The “Seed Hill Ghost” is covered more fully in this blog post.
The Woes of John Barleycorn.
On Saturday last John Tanker, Elizabeth Beckwith, and Henry Wilson, all innkeepers, were brought before the Huddersfield bench charge with offending against the tenor of their licence. Tasker’s offence was in tilling ale after ten o’clock on the 29th alt. His wife appeared for him, and explained the case in a very needless manner, when money is sure to make all right. She, however, thought proper to state that the ale was filled before ten o’clock, and placed outside the premises for certain parties who had ordered it, but who neglected to fetch it away on account of some row which happened in the street, and she was fetching it in again when the officer came to the door. Mrs. Tasker had a witness — Who do you think, reader? — why, truly, the girl that lately figured as the ” Seed Hill Ghost,” Catherine Hayley, — who took oath that Tasker’s house was clear of company by ten o’clock. We know not whether it be according to etiquette, but Superintendent Thomas asked the girl whether she could not tell a lie? To which she said she “could if she had a mind.” Tasker was fined 10s. and expenses.