MARY CLARKSON OR THE KIRKSTALL ABBEY MURDER by LLOYD, Anglesea - 1988

Leeds: Almar Books, 1988. Facsimile. Illustrated Card Covers. VG. 32pp. The story of Mary Clarkson who was said to have gone to the Abbey ruins at night to collect a branch of the alder tree. When she heard voices in the dark she hid, only to see three men carrying a corpse. The wind lifted the hat from one of the men and it landed at Mary's feet. She took the hat back to the Inn where she discovered it belonged to her sweetheart, William Bedford (this name is Richard in the Ballad "Mary, the Maid of the Inn" by Robert Southey writen in 1796). Eventually the three men were arrested and tried. This edition reports the trial statements from witnesses. The original was published by Fred R. Spark, Swinegate, Leeds but no date is given for this.