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were about to depart, in order to prosecute their journey, Rogers earnestly endeavoured to dissuade the little man from quitting his house, and going on with his fellow traveller. He assured him, that if he would remain with him that day, he would accompany him to Carrick next morning, that being the town to which the travellers were proceeding. He was unwilling and ashamed to tell the cause of his being so solicitous to separate him from his companion. But, as he observed that Hickey, which was the name of the little man, seemed to be quiet and gentle in his deportment, and had money about him, and that the other had a ferocious bad countenance, the dream still recurred to him. He dreaded that something fatal would happen; and he wished, at all events, to keep them asunder. However, the humane precautions of Rogers proved ineffectual; for Caulfield, such was the other's name, prevailed upon Hickey to continue with him on their way to Carrick, declaring that, as they had long travelled together, they should not part, but remain together until he should see Hickey safely arrive at the habitation of his friends. The wife of Rogers was much dissatisfied when she found they were gone, and blamed her husband exceedingly for not being absolutely peremptory in detaining Hickey.

About an hour after they left Portlaw, in a lonely part of the mountain, just near the place observed by Rogers in his dream, Caulfield took the opportunity of murdering his companion. It appeared afterwards, from his own account of the horrid transaction, that, as they were getting over a ditch, he struck Hickey on the back part of his head with a stone; and, when he fell down into the trench, in consequence of the blow, Caulfield gave him several stabs with a knife, and cut his throat so deeply that the head was observed to be almost severed from the body. He then rifled Hickey's pockets of all the money in them, took part of his clothes, and every thing else of value about him, and afterwards proceeded on his way to Carrick. He had not been long gone when the body, still warm, was discovered by some labourers who were returning to their work from dinner.

The report of the murder soon reached to Portlaw. Rogers and his wife went to the place, and instantly knew the body of him whom they had in vain endeavoured to dissuade from going on with his treacherous companion. They at once spoke out their suspicions that the murder was perpetrat ed by the fellow-traveller of the deceased. An immediate search was made, and Caulfield was apprehended at Waterford the second day after. He was brought to trial at the ensuing assizes, and convicted of the fact. It appeared on the

trial, amongst other circumstances, that when he arrived at Carrick, he hired a horse, and a boy to conduct him, not by the usual road, but by that which runs on the north side of the river Suir, to Waterford, intending to take his passage in the first ship from thence to Newfoundland. The boy took notice of some blood on his shirt, and Caulfield gave him half a crown to promise not to speak of it. Rogers proved, not only that Hickey was seen last in company with Caulfield, but that a pair of new shoes, which Hickey wore, had been found on the feet of Caulfield when he was apprehended; and that a pair of old shoes which he had on at Rogers' house were upon Hickey's feet when the body was found. He described with great exactness every article of their clothes. Caulfield, on the cross-examination, shrewdly asked him from the dock, whether it was not very extraordinary that he, who kept a public house, should take such particular notice of the dress of a stranger, accidentally calling there? Rogers, in his answer, said, he had a very particular reason, but was ashamed to mention it. The court and prisoner insisting on his declaring it, he gave a circumstantial narrative of his dream, called upon Mr. Browne, the priest, then in the court, to corroborate his testimony, and said, that his wife had severely reproached him for permitting Hickey to leave their house, when he knew that, in the short footway to Carrick, they must necessarily pass by the green spot in the mountain which had appeared in his dream. A number of witnesses came forward; and the proofs were so strong, that the jury without hesitation, found the prisoner guilty. It was remarked, as a singularity, that he happened to be tried and sentenced by his namesake, Sir George Caulfield, at that time lord chief justice of the King's Bench, which office he resigned in the summer of the year 1760.

After sentence, Caulfield confessed the fact. It came out that Hickey had been in the West Indies two and twenty years; but falling into a bad state of health, he was returning to his native country, Ireland, bringing with him some money his industry had acquired. The vessel on board which he took his passage was, by stress of weather, driven into Minehead. He there met with Frederick Caulfield, an Irish sailor, who was poor, and much distressed for clothes and common necessaries. Hickey, compassionating his poverty, and finding he was his countryman, relieved his wants, and an intimacy commenced between them. They agreed to go to Ireland together and it was remarked on their passage, that Caulfield spoke contemptuously, and often said, it was a pity such a puny fellow as Hickey should have money, and he

himself be without a shilling. They landed at Waterford, at which place they stayed some days, Caulfield being all the time supported by Hickey, who bought there some clothes for him. The assizes being held in the town during that time, it was afterwards recollected that they were both at the court house, and attended the whole of a trial of a shoemaker, who was convicted of the murder of his wife. But this made no impression on the hardened mind of Caulfield; for the very next day he perpetrated the same crime on the road betwixt Waterford and Carrick-on-Suir, near which town Hickey's relations lived.

He walked to the gallows with a firm step, and undaunted countenance. He spoke to the multitude who surrounded him; and, in the course of his address, mentioned that he had been bred at a charter-school, from which he was taken, as an apprenticed servant, by William Izod, Esq. of the county of Kilkenny. From this station he ran away on being corrected for some faults, and had been absent from Ireland six years. He confessed also, that he had several times intended to murder Hickey on the road between Waterford and Portlaw; which though in general not a road much frequented, yet, people at that time continually coming in sight, prevented him.

