/ A long report appeared in the morning papers, purporting to
be that of a triple murder "by a gentleman," at Foot's Cray, a little village in Kent; the report being most minute in its particulars. The victims were said to be, Mrs. Lawson, a reputed widow, and her two children; the murderer was described as a man of gentlemanly appearance whom Mrs. Lawson had called her brother, but who was supposed to be the father of the two children. A postscript to the account said that a person who was no doubt the murderer, had been arrested, that his name was James Rice, and that he was a hop-grower of independent fortune. It turns out that the whole of this account is a fabrication. The Globe sent a reporter to the spot. " To his astonishment, every person of whom he asked questions on the subject of the triple murder looked at him with amaze- ment, not unmixed with indignation, apparently labouring under the impression that he was joking them. The police, the inhabitants of Foot's Cray, the in- habitants of St. Mary's Cray, and every one connected with the neighbourhood, i had heard nothing of the circumstances; and after the most minute inquiry the reporter discovered that there was not only not the slightest ground for the report, but that the persons given as surgeon, police sergeant, and other individuals, had existed only in the imagination of the reckless rascal who gave publicity to the unfounded report. Our reporter saw the local authorities, and made every in- quiry that was necessary to satisfy him of the falsehood of the report, and he is able, happily, to state most positively that no murder, fire, accident, or injury, occurred; and that the whole report is a tissue of falsehood."
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