BRUTAL IRISH
MURDERS ial c e p S ION EDIT Issue 2
Woman burned alive in Donegal Man murdered on his wedding day Family of five murdered in Galway Child starved to death because he could not be sold Judge weeps as he passes death sentence Woman tortured to death for being a witch AND MANY MORE
True Crime Stories From All Over Ireland
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Ireland History Magazine
There is perhaps no more fruitful form of education than to arouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings The Ireland History Magazine is a bimonthly publication compiled by the Glenravel Local History Project. It is just one of several of our titles which aims to promote an interest in the subject of local history. It has always been claimed that history belongs of the higher classes and looking at the way it has been presented for decades then this would seem to be the case. We are not interested in the history of lords and earls, their estates and titles, instead we are interested in the history of every day life. The Glenravel Local History Project is a local historical scheme based in the North Belfast area. It’s activities are centred around the educational promotion and restoration of the areas historic burying ground at Clifton Street and is named after the nearby Glenravel Street which was destroyed to make way for the disastrous Westlink road system. The Ireland History Magazine is not funded by any grant making body and is entirely funded by you - the reader. Its profits are not used for personal gain but for the continuing work of the overall scheme. We welcome advertising from tourist attractions and tour companies so if you run one of these you could be advertising here with a full colour advertisement costing as little as €150 and no that is not a typing error! E-Mail us the address below for details. Our members are fully committed to the promotion of our local and factual history. Quite regularly we travel the country visiting historical sites and collecting stories of a local historical interest. Because of this we often use material which is the public domain and go to great lengths to acknowledge those who own it so if we have missed you - sorry. We also welcome stories from other historians from throughout the country and pay up to €50 per story.
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THE TRAGIC DEATH OF NANCY FERRY IN DONEGAL ella McIlwaine, a 35 yearold woman from Lunagh, Donegal, was indicted for that she, on 13th June 1888, at Lunagh, in County Donegal, did feloniously, wilfully and of malice aforethought, kill and murder one Nancy Ferry.
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Her trial was scheduled for December 14th 1888 at Donegal, the prisoner being held until then in Derry Gaol. Mr Gerard Q.C. and Mr Irvine Q.C. represented the Crown and Mr Gaussen represented the prisoner. Bella McIlwaine pleaded not guilty. Mr Gerard in stating the case for the prosecution said that as the jury had heard from the Clerk of the Crown, the charge against the prisoner was that she murdered Nancy Ferry, an elderly woman, somewhere around sixty-seven years of age. She was a delicate, small woman and resided in a village called Lunagh, in one of the wildest districts of Donegal. The deceased lived alone in a little cabin containing only one room and the prisoner resided about sixty-five or seventy yards from her. The first that was known of the occurrence which resulted in Ferry’s death was upon the evening of the 13th June and the first
intimation that something had happened were cries on the road - the cries of this poor woman some time around eight or nine o’clock. Two witnesses were examined to depose to that fact. They proved that when they came up they found her sitting on the road. Her clothes were on fire, not blazing but smouldering and she was in a very mutilated condition. Besides the fire on the poor woman’s breast she had wounds on her head. The neighbours came and extinguished the fire and while they were so engaged the prisoner, Bella McIlwaine, appeared upon the scene, coming from the direction of her own house, having already passed the residence of the deceased.
Ferry in a very weak condition was taken to her cabin. She lingered on until the month of August, when she succumbed to her injuries. On the day after the occurrence Bella McIlwaine was arrested and brought before Ferry. Ferry could only speak Irish, but a person was there to translate what she said and on this occasion also the deceased repeated the charge she had made against the accused. She said that McIlwaine came into her house while the poor woman was upon her knees praying. She had observed a stone in her hand and she claimed that when McIlwaine realised that she was alone“Are she rushed upon her and struck her several blows on the head. McIlwaine first
Her clothes were on fire, not blazing but smouldering and she was in a very mutilated condition. Patrick and Daniel McGarvey were examined and they claimed that as soon as Nancy Ferry saw McIlwaine she blamed her for what had happened. McIlwaine at once exclaimed “Heavens, how could that be? I have two witnesses to prove that I was not there at all.”
pulled her to the ground and repeatedly beat her about the head, until she thought that she was dead. Leaving her on the floor, the accused went out by the back door but she allegedly returned shortly afterwards. It was then that she seized the poor old woman, dragged her over to the fire and crushed her
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Ireland History Magazine
and tried as best she could to quench the the fire, but the more she tried the worse it got. After McIlwaine was arrested however a search was made of her house. Among certain articles which were taken away by the police was an apron, stained with blood. At the trial the jury heard how McIlwaine's cruelty had continued for years. A sheep of Bella McIlwaine had trespassed on her corn about five years previous and when she went to complain to her about it McIlwaine struck her on the head with a stone and also attacked her dog and disabled it. Some things had happened between them since that occasion. The previous winter a pit of potatoes were She then lifted the stolen from Ferry and some small ones were left in their tongs and put coals place. Nancy Ferry did not into her dress and accuse McIlwaine of stealing set it on fire. She them but she was suspicious of her cruel neighbour. then put a large From the testimony which was coal inside her presented to the jury counsel clothes on her thought the jury must decide breast and another that a murder had been committed and it would be on her back. She their duty to decide whether the then left the house prisoner at the bar was leaving the poor responsible for the death of this old woman, Nancy Ferry. woman on fire. The jury, after an hour and a Nancy Ferry claimed that she half deliberation, returned with managed to get up off the fire a verdict of guilty. on to it. She pushed her hand into the fire and took some of the burning coals and put them on the old woman’s bosom under her clothes. When these depositions were made to the police McIlwaine said that the old woman must be drunk and if a search was made for the bottle it would be found to contain whiskey, suggesting that what had happened had been the result of drunkenness - that the drunk old woman had fallen into the fire. No traces of drink were found in the house or upon the old woman. Nancy Ferry insisted that McIlwaine was to blame for the assault and she restated how she grabbed both her hands and pressed both her arms into the fire.
SENTENCE OF DEATH PRONOUNCED ON THE ACCUSED The Clerk of the Crown asked if the the prisoner had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced on her? Prisoner - I have nothing to say. I am as clear as God of the murder. His Lordship in passing sentence said, Bella McIlwaine, during the greater part of the day the Court has been occupied in trying this serious charge brought against you. The jury have listened to the case with the greatest patience, care and attention. You have been defended by a very capable advocate and I believe that not a single thing that could be said on your behalf has been left unsaid. This jury has found you guilty of the wilful murder of a neighbour of yours whom you must have known for years. The prisoner was sentenced to death, the execution to be carried out on January 4th at Derry Jail 1889. A reccomendation to mercy was asked to be considered on the woman’s behalf since there had been some ill-feeling between the prisoner and the deceased which was not brought out in the case. Bella McIlwaine was saved from the hangman at the last moment.
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Ireland History Magazine
ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE IN DUBLIN n Sunday evening, September 18th 1853, a startling and dreadful event took place in a well-known house of disrepute in French Street, Dublin. A gentleman attempted to take the life of a girl living in the house at number 27 French Street and them immediately afterwards committed suicide.
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It appears that shortly after four o’clock, some boys playing near the house which was kept by a person calling herself ‘Fanny Stuart’, were startled by the sharp report of a pistol shot, immediately followed by the scream of a woman and shortly after a second shot was heard. The boys were greatly alarmed and ran to alert the local policeman who quickly attended the scene. As he was admitted to the house he was told that both shots had been fired by a gentleman who was then in the back bedroom and when the constable entered the room he was horrified to see the body of a man stretched at full length on the floor and bleeding from a chest wound. The man was already dead and a portion of his shirt
around the wound and the left collars of his waistcoat were on fire. It appeared as if the muzzle of the pistol had been quite close to the man’s chest when fired. The girl who was with him and who he had been trying to kill before taking his own life, was found lying on a sofa in the drawing room, bleeding from several wounds, inflicted by small shot, scattered over her right side, from the temple to the knee, and her dress was blood stained. The injured girl, Emma Fawcett, was taken to hospital but she was not seriously wounded. She did however make a statement on her discharge, which showed how miraculous her escape from death really was. She stated that she left the man sitting in the bedroom to go down to the drawing room and had been absent for a short time when she heard him calling for her. She went out and found him standing on the landing looking down at her and she started to climb the stairs when he stepped
forward with a pistol in his right hand and instantly fired at her. The charge, which appeared to have been of small shot, struck her in a downwards direction and she immediately turned and rushed back into the drawing room shouting,’I am shot’ and then fainted. The man had been living with Emma Fawcett since the end of August and had seldom left the house since then. On the 31st August he had gone to the King’s Bridge Terminus for some suitcases he had left there and then a few days later more luggage arrived, including a large trunk, which had never been opened in the house. The mysterious dead man appeared to have a considerable sum of money, which he spent in the most lavish manner, purchasing for all the females in the house and particularly for Emma Fawcett, clothes, jewellery and even an accordion. Not withstanding his great extravagance, he left after him a bag filled with sovereigns, which was found in a closet off his bedroom by
Ireland History Magazine The Kings Bridge Terminus
the police. The man said his name was Webster and that he was a veterinary surgeon, attached to the Queens establishment, and subsequently stated that he had been some time in Australia. The proprietor of the house, "Fanny", stated that the man was never drunk and was of good nature but Emma Fawcett told the police that the man was scarcely ever sober and that during his last two days, he was constantly intoxicated and was becoming quite insane in his conduct and manner. When his room was searched the police found on the dressing room table several pistols and beside them a bag of bullets, together with a quantity of powder. A considerable quantity of gentlemans clothing, of the best style and quantity was
lying about. The man’s identity however remains a mystery to this very day, despite the police placing advertisements in newspapers with his description. At the inquest evidence was heard that the man was in a state of delirium tremens when he committed suicide and attempted to kill Emma Fawcett. The sum of £108, a gold watch, gold chains, some
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business cards of Mr Watson, a wine merchant of Alston, and a veterinary surgeons knife were found in the room. There was also a gun case, on the side of which was a written card, Robert Webster, passenger to Dublin. He was only 35 years of age although he looked much older, as though he had had a life of hardship or dissipation. He had lost most of his teeth, and wore a wig as he had been in hospital and his head had been shaved. He had a small miniature of himself in a Morocco leather case, which was a faithful likeness of the man. The jury found that the man had attempted to kill Miss Fawcett and that he had taken his own life while in a delirious state.
True Irish Crime Reports Dublin City Commission, March 1881
A TASTE FOR GOLD JEWELLERY James Byrne, alias James White, was convicted of attempting to steal a locket, the property of Francis Lynch, Great Brunswick Street. There were three previous convictions against the prisoner for stealing a gold watch, a gold chain and a gold locket. He was sentenced to five years penal servitude. When sentence was pronounced a female ran shrieking out of the gallery.
