something with the baby so he took the baby’s milk bottle, poured out the milk and put the teat in his wallet for remembrance. He buried the child after he walked Lily home and both he and Lily agreed that they would say that his sister had come across from Glasgow, took the child, as was going to care for it as her own. Michael claimed that Lily had asked to meet him a couple of days later and it was Lily who had urged him to write to his sister and tell her that if anyone asked about a child that she was to say that her own child Norah was in fact Mary Elizabeth. It was Lily, claimed Michael , who had wanted to hide
the death, who had known that something was wrong with the child. She had deceived him, telling him that she had met someone else; there was no room in her life for him or a baby. It was Lily who lied, who was prepared to let Michael face the death sentence rather than admit that the child had died in her arms, she would let her lover die rather than face the disgrace. The medical evidence produced in court was inconclusive, no doctor could state with conviction how Mary Elizabeth had died so the case came down to motive; both McSorley and Lily were feeling the disgrace of the birth. The motive was the unwanted child, but who did the jury believe, did
the child die when Lily brought her to McSorleys’ hut or was the child killed after Lily had left. The jury took a short time to decide that McSorley had murdered his only child and Lord Justice Best pronounced the death sentence just 12 hours after the trial had begun. The verdict was unanimous. Throughout the trial McSorley had maintained a composure which was unchanged when the verdict was announced. Asked whether he had anything to say, McSorley replied "Not guilty", and the execution was set for the 5th January. McSorley escaped the hangman on appeal when his sentenced was reduced to penal servitude.
Junction of Royal Avenue and North Street in 1895 looking towards the Central Library 15