14. A Prank That Led to Tragedy
The patrolling of the Hammersmith district by armed vigilantes led to tragedy on January 3, 1804. That night, one of the armed citizens, Francis Smith, was on patrol when he came across a bricklayer, Thomas Millwood, returning home from a visit to his parents. Millwood was wearing the typical clothing of his trade: white pants, white shirt, and white apron. You can see where this is headed. Smith leveled his shotgun at what he took to be a ghost, and shot Millwood in the face, killing him instantly.
Smith was arrested and tried for willful murder. The presiding judge instructed the jury that establishing malice was not necessary for a conviction and that all killings were either murder or manslaughter, absent extenuating circumstances that were not present here. Smith was duly convicted, then sentenced to death. The sentence was subsequently commuted to a year’s hard labor. As to the Hammersmith “ghost”, it later turned out to have been a prank by an elderly local shoemaker, who wore the guise to frighten his apprentice.