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Ireland History Magazine
THE PALMERSTOWN MURDER On the 9th June 1865 on the county boundary of Meath and Dublin the body of a young woman named Margaret Farquhar was found in a ditch by the side of the road. There was no doubt that she had been murdered as her body was beaten and bruised and her death had been a violent one. On the evening she was murdered Margaret Farquhar left her brothers house, where she lived, and went to the local shop Shelvey’s to get some tobacco for her brother but did not return. She was seen leaving the shop at around eight o’clock by a Mr Fitzpatrick and then the last person to see her was her killer Patrick Kilkenny. Patrick Kilkenny had known Margaret for around twelve years and they used to go to dances, races and fairs together, and were well known in the area. They had a tempestuous relationship and Margaret would get jealous of Patrick paying attention to other girls. Nine months before her death Margaret agreed to marry Patrick but kept putting it off saying that they did not have enough money and that they had to save. Two weeks before the murder the couple had a quarrel on the road and Patrick pushed her into a ditch and she got wet but there was no further violence. They had argued about their plans to go to America and Patrick said that he would go without her.
Patrick. They apparently parted on good terms with Patrick saying he would go to America on his own. The next meeting of the couple was on the day of the murder. They bumped into each other outside Shelvey's where they were both buying tobacco. Margaret told him about a letter she had received from a suitor in America. He had sent her a photograph and some money to buy a watch and it was obvious that she was trying to make Patrick jealous. She asked him to wait for her as she went home with her brother’s tobacco. As she was leaving he trod on the tail of her coat by accident and Margaret got very angry and began calling Patrick the devil, and she shouted that she was fond of him but would never look at him again.
Patrick Kilkenny snapped and hit her with his shut hand on the neck and the breast. Margaret tumbled into the ditch near which she was standing. There were about two or three feet of mud and water in the ditch and she fell into it head first. Patrick jumped in after her and as he was lifting her she began to scream. At the same time Patrick could hear noise coming from the road and he heard the voices of Margaret’s sister Kitty and her fried Biddy Monaghan coming up the road with about six people. Patrick tried again to lift Margaret but she gave a screech and he let her drop again on her head A couple of days later they met up again and into the ditch. this time they attended a fair at Rathcath where they intended buying calves. They remained Patrick jumped out of the ditch and sat down at the fair dancing and drinking for six hours and smoked, to wait and see if any one would but later Margaret told Patrick that she had come and take her up or assist her. He thought found someone else, a rich baker from Margaret was lying still out of spite, to make Garristown, and that she had no more need for him believe she was dead. The crowd passed
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and Patrick continued to smoke until they were out of sight. When he returned he could not find Margaret at first, but she had not gone far, but this time he found her in the ditch with the On Sunday 6th of May 1895, considerable pain water over her head. was caused in the neighbourhood of Westport
A maniac kills his sister and attempts suicide
Patrick then decided that she was dead and he went home and changed his clothes, dressed again and went back to the ditch. About an hour had elapsed from his first meeting with Margaret at eight o’clock. Patrick sat with her all night watching as people walked past unaware that the body of a young woman was lying there dead. Her sister and her friends walked past at 10 o’clock and at eleven o’clock Patrick Kilkenny decided to tell someone what had happened. He walked to the home of the Fitzpatrick’s where they began to talk about Margaret. Patrick told Mr Fitzpatrick that he had killed her but he did not believe him. Patrick then went down to the ditch to see Margaret but she was quite cold by now and so he stayed with her for another two hours, and when it was sunrise he caught a lift to Dublin with a dairy car. He drank in a few pubs in Dublin before going to Jervis Street to meet a Police Constable Maguire and he told him what had happened. On June 24th 1865 Patrick Kilkenny was tried for the murder of Margaret Farquhar. The evidence was overwhelming and the jury took just 15 minutes to return a guilty verdict with a recommendation to mercy on the grounds that the murder was committed in an unprecedented manner; while the prisoner was labouring under a fit of jealousy. However Patrick Kilkenny was sentenced to be hanged on July 20th 1865 at Kilmainham Gaol. Thousands gathered to see the hanging of Patrick Kilkenny and over 100 police officers attended to keep the peace.
by the news that Patrick Louden, the young son of Mr John J Louden B.L., of Killedagan House, had attacked his sister with a razor, cutting her throat and inflicting injuries from which she died two hours afterwards. It would appear that at about midday the poor fellow (who has been in a very melancholy mood for some days past) while at his uncle’s residence, Deer Park, was seized by a homicidal mania, and taking up a knife attacked his uncle Mr George Louden, who was with him. The uncle however managed to knock the knife out of the maniac’s hand and escaped uninjured. The maniac procuring a razor, rushed from the house and attacked and killed a dog. He then ran off in the direction of his father’s house, and on the way, cut the head off a goose at Killedangan. He met his little sister, aged about eleven, and immediately attacked her with the razor, inflicting a terrible wound across her throat. The unfortunate boy continued on his way in the direction of Cloona, and after having stabbed a pig there turned the razor upon himself and inflicted a ghastly wound, extending from the left ear to the windpipe. The police having received the alarm went in search of the youth and found him lying a few yards from the main road at Cloona. Dr Johnston of Westport was promptly on the scene. After getting the maniac removed to Killedangan House he drove there himself and attended to the poor little girl, whose case however, was hopeless, and who, as already stated, died within two hours of the attack upon her. Patrick Louden was subsequently removed to the union hospital and later convictied to a lunatic asylum where he spent the rest of his life.
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THE WEDDING AND MURDER OF THOMAS THOMPSON t is not often that one hears the account of a man who was murdered on his wedding day but this is what happened to Thomas Thompson of Knocknamuckly, a village three miles from Lurgan. It was March 1888 and Thomas Thompson was a respectable master spinner employed in the local linen mill at Gilford. This would have been an important job in 1888 and although Thomas Thompson was only twenty-five he had been a widower for just over a year. On the 2nd March he was to marry a local girl named Miss Fanny Jane Moffatt whose father was a farmer from Lisnamintry, which was situated in the locality.
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The weddings in the nineteenth century were small affairs and the bride and bridegroom were usually accompanied by a small group of friends who made up the wedding party. As the wedding party began to walk up the aisle of the village church the bridegroom passed a pew where a young man was sitting. To the horror of the wedding party this young man drew a revolver from under his clothing and fired it at point blank range at the bridegroom, Thomas Thompson.
William Thompson
The female members of the wedding party, Mary Ann Moffatt, sister of the bride, Fanny Jane Moffatt, the bride, and Margaret Dillworth fled down the aisle to escape the gunman and the clergyman, the Rev Oates, stood transfixed on the alter. Although Thomas
Thompson was wounded he fell on to the gunman and a struggle took place for the gun. The groomsmen began to beat the gunman until the gun was released and the Rev. Oates who had pulled himself together grabbed the gun and made it safe. Thomas
Ireland History Magazine
Thompson fell the ground and the gunman left the church and made his way out to the graveyard where he walked among the tombstones and it was here that he was arrested shortly after the shooting. He made no attempt to escape. It quickly became apparent that the gunman was known to Thomas Thompson and was in fact his brother in law, William Thompson who was the brother of Thomas Thompson’s first wife. Meanwhile Thomas Thompson was removed from the church and when the doctors arrived to help him they discovered that the bullet had perforated his lung and although he fought for his life for almost twentyfour hours Thomas Thompson died from the injuries he received. It was reported that on his deathbed when William Thompson was brought before him he said: Oh, Will, I did not think you would have done this to me; but I am dying, and I forgive you. William Thompson was then charged with the murder of his brother-in-law Thomas Thompson and sent for trial at the Armagh Assizes. In a twist to the tale William Thompson’s mother Elizabeth Thompson was also charged initially with
inciting her son to commit the murder however this charge was later dropped. The jury at the inquest into the murder returned a verdict that "the deceased came to his death from the effects of a bullet wound caused by a shot fired by William Thompson". The jury could not decide whether William Thompson was insane at the time of the murder but they were absolutely sure that he had committed the murder.
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from a bad family. William Thompson's defence at the assizes, Mr George Hill Smith, attempted to have the charge reduced to manslaughter but the judge would not allow it and directed the jury that they must consider the charge of murder. The jury retuned after only 10 minutes and found the accused guilty. His lordship asked William Thompson if he wish to say anything before he passed sentence and this is a brief account of his speech in At the trial of William court; Thompson evidence was heard from members of the wedding Every time that this man’s party including the bride who name (Thomas Thompson) was confirmed that she had been mentioned I could not engaged to the deceased man overcome my feelings…. he since Christmas of 1887 and was married to my sister and the accused William he told many things to her Thompson who conducted which were not proper, and some of his own defence charged her with suggested to her that her future unfaithfulness towards him. husband had been seeing other Those things, I believe, were woman while he was engaged the curse of bringing the to her. No evidence was disease upon her, and the effect brought before the court to this had upon her mind was the substantiate this. cause of her death. I was greatly attached to her…I have However evidence was given nothing more to say, my lord, that William Thompson had and I know that I deserve purchased a gun and that he death. had spoken about the impending marriage believing The judge agreed and it to be a bad marriage for his sentenced him to be hanged by brother-in-law Thomas and his the neck at the common place sister child. He felt that the of execution on the 8th August bride to be, Fanny Moffatt, was 1888.
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CHILD STARVED TO DEATH BECAUSE HE COULD NOT BE SOLD ight month old William McKeown, was the illegitimate child of Mary Faulkner and William McKeown. McKeown lived with his wife at number 3 Newtownards Road, Belfast, and shortly after the birth of her child Mary Faulkner called here and gave the child to McKeown telling him that she did not want it and was off to America. McKeown took the child and after a short period the whole matter began to cause problems with his present family. Not knowing how to resolve the problem McKeown was told about a woman who lived in Holywood who took unwanted children in return for a weekly payment. Eliza Camock was a cripple who lived in High Street, Holywood. She was unmarried and had, living with her, several young children who were unwanted by their parents. In return she received a weekly payment of 3s. 6d. for each of the children, all of whom were illegitimate. McKeown took his young son to this woman in April 1884, and agreed to meet her terms. In October 1884, a woman called to Camock's house and told her that she was to be married to McKeown and that she was there to collect the child. The child was handed over and the woman took it away. The following day the woman returned and gave the child back to Camock telling her that William McKeown will be collecting it. McKeown never called and no payments were made afterwards. Camock, not getting any money for this child, refused to feed it and only gave it occasional scraps left by the other children and a small drink of milk in the mornings and evenings. The woman who called was lying to Camock, she was there to collect the child in order to sell it. McKeown had arranged to sell the child to a sea captain whose wife wished to adopt a young boy. This plan
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was quashed when the child was deemed unfit by a doctor. The woman, now having an `unsalable' child, returned it to Camock and McKeown was now stuck with the 'problem.' The child continued to be kept at Camock's house and in addition to the constant neglect the woman was also poisoning it with small doses of laudanum.
