Extraordinary Circumstance.
During the past week the residents in the neighbourhood of Quaker-road have been thrown into a state of much excitement by a very singular and almost unaccountable phenomenon, which has furnished the lovers of the marvelous with food for gossip, and has produced grave suspicions as to the possible recurrence of supernatural events.
In the beginning of last week an aged lady, belonging to the Society of Friends, died, after a brief illness, and was interred in the Quaker’s Cemetery. There were not wanting rumours that the deceased lady had during her life-time expressed a wish to be buried in the Cemetery of the Cathedral Church of St Finn Barr’s, and various speculations were indulged in as to whether the shade of the departed would be satisfied with its present resting place.
On Thursday night, however, the inmates of a cottage adjoining the Quaker’s Cemetery, were alarmed by a violent shower of stones thrown on the roof of their residence, which continued at intervals during the entire night. No reason could be assigned for such a circumstance. The inmates were considered to be the most quiet and inoffensive of mankind, they were universally respected, and were in particular beloved by the poorer portion of the surrounding neighbours, whose distress they had ever been ready to alleviate.
The only explanation offered of the circumstance, at least by the gossip of the neighbourhood, was that the ghost of the deceased lady had resorted to this method of intimating her disapprobation of the locality in which she was interred.
Some persons, however, are sceptical enough to suppose that on examination this ghost could be easily discovered, arrested, and sent for a few months to the treadmill, and for this purpose a party of police from Capwell station were sent for, kept watch there both by night and day. Great excitement was caused through the city by this proceeding; numbers of persons visited the locality and stopped there a considerable time in order to get a sight of the ghost, if it should make its appearance.
The ghost, however, appeared to dislike being attended by so crowded an auditory, and though the stones were thrown twice or thrice during the night, no one could get a glimpse of it, though every eye was eagerly strained for the purpose. The following night, however, one party distinctly states he saw the supernatural visitant. It had taken up a rather inconvenient position, being seated astride upon the chimney of one of the houses in Quaker-road, arrayed in bright scarlet, with a black scarf covering its head. On the following day a girl passing by the cemetery was alarmed by seeing the ghost standing on one of the graves. It had changed its attire, being clothed in white, with long flowing garments, and the frightened observer states the apparition raised its hand and beckoned thrice, as if on the point of speaking.
Next night the stones were again repeated; intense excitement was felt through the neighbourhood, large numbers visited the spot, and others collected on the cemetery of St Finn Barr’s under the impression that the shade of the deceased would proceed there from its present burial place. They were, however, disappointed.
No further appearance was made by the ghost; but repetitions of stone-throwing occur at intervals; and thus the matter rests for the present.
Cork Constitution, 15th September 1853.
A “Rowdy” Ghost.
It is now some years since the good people living in the neighbourhood of our ancient Cathedral were, night after night, disturbed by a pretended ghost throwing stones from the churchyard, over the dead wall, breaking the windows, and, in some instances, striking the passers by. The perpetrator of this outrage was detected, and we really forget how he was punished. The people of Cork are now subjected to a like kind of annoyance, as will be perceived by the following report of the proceedings at the Cork police-office, on Monday: –
(Before the Mayor and Captain White.)
Head Constable Crowley said he had an application to make to the Bench.
Capt. White – I was informed this morning that there was a ghost in the burying ground of the Friends, and that you could not find him. I know there is an immense mob in the streets.
Head Constable Crowley – On Friday some ghost, or rather some one with more substance than a ghost, commenced throwing stones occasionally upon a cottage at the Quakers’ burying ground. This cottage is occupied by a retired captain and his daughter, a gentlemen of the most unoffending habits, as is admitted by all parties. The stone throwing continued on Friday, and on Saturday night up to about 12 o’clock. On Saturday night a number of the police went disguised in plain clothes into various parts to endeavour to discover it, but in consequence of the yards near being enclosed the parties had opportunities of concealing themselves. There are a number of houses running at the back of this place and I took the names of the principal parties living there, with the view of getting them summoned, in order that we might get at the real offender.
