GHOSTS IN THE LAW COURTS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 254, 25 October 1919, Page 21

GHOSTS IN THE LAW COURTS.

APPARITIONS WHICH HAVE LED TO DISCOVERY OF CRIMES. Although such cases are extremely rare, it ls not altogether unheard-of for evidence of a supernatural nature to he admited in a British Court of Law, although, as ls only to be expected, the most striking examples date back to times of more universal superstltion than obtains to-day, writes Mr. L. C. r Doufhwalte in "Lloyd's News." A curious case of this kind occurred early l in the seventeenth century, when a man J named Harrison was accused of murdering a certain Dr. Clenche. It was alleged that on the pretext that he I I was being taken to a patient, Harrison induced Clenche to enter a coach, In which I ' were two other men. The driver, returning .from an errand, found Clenche strangled i with a tightly knotted handkerchief, and 'i Harrison and his two companions gone. I I Harrison was accused, tried, condemned, , ' I and finally executed for his share In the crime. In view of the sequel, it ls interesting to note that he went to the gallows | bitterly protesting his innocence. [ AMAZING STORY. 1 Some little time after the execution a 1 Mrs. Milward brought an accusation against a man named Cole as being one of the mur- ! i derers of Dr. Clenche, her own husband L ( being indicated as the other. On being 1 j Instructed by Mr. Justice. Dolben to furnish 1 ; the court with the full story, the woman ''said that Milward had confessed the crime 7 on his deathbed, and had indicated Cole as jhis fellow-murderer. Questioned as to why : ' she had allowed so much time to elapse • | before making her story known, she became very confused and Incoherent. Finally, upon being pressed by counsel, Mrs. Milward related a'truly amazing story. She commenced by the admission of at first having had the intention of keeping the confession secret. That intention, how- , ever, her husband would not allow her to keep, his ghost appearing so often that she \ had been driven to her present course. . i Finally, she added, since Cole's arrest she ,j had not been troubled by the apparition. In , j spite, however, of this sensational state- \ - ment, owing to lack of corroborative evl- ' dence, Cole was acquitted. HOW A BODY WAS FOUND. ' In June, 1754, a case was heard in Edin- ' burgh In which the supernatural figured ! largely. The Lord Advocate prosecuted two '■ men named respectively Alexander Me- ' Donald and Duncan Clerk for the murder of ' an English soldier, one Sergeant Arthur Davis, uml robbing him of a purse of gold, n watch, and two rings. The two witnesses j for the prosecution were Alexander McPher- '. son and Donald Farquharson. The former | '. made a statement which for sheer sensa'tionnlisin has rarely been exceeded outside ithe pages of a penny dreadful. He informed the court that he had been visited by a ghost, who said that the supernatural visitation was caused by the apparition mistaking him for Farquharson's ' brother, and added the Information that he was the gliost of Sergeant Davis, the murdered man. On Farquharson asking for the _ names of the murderers the ghost made the - curious reply that the information would have been given hod the direct question not - j been put. McPherson followed the ghost to the door, where It explained to him .where tbe body was concealed. McPherson 'I went to the spot indicated, and found the | • body of the unfortunate soldier hidden in 1 peat moss. He then went to Farquharson ■ and told his tale. And there, for the 1 moment, tho matter rested. GHOST WHO SPOKE GAELIC. ' Shortly nfterwards, however, the ghost again appeared to McPherson, this time In ! a naked condition, nnd Indicated the prl- : soners as being his murderers. Judging by the absence of clothing, the ghost desired the burial of its mortal remains. McPherson went ngnln to Farquharson, and the two set out and interred the body. On being Informed by McPherson as to the ghost's Indication of the identity of the > murderers, Farquharson said he had seen • ! one of the Sergeant's rings on the finger of ■ Clerk's wife. i! Although the two prisoners had for long ! been suspected of the murder, they were : finally acquitted upon what surely must t . be the most amazing Incongruity in the > history of Criminal Law. For, upon being . asked by defending counsel In what ' language the ghost made his communlcai tion, McPherson replied, "In Gaelic." .1 "Pretty good for the ghost of an English ■ sergeant.'' replied counsel, and it was upon I that incident that the prisoners were : acquitted. ! In parenthesis it may be mentioned that ! one, Isobel Macllardle, a servant to ; McPherson, gave evidence that on its • second appearance -he also had seen the , ghost. At York Assizes, In September, 1690, : William Barwick, was tried for the murder :of his wife. The chief witness for the ■ prosecution was one Thomas Lofthouse, brother-in-law to Barwick. This worthy deposed that on Palm Monday, April 14, ' Barwick told him ho had taken his -,-ife to , the house of his uncle, a man named Harrison, at Selby. On Easter Tuesday, April 22, he was engaged In watering his garden, when he : saw "the apparition in the shape of a woman walking beside him." The ghost 1 sat down at last by the side of a pond from 1 , which he was drawing water. She was | 1 j wearing a brown dress nnd a white hood 'similar to that which the dead woman usually wore. Her face was pale and her general nppenrnnce like thnt of his sister. He mentioned the matter to his wife, ' who, with feminine intuition, jumped to the ' conclusion that there had been foul play. 1 , Accordingly the next day she dispatched ''her husband to Harrison's house at Selby, '■ where that good man denied all knowledge of Mrs. Bnrwlck, declaring she had not 1 , been near his house. 'J Considerably startled by the information, 1 i Barwick proceeded to York, where he made ' an affidavit to the Mayor, omitting perhaps ' wisely, all mention of his visitor. I EVIDENCE THAT HANGED. > The following day Barwick confessed to i having drowned his wife in the pond and . to burying her body close by. i The corpse being found, in spite of his ) ingeniously withdrawing his confession at ! the Assizes, Barwick was duly hanged. : In IC3O, two men, named Sharpe and i Walker, were executed at Durham on i evidence founded entirely upon the supernatural. i A fuller named Greame was working in ■ bis mill near Chester-le j Street when he saw the apparition of a woman standing beside , him. She had wounds in her head, and her whole appearance was dishevelled and • bloodstained. She told Greame that her • name was Anne Walker, and she had been i murdered with a collier's pick by her cousin , and a man named Sharpe. She added that her body was concealed in a coal-pit and , the pick hidden under a bank. Again and again this apparition appeared ' to Greame, until at length in desperation he made an affidavit on the matter to a , magistrate. i A search was instituted and the pick-axe : found. Further search revealed the boots ' of Sharpe In a stream where the ghost had told Greame they were hidden. Sharpe and Walker were arrested, tried, ; and upon the evidence given above, were \found guilty and executed. J