The North-Carolinian., 1850-11-16

fathers house, the apparition of a woman,
surrounded by a blazing light. The girl,
on being questioned as to whom the appari
ton resembled. said it was like Mrs Kent,
who had formerly been a Iodger there. and
had died Of the smallpox since her removal.
| The next step was to throw out mysterious
hints that Mrs Kent bad been murdered.
These rumoIs were soon spread abroad,
and the credulOus and the curious rushed
with headlong haste TO witness the new
marvels. The knockings and seratchings
had by this time become exceedingly vio-
lent. 1t was now sagely resolved that
several gentlemen, among whom clergy
man acted prominent part, should sit up
by the bed d-side of Miss Parsons, to qucs-
tion the supposed ghost. AS the ghost,
it was imag med. might be dumb. or have
forgotten its native tongue, the clergyman
settled that it should reply by knocks !;
one knock being an affirmative answer.
and two knocks Il negative. This arrange
ment having been made, the ghost was
interrogated, and it replied. and the spirit
of a woman named Kent, who had been
poisoned.
AS some persons suspected imposture,
the s,rl was removed from her home, aud
was successively put to bed at several
houses the number Of watchers was in-
creased to nearly twenty. several Of whom
were clergymen and ladies'. Still the
kuockings and scfatchings were continued,
and the same answers rs before were made
to questions. At length, on being press
ed to give some proof Of its veracity, the
ghost consented to attend one Uf the gen.
buried, and manifest its presence by knock
upon the coffin.
When the appointed hour arrived, "the
spirit was very seriously advertiscd, that
the person to whom the romlse was made
Of striking the coffin. was then about to vi
sit the vault, and that the performance Of
the promise was then claimed The COM
pany, at one, vent into the church, and
the gentleman to whom the promise was
made, went, with one more. into the vault.
The spirit was sulcmnly required to per-
form its promise, but nothing more than
silence snsss.>eet+44 nsss.eet+44=-, Jhe-peraon supposed to
be accused by the ghost then went down,
with several others, but no effect was per-
eeived. Upon their return they examined
the girl, but could draw no confession from
her. Between two and three she desired,
and was permitted, to 90 home with her
father.o
This want Of punctuality in the ghost
gave a fatal blow to- its reputation. Even
the besottcd Of the believers were stagger-
ed by it. a fIimsy attempt was therefore
made to restore the ghosts credit, by as.
serting that the coiiin and corpse had been
removed, which, Of course, had prevented
the spirit from giving the signal; but on
examination they were found to be safe in
the vault. Stricter precautions were now
taken to guard against deception being
practsed by the girl her bed was slung
like hammock, in the middle ofthe room,
and she was closely watched. Driven
to her last shifts, she cOntrived to secretc,
but not unseen, a bit Of board previously
to her being put to bed, and having, as she
thought. secured the necessary materials
declare that she would bring the ghost at
accordingly began to make the accustomed
sounds, and, OH being asked if she had in
the bed any wood to strike upon, she posi-
tivelv denied the fact. The bed-clothes
were then opened, the board was found,
and this simple process annihilated the
Cock Lane Ghost.
Mr. Kent, the accused person, had, in
the mean while. proved his innocence, by
certificates from the physician and apothe-
cary who attended upon the deceased fe-
male. The base attack upon his character
appears to have been prompted by revenge.
While lodging with Parsons he had lent
him some money, which, alter much for
bearahce, he was compelled to recover by
a suit at law. The malignant offender,
however, did not escape punishment he,
~ith others who had lent themselves TO
his imposture, being ultimately brought to
trial, and found guilty of a conspiracy.
In 1873. the Stockwell ghost, as it was
spread terror in the village
from whence it derived its name, and was
for some time subject Of general conver-
alton and wOnderment. Its prauks have
been described in Sir Walter Scott's
amusing "Lettrrs on Oemonoiosy and
and consequently it is un-
necessary to dwell upon them here.
For long peroc after this. it would
seem, that ghosts were out Of fashion, or
had become averse to exhibiting before
and were determined to con-
line their efforts to the soaring Of country
pumpkins.
IMPORTANT REsoLUTIoN.-Just before
the adjournment Of the Convention OF Nir-
ginia, Mr. Floyd, of Wythe. introduced
the following Resolution, which will be
acted on when the Convention reasscmbles
in January:
..Mr Floyd offered resolution TO the
effect that the power should be conferred
m the LEGISLATURE, to pass law discrimi-