Being frustrated in all his schemes, the sudden and total disappointment threw him, probably, into an indifference for life. Some tempers are so stubborn and rugged, that nothing can affect them but immediate sensation. If to this be united the darkest ignorance, death, to such characters, will hardly seem terrible, because they can form no conception of what it is, and still less of the consequences that may follow.

SUPERNATURAL APPEARANCES;

The following extraordinary relation of a supposed supernatural appearance I received from the mouth of a man of veracity, and a scholar. It was related by a professor of physic in the University of Strasburgh, in which my informant was a student. The professor was a man of the strictest probity, and an eye-witness of the mysterious, and, as it proved, fatal occurrence to which I allude. On his death-bed he solemnly avowed, to a party of students, who interrogated him whether he had related the story merely to excite their wonder, or whether what he asserted was a fact? that the affair was undoubtedly true, but that the agency by which it was performed was to him inexplicable. If you think proper to lay it before your readers, it is at your service. I am respectfully, Sir, yours; &c.

Professor K, of the University of Strasburgh, in the former part of his life, resided at Frankfort, on the Main, where he exercised the profession of a physician. One day, being invited to dine with a party of gentlemen, after dinner, as is the custom in Germany, coffee was brought in; an animated conversation commenced, various subjects were introduced, and, at length, the discourse turned upon apparitions, &c. K- was amongst those who strenuously combated the idea of supernatural visitations, as preposterous and absurd in the highest degree. A gentleman, who was a Captain in the army, with equal zeal supported the opposite side of the ques

tion.

The question was long and warmly contended, both being men of superior talents, till, in the end, the attention of the whole company was engrossed by the dispute. At length, the Captain proposed to K to accompany him that evening to his country house, where, if he did not convince him of the reality of supernatural agency, he would then allow himself, in the estimation of the present company, to whom he appealed as judges of the controversy, to be defeated. The professor, with a laugh, instantly consented to the proposal, if the Captain, on his honour, would promise that no trick should be played off upon him: the Captain readily gave his word and honour that no imposition or trick should be resorted to, and here, for the present, the matter rested. Wine and tobacco now circulated briskly, and the afternoon passed in the utmost harmony and conviviality. The Captain took his glass cheerfully, while K-prudently reserved himself, to be completely on his guard against any manoeuvre that might be practised in order to deceive him, or, as he properly observed, to be in full and sober possession of his faculties, that whatever should be presented to his sight, might be examined through the medium of his reason.' The company broke up at rather an early hour, and the Captain and K- set out together on their spiritual adventure. When they drew near the Captain's house, he suddenly stopped near the entrance to a solemn grove of trees. They descended from their vehicle, and walked towards the grove. The Captain traced a large circle on the ground, into which he requested K- to enter. He then solemnly asked him if he possessed sufficient resolution to remain there alone to complete the adventure; to which K replied in the affirmative. He added further, whatever you may witness, stir not, I charge you, from this spot, till you see me again; if you step beyond this circle, it will be your immediate destruction.' He then left the professor to his own me

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ditations, who could not refrain from smiling at what he thought the assumed solemnity of his acquaintance, and the whimsical situation in which he was placed. The night was clear and frosty, and the stars shone with a peculiar brilliancy: he looked around on all sides to observe from whence he might expect his ghostly visitant. He directed his regards towards the grove of trees; he perceived a small spark of fire at a considerable distance within its gloomy shade. It advanced nearer; he then concluded it was a torch borne by some person who was in the Captain's secret, and who was to personate a ghost. It advanced nearer and more near; the light increased; it approached the edge of the circle wherein he was placed. It was then,' to use his own expressions, I seemed surrounded with a fiery atmosphere: the heavens and every object before visible were excluded from my sight.' But now a figure of the most undefinable description absorbed his whole attention; his imagination had never yet conceived any thing so truly fearful. What appeared to him the more remarkable, was an awful benignity portrayed in its countenance, and with which it appeared to regard him. He contemplated, for a while, this dreadful object, but, at length, fear began insensibly to arrest his faculties. He sunk down on his knees, to implore the protection of heaven; he remarked, for his eyes were still riveted on the mysterious appearance, which remained stationary, and earnestly regarded him, that at every repetition of the name of the Almighty, it assumed a more benignant expression of countenance, whilst a terrific brilliancy gleamed from its eyes. He fell prostrate on the ground, fervently imploring heaven to remove from him the object of his terrors. After a while, he raised his head, and beheld the mysterious light fading, by degrees, in the gloomy shades of the grove from which it issued. It soon entirely disappeared, and the Captain joined him almost at the same moment. During their walk to the Captain's house, which was close at hand, the Captain asked his companion, Are you convinced that what you have now witnessed was supernatural?' K-replied, he could not give a determinate answer to that question; he could not, on natural principles, account for what he had seen, it certainly was not like any thing earthly, he, therefore, begged to be excused from saying any more on a subject which he could not comprehend.' The Captain replied,' he was sorry he was not convinced; and added, with a sigh,' he was still more sorry that he had ever attempted to convince him.' Thus far, it may be considered as no more than a common phantasmagorical trick, played off on the credulity of the Professor; but in the end, the perfor

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