edge of the 583rd forestry division of the Velké Hamry Forest lies the Mordýř (Murderer’s) Fountain. It is an ancient water source, dating back at least to the second Siřišťov glassworks.
In short, the legend is as follows: in the second half of the 17th century below Šumburk in Huť there was a glassworks belonging to the Schürer family of Waldheim, owners of the glassworks in Mšeno. The glassworks were managed by the foreman, an able and conscientious man called Schubert. His daughter, the clever and pretty Kate, was more than interested in Jindřich Vantner, a young worker from the Mšeno glassworks. On pay days Jindřich, a reliable and trustworthy young man, was often charged with taking the money to Huť. One day, however, this journey proved to be his last. After waiting long for the boy to arrive the workers from Siřišťov found him nearby the fountain brutally murdered. Later, one of the glassworkers hanged himself, and on his person Jindřich’s purse was found with the rest of the money. The story goes that the image of the killer appears from time to time in the stones at the bottom of the fountain. The fountain at the Middle Ram forest track has been called the Murderer’s fountain ever since.