(238) "A labourer named Duck, employed by Mr. Dixon, of Milden hall Warren Farm, near Marlborough, was in charge of a horse and water-cart on the farm, when the animal took fright and knocked him down. The wheel went over his chest, and he died shortly afterwards. Immediately after the accident, Mr. Dixon despatched a woman to Ramsbury, where Duck lived, to make known the fact to his wife. On arriving at her home the messenger found her out gathering wood, but shortly after a girl, who was her companion, arrived, and, without being told of what had occurred, volunteered the statement that Ria (Mrs. Duck) was unable to do much that morning, that she had been very much frightened, having seen her husband in the wood. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Duck returned without any wood, and being informed by a neighbour that a woman from Milden-hall Woodlands wished to see her, ejaculated 'My David's dead then.' Inquiry has since been made by Mr. Dixon of the woman, and she positively asserts that she saw her husband in the wood, and said, 'Hallo David, what wind blows you here? ' and that he made no answer.

Mr Dixon inquired what time this occurred, and she replied about 10 o'clock the time at which the fatal accident occurred".

On the appearance of this account, our friend, Mr. F. W. Percival, of 36, Bryanston Street, W., wrote to Mr. Dixon to inquire into the facts, and received from him the following confirmation; -

"May 25th, 1876.

"As soon as it happened (Duck's death), I sent one of my female servants to inform his wife of the sad occurrence, to a place called Ramsbury, about four miles from where it occurred. But when she got there, his wife was gone to get wood at a distant wood, the woman stopping for her return at an adjoining cottage. But Maria returned without any wood, saying she had seen her husband, and asked him how he came there - telling the woman that she knew her business, that she was come to inform her of her husband's death, and that she had seen him as plain as ever she did in her life, and said to him,' Hallo, David, what wind blew you here?' but as she saw him no more, she became much frightened, and left the wood,"

"June 1st, 1876.

"The woman I sent told me, when she got to Ramsbury to Duck's house, her neighbour told her that she was gone to get wood and her (the neighbour's) little girl was gone with her. The girl soon returned saying Maria Duck was much frightened in the wood, and had seen her husband and spoken to him, but as he made no reply she became faint, and told the girl to go home, as she knew something had happened to David. That was before she knew the woman was sent. When she got home and found the woman waiting for her return she said she knew her errand, and asked her if her husband was not dead, and seemed much frightened, the woman telling her he was very ill, and thought he would not be living to see her again. When she got to Warren, she found him dead, and told us the time she saw him, which was exactly the time he lost his life; therefore I think the public is bound to believe it, although it seems to us quite a mystery. Duck's wife is now in Hungerford Union, her home broken up by his death. The woman I sent is Mary Holick, has been living with me some time, and her word is to be relied on. "Benjamin Dixon".

Mrs. Duck has since died; but Mrs. Holick dictated and signed the following account: -

"January 26th, 1886.

"I well remember about poor old David Duck. I am never likely to forget it. The cart-wheel passed over his chest and killed him, and I was sent down by Mr. Dixon to tell his wife at Ramsbury. She was not at home; she was out gathering wood with the little girl of a neighbour; so I went to this neighbour's house to wait. Presently the little girl came in, and said that Mrs. Duck was in a great way because she had seen her husband in the wood, and when she spoke to him and said, ' What wind blows you here, Davie? ' he disappeared away, and she fell back on the bank half fainting with fright; and the little girl ran down and found her like it. So she had gathered very little wood. If the little girl had not told me first, I never could have really believed that she had seen him. But when she came back, about half an hour after the little girl (who had come on in front, full of what Mrs. Duck had seen), it was all true. I shall never forget her; she came in with her hands stretched out, and said, looking at me, 'She has come to tell me that my Davie is killed. I knew he was; I have seen his ghost. I didn't need anyone to tell me.' And then she told us, afterwards, how she had suddenly seen him in front of her, in his usual clothes; and how she spoke to him, and he vanished.

She lived about half a mile from the woman I was waiting with; and we sent another woman to her house to tell her, when she came home, that a person from Mr. Dixon's wanted to see her. So directly she told her, she said, ' She has come to tell me my poor Davie is killed; but I didn't want anyone to tell me, for I know; I have just seen his ghost.' And the woman said, 'Don't give way now, but come with me, there's a good woman.' And they came; and I shall never forget her as she came stumbling up the steps, and looked at me and said, ' For God's sake tell me; my Davie is dead.' She had seen him just as natural as life, every bit; but the little girl never saw anything, only she knew Mrs. Duck had, when she helped her off the bank, where she fell when he disappeared. She was a very good woman, I think, and her husband was a very quiet man; and she was as strong as any man, and worked hard from early morning".

We find from the Register of Deaths that David Duck died on March 31, 1874.

[Mrs. Holick's account fairly comes into the class of evidence reckoned as on a par with first-hand (p. 119); as, though she did not actually receive a description of the apparition from Mrs. Duck's own lips before Mrs. Duck heard the fatal news, she saw her in the state of agitation, and heard her express the conviction, which the apparition had produced. Mrs. Holick is quite clear that she herself was the first to communicate the news].

In the next example accident has made the evidence for the facts very fairly strong; but the case is to some extent weakened by the percipient's knowledge that the person whose phantasm he saw was ill. The case was first described to us by a clergyman as follows: -

"March 5th, 1885.