DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70303#0096
'IS- THE- HAMMERSMITH GHOSTS',
Being* dark, this person was soon out of sight.—Girdler
followed* but. saw nothing.—He therefore went to the
White Hart, and inquired if any strange person was just
come in there.—While Girdler was going by, the pre-
tended ghost, it is supposed, hid himself behind Mr. Hill’s
house ; but leaving the spot in Girdler’s absence, he was
seen by some of Mr. Hili’s family, who observed a corner
of the cloth hanging below his coat.
While lie stood near the pump, he was also seen by a
Mrs. Steward, and her servant, at No. 4, Teresa Terrace,
who -were much alarmed, till it was generally known, next
day, that the pretended ghost was an impostor. This last
appearance caused much discussion ; and as it was a
species of imposition that had then been put in practice
three times successively, with very short intervals, it may
be admitted, as a very powerful incentive to that provoca-
tion, which Smith, as well as others, may be supposed to
have felt on the occasion; and which, no doubt, prompted
him to the commission of that rash act, which terminated
in the death of an inoffensive man, totally unconnected
with any impostor whatever.
A day or two after Smith was committed to prison, one
John Graham* a shoemaker, who resides in Dorvell’s-row, to
his shame, confessed that he was the person, who, in the
last instance, on the;2.9th of December, had dressed him-
self in a sheet, as he said, to terrify his apprentice, who
had been in the habit of scratching the walls of. the house,
and otherwise teazing his master’s children upon the sub-
ject of ghosts and apparitions.
A young woman, named Sarah Francis, servant to Mrs.
Brookes, of Westcroft-place, being at Graham’s house,
lie judged it to be a good opportunity to put his plan in
execution. Sending the boy home with her, with an in-
tent to meet him as he came back, in his supernatural
capacity;.
Being* dark, this person was soon out of sight.—Girdler
followed* but. saw nothing.—He therefore went to the
White Hart, and inquired if any strange person was just
come in there.—While Girdler was going by, the pre-
tended ghost, it is supposed, hid himself behind Mr. Hill’s
house ; but leaving the spot in Girdler’s absence, he was
seen by some of Mr. Hili’s family, who observed a corner
of the cloth hanging below his coat.
While lie stood near the pump, he was also seen by a
Mrs. Steward, and her servant, at No. 4, Teresa Terrace,
who -were much alarmed, till it was generally known, next
day, that the pretended ghost was an impostor. This last
appearance caused much discussion ; and as it was a
species of imposition that had then been put in practice
three times successively, with very short intervals, it may
be admitted, as a very powerful incentive to that provoca-
tion, which Smith, as well as others, may be supposed to
have felt on the occasion; and which, no doubt, prompted
him to the commission of that rash act, which terminated
in the death of an inoffensive man, totally unconnected
with any impostor whatever.
A day or two after Smith was committed to prison, one
John Graham* a shoemaker, who resides in Dorvell’s-row, to
his shame, confessed that he was the person, who, in the
last instance, on the;2.9th of December, had dressed him-
self in a sheet, as he said, to terrify his apprentice, who
had been in the habit of scratching the walls of. the house,
and otherwise teazing his master’s children upon the sub-
ject of ghosts and apparitions.
A young woman, named Sarah Francis, servant to Mrs.
Brookes, of Westcroft-place, being at Graham’s house,
lie judged it to be a good opportunity to put his plan in
execution. Sending the boy home with her, with an in-
tent to meet him as he came back, in his supernatural
capacity;.