Baby farming was a massive problem in Victorian Ireland Martha May was a nurse for the sick poor in Holywood. On the 3rd of November 1884, she was passing Camock's house when she heard a young child constantly crying inside. The nurse knew Camock and was aware how she earned her money but she was powerless to do anything about it. She went to the door and demanded to see the child in order to see what was wrong with it. She examined the child and observed that it was very ill and that it had strange sores on its head. Mrs. May informed Camock that the child was dying and that she should get a doctor to look at it. Camock said that she would and the nurse left. A few days later she returned and asked Camock if she had got the doctor out yet and was told that a doctor's line was obtained but that the doctor had not been sent for yet. On the 10th of November the nurse came back to the house with two other ladies to see if the
Ireland History Magazine
child was getting any better. They noticed that the child's condition was getting worse and one of the ladies lifted it out of its dirty bed to examine it. Mrs. May then lifted a milking bottle from the bed and found that the milk inside was sour and totally undrinkable. She then seen a bottle of laudanum and asked Camock if she had been giving this to the child. Camock told her that she had not and that it was for personal use. The nurse then poured it out into the fire. A doctor was sent for and shortly afterwards Doctor Dunlop arrived. At the child's inquest he told the coroner; "I found the child in a comatose state, and dreadfully emaciated with sores on various parts of its body. I remarked at the time that Camock was starving the child and poisoning it with laudanum. There was no fat on its body, and it was in that condition that it would have been very unwise to allow it to remain in the charge of the woman." The child's father was sent for as well as the police. Constable Megrath was the first to arrive but there was very little the police could do in the case. When William McKeown arrived Dr. Dunlop informed him that Camock was starving the child and poisoning it but Mc Keown gave the impression that he did not care. After some discussion Mc Keown informed the constable that he would take the child to his home. The following day the child was dead. Mc Keown and Camock were arrested the following morning. On Thursday 11th December, 1884, William McKeown and Eliza Camock appeared in Belfast Courthouse before Mr. Justice Murphy. Both were charged with the manslaughter of the child and both tried to blame the death of the child on each other. McKeown stated that
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the child was in the care of Camock who in turn stated that McKeown had made no payments for feeding it. After hearing the evidence from the medical profession and the police Judge Murphy told the jury; "That between the two prisoners they let the child die of starvation. Such was the clear evidence of the doctor who told the Court of emaciation, the result of starvation, sores and filth, and one of the ordinary results of this system of baby-farming." The jury retired and after fifteen minute's absence, found both prisoners guilty. Judge Murphy, in passing sentence, said; "Now McKeown and Camock, you have been very justly convicted of this charge on very clear evidence. You allowed the unfortunate child to be starved to death by your neglect. You, Camock, could have taken it to the workhouse, or could have appealed to the ladies in Holywood; and you, McKeown, could have done the same. But it was evidently thought by you better if it were out of the way, the sooner it ceased to exist, you thought, all the better. I don't know where the woman was, to take it to who was to give it to the sea captain's wife, or what she undertook to do with it provided she was given a proper consideration, or who she was. But it was unconventional to receive the child back there again. We have the history of the unfortunate little creature's suffering; they must have been very great up to the time of its death. This system of baby-farming - that is, of providing for illegitimate children according to the convenience or disposition of those who are the means of their coming into the world - must be put a stop to. I sentence each of you to eighteen calendar months imprisonment, with hard labour, for causing the death of this unfortunate child."
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FAMILY OF FIVE MURDERED IN GALWAY n the 17th August 1882 the murders at Maamtrasna, near Galway, shocked the people of Ireland at the time and have continued to interest Irish people all over the world ever since. The curiosity in this event lies in the brutality of the murders and also in the results of the subsequent trial in December 1882.
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Five members of one family were killed – John Joyce of Maamtrasna, his wife, his daughter, his mother and his son were all murdered and another son was left critically wounded and left with terrible injuries for the rest of his life. The police arrested ten men for the murders, after they were given information from other members of the Joyce family, Anthony, John and Johns son Paddy, who were feuding with their cousins who they named as the murderers. The men arrested were Myles Joyce, his brothers Martin and Paudeen, Paudeen's sons Tom who were all from Cappanacreha; Pat Casey, Michael Casey and John Casey, also of Cappanacreha; Pat Joyce of Shanvalleycahill;
Maamtrasna where the murders occured Tom Casey of Glensaul, and Pat Joyce, Pat Casey and Anthony Philbin of Cappaduff. Myles Joyce pleaded not The three Joyce brothers and guilty, were tried, found guilty Tom (Paudeen's son) were not and sentenced to be hanged. among the murder gang but The other five accused were were named anyway out of persuaded by the local priest spite. Neither were Anthony from Clonbur to plead guilty to Philbin or John Casey in the the murders to save themselves murder gang but four men, Pat from the hangman’s noose. Joyce, Pat Casey, Tom Casey One of the five, Michael Casey, and Michael Casey, admitted broke down and admitted that later that they were there when he had been at Maamtrasna but the murders took place. that the other four were not there and neither was Myles At the trail two of the accused Joyce but these five were all agreed to give evidence for the found guilty and sentenced to prosecution, confirming what be hanged but this was the Joyce informers had told appealed and the five received the police, to save their own life imprisonment. lives, even though they knew that they were lying to the Myles Joyce, Pat Joyce and Pat court. They were Anthony Casey were hanged in Galway Philbin and Thomas Casey. Jail on the 15th December
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1882. Myles Joyce maintained that he was innocent right to the end and Pat Joyce and Pat Casey tried in vain to have Myles reprieved and they admitted their part in the murders as they went to the hangman’s noose but stated that Myles was innocent as was his brothers Paudeen and Martin, Paudeen's son, Tom Joyce, and John Casey.
had died was one which the court should address but the coroner refused to answer their questions and told them that this was not their concern and that they only had to decide on how the men had died. Their verdict was that Myles Joyce had died of strangulation and that Pat Joyce and Pat Casey died from fractures of the neck due to hanging.
Myles was very agitated on the day of the hanging and when Marwood the executioner came to put the noose around his neck he left Myles standing for a few minutes with the noose around his neck and Myles got his arm caught in the rope so when the men were suspended Myles did not die immediately and Marwood had to use his foot to keep Myles down as he struggled.
In 1884 Tom Casey of Glensaul who had been granted immunity by the crown made a full confession in Tourmakeady Church, in front of the bishop, that he had lied in the court and that Myles Joyce was innocent and that the men who had been imprisoned were also innocent. Many people tried to get the case reopened such as Archbishop McEvilly and then the case was taken up by Tim Harrington M.P., Parnell and the Irish Party fought long and hard in the British House of Commons to have justice done for these poor men but all attempts failed and ultimately the Government in England fell due to their refusal to reopen the Maamtrasna case.
The jury at the inquest into the hanged men were very unhappy about why Myles Joyce had been hanged despite the insistence of the other men that he was innocent, and also that the authorities had not dealt with his distress at the hanging as he continued to plead his innocence. They felt that his involvement in the murder had not been Tom Casey died a violent death investigated fully and also felt a few years later in America but that the manner in which he it is a dramatic part of our
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history of how a murder in a small remote village in the west of Ireland could have such significant consequences in the parliament in England. This story tells us much of what life was like in rural areas of Ireland at that time, the terrible murders, how easy it was for the men to give false evidence, the distrust of the local people of the crown and its officers, the hanging of an innocent man, the suppression of vital evidence so that the police could be seen to have punished the perpetrators and the forcing of innocent men to plead guilty, and the subsequent imprisonment of these men, the admitting of perjury by a crown witness and the refusal by the government of the time to reopen the case and have justice done.
The case still generates interest to this very day
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Ireland History Magazine
ROSSCOMMON MAN HANGED FOR THE MURDER OF HIS OWN BROTHER "Two charges from a shotgun into his shoulders resulted in the death of a thirty year old farmer, John McDermott, who was found shot at the gateway of his house at Rosmoylan, seven miles from Roscommon and two miles from the village of Cregg, shortly before 1 o’clock this morning. Hearing the shots, McDemotts brother and sister, with whom he lived, ran out from the house to the gate, about thirty yards away, where they found the man dying. The wounds were apparently caused by the discharge from a doublebarrelled shotgun. McDermott was unmarried and was well known in the Cregg district." This was the report published in the Irish Times on Monday, September 5th 1932. Shortly after the report was published Patrick McDermott, the brother of the victim, was arrested and charged with the murder of his brother. On the night of the shooting John McDermott left his home with a man named John Timothy who was engaged to Kate McDermott. On his way back he was shot dead at his own gate and the body was left on the road way all night. The State submitted that Patrick McDermott with deliberate and malicious aforethought perpetrated the crime of murder – that he was lying in wait for his brother and that he borrowed a gun for this express purpose and he shot him down in cold blood as he came in through his own gate.
On the 3rd of September Patrick McDermott borrowed a gun and three cartridges from Michael Connolly, remarking that the crows were destroying the oat crop. He came into his house at 9pm and John came in shortly afterwards. Patrick borrowed some tobacco from John and then went out of the house and went to the house of Ellen Ward. Patrick returned to the house at 11.30 pm, leaving shortly afterwards and then a few minutes later two shots rang out on the roadway outside the McDermott’s house.
Ireland History Magazine
Kate McDermott went out to investigate the noise and bumped into her brother Patrick who asked her if she had heard any shots. He then set off to find out what had happened when he shouted out to his sister, "Jack is shot down by the road. He is dead, I shook him and there is no life in him". Kate and Patrick set off to get help but their closest neighbour Nora Ward was not around so Patrick set off for another neighbour but instead went to the Connolly house looking for Michael. A short time later the police arrived at the McDermott cottage. The police immediately began to collect evidence from the scene. The dead mans clothes were collected and pieces of cloth gathered from the murder scene included stained rags. A lead pellet was found embedded in a beech tree and it was reported at the time that Patrick shed no tears for his brother at the funeral, which was brought to the court as evidence of Patrick’s guilt. At the four day trial over 47 witnesses were called and evidence was heard about Patrick borrowing a gun from his neighbour Michael Connolly and the defence stated that many people in the area knew that John McDermott carried money on his person and that he could easily be a victim of robbery. The judge summed up the evidence in directing the jury. The judge said that among the Irish there was a land hunger that led to many crimes. The dead mans father had forty acres of land, proved to worth about £700. John McDermott had
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been left the farm and the other children; Kate and Patrick had received £100 each. Patrick had wanted to go to America and it was suggested to the jury that this was a motive so that the farm could be shared between two siblings only. Opposed to this motive the court had heard evidence from several local people who visited the McDermott house and all said that the family got along well and were great friends as well as siblings. The judge also made reference to the fact that neither Patrick nor Kate had sought a priest for their brother and that they had also delayed in calling the police. It was thought that John McDermott had died a slow death, bleeding to death at his own gate, when perhaps medical help could have been sought earlier. However the Judge urged the jury to give Patrick McDermott the benefit of any reasonable doubt. The jury retired for over three hours before returning with the verdict of guilty of murder. Patrick McDermott stated that he was not guilty and the date of execution was set for December 15th. Over 100 people were outside Mountjoy Prison when the official notice of the execution was posted on the gate a few minutes after eight o’clock. A small protest also took place outside the prison when a number of men and women carried banners stating "British hangman destroys Irishman. Abolish the system and abolish crime. Pierpoint the British hangman, hangs Irishman, Is this justice?".
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Ireland History Magazine
JUDGE WEEPS AS HE PASSES DEATH SENTENCE They say that fact is stranger than fiction and when it comes to Belfast’s history this is certainly the case. One aspect of this history is the Crumlin Road Prison and the events which occurred there over its long history. For example how many people are aware that the first person hanged there was done so in a military uniform by an executioner in a convicts uniform? Very few I assume. The story began on the 22nd August 1853 in one of the common rooms of the Belfast Infantry Barracks, Private Robert Henry O’Neill wreaked a horrible revenge on Corporal Robert Brown. Both men were stationed at the Barracks at the time, being members of the 1st Battalion of the 12th (East Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot. Corporal Brown had earlier put Private O’Neill on report for a minor misconduct. Between eight and nine o’clock that same evening, when several soldiers, including the ill-fated corporal, were assembled in the Barrack room, Private O’Neill deliberately raised his musket and fired at his victim as he was writing at the table. As O’Neill tried to flee from the scene, he was arrested.
