STREET BATTLE WITH 'GHOST'

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 305, 26 December 1928, Page 11

STREET BATTLE WITH 'GHOST'

JOKER KNOCKED OUT BY

TRUNCHEON.

Fearful whispers have been going round for some time among the citizens of Alcoy, Spain, and the inhabitants of one" of the most respectable streets in the town have not dared to venture forth after dark for fear of meeting a phantom figure which has been seen by many flitting noiselessly amid the shadows.

Some believed that it was the ghost of ft young man who died a short time ago come back to han'nt his faithless sweetheart, who had got engaged to a rival after his death.

A policeman and a friend sallied forth at night to patrol the haunted street. As they were making their way cautiously from doorway to doorway thev caught sight of a ghostly figure draped in a white sheet cowering in a dark archway.

The policeman drew his truncheon nnd advanced to the attack, whereupon the "ghost" produced a long stick from the folds of his shroud and prepared to give battle.

The constable and his friend closed with their "supernatural'" foe. and a fierce fight followed, in which the *'ghost"' was eventually knocked out by • smart crack over the head.

He was so badly damaged that he had to be taken to hospital, where it was revealed that he was really a stalwart young butcher who hah amused himself by playing this practical joke on his .fellow-citizens.