A STORY of old Warrington told a hundred years ago amongst the bargemen who were continually passing through our town was that of Gypsy lack O'Riley. Jack was a man of many fiddles and trades. His favorite pastime was drawing the crowds in at his mother's fortune telling booth. His mother went by the name of "Gypsy Flora Romano".
They used the canal system, traveling back and forth to any fete and gala in the district. They had an archenemy by the name of Cornelius Roper, a well-known horse-trader in the district. Roper was also a landowner who at every opportunity booted Gypsy Jack off his many properties.
Roper, who had a stable at the rear of the old Blue Bell Inn, was not a very popular man, nor was his constant companion; a well-known big bad bullyboy from Bristol named Jab Steel. (Jab Steel evidentially fought the great Dandy Dick Peabody the Barley Mow womanizer in 1886 for a £20 wager at the rear of Central Station. Jab’s 4 stone weight advantage eventually told on Dandy Dick who ended up in bed for six weeks). However, one day at a local horse fair and show at Fiddlers Ferry, on the orders of Cornelius Roper, Bully Boy Jab Steel tossed Gypsy Jack Booth into the canal, along with Gypsy Flora Romano. Flora was drowned, Gypsy Jack went mad and caved Jab Steel's head in with a sledge hammer and was put in the mad house, screaming curses at Cornelius Roper that every time Roper looked into water he would see the reflection of his mother Gypsy Flora. The curse came true. Whether he washed or took a walk along the canal the face was there. Even when he looked through a pane of glass, Flora was watching him. Friendless and lonely, Cornelius locked himself away. No one saw him for months. Then one day in 1894, his body was washed up on the banks of the Mersey. Gypsy Flora Romano or Florry Riley had claimed her victim.
For many years after this, numerous bargemen claimed to have seen her sad reflection and they always said it was a bad omen.

If  by chance you leave the Ferry Inn
And are feeling rather tipsy.
The river may look inviting
But beware of Flora the gypsy.