The Mayor – Let us have the entire information. What is the absurd belief?
Head Constable Crowley – The lower order of people imagine it is some invisible being is throwing those stones. The excitement had gone to such an extent that the crowd was at one time about to break open the gate.
Mr Julian – They say there was a lady buried there that had some objection to the burying ground. They say she expressed a wish before she was buried to be placed in some other part.
The Mayor – It is a great pity that any respectable family should be annoyed by such scoundrels, wherever they were. I hope the police will be active enough to catch them, and never fear the magistrates will help to put a stop to such disgraceful conduct.
Head Constable Crowley – Indeed a clergyman who was on sick duty, the Rev. Mr Walsh, very kindly went up there to see what he could do for us, but soon after he went away the stones commenced throwing again. I even offered myself some inducement out of my pocket for information, but I could not get it.
The Mayor – I fancy it will be quite in the power of the police and the magistrates to lay that troubled spirit.
The Cork Examiner of Wednesday evening, alluding to the subject says – The mischievous and malicious act has been renewed a couple of times since, much to the annoyance of the residents at the cemetery. The excitment existing in the neighbourhood has in no degree ceased, and the most absurd rumours are in circulation. On last evening nearly 2,000 persons were congregated about St. Finn Barr’s Churchyard, owing it will scarcely be believed, to a story which spread rapidly, that the ghost was to change its quarters to that burying ground. On yesterday Sub-Inspector Walker visited the scene of the stone-throwing with a large posse of police, and it is believed that some clue has been obtained which will lead to the discovery of the perpetrators of this disgraceful trick.
Limerick and Clare Examiner, 17th September 1853.
The “Ghost” Discovered at last.
A girl, named Catherine McCarthy, was next brought up by Constable John Cudmore, representing her to be the extraordinary “ghost” which had created such a sensation at the Quakers’ burial ground. The “ghost” was a rosy young girl, and rather substantial-looking to come from the grave.
Sub-Constable Fitzgibbon, being sworn, stated that, on yesterday evening, about five o’clock, he was on duty up at the Quaker’s Burial-ground, and concealed himself in an old wall for the purpose of keeping a look out for the “ghost;” he had not been long there, however, when he saw this girl come out of Mr Hughes’s yard (with whom she is a servant, and who is living in the gate-house of the Quaker’s Burial-ground) and throw a large stone on the roof of the house, when she immediately disappeared through the back door; he then went in and arrested her.
The Mayor, to prisoner – What is your reason for going on in that manner?
Prisoner – I only threw the stone on the house to see whether it would remain there or come down again.
The Mayor – Now, my girl, it would be far better for you to explain the whole matter to the bench.
Head Constable Crowley – It has been a great annoyance, your worship, to the respectable persons up there.
The Mayor – Is it possible that the people of the house could be ignorant of all this?
Head-Constable Crowley – That is very easily accounted for – the family usually sit in a little parlour in the front of the house, and this girl could play her pranks at the back of it unknown to them.
The Mayor – Well, the best thing we can do, is to remand her.
She was accordingly remanded until Monday.
Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 15th October 1853.
Police Office – Yesterday.
The Capwell Ghost – Further Mystery.
(Before the Mayor and J.N. Murphy, Esq.)
It being understood that the investigation of this mysterious case would be proceeded with at the Police Office this morning, the court was more than usually crowded, and considerable interest was manifested in the proceedings. Mr Wallis appeared on behalf of the Society of Friends to prosecute a young girl named Catherine McCarthy, under the summary jurisdiction act, 14 and 15 Vic. cap. 92, for malicious trespass.
Mr Wallis observed that, as the Bench were probably aware, the burial ground of the Society of Friends was situated near Capwell, and that attached to it was a lodge in which Mr Hughes lived. The girl charged had lived as servant to Mr Hughes for the last six or seven weeks, and a great number of stones, averaging about twenty-fivev a day, had, for the last few weeks, been thrown on the roof and slates of that lodge. The place was altogether enclosed by a very high wall, and at first it was supposed that the stones came from the outside over the wall – various reports got into circulation, and it was thought by many persons, in the humbler classes of society, that it was some supernatural being who was throwing those stones.
