BRUTAL IRISH
MURDERS
Historic Murder Cases From All Over Ireland
BRUTAL IRISH MURDERS
Joe Baker
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which the Crown would produce would, he hoped, enable them to determine Prior lived with her that question. mother, two brothers and a sister, in a house at WHITE AS A GHOST Lettuce Hill, Armagh. It The court was told how on was suggested that there the day of the tragedy a girl named was a tin can next to the young Catherine Slavin, brought boiler and it was also suggested that the child her sister up to Mrs Prior’s overbalanced and fell into house. Miss Prior asked to mind the little girl and told the boiler.
ARMAGH BABY DROWNED IN KITCHEN BOILER On 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 fouryear-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
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
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
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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. WILL BE HANGED Mr Gerrard explained how easily his client frightened, insinuating that perhaps the child fell into the
Vicar’s Hill
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,
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“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.” SUICIDE ATTEMPT The court was then presented with evidence from various eminent
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medical witnesses explaining that in their evidence when she was examined she appeared to be in an excited state.
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
were there any marks which would have proven that the child’s head had been forced against them. There were none.
The court heard that while she was in prison she had In the end of the day the tried to commit suicide by cutting her own throat. jury retired and returned 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
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,
Child Murder in County Tyrone
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.
The prisoner was a person who had no particular place of residence. On September 28th she was confined on a piece of liza Quinn was said the evidence which waste ground near the indicted that she would be produced was workhouse at Dungannon. on 18th October circumstantial. She was taken to the 1886, wilfully, feloniously and of malice aforethought did kill and murder her infant child, Mary Quinn The prisoner pleaded not guilty and was defended by Mr D S Henry (instructed by Mr Francis Shields, Omagh) Mr McCorkell and Mr Lane prosecuted. Mr McCorkell opened the case for the Crown and
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Workhouse where she remained until October 11th when she was discharged, taking with her her daughter, dressed in the Workhouse clothes and which had the Workhouse brand. The same day she went to the house of a man named McSorley, where she remained until the 13th, when she left with the child. Four days afterwards she was seen at Eglish and on the 17th October she was seen going in the direction of a place called Derryscollop. The child was seen with her then for the last time. Near that place the child’s corpse was found shortly afterwards. DISFIGURED INFANT The prosecution in trying to ascertain when the child died suggested that since she was seen without the child on October 18th and had been seen heading for Derryscollop with her daughter on the 17th then she must have disposed of the infant between these dates. When asked about the child she said it was well done for as it died at the house of McSorley at Dungannon where it was
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Portadown Railway Station
buried and at the time of arrest she made the same statement. Matthew McSorley however denied her accusations and swore that when she left his house in Dungannon her child was alive and well. She was under arrest for some time charged with the offence but all efforts to find the body of the child having failed, she was discharged on November 14th. About two months later a girl named Belinda Kirkland was working in her father’s field at Annagh, near to where the woman was last seen with the child when a dog scraped up the body of an infant, which had been disfigured. On the body were found clothes having on them the brand of the Dungannon Union. The prisoner was again arrested. This time she gave a different name to the police.
WORKHOUSE CLOTHES Several other witnesses were examined who saw the woman and child on various dates from her discharge from the Workhouse on the 11th October up until the 18th October when it was noticed that the child was missing. Sergeant White told the court of going out to Annagh, near Benburb, where the mangled remains of the child were pointed out to him. There were clothes around the body and these clothes were the clothes issued by the Dungannon Workhouse. Dr Theodore Brown deposed that on the 16th March he saw the remains of a child at the barracks at Benburb although he could not say how long the child had been dead. From his examination of the
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mangled body he estimated that the child had been dead between two and six months. Constable James McKeagney described how he was able to identify the woman before making an arrest from a description which was given in the Hue and Cry on the 2nd April. He arrested her while she was in the company of a man whom she claimed was her husband and a little girl at Portadown Railway Station. Initially she tried to convince the police officer that he had arrested the wrong person but after a short while she admitted that she had in fact, been
in custody for the suspected murder of her child. His Lordship charged the jury and they then retired. After deliberating for around three quarters of an hour they returned into court with a verdict of guilty and a recommendation to mercy. SENTENCED TO DEATH Quinn when asked if she had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon her replied, “I have nothing to say. I am not guilty.� Mr Justice Lawson on hearing the verdict retired
Elizabeth Quinn was arrested after a description appeared in the Hue and Cry
for a couple minutes and on returning into court said Elizabeth George otherwise known as Elizabeth Quinn, you have been found guilty by a very intelligent jury of causing the death of your own child and in endeavouring to conceal the circumstances of the death you placed its body in a place where you thought it would not be likely to be discovered, and where, in fact, it was not discovered for many months. Providence seems to have ordered it that you should be brought to justice for your crime and so in wonderful manner the body was discovered. It follows that all your denials and statements regarding the death of your child were untrue. The jury have arrived at that conclusion, at the same time accompanying their verdict with a recommendation to mercy, which it will be my duty to forward to the proper quarter. The judge then sentenced Elizabeth Quinn to death with the execution scheduled for August 13th 1887.