The following day a verdict of wilful murder was found against him by a coroners jury. The trial came on at the Spring Assizes for County Antrim before Sergeant Howley, and the result was that he was ordered for execution on May 5th 1854. The defence counsel, Mr. Ferguson, having in the course of the trial, raised two points of law in O’Neill’s favour - one relating to the constitution of the jury, and the other to the omission of certain words in the sentence of the judge - these points were argued in Error before the Judges of the Queen’s Bench in Dublin. Successive reprieves finally ended with a verdict of guilty. It was reported at the time that when the dreadful moment came for the judge to don the black cap and pass the death sentence tears were streaming down his face and his apparent unease and grief was equally matched by O’Neill’s convulsive sobbing as he was supported by warders in the dock. The convict was returned to the condemned cell and three priests visited to comfort and console him. On the morning
of his execution he expressed his desire to be executed in his military uniform, stating that it would completely unnerve him to appear before the crowds in his grave clothes. This request was subsequently complied with. Crowds began to assemble at the gaol from an early hour. By twelve noon it was estimated that the crowd numbered no fewer than twenty thousand. The throngs covered the road, the fields adjoining, and every eminence in the neighbourhood, from which even the most imperfect view of the scaffold could be obtained. The final moment for O’Neill’s execution arrived and a melancholy procession moved towards the gallows. The hangman led the procession, next was O’Neill, his face and neck covered with the dreaded white hood, his arms pinioned behind his back and supported by his clergymen. He was helped up the step ladder to the drop. As the hangman came into view, there was a sudden thrill in the crowd, as though the multitude had been awed by the scene for the first time. On this occasion however it
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was noted that the actual hangman, even though his identity was hidden by a crepe hood, his prison garb was plain to be seen. He was himself a prisoner at Belfast Prison, having been sentenced to three successive terms of imprisonment by the magistrates for assaults committed during his stay in Belfast.
scaffold and his prayers along with those of the clergy could be heard resounding off the prison walls. When everything was ready the hangman withdrew the bolt. The drop fell. The sharp chucking of the cord announcing to those inside the descent of the condemned man. The fall was measured at eleven feet and death was judged to have been instantaneous, for the limbs The crowd began murmuring barely shrunk up and quivered when O’Neill appeared on the for a little while, the hands
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grew black, and in less than a minute the corpse was motionless, except that it swayed slightly to and fro with the momentum of the fall. At the fatal moment, a loud and general scream went up from the crowd. The cries and wailing of the women were reported to have been most distressing and as the whole scene occupied but a few minutes the large crowds quickly dispersed.
Victorian map of Belfast showing the Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road
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Ireland History Magazine
ARMAGH LOVERS HANGED TOGETHER he crime of passion has been committed throughout history and today this type of offence still attracts the public’s attention through magazines and newspapers. Often the public has some sympathy for an unpremeditated act when it involves love, marriage and infidelity but when a murder is committed with meticulous planning there is little sympathy from the press or the public.
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hatchet on his head. When Mulholland finally fell to the floor Edgar picked him up, dragged to his bed and then took out a knife and slit his throat. He calmly cleaned himself up, took the weapons and some money and made his escape through a hole in the house wall.
He had told Edgar and Jane Mulholland if they stuck to their plea of innocent that they would not be convicted. How wrong this advice was and it cost Jane Edgar her life. Jane Mulholland under pressure confessed to the crime and told how Robert had actually done the killing although the murder plan had been discussed by them both a long time before the murder. They were both charged with the murder of Reid Mulholland and the callousness of their crime became apparent when evidence against them was given in court. The jury heard how Edgar had visited the dead mans father and read from the bible to comfort him just days before he carried out the dreadful and brutal murder. The couple had meticulously planned all aspects of their crime and in court Jane Mulholland was chastised by the judge not only for the murder of her husband but also for her infidelity. It was also discovered that Jane Mulholland had called for Edgar to shave the head of her dead husband before he was interred.
Jane Mulholland waited while Edgar made his escape and when she knew he would be some distance away she ran to her neighbours house shouting Such was the case in 1815 that her husband had been when Reid Mulholland was attacked by two robbers and beaten with a hatchet and then that he had been murdered. had his throat cut and left to die. He lived outside Armagh Immediately suspicion fell on in Hamiltonsbawn with his Jane Mulholland and her lover wife Jane. His elderly father Robert Edgar as many people lived in the house next door in this small community were and at this time was very ill and aware of their affair. A search confined to his bed. On was made of Edgar’s property February 13th Reid and there the police found the Mulholland had been to Belfast axe that he had borrowed from on business and returned his neighbour Ann Cully, and exhausted to his home where a gun that he had stolen from he retired almost immediately Mulholland was found buried to bed. His wife Jane stayed in his garden. up and a short time later a local man Robert Edgar, with whom The authorities approached she had been having an affair, Jane Mulholland and offered called to the house. The couple her immunity from prosecution went to her husband’s bedroom if she would give evidence where Robert Edgar proceeded against Edgar but she refused The crime was described at the to attack Mulholland with a as advised by her legal counsel. time as "a foul, black and
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deliberate crime" and Jane Mulholland actions as "having burst asunder the strongest bonds of God and nature and violated every obligation known to society, virtue and religion". The jury took just seven hours to pronounce a verdict of guilty for both defendants and the judge, Hon. Baron McClelland on passing sentence of death on the pair said; It is not the purpose of distressing or afflicting your minds, that I have thus addressed you both. To me it has proved a painful task. (the judge became distressed and agitated at this point). But it is for the purpose of impressing you with the enormity of your guilt, in the sight of God to lead you to seek that mercy in another world, which the injured laws of your country deny you in this. Your time in life is now very short, for the law of this land, holding such a crime as your’s in the utmost abhorrence, appoints the sentence of death to be carried into execution within the space of forty-eight hours after the prisoner has been found guilty. You therefore, the day after tomorrow shall be lopped off from society as a withered injurious branch. Go prostrate yourself before the throne of
Gods grace and ask forgiveness, through the merits and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only redeemer.
the new jail at Armagh in the presence of a huge crowd and their bodies dissected afterwards in July 1815. Just before their execution the Robert Edgar’s and Jane couple made a full confession Mulholland were both to the brutal murder and both executed by hanging in front of appeared resigned to their fate.
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Ireland History Magazine
SON MURDERS HIS OWN FATHER IN KILKENNY n the early hours of 27th November 1908 Thomas Barden awoke with a start. Someone was battering at his front door pleading with him to get up out of bed but by the time Barden had got up there was no one there. Barden was completely wide awake by now and he decided to go next door to his neighbour Simon Langtons to investigate the matter further. As he went up the lane to the Langton house he saw that the lights were still on and he could hear people talking. As he got within earshot he heard, "Where did you fall? I did not touch you. Who came in before me?" Barden returned home without going in thinking that perhaps it was some family dispute and he didn’t want to become involved.
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Later that day Thomas Barden decided to visit the Langtons house and went upstairs, where he saw the dead body of Simon Langton lying stretched out on the floor. Barden was shocked at the sight and realised that the police had not yet been called. The barracks at Cuffeagrange outside Kilkenny were informed and a Sergeant Tunny came out to the house. An examination of the deceased
man was made and a noticeable wound was found to his face. The cut was across the forehead and another over the left eyebrow which suggested that hair appeared to have been pulled from the poor mans face. The bed in the room had been broken down and there was considerable amount of blood on the floor. Immediately the police arrested John Langton the dead mans son and when cautioned he denied any knowledge of his fathers murder. The police doctor found further wounds to the dead mans throat such as would be caused by the pressure of fingers and nearly all the ribs in the mans body had been broken, probably due to a man jumping on the deceased’s body with his boots on. At the trial of John Langton for his fathers’ murder the facts of the case were briefly sketched out by the Attorney General, who concluded by saying that this was a clear and convincing case. There was no alternative, no possibility of any other suggestion, as to how this poor man met his death, but that he was deliberately killed at the hands of the man in the dock,
the deceased’s son, John Langton. Mr O’Connell the local publican gave evidence that John Langton had arrived in his shop looking for a drink at 5.00 p.m. but he refused him stating that he had already had too much to drink and he told the court that he advised John Langton to go home. Ellen Hogan the Langtons servant stated that she had seen Simon Langton alive at around 6.00 p.m. on the 26th November when she left him sitting by the fire. There did not appear to be anything unusual in his demeanour and all was well. The clothes, which John Langton had been wearing, were examined and his coat found to be saturated in human blood. The front of the legs of his trousers were also covered with blood and the ends were so saturated with blood that, it was in the opinion of Professor McWeeney of Dublin, the person wearing them must have walked through a pool of blood. It was also revealed in court that the will of Simon Langton instructed that £50 was to be given to each of his daughters, Bridget and Annie and that all his properties, two farms and a house, were to be
Ireland History Magazine
given to his son John Langton. The prosecution felt they had established a motive for the murder. The defence claimed that Simon Langton had fallen from bed and that an unknown person had broken into the house and attacked Simon Langton as he lay sleeping, however, they asked the jury that if they came to the conclusion that the injuries were caused by John Langton that they would consider that the prisoner was not guilty of
murder, but of the lesser crime of manslaughter. In other words he did not deliberately set out with murder in his mind and that his fathers death therefore resulted from a tragic and violent confrontation. The jury took just twenty minutes to return a verdict of manslaughter with a recommendation to mercy. The judge in sentencing John to twenty years’ penal servitude said that he would have handed down a life sentence had it not been for the recommendation of the jury.
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He said that there was not doubt that the prisoner slew his father and then went through the country making the pretence that it was some other hand that his that took the life of his father. This was a crime which all people did not want to believe, the crime of wilful murder not against a stranger, an enemy, someone you have a grudge against, but your own father, a man whom all people believe should be cherished, nourished and sustained.