The police were placed on the alert, and they did everything they possibly could to try and discover who the perpetrators of those outrages were; every night and during the day a constable or two were placed on watch, but they never could discover any of the parties connected with the matter. It appeared, however, a very strange thing to the police that, while they were inside the house, or on the road no stones were thrown, but the very moment they got inside the lodge the stones came down in numbers; and that induced them to come to the conclusion that it must have been some person or persons who knew when the constabulary were inside, and the time they got into the house who were doing the mischief.
The stones continued to be thrown in; but, strange to say, though the stones were being thrown in every day to the number of twenty or twenty-five, the number of stones in the yard did not appear to increase. Some of the stones thrown in amounted to some fourteen or fifteen pounds weight, and it could be impossible for any man, even of giant strength to heave those stones over a wall so high, and if they had been so thrown by a person who was strong enough they would certainly have gone down through the slates.
All those circumstances induced the belief that some parties were committing those outrages for motives of their own, and suspicion attached to another party whom the society believed had induced some person in the house to act in this manner for the purpose of frightening Mr Hughes out of the dwelling house.
Fitzgibbon, a very active constable, had been for the last fortnight on watch at the grave-yard for the purpose of endeavouring to detect the party whoever it might be, and, on Friday last, about five o’clock, he got on a wall commanding a view of the place by means of a ladder from the outside. The prisoner saw him peeping over the wall, and he then came down and went into the house. He had his suspicions previously of this girl, and he then left the house – she knew that he left it – and went out into the road. The road was situated exactly to the south of the burial ground and the cottage, and the wall he was on the top of was exactly to the west of the house, looking into the yard. After leaving the house the constable immediately ran round the wall to the north side, and came along to the wall on the west; he just got over the wall, and he saw the prisoner run from the coach house door, exactly to the wall side, take a stone up, heave it on the slates, and rush through the other door into the house at once.
Fitzgibbon immediately followed her, and the excuse she gave, on being taken into custody, was that she had the curiosity to know whether the stone would roll down again, but that was answered immediately by the fact that she had not waited, that she had not the cuiosity to wait to see the result, for the very instant that she threw the stone she darted into the kitchen.
In addition to the facts he had stated he would mention one circumstance which he considered very material. The constable was one evening on watch, and, as he was sitting at the kitchen door, looking towards the west wall, and while there he was struck with a stone on the back of the shoulder – that girl was immediately behind him, and she exclaimed – “Oh there’s a stone coming again,” but the constable would tell the Bench that it was impossible a stone could have been thrown from that side towards the house, and it must have been thrown by some person behind him or alongside him.
Several slates had been broken in the roof, considerable injury had been done it, and he then called upon the bench to convict the prisoner under paragraph 8, section 3, of the last summary jurisdiction act, 14 and 15 Vic., chap.92. Though he could not actually prove that the stone the girl threw actually broke a slate, yet, from all the facts he had detailed to them, he asked them as a jury, to infer from all the circumstances, that it must be the same party who threw that stone in so dexterous a manner that was continually throwing those stones before. He might also mention that, since that girl had been arrested, the ghost had disappeared, the stone throwing had ceased.
Under all the circumstances he thought the case of such importance as to warrant the bench in punishing the prisoner to some extent at all events. The great anxiety of the Society of Friends was to try and arrive at the root of the entire transaction, for they were quite certain that there wre other parties in league with that girl. The reason they had at all employed a professional man was to try and sift the matter to the bottom, for they believed the prisoner herself could have no motive to act in that way, as Mr Hughes had been very kind to her, and she had no reason to complain. He was sorry he could not, at present, bring evidence to inculpate any one else; they thought the girl herself, as soon as she had been detected, would put the responsibility of the act on the proper shoulders, but he was very sorry to say that she refused, for if she had done so, the Society would not have pressed for punishment, but, at present, they had no other alternative.
