No person ever discovered the means by which he placarded his dreadful challenge.

In an age of gross superstition, numerous were the rumors and opinions promulgated concerning this circumstance.

The general impression was, that an evil spirit attended him, by whose agency his advertisements were put up at night; A law, it is said, then existed, that when a pugilist arrived in any town, He might claim the right to receive the sum of fifty guineas, provided no man in the town could be found to accept his challenge within a given period.

A champion, if tradition be true, had the privilege of fixing only the place, not the mode and regulations of battle.

Accordingly the scene of contest uniformly selected by the Dead Boxer was the church-yard of the town, beside a new made grave, dug at his expense.