A CRUEL JOKE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2354, 19 October 1881, Page 4

A CRUEL JOKE.

During the voyage a£ the immigrant ship Nineveh, which arrived at Sydney on September 27th, one of the female passengers died, and for some time afterwards an alarm was nightly occasioned by a supposed ghostly visitant, which kept its vigils in the single girls’ compartment of the ship. The spectre was that of a female form robed in apparel similar to that worn by the deceased in life, and the white face and thin hands of the apparition heightened the fears of the girls that it came from the unseen world. The ghost would make its appearance at three o’clock in the morning and glide right round the berths, touching the faces of the awakened sleepers, who were too paralysed with fear to call out or seize the figure, which, however, always seemed to have too much resemblance to corporeal proportions to be a spirit of health or goblin damned. At last the general terror became so much increased that a number of the girls were too much afraid to go to bed, and one night kept watch in company until the ghost appeared as usual. A rush was made to capture it, but in the confusion the female who had so long played her oruel practical joke in this guise, escaped to her berth, and when a search was mode, positive proof of her identity was wanting. There was, however, sufficient circumstantial evidence to cause the suspected person to be placed under surveillance for the remainder of the voyage, and after this, it is needless to say, the ghost was seen no more. A few days afterwards, however, another of the female immigrants developed symptoms of insanity, and her incoherent exclamations showed that the fright concerning the alleged spectral appearance had preyed greatly upon, and perhaps unhinged, her mind. On the arrival of the Nineveh at Sydney the unfortunate young woman was removed to Gladoeville, where she is said to have become so ill that her life is in danger. An inquiry into the hoax perpetrated on the voyage was made yesterday at the Immigration Office, where official reticence is maintained ; but from what we have been able to glean from outside sources it was found impossible to sheet home the reprehensible practices described to the supposed oulpnt, so that it is difficult to see that anything further can be done in the matter. —Sydney “Daily Telegraph.”