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FERMOY MURDER MYSTERY O
n Wednesday, July 31st, 1895 the inquest on the bodies of Mary Ellen Bailey and Driver Denis Donovan, 67th Field Battery, Royal Artillery, who were found in the river Blackwater three weeks previous was resumed and concluded. The greatest excitement prevailed, as for some time past it has been believed that the deceased weere murdered and the evidence today showed that this belief was fully justified. District-Inspector Ball represented the Constabulary authorities, and Captain Gubbins attended to watch the intrests of the battery to which the deceased, Donovan belonged. Dr Williams deposed to making an examination of the body of Donovan. There werre two wounds on the head with great effusion of blood underneath, showing that great violence had been used. His face was badly battered and he was either dead or utterly insensible when thrown into the water. Death was caused by syncope resulting from concussion of the brain. The girl Bailey had also been severely beaten and had previously been outraged. She scarcely breathed after being flung into the river. Dr Dilworth concurred with this evidence. In his opinion the wounds on Donovan’s head were probably caused by a kick from a spur on a boot, but might have been caused by a sharp stone or other instrument of a like nature. Donovan’s wounds could not have been inflicted by one person. Agnes Cooke deposed that on the night of the occurrence she met four artillerymen on
the bridge, who said, Good night, Polly," when passing, and used words to the effect that they would "do" for him or it that night. Thomas Shea deposed that at 11 o’clock on the night of July 1st he heard a loud piercing scream from a female and a few minutes after, looking out of the window, he saw four artillery soldiers coming out from the direction from which the scream proceeded. A number of military witnesses were examined, but nothing important was elicited. Director Inspector Ball read a letter which Donovan had written to his mother, in which he stated his life was a misery to him and appealing to her to get him out of the artillery regiment. Coroner Rice, having summed up at length, the jury found a verdict that the deceased were on the night of July 1st wilfully murdered at Fermoy by some person or persons unknown, and added a rider commending District Inspector Ball for the zeal and ability he displayed in prosecuting the inquiry and Captain Gubbins for the manner in which the Royal Artillery aided the investigation. They also expressed their dissatisfaction at the manner in which the ajority of the military witnesses gave their evidence. District Inspector Ball said the constabulary would continue to do their best in the matter. He wished that some of the thirty or forty persons who were up the river walking on the night in question would come forward and give the police information of what was within their knowledge. The brutal crime remained unsolved.
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ARMAGH BABY DROWNED IN KITCHEN BOILER n Tuesday, March 27th 1888 the daughter of the late Colonel Prior, who had been the commander of the military in Armagh, was arrested and charged with the murder of a four-year-old child named Ann Slavin. Miss Belina Prior was arrested in her mother’s house at Vicar’s Hill, Armagh on a charge of having drowned the infant in a kitchen boiler. The child victim of this brutal attack was the daughter of Joseph Slavin, a whitewasher from the same area. On Wednesday July 12th 1888 Belina Prior appeared before Mr Justice Murphy and was indicted with having on the 27th March 1888, wilfully, feloniously and of malice afterthought, killed and murdered one Ann Slavin at Armagh. Mr Orr in stating the case for the crown said the circumstances of the case were straightforward. The accused, a young girl just out of their teens, without any motive whatever, stood charged on her own statement, with the wilful murder of that child. Miss Prior lived with her mother, two brothers and a sister, in a house at Lettuce Hill, Armagh. It was suggested that there was a tin can next to the boiler and it was also suggested that the child overbalanced and fell into the boiler. Miss Prior, losing her presence of mind at not being able to save the child’s life, falsely accused herself of murder. They would have to consider whether or not Miss Prior was insane at the time she committed the crime and the medical evidence which the Crown would produce would, he hoped, enable them to determine that question.
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The court was told how on the day of the tragedy a young girl named Catherine Slavin, brought her sister up to Mrs Prior’s house. Miss Prior asked to mind the little girl and told her sister to come back in an hour for her. It appears that Belina Prior brought the infant into the dining room of the house where she was given some sweets. Belina’s sister Adele was present. The child was kept there for a short while before being brought down into the kitchen. According to Adele Prior they had only been in the kitchen for fifteen minutes when Belina came back without the child. She was as white as a ghost and her dress was wet. Adele asked what was wrong. She instinctively knew that something terrible had happened. Belina just muttered, " run down, I did not do it." She then changed her claim by saying that she did do it, "I have killed the child.". Adele went down into the kitchen where she found the dead child in the boiler with its head down. The water was cold and she lifted its limp body out. It was too late. Mr Gerrard explained how easily his client frightened, insinuating that perhaps the child fell into the boiler by accident and that perhaps through fright the girl lost her senses and abandoned the child. The previous summer, he claimed, she saw the face of a man at the scullery window and that paralysed her. However it transpired in the court proceedings that maybe something more sinister was afoot. The court heard the deposition of Rev Benjamin Wade.. He stated that on the afternoon of that tragic day Mrs Prior called on him and asked him to go to the house. On arriving, Belina was standing in the parlour and he said to her, "What is it that you have done?" She replied, "I will give you no answer." He asked her again and she said, "I will not answer a word." The prisoner, looking at her mother, said, "I have paid you off. Everyone has been unkind me." Rev Wade went over to the accused and said, "Now, don’t you know you have deprived that poor child of its life and what the consequence might be?" Belina Prior replied, "Well I am sure I will be hanged, and I will be glad of it." The court was then presented with evidence from various eminent medical witnesses explaining that in their evidence when she was examined she appeared to be in an excited state. This could have been because of the shock of witnessing the deceased die although she could have been like this before the death. It was this evidence which was vital in ascertaining whether or not Belina Prior was insane at the time of the child’s death. The court heard that while she was in prison she had tried to commit suicide by cutting her own throat. She was removed from the prison to the lunatic asylum. Mr Gerrard tried to find out if there were any marks of violence on the body of the child and also, considering that there were stones at the bottom of the boiler, were there any marks which would have proven that the child’s head had been forced against them. There were none. In the end of the day the jury retired and returned with the verdict of guilty but that she was indeed insane at the time of the committal of the act. Belina Prior was ordered to be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic in Her Majesty’s Gaol until Her Majesty’s pleasure be known.
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THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF JANE GILLESPIE dward Gillespie aged 40, was charged with the murder of his wife Jane Gillespie on the 27th September 1900. The Gillespie’s lived in the small town of Carndonagh in Co Donegal and they lived humble lives. Edward Gillespie had at one time been in the navy, leaving when he came to live in Carndonagh and marry Jane Devlin. Shortly after Jane and Edward got married Edward was appointed as the warder of the "idiots’ ward" in the Carndonagh Workhouse, which was situated between the Derry Road and the Donagh River. Edward spent his nights living at the workhouse while Jane lived in a small house in the town. Their lives were simple and routine and they did nothing to attract any particular attention until the morning of the 28th September when the dead body of Jane was found by Patrick McAleaney in the Donagh River, lying on a heap of stones. Jane was dressed in a petticoat but she had neither skirt nor shawl on. Her skirt was found a short distance away at Thompson’s bridge, turned inside out and torn from top to bottom.
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An inquest was held and as the Gillespie house was close to Thompson’s Bridge it was assumed that she fell into the river when in a state of drunkenness, and the matter of her death was treated as
misadventure. However on the 1st of October Jane’s shawl was found, attached to a whitethorn bush, in the river and it was obvious that she must have got into the river
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of money that had gone missing from the workhouse. A local woman called Mary Toy told the court that she had seen Edward with his wife on the evening before she died and that they were in good terms with each other and that Jane seemed sober but that she had in recent weeks not been herself and had been more aggressive that normal.
where the shawl was found. The police examined the scene on the riverbank and they found marks of a struggle as well as portions of a sally bush torn and broken and on one of the torn bushes they found a piece of thread which corresponded exactly to the skirt of the deceased at the part of the river where it came close to the workhouse.
death he heard McGready go out of the workhouse and he suggested to the police that McGready went to the river for the purpose of murdering his wife.
The police questioned Edward Gillespie and he swore that the last time he had seen his wife was on the morning of the 28th September and that he could think of no reason why anyone would hurt his wife. Jane Gillespie was subsequently buried at Cockill but after the police continued their inquiries her body was exhumed on the 11th October when it was discovered that she was unconscious when she entered the water.
The medical evidence at the trial came from two experts who confirmed that Jane Gillespie was unconscious or dead before she entered the water. There was no water in her lungs and both experts believed that if Jane had fallen into the water drunk the cold water would have revived her enough to either get out of the water or she would have drowned. In his summing up Mr Justice Kenny advised the jury that they should remember that no motive had been suggested by the crown why Gillespie should murder his wife. The jury retired and within 45 minutes returned to the court The police were convinced with a verdict of not guilty. that Edward was guilty and did little to investigate his Edward Gillespie was claims that McGready had discharged and no one was threatened him and his family ever convicted of the murder and that this was over a sum of Jane Gillespie.
Gillespie then decided to change his first statement to the police by telling them that he believed that his wife was having an affair with one of the inmates of the workhouse, Patrick McGready, and Edward Gillespie claimed that on the night of his wife’s
The police did not believe this story and instead they put forward evidence and motive to the trial of Edward Gillespie, which opened in Lifford in July 1901. They believed that Jane was an alcoholic and that on the day of her murder she had gone down to see her husband at the workhouse looking for drink. It was well known in Carndonagh that Edward Gillespie did not approve of his wife’s drinking and he had been heard berating her in public about the people she had been drinking with. It was also suggested that there were many men callers at their home while Edward was at work but this was only rumour and supposition and the judge warned the jury that there was no evidence that these rumours were true.
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CURIOUS CAVAN POISON CASE n the 11th July 1908 Elizabeth Farrelly was put on trial before Justice Gibson at Cavan Assizes for attempting to murder her husband Patrick Farrelly at Clifferna, near Bailieborough on the 14th June. It was alleged that she had tried to poison him at his home. On the day of the trial the courtroom was packed as this was an unusual case, not often heard in Cavan and there had been much speculation and newspaper interest in the story.
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administering a large quantity of tartar emetic, with intent to inflict bodily harm. Elizabeth Farrelly had been born in Cavan and had left Ireland to live in America in the early 1900’s. She returned to Stragh in Cavan in 1907 and moved in with her family. A short time later she met Patrick Farrelly and after a whirlwind romance they got married on the 1st March 1908. She then moved in with Patrick and his parents in a small house at Clifferna. When Elizabeth returned to Ireland she had brought with her a considerable sum of money, which she had earned in America. She was quite an independent and confident woman, a very different one that appeared in the dock in the Cavan court.
Mrs Farrelly appeared in court drawn and looking very unwell, so much so that she had to be attended by a warder into the dock and she seemed hardly able to stand. As she stood in the dock the clerk of the court read out the charge that she, Elizabeth Farrelly was charged with The prosecution set feloniously and out their evidence that u n l a w f u l l y on the 14th June
Patrick had complained of suffering from a sore throat and a cold. They described how immediately his wife, Elizabeth had offered him a drink to cure his illness and that she had given him a dose of a deadly emetic known as tartar emetic, which was concealed in a jar of cream of tartar. At this early stage in the proceedings Elizabeth began to sway in the dock and turned very white and the judge who had observed this, directed that she should be allowed to sit down, a privilege, which Mrs Farrelly accepted with relief. The proceedings continued when counsel for the crown described how although the drink that Elizabeth gave to Patrick had not been fatal but that evidence they had would show that it might have been. After taking the drink Patrick began to vomit violently for
several hours and took cramps. This went on from about eleven o’ clock in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon. Farrelly sent for the local medic, Dr Ryan who visited him later that afternoon. A few days later the police in the course of their investigations, after being alerted by the doctor, took a sample of the vomit and sent it to be analysed. The analysis by Mr Barklie, used newly discovered forensic techniques, and revealed that the tartar emetic and the cream of tartar had been mixed skilfully and uniformly throughout the whole body of the contents of the package. Three and a half grains of tartar emetic were found in the vomit sample, two grains of which would normally cause death. The evidence clearly suggested that the poison had been mixed into the cream of tartar on purpose.
