talking to, lohn Galvin, was
nimble enough
to
avoid
injury. Having drawn blood the masked raiders withdrew in good order and as no one from the dance was eaqer to go back to IYinogue's house that night they all stayed at lohn
Galvin's
abode.
The man in the wig And so the case came before
District lustice Kenny
ln
- and not a masked man to be seen. f4r Listowel
MacAuley lnterrogated Pat Minogue on the stand...
Mr MacAuLey -
Did yau hear that the people of the district objected to your association with )ulie Mahony? - No l'.4r lvlacAuley
- As a result of
your relationship with this girl did the priest visit your house? - Yes, because he was sent by the Galvins.
lYr MacAuley - Did he
ask
you to send her away? - No, he told me to get fiarried as soon as we could.
Before District lustice Kenny sent the matter forward to a jury of Pat's peers if such could be found, Pat, to be fair
to him
exonerated the
and said they wouldn't touch him in a Fitzgeralds
thousand years.
same bedl
Another defendant. Patrick Quilter had lames Quilter, described as an old man, in court to confirm that he had spent the niqht ten miles away in Ahabeg and didn't even knovv about the incident until over a week later.
lohn Joy of Dromclough was on hand to confirm that Timothy Quilter had been with him at lerome Stacks on the night of the raid cutting hurleys. Another defendant, James Galvin, had the same a
libi.
The chief defendant, Thomas Thade Galvin and another defendant, David Broderick, vouched for each other and Thomas claimed that when he retu rned from Brodericks his gun had been stolen from his house. The fact that he didn't subsequently report this crime did not help his case. Tom Thade's father, Timothy, with whorn he lived, got on the stand and said that seven
or eiqht
masked men had raided his house that night and carried away the gun.
A bunch of blackguards
The alibis
The jury sat in early July, 1934 to hear the case, The defendants were ready with their alibis. lohn Molyneaux, one of the defendants, had Thomas Relihan as witness
that he was at
house at the time of the incident and that when he went home at 11Pm Joe Lyons, the Parish Clerk was there and they slept in the
Relihan's
lohn 14cElligott, Rathea, said he was at the dance that night when three masked men came
in.
He said that
Minoque had shouted "1 know
ye, lads" and was struck
one of the raiders.
by His
Lordship on the bench (whose name is not reported) said; "1 know that district very well and I believe you could get as fine a bunch of blackguards in Rathea and l'4ountcoal as you would get anywhere in Ireland".
When called to the stand Patrick lvlinogue seemed to withdraw, or at least modify, his evidence given at the
earlier hearing. Now
he claimed he didn't see Tom Thade carrying a gun when he entered the house. Pressed by Mr Liston BL he
admitted that he had gone to
the priest in Lixnaw connection with his "sort
in
of'
to marry Kate He said he was afraid Galvin. of Thade Galvin. agreement
A shot was fired
Michael Spring was more definite in his evidence. He was at the dance \ /ith his siste.-in-law, Julia, his wife and child. He said Thomas Thade had a gun and pointed it at him and said; "The less talk the better". when he and the women and child were qetting in to the trap to get out of the situation a shot was fired over their heads by Tom Thade Galvin.
Another witness,
Patrick
Trant, Rathea, admitted that,
