SPIRIT OVERSEES HUNT FOR A WILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3765, 26 February 1913, Page 8

SPIRIT OVERSEES HUNT FOR A WILL.

AFTER MANY YEARS. Down in the heart of Lancashire, a little old world village is in a flutter. A woman from London is there huntino- with the aid of local volunteers, for a will which was hidden over 250 vears ago, and which she believes when found will prove her to be the heir to a fortune of several hundred thousand dollars which is now in chancery. ~ She is doing this, she says, at tne request of a ghost—a restless ghost which got into communication with her at the first Spiritualistic seance she ever attended in her life, and told j her that it knew where the long lostwill of old John Bradley, a. rich farmer of Cromwell’s time, whose lineal descendant she claims to be, is bur--16 This woman is Mrs James Anderson, whose home is in Gunnersburv, one of the suburbs of London. lhe spirit who claimed t-o know of the whereabouts of the missing will described itself as that of John Bradley’s wife, the only person he told where he had hidden his last testament. . J _. ~ .. , Mrs Anderson is not a Spiritualist. She attended the seance at the invitation of a 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 Bradlev, the wealthy Lancashire farmer, and told about the will that is supposed to be buried at Bradley Fold, a town three miles from Bolton, and takes- its name from John Bradley, who lived there and owned all the land for miles around. Bradlev was in his prime when the , Roundheads and Cavaliers were at each other’s throats, and was as stern | uncompromising a Puritan as From- j well himself. He was famous for his i taciturnity, ra’vly speaking to anyone but his witc. and, in his out age. is said seldom to have ro -keii to her. When 'll e drew up his will disposing of-his vast property he hid it, and local legend declares that he told the secret- of "its hiding place--to no one but Mrs Bradley. He made her promise solemnly, moreover, not to tell anyone—not even the oilier members of "his family—where the will was secreted until he was dead. A few months afterwards lie died, and all the rest of his kindred expected the widow to produce the missing will forthwith, but the old lady disappointed them. With a sternness equal to Bradley’s own she refused to tell where his' last testament was buried, and, after many family squabbles and many futile searches for the will on the part of the wrathful relatives, the latter gave it- up and scattered to different parts of the country. The widow promised that she would reveal the secret when she was dying, nnd 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 fairy echoes of the story were passed down from grandfather to grandson in the district, but the mvstery of John Bradley’s will was almost forgotten there when it was recalled in dramatic fashion by the arrival of Mrs Anderson from London. The latter says that for years she had had papers in her possession which prove her to he <i lineal desCendant of John Bradley.