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When questioned about the mixture Mrs Farrelly said nothing, she could not say where the deadly poison had been purchased and the police at first did not suspect Elizabeth. They had questioned the family and local community and everyone agreed that the newly weds were very happy and that Elizabeth had mixed well with the neighbours and that there were no disagreements within the family. Patrick himself could not come up with any reason why his wife would try to kill him but the police became suspicious when Elizabeth refused to answer their questions. When Patrick took the stand the crown asked him about a further incident when he was unwell and he described an event on the 6th June 1908. He had been feeling a littlie unwell and his wife had offered him a drink of cream of
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took a fair amount of whisky but this did not make him aggressive or violent, but often made him sick. The defence pointed out to the court that no one else in the house had been questioned about how the cream of tartar had come into the house and that in fact it was quite possible that the cream of tartar had been in the house long before Elizabeth Farrelly had moved into the house.
tartar. When she gave it to him he had complained of a strange smell from the drink, but took it anyway. As he was drinking it he tasted grains in his mouth and stopped drinking. The next day he vomited a couple of times, but this time recovered quite quickly. Again a few days later he had another drink made
from the cream of tartar and this time he was so sick that he had to be helped to his bed by his wife and mother. Each time he had taken a drink his wife and mother had been present. The defence then questioned Patrick and asked him about his drinking habits and it became clear in the court that Patrick often
No more evidence was heard and the jury retired to consider their verdict but returned within a few minutes finding Mrs Farrelly not guilty on all charges and she was immediately discharged. No further investigations were ever carried out to find out how the poison had got into the house. Patrick Farrelly did not suffer any further sickness and the Farrellys lived happily in Clifferna for many years.
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Ireland History Magazine
THROAT SLASHED FROM EAR TO EAR IN DUBLIN he Doyle family had been living at No 13 Grants Row for seven months. Three months previously, in October 1909, Josephine Doyle left the family home and only returned to it in January 1910. There was bad feeling between Josephine and her brother Thomas and on the evening of 15th January 1910 he warned her not to remain in the house for another night. Their parents were dead and the two brothers Thomas and William in the recent absence of the sister had occupied a single apartment. That night, however, ignoring her brother’s threats, Josephine Doyle remained in the house. At around 3.00 am in the early hours of the 16th Thomas returned to the house and finding his sister in the room quickly drew a razor across his sisters throat, causing a deep wound from ear to ear. He then attacked his brother William who struggled to save himself. He received two wounds on the head and several on his fingers.
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None of the other residents of the house heard any of the scuffles in the Doyle’s room. They were only made aware of what had occurred when William Doyle after freeing himself from the struggle with his brother, rushed down the stairs and knocked on the Duffy’s room, a family who also lived in the house. He called out "Duffy, Duffy, get up, Tom is after killing my poor sister". Duffy got up and almost immediately Tom Doyle rushed downstairs behind his brother and on entering Duffy’s apartment, stated in a furious tone that he was after "doing" her and threw the razor on the floor. William Doyle’s injures were attended to at the Sir Patrick Dun’s
Hospital, but it was not considered necessary to detain him. The police immediately visited the scene and found the girl, Josephine, already dead and lying in a pool of blood. Blood was also scattered over the bed and blood was also smeared on a table and other furniture in the room. On examination it was found that a deep wound had been inflicted to her throat, all the veins and arteries and windpipe had been severed. The wound extended from ear to ear and around by the back of the neck, almost severing the head from the body. The police called in Dr Dallas Pratt, of Fitzwilliam Square, and when the doctor arrived and saw the nature of the wound he pronounced that death must have been instantaneous, "the wound being of such a character that one so injured could not live for a minute".
The horrific murder of Josephine Doyle sent shockwaves throughout Dublin Thomas J Doyle was indicted for the wilful murder of Josephine Doyle and evidence heard in court revealed that on 22nd October 1906 the accused was convicted of unlawfully wounding Josephine so seriously that he was sentenced to three years penal servitude. He was discharged
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later he heard his brother knocking the door. William tried to stop Thomas coming in but he forced his way in and after taking just two steps to where his sister was sitting, he drew a razor straight across her throat. Thomas then attacked him and tried William Doyle was called to give evidence to cut his throat but as he still had his and he explained how the family unit had clothes on and a heavy coat, he was saved. broken up but the day before her death, Josephine, his sister, had returned to the Thomas Doyle’s defence rested on the house again at Grants Row. Thomas had accusation that William and Josephine been out and William met his sister at Doyle were engaged in an inappropriate Duffy’s room for a drink. He claimed that relationship for a brother and sister and that there had been a bit of a singsong in the he got into such a frenzy about the relations room and then he and his sister went to his between the two that the took his razor and room along with Mrs Duffy where they killed his sister and attacked his brother. drank another bottle of stout. Later on, his Mr Hanna, his counsel, stated that the law brother, Thomas, came in bringing a young was that a man in a case of this kind was woman with him. William Doyle claimed not to be held guilty of the extreme crime that he protested at this and said that he where there had been provocation of that would pay no more rent for the place if his kind. brother was going to bring people like that The jury retired and deliberated for just into the house. The young woman then over an hour and returned a verdict of not went out followed by Thomas Doyle. guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter. William Doyle claimed that he went and Thomas Doyle was sentenced to fifteen closed the door after them but 20 minutes years of penal servitude. in 1908 and returned to the family home as he had no where else to go and remained there with his brother. The accused also had been wounded in the Boar War and was discharged from the army in 1904.
The accused had been injured in the Boar War
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Ireland History Magazine
WAS AN INNOCENT MAN HANGED IN GALWAY? n Sunday April 24th 1881 the house of John Leyden was broken into by a group of six or seven people and the occupants, John Leyden and his son Martin were taken from their beds and brought outside. Both men were shot, the father John, receiving three bullet wounds to the chest and his son Martin was shot twice in the groin, once in the lung and twice in the wrist. John Leyden died at the scene and his son Martin was very critically injured. Several days after the shooting a young man named Patrick Walsh was arrested and was identified by Martin Leyden as being one of the men who had carried out the attack on the him and his father.
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The whole incident was shrouded in mystery and the motive for the attack was unknown as both men and all their relatives were known locally as quiet and in offensive people. The brutal attack had been overshadowed in the press by the death of Lord Beaconsfield, Disraeli, and the Irish Land Bill was also
being read before the House of Commons and there was much civil strife relate to this land question. Just several weeks after the trial Patrick Walsh was executed at the jail in Galway City for the murder of John Leyden Patrick Walsh. At the time there was a great deal of doubt over the sentence of death and that many believed that Patrick Walsh was innocent of this crime. On the day of his death people were heard to say that his death was "nothing more than judicial murder", while others said that "God alone had the right to take a life". Walsh’s fortitude and self possession, the kind words spoken of him by the priest, his youth and sensibility and above all his final words, marked him as a man on whom it were most difficult to believe the guilt of the murderer lay. Preparations for his execution were elaborate and the scaffold was positioned so that the gaze of other prisoners could not fall on Walsh. Captain Mason of the jail humanely arranged for the scaffold to be placed in a large work yard adjoining, but
walled out from the main building. Here a sloping mound of stones and clay was placed, the upper portion being extended by the addition of a rough wooden inclined plane with steps and on this was the platform trapdoor and the gallows. The last execution in Galway Jail was that of McHugo in 1880 and Walsh was confined in the same death cell – in the hospital section of the building. Walsh attended mass before his death and received the last rites of the church. At eight o’clock the bells tolled and from his cell the condemned man came with the Priest. In front of him were the governor and the sub sheriff. Father Greaven recited the Litany. Walsh walked with his arms free and his head bowed as if in constant prayer. When Walsh met the executioner his arms were strapped to this side although he continued to hold his hands up in the attitude of prayer. It was at this point that the strength of Walsh seemed to waver but he remained clear and calm in his responses to the Litany.
Ireland History Magazine
Walsh whose face was said to have born an expression of placidity and gentleness said in a clear firm tone- "I am going to my doom. Going before my maker, I have declared my innocence of the murder. Certainly I have never committed the murder. I was not there at all. Witnesses came and swore falsely against me." He then turned his face again towards the scaffold. Marwood the executioner pinioned his extremities and place the rope around his neck as the priest continued the prayers and Walsh was still speaking he responses. The white cap was then drawn over his face the words "Jesus have mercy" could be heard and the trap door swung open. Walsh was dead in seconds and the black flag was immediately hoisted. From outside the prison walls it was reported you could hear the wails of his mother and sisters when they saw the black flag appear over the prison walls. In an interview with a local paper at the time the prison chaplain, Rev Greaven told the paper that he seldom, if ever, met a more single
minded and truthful man that poor Patrick Walsh and that he believed implicitly in his innocence, that his conduct during the time he was confined was most exemplary, his piety and devotion remarkable, and his whole bearing one of resignation and fortitude. He told the paper that Walsh had written to all of his friends
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telling them that he was innocent and that he had written to the Lord Lieutenant reiterating his innocence. The trial of Patrick Walsh and the verdict of death by hanging changed attitudes to the capital sentence for ever in Ireland. There was no desire in the people to see criminals and murderers punished in this way.
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Ireland History Magazine
STABBED TO DEATH AT CLONBROCK n the morning of Tuesday June 17th 1902, a man by the name of John Daly, was found stabbed to death in a field near his home at Clonbrock. The previous day, Daly, who was a coal carter, was making deliveries at Killesig, Carlow. He left the town at 9.30pm and when he arrived home he led his horse around to the back of the house. His wife claimed that she had waited up for him until 11.00pm and when he hadn’t returned by then she retired to bed, where, she claimed, she fell into a deep sleep from which she awakened at 7.00am the following morning.
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Thinking that her husband had not come home she went outside to check and when she saw the cart out front and the horse in the field she assumed her husband had got up early and gone out to the fields to work. She
sent her 11-year-old son to fetch her husband and after searching for a short while the boy returned home to tell his mother that his father was lying out in one of the fields, dead. The police were immediately summoned and they reported finding the body as the boy said, lying dead against the incline of some rising ground, the back of his head in a pool of blood. There were some marks of a struggle and from where the man had fallen there appeared to be a pool of blood no more than three or four feet away. When the body was examined more closely, they found a gash, which stretched, over the left temple to under the left eye. Mr Daly’s head was a mass of perforations, made by some very sharp tool and a pitchfork was found close to the body.
Another fork with blood on it was later found at the Daly home. A local man called Joseph Taylor was soon arrested as the main suspect in the murder and Mary Daly the dead mans wife was also arrested. Both Taylor and Mary Daly were indicted for the murder of John Daly. At the trial of Taylor the Crown suggested that he had been having an adulterous affair with Mary Daly. On the day of the murder Taylor had been drinking heavily and John Daly the son of the deceased swore that Taylor was in his father’s house on the afternoon of the murder. He was sitting by the fire with Mary Daly and they were talking in a low tone to each other. The young boy claimed that he and his young sister were put to bed but he awoke when he heard shouting outside and
saw his father being attacked by Taylor in the yard. The boy then claimed that he saw Taylor dragging his father over the garden and out into the field. Taylor’s defence suggested that it was Mary Daly who had murdered her husband and that the children told this story to protect her. They suggested that Mary Daly hated her husband, and lay in wait for him on the night of the murder with a prong in her hand, that when she first attacked him, the poor man ran away and that he received the first blow of the prong probably on the spot where one of the pools of blood lay in the field. She broke the first prong and had to go back for another, which she also broke in her attack on him, and then finished him off with a stone. The jury deliberated for 50 minutes and returned a verdict of
Ireland History Magazine
guilty. Joseph Taylor was sentenced to be hanged at Kilkenny on the 7th January 1903. As soon as Taylor was found guilty the trial of Mary Daly began. The first witness was little John Daly who described again the scene of Taylor beating his father in the yard. The next witness was the boys sister, Lizzie, who confirmed her brother’s story. Sergeant Conlan who attended the scene gave evidence regarding the finding of the prong behind the door in Daly’s house.
