A City of London Poltergeist.
The following curious narrative giving an account of disturbances occurring in 1901 upon certain business premises in the heart of the city of London seems worthy of permanent record. The writer was Mr Lister Drummond, who at that date was practising as a barrister, but who in 1913 became a Metropolitan Police Magistrate. He died in 1916, but his memory is still an inspiration to many of his contemporaries, for his character was one which by his geniality, integrity and devotion to every charitable cause, impressed itself upon all who came into contact with him. A convert to the Catholic Church in 1875 at the age of nineteen, he was conspicuous for his earnest and practical piety, a piety, however, which pre-eminently spelt good works and had nothing in it of emotional extravagance. A short sketch of the life of this model Catholic has been written by His Honour, Mr Robert Noble, till recently Acting Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands, and is published as a pamphlet, now in its second edition, by the Catholic Truth Society.
As the character of the witness is of vital importance in all questions of evidence, it may be well to borrow from Mr Noble’s brief account an appreciation or two penned by Drummond’s non-Catholic friends. Mr Walter Sichel, the author, whose well-known biographies of Bolingbroke and Sheridan leave the impression of a rather cynical outlook upon humanity at large, after Drummond’s death wrote of him as follows:
“I think that of all men that I have ever met, Lister Drummond most recommended goodness, for he made it lovely and lovable. .. You came away from him not only better, but happier. There was a natural shrewdness in all his simplicity. Twice I had the pleasure of sitting next to him in his court, and his conduct of the varied cases before him was wonderful, so quick, so inseeing, so firm, yet so merciful… Hypocrisy was his abhorrence, and he had an instinct for the class of character before him, and an intuition into motive or situation. He was the right man in the right place, doing not only justice, but good, and bringing unusual gifts to assist and relieve his functions.”
Not less warmly sympathetic was the tribute paid to his former colleague by Sir Charles Biron, now the doyen of London Police Magistrates.
“For all Drummond’s friends [he writes] something of the sunshine of life seemed to go with him. After a full and varied life, which meant so much to many, to be missed by all may be a better record than many a one of more material triumph… At one time I shared a room with him. It was a wonderful tonic to have, as it were on tap, this radiant ally, always cheerful, always sympathetic.* “
(*Of course these appreciations of Lister Drummond’s high character which have been printed in Justice Noble’s pamphlet do not connect the writers in any way with the story which follows, or suggest that they had any knowledge of it.)
Other friends tell of his simplicity of heart, of his frankness of speech, of “his wisdom that was never cynical, and a deep experience of life where disillusionment caused no despondency”; while Mr Theobald Mathew, the able and witty counsel who shared his legal chambers, informs us how “he certainly communicated to others both his holiness and his joy.” It can hardly be too much to say of such a man that deception was impossible to him. His word must be trusted as an absolutely faithful witness to his thought, neither is it easy to suppose that a man of his legal experience could readily be imposed upon by clumsy trickery. And in any case his own character was in some degree a guarantee of the character of those whom he called his friends. This much premised for the benefit of those who may not have enjoyed the privilege of Lister Drummond’s personal acquaintance, I leave his narrative to speak for itself.
Account of Certain Phenomena Witnessed By Me at the Offices of the *
*the name of the business firm in question is given in the manuscript before me, but readers will readily understand that I have no right to make it public without permission. I am indebted for the communication of the manuscript to the kindness of Father Charles Beuclerk, S.J., who has had this copy in his possession for many years. An endorsement, “By me, Lister Drummond, June 27, 1901,” may, or may not, indicate the date at which the narrative was drawn up. It possibly refers only to the making of a copy.
Jan. 27th, 1901. After luncheon at the Mathews’ I was on my way to Vespers at the Oratory, when I was accosted by a gentleman who said he wanted to speak to me on an important matter which would perhaps take too long to explain there. He suggested that he should come and see me. I said that I had a quarter of an hour then and perhaps he could give me an outline of wwhat he wished to say. He then told me that he had heard I had some experience in investigating supernatural phenomena (a mistake on his part) and he wanted my assistance in elucidating certain extraordinary occurrences which for the past eighteen months had greatly disturbed him in the Office of the …. , where he was employed as Registrar. He had been in the employment of the Company for a considerable number of years and had been fifteen years a Catholic.