The Mayor – I think the girl ought to take the advice of Mr Wallis, and those whom he represents, to disclose the whole matter and assist in bringing the authors to justice, because it really is a great outrage.
Mr Wallis – I fear it has been put into her head that there is no law by which she could be punished.
The Mayor – She is very wrong in that opinion.
Mr Murphy – The act visits such an offence with a fine of forty shillings, or a month’s imprisonment.
The Mayor – And her character or reputation won’t be much improved by a month in gaol.
Constable Fitzgibbon was then examined, and gave his evidence to the same effect as detailed in the opening statement of Mr Wallis. With reference to the prisoner he stated that he was on the wall of the graveyard on Friday last, endeavouring to detect the authors of the stone throwing, when the prisoner got up on a ladder that was there which was used by the police, and peeped over the wall. On seeing witness she said “Mr Fitz, I was told by a woman you are here for the last two hours, and the stones are still throwing.” She asked witness to go round and see all the big stones that had been thrown, and he had scarcely got out, when he heard a stone fall into the road, thrown over the cottage from the burial ground.
He got on the wall again, and remained there for some time, but no stones were thrown. He then went down to the barrack, and returned to the grave yard at half-past two o’clock; and he was not long there when he heard stones falling on to the slates again. He got up on the wall again, and, about twenty minutes to four o’clock, he heard some little shuffling in the yard, and in a few minutes after he heard two stones flung up from the yard, and lodge upon the slates; he came down then and said, “in his own mind,” he was all right (laughter); returned to the grave yard then about five o’clock, and heard the prisoner walking up and down; she then went into the little wash-house, and come out immediately after, for he kept his eye upon her; witness was at this time on the west wall; saw her come out of the coach-house, and standing at the door near the yard, he saw her take a stone and fling it on the slates, after which she immediately ran in, and she must have been in the kitchen as soon as the stone was upon the slates; came round the back way and got into Douglas street to see the constable, but the constable was out; went up again to the grave yard and arrested the prisoner as she was standing at the door; she got very much alarmed and excited, and she turned in to see Miss Hughes; the stone that she threw weighed from one to two pounds.
The constable here placed three stones on the table, one of which he had weighed, and it was found to weigh 7 1/2 lb., which was stated to be amongst those which had been thrown into the grave yard.
To Mr Gillman – Heard that only one little pebble had been thrown since the girl was arrested.
Mr Hughes, an elderly gentleman, a member of the Society of Friends, was then examined by Mr Wallis, and deposed that he had been residing in the house attached to the grave yard for the last three years. The witness described the stone throwing as stated by Mr Wallis, and said the prisoner had been in his service about three months, but he was in Youghal when the stone throwing first commenced. On arriving up in a gingle from the coach he was astonished to see hundreds of people about his place.
Discovery of the Ghost.
The perpetrator of the mischievous pranks, which have caused so much annoyance and excitement in the neighbourhood of the Friends’ burying ground, has been at last discovered in the person of a servant girl named Catherine McCarthy, who lives in the family of Mr Hughes, the occupant of the gatehouse in the cemetery. Sub-constable Fitzgibbon, who has been long known to the magistrates and the public as a clever and vigilant detective, was set to watch this case and endeavour to make a discovery of the offender.
On Friday evening about five o’clock, as it was beginning to grow dark, he concealed himself in the shadow of a wall, when, after watching patiently for some time, he saw this girl come out of the yard of Mr Hughes’ house, and throw a large stone on the roof in exactly the same manner as those which had given rise to all the superstitious stories in circulation. The girl retired through the back-door of the house but the constable followed her in and immediately arrested her. She was brought before the bench on Saturday, but, on being interrogated as to her reasons for such extraordinary conduct, she only replied evasively, and refused to give any information.
The Mayor recommended the girl for her own sake to give a full explanation of the whole matter, as he was determined to sift to the bottom an outrageous proceeding, that had caused annoyance to a most unoffending, useful and benevolent class of the community, and had given rise to an absurd rumour, which should not have received a moment’s countenance. The girl however gave no further explanation, and was therefore remanded until this morning.
Cork Examiner, 17th October 1853.