Francis Smith's Execution in Hammersmith

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Francis Smith was sentenced to death for killing a man in Hammersmith, London. But his sentence was commuted by the intervention of King George III. The king apparently felt that this whole business had got well and truly out of hand. So effectively it was a decision to stop vigilantes and vigilantism.

In the winter of 1803, residents outside of London reported strange encounters with a ghost. Some said it looked like Napoleon Bonaparte, or a horse without a head. Others said the ghost breathed fire and smoke. By Christmas, there was a “full-scale phantom panic.” Shortly after the New Year, one man decided he’d stop the ghost once and for all.

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