He complained that at intervals, which had latterly become more frequent, articles of office furniture, such as the tops of ink bottles, rulers, blotting pads, etc., had been thrown violently about the office, apparently through no human agency, in the day time and in his presence and in that of his fellow clerks. Chairs had been overthorwn, coal and asbestos scattered about and the fender in the outer office had been dragged out at an angle of forty-five degrees. On the previous Friday a bottle of oil, used for the copying press, with a narrow neck down which a sixpence could not be dropped, was found to contain a French (Empire) penny. It was seen by all the clerks and placed in a cupboard under the counter and locked up. On one of the clerks, who had been out when the discovery was made, expressing a wish to see the bottle, Steward unlocked the cupboard and took out the bottle. The penny had disappeared. While he was in the room occupied by Stoer, the accountant, who was examining the bottle with him, small missiles – pieces of plaster, etc., – were thrown at them from the ceiling in the corner of the room. He also stated that at a recent date an old iron screw was flung at them in the office, and just before leaving he and two other clerks placed it upon the mantlepiece in the outer office. They then left, locking the office doors behind them. Just as they were descending the stone public staircase, something was thrown after them: it was the screw.
He also complained of the swing door, leading from the outer to the inner office, being on several occasions violently opened and swung backwards and forwards. He stated that Stoer had seen the glass door of the Secretary’s room, softly open and close when he (Stoer) was the only person in the office. I promised to call and see him at the office on the following day.
Jan. 28th. Went with Keane at about 5 p.m. to the… …. Offices; was introduced to Stoer (accountant), Sharpe, Knapp, Coulson and Wedrell. They corroborated what Steward had told me on previous day. They produced a tray full of odds and ends, such as pieces of sealing wax, silver-paper pellets, part of a metal lizard that formerly was on a marble ball used as a letter weight belonging to Steward, and which had been mysteriously smashed to pieces and the ball broken in half some time before. They asserted that these were articles, from time to time thrown at them or about the room, by some unknown agency. They all professed to be entirely ignorant of the cause of the phenomena. On all the clerks, except Steward, leaving the office, Keane and I made a careful examination of the office and cupboard under the counter, but could find nothing abnormal in any way whatever. After the clerks left we placed the tray with the various articles which had been shown to us by the clerks, a bottle of oil, and some other things including the two halves of the marble letter weight, which we called for short the “discs,” in the cupboard, and sealed it with red tape in such a way that the cupboard could be opened wide enough for anyone to see what was in it, but not wide enough for it to be possible to take anything out of it. Steward then locked the cupboard and we left the office.
Jan 30th. Came to the office early, in response to a postcard from Steward. He stated that on the previous day, early in the afternoon one of the “discs” we had placed in the cupboard, had come down in front of his desk, apparently from the ceiling. On this happening, he and the other clerks looked into the cupboard which was still sealed. They saw that all the articles, which had been in the tray and scattered about the cupboard shelf. The bottle of oil, which had been placed by me in a standing position, was lying on its side, filled with apparently some inky substance, and both “discs” were gone. The cupboard was left sealed up and remained so till I arrived. In the afternoon, in the company of Keane, I broke the seals. The cupboard was entirely empty, tray, the articles it originally contained, bottle of oil and “discs” had disappeared. After the departure of all the clerks except Steward, he and Keane and I collected various articles with a view to sealing them up in the cupboard again. We placed in the cupboard, amongst other things, the top of an ink bottle and a quarter pound tin of snuff. On proposing to place the latter in the cupboard, Steward opened the tin, and had considerable difficulty in doing so owing to the top being so tightly fixed. On opening it and seeing it contained snuff, Steward put the top firmly on the tin again, and placed the tin in the cupboard. We then endeavoured to find a bottle of oil or other liquid to place in the cupboard.
While we were searching for such an article, the cupboard door being wide open, we heard a sharp ring of something falling, and on looking in the cupboard we found the top of the tin of snuff lying by the side of the tin. We replaced the top, locked the cupboard and sealed it closely, it being impossible to open the door in the slightest degree without breaking the seals.
Jan. 31st.
https://archive.org/details/sim_month_1932-06_159_816/page/509/mode/1up?q=thurston+poltergeist