Two Yorkshire Stories

Two Yorkshire Stories The Murdered Groom—The Banker’s Footsteps By Jessie Middleton

These incidents were communicated to me by a lady living in Yorkshire: “In the early part of the last century a man was murdered in an upper room over some old stables in a field near my home in Yorkshire. These buildings, which were sadly in need of repair, were seldom used except in case of emergency, as, for instance, for the horses of visitors who had driven over from a distance and were staying at least a night. “However, a certain groom named Jack Simmons liked to sleep over the stables in the lonely paddock. He preferred doing this to living with the other men at the house, probably because he was above his position and was fond of reading. “One morning Simmons asked his master for a fortnight’s holiday, and on obtaining it went away, but at the end of the fortnight he did not return. His master, however, managed without him for another month, and then his place had to be filled. “The new man was told that if he preferred he too could use the two rooms over the paddock stables. However, when the rooms were visited the outer door was found to be locked, and on breaking it open Jack Simmons’ murdered body was discovered. “At the inquest three or four people swore that they had seen Simmons in the distance quite lately go in at the paddock gates and about his work as usual. “At the time when he was supposed to be away, and always the hour given was somewhere between eight and eight-thirty, one man said he saw Jack and hastened after him, as he wished to speak to him; but when he got to the corner gate the groom was nowhere to be seen. When asked by the coroner why he did not follow Simmons up the paddock to the stables, he replied that unless he had raced across the field he could not possibly have caught him up, and besides, he had felt a ‘creepy sensation’ all over him the last three times when the groom passed. Asked how he was sure of his man be replied, ‘I should know him among a hundred.’ “Since that time the house in question has been said to be haunted by a ghost, which always walked in November. “One night in the early part of the winter some little time before Christmas, and about eight o’clock in the evening, I was going to visit a relative and had to pass the house, round which was a very deep plantation. Although the leaves were off the trees they were so thickly planted that, even when it was a bright moonlight night, the corner where one turned to go up the hill was perfectly dark; and there was a high wall on the other side. I was walking quickly when I saw a man wearing a felt hat not far in front of me. I felt surprised at the moment, as there was a thick hedge on each side of the road, but I thought that as I was hurrying I had caught him up. “As he seemed to be a stranger in the neighbourhood, I thought I would walk slowly and let him go up the bill, and I would wait until he came into the bright moonlight again at the top and see what he was like. When I got part of the way up I was surprised that he did not arrive at the top, so I waited a while. Still he did not come into the moonlight. I thought, ‘I can’t wait here all night,’ and went on. “When I got to the top and passed the gate there was no man to be seen. Just then a friend of ours who was returning from the Wednesday evening service at the church came

up and said, ‘Who are you looking for?’ So I told him all about it. He said, ‘Why, you must have seen Jack Simmons’ ghost!’ He told me the story of the ghost, and added that his father was at the inquest, and was one of the men who had said he would not swear to it, but be felt sure he had seen the man within the last month. No doubt, my friend said, his father had seen the ghost of Jack. “Although from my childhood I had always heard that the hill was haunted, I should not have given the matter a second thought had I not met my friend, for the figure was so absolutely real and unghostlike.” *** “Many years ago in a town in Yorkshire there was trouble at a certain bank, for several thousand pounds were missing. I do not remember the circumstances of the case, but one of the partners—an old man between sixty and seventy, who was in every way trustworthy—felt that in some way people were fighting shy of him, so he asked a friend if he had noticed it. Said the friend, ‘As you ask me, perhaps I ought to tell you that it is whispered that you are the culprit.’ “This very much upset the banker, and for days be bad evidently brooded over the matter. His housekeeper’s account was that for three nights he walked up and down his bedroom all night long and greatly disturbed her. Every time he turned in pacing up and down, he stamped his heel down hard on the carpet, and at one end of the room he went beyond the carpet on to the boards, when his heel sounded louder. “One morning he sent a groom with a note to the bank stating that as it was the anniversary of his wife’s death, be would not go to the bank that day. The housekeeper said he did not eat anything the whole day, but paced first his library, in the daytime, then his bedroom at night, stamping his heel louder than ever at the turns. Suddenly the noise ceased, and he seemed to be walking about, then a chair seemed to fall over with a thud, and all was still and she got some sleep. “In the morning, after waiting some time for his bell, the housekeeper knocked at his door but got no answer, so she thought she would not disturb him for a while. She went again, knocked, and then tried the door; it was locked, so she went to the groom and sent him over to the vicarage which was close by. The master’s bedroom door was burst open—or the window, I do not remember which—and the poor man was found hanging from the post of a four-post bedstead, the chair having evidently been kicked away from under him. “After all the affairs at the bank had been carefully gone through, everything was found to be all right and sound, but from that time the business gradually went down, and the bank had to close its doors a very few years later. “Every year on December 28th (I think that was the date, but am not sure), at 10 P.M., the walking of the banker’s ghost begins, with the stamp of the heel on the carpet, then a louder one on the boards. For two years the housekeeper remained on in the house and heard the pacing up and down from about 10 P.M. until after 3 A.M., when all was quiet. After that no one would sleep there on December 28th. The house is still standing. I have been in the room myself. “I have heard that several of the poor man’s friends (there were about fifteen in the party) determined to sit up one night to test the matter, and that only three could sit it out;

the others had to leave in terror, as they could not bear to hear the knocking from above. The house had a bad name and could not be let for many years.”