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There had been blood on it and when he took it out Mrs Daly said; "He had that himself on Sunday morning." and that he had been beating her. He then asked her how the blood came to be on it, to which she claimed he had cut her hands with it. Upon further examination of her hands the Sergeant claimed that the cuts were only scratches, similar to those you would get from fingernails. The jury retired and deliberated for 55 minutes returning a guilty verdict with a recommendation to
Tullamore where Mary Daly was executed
mercy. His Lordship, in passing sentence, said that another jury had already returned a verdict of guilty against Joseph Taylor, and he felt bound to say he agreed with both verdicts. The sentence and
judgement of the court was that Mary Daly should be hanged in the 9th January 1903 at Tullamore, just two days after the hanging of Taylor. Mary Daly was one of the last female prisoners to be hanged in Ireland.
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Ireland History Magazine
DEATH UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES n August 1872 the police in Carrickfergus arrested John Gardner after the body of his wife Agnes was found in their home by a neighbouring relative who had become concerned that there was no activity in and about the house. Blood was found on the bed where Agnes Gardner died and the police immediately suspected foul play. Agnes Gardner was in her forties, a mother, and wife who was married to a man who enjoyed the drink. She had a gentle temperament and was a weak and delicate woman.
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On the 19th August Agnes went to bed early as usual as she was an early riser. Her husband was not yet at home so Agnes asked her eldest son, aged ten, to wait up a little longer in case his father returned. He was instructed to fasten the latch on the door and to unlock the latch if his father returned. The young boy fell asleep and did not hear if his father returned to the family home that evening. John Gardner had left the house early on the morning of the 19th August 1872 in order to visit his sheep that were grazing on the Commons. He attended to his livestock and then bumped into some friends and went drinking. He drank with his friends until the afternoon and then set off for home but he called on another friend, a watchman named John Boal, on the way and the two men began to drink whiskey together. John Gardner described himself as very "full" after drinking the whiskey and it was eleven o’clock that evening before he set off again for home. He had been drinking almost non-stop for over 12 hours. Somewhere on route to his home John Gardner passed out as he told the police he could not remember anything after leaving his watchman friend until he woke up the next morning around five o’clock and he found that he was lying beside a haystack in the Prospect area of Carrickfergus. At this point John Gardner got up and went straight to work, unaware that his wife was lying dead in their
home and it was several hours later when the police came to arrest him that he discovered that his wife was dead. However, rumours were quickly circulating in the area that John Gardner was seen at around 4.30am in the morning of the 20th August leaving his house. It was these rumours, which ensured that the police held him in custody until the outcome of the inquest into his wife’s death. On Monday August 24th the inquest was held in the premises of William Donnelly, a local publican. Despite many locals being called to give evidence as to the whereabouts of John Gardner on the night his wife died no one would confirm that they had seen him leaving his house. They each said that they had heard it from someone else and the source of the rumour was never established. Agnes Gardner’s eldest son was called to give evidence and he stated that after his father left the house he did not return until after the death of his mother. He did confirm that his mother had not complained of being unwell and that he did not wake until his aunt called at their home to find out why no one was up. As no evidence was gathered from the local community that either exonerated or found Gardner culpable, the coroner called for medical evidence from Dr Josias Patrick. Dr Patrick deposed that he had made a full examination of the body and he had found one lung completely congested with blood. Agnes also had fatty degeneration of the heart although her other organs were healthy. Dr Patrick believed that the cause of death was due to disease of the heart and there was no real evidence of violence against her. The blood he concluded could have come from her coughing up blood due to her congested lungs and the immediate cause of death was syncope, a loss of consciousness due to lack of oxygen to the brain.
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The Lamentation of Hugh Reynolds My name is Hugh Reynolds I came from honest parents, Near cavan I was born as you may plainly see For the loving of a maid one catherine McCabe mt life has been betrayed she’s the dear maid to me. The country was bewailing my doleful situation But still I’d expectation this maid would see me free Boy O, she was ungrateful, her parents proved deceitful And though I loved her faithful, she’s the dear maid to me. Young men and tender maidens throughout this Irish nation Who hear my lamentation, I hope you’ll pray for me The truth I will unfold, that my precious blood she sold In the grave I must lie cold; she’s the dear maid to me. For now my glass has run, the last hour it has come, And I must die for love and the height of loyalty! I thought it was no harm to embrace her in my arms, Or take her from her parents; but she’s the dear maid to me. Adieu my loving father, and you my tender mother, The jury requested a visit to the Gardner house to Farewell my dearest brother, who has suffered sore for me; have a look around and after the visit they concluded With irons I’m surrounded, in grief I lie confounded, that the flimsy latch, which secured the door, was so By perjury unbounded; she the dear maid to me. weak and without a bar that anyone could get into the Gardner house without creating a noise. Now I can say no more; to the Law Board I must go,
After the medical evidence and the home visit by the jury the coroner summed up the evidence and although he commented on the fact that the conduct of John Gardner in being absent in a drunken state from his wife and family, for such a length of time was a disgrace, there was no evidence to prove that he was an accessory to his wife’s death, notwithstanding this he should be ashamed of his behaviour.
There to take my last farewell of my friends and conterie; May the angels shining bright, receive my soul this night, And convey me into heaven with the Blessed Trinity.
An 1826 ‘execution ballad’ from County Cavan which told the story of Hugh Reynolds who was wrongly accused by Catherine McCabe on the charge of breaking and entering. The charge was considered a capital offence back then for which, if convicted, the culprit would have been hanged. The execution was set for the 28th of March, The jury returned a verdict of death by natural causes 1826, but the perjury was discovered and reynolds was and John Gardner was released from custody, lucky freed much to the disappointment of the ballads that the medical evidence was able to prove his author! innocence.
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Ireland History Magazine
A MURDER “REVOLTING BEYOND MEASURE” n Tuesday January 4th, 1910 at exactly 8 o’clock at Kilmainham Jail, (bottom right) Joseph Heffernan was executed for the wilful murder of Mary Walker. Miss Walker had been a telegraphist employed at Mullingar Post Office and her murder caused fear and revulsion throughout Ireland. The Freeman’s Journal at the time stated ‘the details surrounding the murder were such as to make it revolting beyond measure’.
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On 7th July 1899 a body was found lying in a hollow at the foot of a sloping bank beside the canal, close to Mullingar. Her throat had been cut and it appeared that she had met a violent end. The remains were later identified as those of a Miss Mary Walker who lived in the town. It was said that she loved to walk this path when out for an evening stroll and so on the fatal afternoon she left her friends and she was not seen alive again by them. Her lifeless body was found partly covered by grass and her throat had been cut from ear to ear.
Mullingar
Joseph Heffernan, a labourer, was eventually arrested and charged with the killing. At Heffernan’s trial the local police described how Mary’s body was found and that her face was covered with blood and her clothing was torn. The ground around her body appeared to be cut up suggesting that a fearful struggle between the poor defenceless girl and her assailant. The ground, which was marshy, had been trampled down as Mary Walker was murdered trying to defend herself. There was no doubt at all that her death had been caused by the wound to her throat. Miss Walker had been 25 years old at the time of the murder and she had held down her job at the Post Office for nine years. Due to
the nature of the job she was well known and liked in Mullingar. On the 7th July she left the Post Office at about 2.00 pm and went to her lodgings at Mrs Daly’s house to have her lunch. After lunch she left, as was her habit, at 3.15pm to have a walk along the bank of the canal. Her dead body was brought home at 11.00 pm the same night. Earlier around 4.00 pm it turned out that she had been spotted walking along the canal opposite Merlehan’s field by Thomas and Matthew Nooney. She was then going in the direction of the racecourse. Thomas Nooney, who was employed in the Post Office and had many opportunities of seeing Miss Walker claimed that he recognised her the moment he saw her on the canal bank.
Ireland History Magazine
The evidence of these two witnesses showed that after the brothers passed, Miss Walker sat down on the bank at the point where it sloped down to the railway. At around 4.30 pm, a stable boy named Monaghan, saw a girl pursued by a man who overtook her. The boy was exercising a horse in a field at the opposite side of the canal so he had a good viewpoint. The boy claimed that the man then forced her down the bank until both disappeared from sight. There was no doubt that the man was Joseph Heffernan. A plea of insanity was raised on Heffernan’s behalf and the Lord Chief Justice said that it was up to the jury to decide whether there was any doubt about the mans guilt. Heffernan was close to the
scene of the murder and had possession of a blood stained knife and another knife was found near the canal. The judge advised the jury that they had to decide if the accused could tell the difference between right and wrong and if they felt that Heffernan could not distinguish between them there was a reasonable doubt. The jury were advised that most criminals that came before the courts where of a degenerate type and that if they came to the conclusion that the prisoner was the author of the crime, it was their duty, to find an unqualified verdict of guilty. Heffernan was said to have made a confession to a prison warder and this statement was used as evidence in his trial. "There is no use denying. I
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killed the poor girl right enough. Everybody knows it. I don’t know what came over me – the devil I suppose I was drinking all that day. I put my arm around her neck and knocked her down. I also cut a hole under her ear. The poor girl died easy." Heffernan was found guilty and sentenced to death. After his sentence he appeared to be very repentant as he awaited his death. The Sisters of Charity attended him every day from Basin Lane and they prayed with him as he attended to the ministrations of the Church with great devotion. Outside the prison a crowd of 300 people had gathered to await the proceedings. At eight o’clock the prison bell tolled to inform those outside the prison that the law had taken its course.
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Ireland History Magazine
THE MURDER OF LORD MOUNTMORRES
he murder of Lord Mountmorres in September 1880 became a significant event in Ireland due to the political consequences more than the physical result of his murder.
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Lord Mountmorres was quite a poor Viscount in that his income came solely from his estate; he lived on and by his land, which was by no means a large estate in comparison with the other large estates in Ireland at that time. Most other Lords also had other income by which to live. Lord Mountmorres had also become extremely unpopular, owing both to his inability and also his unwillingness to reduce rents to his tenants. At the time of his death he was reported to be about to issue decree’s to his tenants, either to leave their land by the bailiff, or to pay what was owing to him. On the day of his death there was a secret meeting of the Land
League in Clonbar and it was decided at this meeting that Lord Mountmorres would have to be "done away with". In April 1878 Lord Leitrim, while driving near Milford, on the shore of Mulroy Bay was shot by persons lying in ambush. His car driver was also killed, also shot, and his private clerk was shot twice and died later. Lord Leitrim’s skull was fractured and his revolver had been taken from him and was used against him. No one was ever caught for his murder, but four men were believed to have carried out the murder. The murder of Lord Mountmorres took place at Rusheen, near Ballinrobe, on County Mayo on the 25th September 1880. He had been in Clonbar shopping and left town at 8 o’clock in the evening to return to his residence Ebor Hall. (pictured right) At around 9 o’clock he was found lying in the road with six bullet
wounds, any one of which would have proved fatal. He was carried to the house of Hugh Flanagan, around 300 yards away, but Flanagan refused him admission, even though Lord Mountmorres was still alive. Lord Mountmorres died a short time later.
