The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
GHOST CAUSES HUNT FOR MISSING WILL London Woman Searches
 Lancashire Village REVEALED AT STANCE Spirit of Wife of Puritan John Brad ley Speaks to Mrs. Anderson.
 Gives Description of Bradley
 Fold and Landmarks

London, October 26,-(Special.)-
 Down in the heart of Lancashire. lit-
 tie. old world village Is in flutter A
 woman from London is there hunting,
 with the aid of local volunteers, for
 will which was hiden over 250 years Q go and which she believes when found will prove her to be the heir to for tune of several hundred thousand dol-
 lars which is now in chancery.
 She is doing this, she says. at the request of ghost, a restless ghost
 which got into communication with her
 at the first spirtualistic seance she ever attended in her life and told her
 that it knew where the long lost will
 of old John Bradley, a rich farmer of
 Cromwell's time whose lineal descend
 ant she claims to be, is buried. This
 woman is Mrs. James Anderson, whose
 home is in Kunnersbury. one of the
 suburbs of London. The spirit who
 claimed to know of the whereabouts of
 the missing will described itself as that
 of John Bradleys wife. the only per son he told where he had hidden his
 last testament.
 | Mrs. Anderson is not spiritualist, She attended the seance at the invita-
 ton of friend. This was in August | last, and hardly was the seance in full
 swing before the medium announced
 that a spirit wanted to communicate | with Mrs. Anderson. as it could get no | rest until a great wrong had been put
 right. Then it revealed its identity as
 the wife of John Bradley the wealthy | Lancashire farmer, and told about the will that is supposed to be buried at Bradley Fold, a town which is three
 miles from Bolton and takes it's name
 from, John Bradley, who lived there and l owned all the land for miles around. | Bradley was in his prime when the Roundheads and Cavaliers were at each l others throats. and was as stern, un- compromising a Puritan as Cromwell himself. He was famous for his tac-
 iturnity rarely speaking to anybody
 but his wife and, in his old age, is said | seldom to have spoken to her. When he drew up his will disposing of his
 vast property he hid 1t and local legend
 declares that he told the secret of it's hiding place to no one but Mistress
 Bradley. He made her promise solemn | ly. moreover, not to tell anyone-not
 even the other members of his family
 where the will was secreted. until he l was dead.
 | A few months afterward he died and
 ell the rest of his kindred expected the
 widow to produce the missing will forthwith, but the old lady disappointed them. With e sternness equal to Brad l ley's own she refused to tell where | his last testament was buried and after
 many family squabbles and many fu- | tile searches for the will on the part l of the wrathful relatives, the latter gave it up and scattered to different | parts of the country. The widow prom l lsed that she would reveal the secret when she was dying and not before Then suddenly. says the legend, she was stricken with paralysis, and thus the only one who held the secret was dumb.
 | Since her death faint echoes of the
 story have passed down from grand father to grandson in the district but
 the mystery of John Bradleys will al
 most had been forgotten there when it
 was recalled in dramatic fashion by the arrival of Mrs Anderson from London The latter says that for years she has had papers in her possession which prove her to be a lineal descendant ot John Bradley, but declares that the Idea of searching for his will never entered her head until 1t was put there by the spirit of Mistress Bradley. Mrs. Anderson did not take the first Spirit message" seriously, however; Tn fact she soon forgot all about 1t. Then, a few weeks back. she went to an- other seance. The restless shade of Mistress Bradley turned up again and cnce more besought her kinswoman to hunt for the will. this time giving 2 Ideecription of Bradley Fold and cer- tain landmarks that would help In .