Sunday morning globe., 1901-08-25
From LOndOn'S FOggy Town by
"Flying Trip"
7. P. OCONNOa'S WRATH.
Living Wrahs and Dead Ghosts Haunting
The House Of Parliament, but Although
They Scare Pooge They Are Not as
Dangerous as Tho Lobbyists In The Halls Of
Congress at Washington
Special correspondence Sunday Globe.

mont. There seems to be no doubt of
It, The fact is confirmed by the testi-
mony Of many Witnesses. Not only
ghosts of dead persons. but wraiths Of
living personages of distinction are
seen in Parliament when their bodies
are known to be far away. 10 is no
new thing for ghosts Go haunt Paria-
ment Thoy have done it since when
first there was a Parliament Some Of
them have histories connected with
royalty, and the appearance Of some of
them fOretells a death i'm the reigning
family What I'm ireland would be
called the royal banshee appeared in or
near Parliament not long before the
Duke of Edinburgh died. and again
shortly before Queen Victoria passed
away The Houses of Parliament have
a highly respectable set of ghosts and
there are plenty OF honorable members
who can teh YOU all about them, and
give you chapter. date and evidence,
too of their appearances, their pecul-
iarues, habits. and customs. such as
would make the flesh Of the young and
superstitious creep uncomfOrtably.
The Queerest part of &c is that there
are two good cases ON record Of the
ghosts of living persons having appear
ed i'm the House of Commons. and one
of them was that of sitting member.
no less distinguished and wellBnown
gentleman than Mr.. r. p. O'ConnOr
An account of this strange appearance
says
"There is any amount of evidence to
substantiaie the appearance of 'T P's'
ghost i'm the spring of 1897 Why it
should choose to appear whilst the hon
orable member still endurcs the earth
ly coil, must be a matter for conjecture
for all but the ghost itself though
thoose learned in the habits of the
spook do say that when the persons
they represent are suffering mental un-
easiness their phantoms are sometimes
seem On this ground there was ample
excuse for the itrusion of the 'T. P.'
wraitn In the House, for it actually en-
tered the halloWed precincts and cat it,
self down on the third bench on the oB,
position side below the gangway where
Mr.. Connor usually sits A telegram
had previously called the gentleman
himself to Ireland to the bedside Of
mis- dying father A friend of his, Mr.
j. G.. Swift McNeill NJ. p, was not
aware of this fact and was as positive
as he could be that he saw him sitting
i'm his usual place Others who know
IT, P' well We're equally certain
The other ghost of a living person is
that of the wifi Of one of the officials
of the House of Commons, and this par
ticular wrath made its appearance
even more recently Many Of his
friends and acquaintances declare most
positively theat they saw IT, The lady
resides within the precincts of the
House and one night the handle of her
bedroom door was quietly turned and
the door was thrown aiar That of it.
self seemed nothing, and the lady sim
ply closed the door again; but a few
minutes later it was opened i'm the
same way. There was no one about
and, a little puzzled she rang the bel
for the butler When this latter indl-
yidual saw her he had alright, for he
declared emphatically that he had
passed the lady herself i'm the corridor
Just before answering the summons.
lie had no doubt OF it, and others, too.
had seen the lady where she certainl'
was not There was the mystery and
there the ghost
Some people fancy this was not
new wrath at all. but was q revival
Oh ANt W a. NN iHANg ahhnlf MHANh
haunted the House of Commons for
period OF 80 or 40 years ago This
was the figure of q lady clad I'm robes
of white. and 1t trailed along the cor
ridors i'm different parts of the House
night after night and was seen by
scores Of people.
Another female Parliamentary gho
was the Terrace Ghost which has
not been seen for 20 years or more,
but which used to be a fairly constant
visitor to the terrace on nasty foggy
nights. Ii had a distinct preference
for bad weather, and such was its
reality that one night I'm 1913 an at
tendant was almost frightened ont Of
us life on seeing it, It's attire was
always wet and dripping, as if it had
risen from the river, and 10 was it's
habit to walk slowly along the whole
length OF the terrace, and then at the
end to gaze mp with a look Of anguish
at the big building. Then II gave
vent to terrifying scream and
forthwith cgst itself into the river
ana was lost to view This Is a
ghost story which suggests a roman e
with some NJ. p implicated. o..
There As another Parliamentary
ghost which apparently resides i'm the
river. and this As the Big Ben ghost.
which Is a spectral gentlemean of
very bad omen. Almost a score Of
persons arc ready to swear they have
seen it, and that not very long ago.
Where the omen comes I'm is that
when it appears q member of the roy
al family has invariably died ON the
following day. The Big Ben ghost
II. aHHn
IN nster Ga December 10, 1861. Decem-
Der 13, 1878, and January l3, 1892
please note the days of the month
and on the following days respectively
the country mOurned the death Of the
Prince Consort, Princess Alice and
the Duke Of Clarence The last APP
peurance was on the day before
Queen Victorla's death.
This ghost is an oarsman, for it
~0mes as q bent old man I'm a rotten
old skin, which glides along from
he Surrey side of the river a little
0elow Westminster bridge, shoots the
hird arch and then dashes into the
terrace wall Of the House at the i'm
slant that Big Ben, the Parliament
clock bell, clangs the trst Of his mid
night strokes Nothing more is seen
OF H. The last time it accomplished
this performance q river police boat
saw IT, challenged IT, and getting no
response. gave chase; but the ghosts
vanishing trick was too much for the
officers. who nearly upset their boat
through going headlong into the ter
race themselves. What is one TO
think when It is gravely stated that
constable who was on duty on the
terrace at the time saw the whole
thing and reported Il TO Scotland
Ward detective headuuarters2