As far away as New York the murder was reported and discussed especially among what was then called the respectable classes. The Irish landowners experienced alarm, little short of panic after these two high profile murders, and political differences between the rich were set aside in the presence of what they described as "common and imminent danger". These landowners felt that there was no longer any security for their life or property and that nobody could feel safe who was connected with the possession, occupation, or management of land. At the same time the tenants were becoming
more militant and their rights for fair rents and the opportunity to purchase their own land was being taken up by Parnell in London and Dublin. Many local men were arrested and released as the police investigated the murder but they received no cooperation from the local community. A tenant farmer Patrick Sweeney was arrested two days after the murder, he had been given notice to quit by Lord Mountmorres and he was remanded to stand trial but later acquitted. Patrick Hennelly was arrested in Tipton, in December 1880 and charged with the murder. He was a local man, son of the Clonbar butcher, but he was later acquitted of the murder. In the months after the death of Lord Mountmorres some of his diary extracts were published: Ebor Hall, Aug 26 1879 ..I have received yours……As for rents, you dare not ask for
Ireland History Magazine
them; else you would get a threatening notice. Ebor Hall, Clonbar, June 4 1880 I am very sorry to have (to say) my tenants have not paid one penny yet, and I do not expect they will until I take law proceedings against them, which I shall do at the end of next month or beginning of August. Some of them have now four years rent due last month, and will neither give up their farms not pay part. I have offered them 20 per cent reduction but no use. Ebor Hall, Clonbar, September 8 1880 None of my tenants have yet settled with me, and those that I took proceedings against, the county court Judge gave them
time for payment….. Ebor Hall, Clonbar, September 11 1880 I received yours of the 9th….I do not know what will become of this unfortunate country. After the death of Lord Mountmorres his widow and children were boycotted by the community and were effectively ostracised and it came that they were no longer able to survive in Ireland and they had to take refuge in England and leave Ebor Hall for ever. Queen Victoria set aside apartments in Hampton Court Palace for the Mountmorres family’s disposal. No one else was charged with the murders but in 1892, out of the blue, a
prisoner in Glasgow confessed to being involved in the murders of Lord Leitrim and Lord Mountmorres. His name was Anderson and was a well known and lifelong criminal and was often convicted of various offences. His mind was at the time said to be "weak", and no charges were ever brought, but his story is of great interest and gives us some idea of the criminal fraternity at that time. He told the police in Scotland that he had assisted at the murder of Lord Leitrim and also of Lord Mountmorres. He also claimed that he had been hired to kill the notorious informer James Carey. Carey was a well to do
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tradesman and a town councillor in Dublin. Carey gave evidence which convicted the murderers of Lord Frederick Cavendish, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1882 who was shot dead in Phoenix Park. Carey, who, by dropping a handkerchief, gave the signal for the murderers to do their work, gave up the murderers in exchange for immunity. Carey was given passage out of Ireland but due to his own indiscretions was tracked down by Patrick O’Donnell, who helped by Anderson, shot and killed Carey on board the steamer Melrose, at Port Elizabeth in South Africa. O’Donnell was arrested and convicted of the murder and was executed at Newgate in December 1883. If Anderson was to be believed there were a group of hired assassins who travelled far and wide murdering landowners and establishment figures connected with Ireland in the late nineteenth century.
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Ireland History Magazine
MYSTERIOUS SUICIDE AT CARLINGFORD strange and disturbing incident was reported in the winter of 1935 in the North Louth area. The whole community was shocked when the body of a young local farmer John Patterson was found in a small pool of water on the 23rd February of that year. Mr Patterson was only 22 years old and when his body was discovered it was found bound with ropes and a gag of stocking type material was stuffed in his mouth.
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At first the police were suspicious about how Patterson died but quickly ruled out foul play despite pleas from the young man’s family that he had been killed by a group of men.
her that his family objected to his keeping company with her, they would never be able to marry. She was worried about him as he was in a very emotional state and she wrapped a white handkerchief around her arm and told him as he walked away that if anything happened to him that the cloth would be a mourning band for him. What happened next no one really knows but Patterson was found 20 yards from the Greenore road, close to a spot where the tide rose when at full flood. He was lying on his back, his feet bound together with a rope, the rope was also passed twice around his body and his hands were behind and underneath his body. White froth had formed around his mouth, indicating that he had drowned, and that he was most probably conscious when he drowned. A brown stocking was pushed into his mouth, but not tied in place, and when he was lifted from the pool of water the ropes were loose enough that they had not caused any marks or bruising on his wrists and ankles.
Patterson’s last hours began when he left the house near Carlingford that he shared with his mother, Mrs Lucinda Patterson. On the evening of the 22nd February he had tea with his mother, got dressed and told her that he was going to a wake at Greenore. It was the last time Mrs Patterson was to see her son. John Patterson was in fact going to visit a girl he had been going out with secretly for over two years. Her name was Annie Marmion and John knew that An inquest was held during which Patterson’s his family would never accept that she was his family pleaded with the police and the coroner girlfriend as they were of different religions. to instigate an investigation in to their beloved sons’ death. They were sure that their son After John left his mother’s house he went to would not have killed himself and that they felt Annie’s employers house where they had tea that it was possible that John Patterson had been together and began to talk about their future assaulted elsewhere and carried, bound and together, he had told her that he would marry gagged, to the spot where he was left to drown her back in 1934, and now that she was with in a pool of water. The medical evidence did child she told him that night that if he did not not indicate a struggle and Dr McGrath told the marry her she would be put out of her job as inquest that he believed that the cause of death well as her home at Rallagan. After they talked, was asphyxia, due to drowning. There was no Patterson began to cry and he left the house evidence of any resistance by Patterson to the shortly after midnight. When he left he told ropes which bound him.
Ireland History Magazine
A witness was called who relayed an interesting story to the coroner and jury. Thomas Kelly of Ballytrasna, a fisherman, identified the rope used on Patterson as similar to rope which Patterson had borrowed from him a few months earlier. A friend of Patterson’s, Daniel O’Rourke, stated that Patterson often experimented with ropes and would ask O’Rourke to tie him up with ropes so that he could not escape. Every time Patterson was able to release himself except for one time when Patterson asked him to tie a knot on the rope at his back and Patterson was unable to get out of the rope.
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The jury took a long time deliberating the evidence but eventually returned a verdict of suicide by drowning. The manner of which was most unusual in 1935 and would incur great suspicion today despite the emotional distress that Patterson was experiencing at the time the motivation and manner of his death were weak and out of the ordinary. The jury said, after delivering the verdict, that they wanted to congratulate the police for the manner of which the matter had been investigated and they were convinced that no suggestion of murder could be entertained.
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Ireland History Magazine
WOMAN TORTURED TO DEATH FOR BEING A WITCH ver 100 years ago a particularly barbarous incident was reported in which a woman was tortured to death because it was believed she was a witch. The woman was Bridget Cleary and her dead body was discovered buried in the bottom of a dyke not far from her home in March 1895. When her body was discovered it was found that one side of her body had been dreadfully burned form the face down to the legs. William Simpson of Ballyvadha stated that he visited the house of Patrick Boland one night in March with his wife and when they arrived at the Boland house Mrs Cleary was being given some herbs which had been bought from Louis Ganey. Mr Simpson and his wife could hear cries coming from the house and some raised male voices but they could not see in as the shutters were closed and the door was locked. A short time later the Simpson’s went into the cottage and there they saw Mrs Cleary being held down on the bed surrounded by her husband, father, and four others. They were trying to force the herbs into her mouth and they appeared to also be throwing liquid over the woman. Mrs Cleary was held down by force, and was screaming as the crowd shouted, "Come home Bridget Boland" (Boland was her maiden name). Some time later one of the men, John Dunne, said that they should start a fire to get Bridget to talk. Mrs Cleary was carried from her bed and she was held in front of the kitchen fire while her father and husband asked her questions. She was placed sideways on the hot grate and her hip rested on it but she did not scream and did not seem to be in any pain.. The following day Bridget Cleary disappeared from her home and was not seen alive again and the police charged all those who were in the house that evening with assault, ill-treatment and actual bodily harm. At the magisterial proceedings the jury were told how Mrs Cleary had burned to death in front of friends and relatives. They were Michael Cleary her husband, Patrick Boland, her father, Patrick Kennedy, James Kennedy, Michael Kennedy, John Dunne, William Ahearn, Dennis Ganey, Mary Kennedy and Mrs Burke. Mrs Burke’s testimony in court explained how Bridget was tortured by her husband who believing his wife to be a witch sent for herbs from a local herbalist named Ganey who was known locally as
O
the "fairy doctor". He believed that he could drive the evil spirits from his wife and according to Mrs Burke this is what he tried to do before her very eyes. Mrs Burke went on to recall how Michael Cleary had accused his wife of keeping the company of fairies and how he had put her through certain tests which would seem absurd to us today but were normal for that time. She was also forced to drink a herb concoction and he asked her in the name of God who she was. He then required her to eat bread and jam three times in order to see whether she was a human being or a fairy and when he became convinced that she was not human, he attacked her and jumped on her chest while she lay on the floor. He then stripped her, and after she had been placed over the fire he tried to drive out the fairies. He threw paraffin oil over her and then placed her on the fire where the body became disfigured and burned and some of those gathered in the room fainted at the smell and smoke in the room. Mr Cleary afterwards came up and got some sacks and with the assistance of the others took away the body, the party taking with them also a spade and a shovel. This occurred in the middle of the night and the next day Michael Cleary allegedly made Mrs Burke swear on her knees that his wife had vanished and no one knew what had become of her. He told her that it was not his wife that he was burning but a fairy and that she would see the fairy disappearing up the chimney. Michael Cleary, apparently after burying the body still believed that it was a witch he buried and not his wife, whom, he believed was still a prisoner of the fairies at Kylenagrapagh Hill. He believed that this ancient fort was now a fairy inhabitancy and Cleary expected to meet her at the fort. He told Simpson that if he went up to the fort his wife would appear riding a grey horse Before the trial the charges against Denis Ganey were dismissed. He claimed he only administered herbs to the sick woman and had no part in torturing her, Michael Cleary asked that he be allowed to withdraw his plea of not guilty to murder and plead guilty to manslaughter. The crown accepted this and the jury brought in a guilty verdict. The jury after a deliberation of forty minutes found all the prisoners guilty of wounding her but not killing her – almost as strange as the case itself!
Ireland History Magazine
START MID MARCH
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We hope that you enjoyed this fascinating collection of true Irish murders. We plan to compile another edition around June 2012 but before that we hope you will enjoy the next editions of the Ireland History Magazine which will be released on the dates below
Issue 3 On Sale January
Issue 4 On Sale March
ISSN 2047-3443
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