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CRUEL MURDER IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS! hroughout the history of Belfast there have been numerous murders, the most common of which during the nineteenth and early twentieth century were what is commonly known today as ‘domestic’ murders. These are murders that occur in the home and in the nineteenth century many of these murders were precipitated by alcohol. Today there is much debate about the health implications of alcohol consumption and in recent years there has been discussion about the social implications of violence carried out due to the over use of alcohol. This story of violence from 1881 shows us perhaps how things have not really changed from Victorian times.
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DEMANDED CHEQUE It was June 1881 and the McClure family, James, Mary and their eighteen month old child were living at 108 Old Lodge Road. Mary McClure ran a small shop at this address helped by a young servant girl named Ellen who lived in the house with the family. Mr McClure was a mechanic in Ewarts Mill and the McClures had been married for three years. Around this time Mr McClure stopped going to work and instead often stayed at home to drink with his wife each day. On the 28th June he stayed at home and the couple began to argue over a cheque which Mrs McClure had hidden. Mr McClure wanted to take the cheque from his wife, as he believed that she would cash it and spend all the money on drink.
Mrs McClure refused to give his the cheque and it was then at around 1.30pm that McClure struck her. Mrs McClure fell through a glass door, which separated the shop from the downstairs kitchen, and it was then that she decided that she needed to get cleaned up. Mary went upstairs and was followed by her husband who continued to ask her for the cheque and she refused again and again. BRUTALLY BEATEN It was at this point that McClure seemed to snap and pushed Mary into the bedroom and began to savagely beat her, punching and kicking her and still Mary would not give him the cheque. Then James McClure lifted his walking stick
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and beat her so brutally with it that it snapped. Mary finally relented and gave him the cheque and called out to Ellen to fetch help, as she could not move. James McClure left the house and went to his sister in laws house in York Street and asked her to come and help him with his wife. Meanwhile Ellen tried to raise help from the neighbours but they closed the door in her face. Finally Mrs Gillespie from 110 Old Lodge Road came to see Mary at the same time as James returned. Mary pleaded for someone to bring her to hospital but her husband refused and a doctor was called instead. MEDICAL REPORT Dr McMurty called at the house and immediately felt that Mary needed to go to hospital and it is understandable why he felt that she should be in hospital when we read extracts from his statement describing Mary McClure’s injuries: One of the bones of the forearm was broken. I found that the fracture was compound and the wound was an inch long. The arm was broken also between the elbow and shoulder…there was a wound of two inches on her head. On the left temple there was a contused wound, the skin being blackened, swollen and abraded..her nose was swollen and blackened, an abrasion on the lower lip and on the right arm I found a great deal of blackness. On the right leg there was a fracture of the larger bone, the leg being swollen and black..there was also a fracture of the
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bone of the right heel, the skin on the foot and calf was abraded as was much of her arms and abdomen. At just before 4.00 pm, while the doctor was trying to get Mary McClure to hospital, she became so weak that the doctor lay her on the shop counter and a couple of minutes later she died. The police were called and her husband James was charged with the murder of his wife. CONSIDERABLE CRUELTY At his trial in Belfast the jury amazingly returned a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude. The judge told McClure when passing sentence that “the jury have taken a merciful view of your case..there can be no doubt that yours was the hand that deprived this unfortunate woman of her life- of whom it is alleged she provoked you by exceeding in liquor – you deprived her of life under circumstances of certainly very great and very considerable cruelty’. There was no doubt that the judge felt that Mrs McClure had been murdered by her husband however he could not state this in court. If found guilty of murder James McClure would have been executed for his crime but when we look back on this brutal case we must also think of how the neighbours on the Old Lodge Road ignored her screams for help and even when their help was requested by the servant they denied this also. The good old days indeed!
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MURDER AT CULTRA he sleepy suburb of Cultra was disturbed at Christmas 1933. On Christmas Eve a Mrs Barber and her niece, Isobel Martin, knocked furiously on the door of her next-door neighbour. In a state of near collapse she told her neighbour Mr Conlon to come down to the house at once as something terrible had happened.
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MURDER ENQUIRY On first appearances it looked as if the man had committed suicide but it soon became clear that this was a murder enquiry. Dr Donnan discovered that Mr Barber had been shot twice, once so close to the left ear that the flesh had been singed and the ear was blackened with powder. Another bullet had entered the heart
On first appearances it looked as if the man had committed suicide but it soon became clear that this was a murder enquiry When they got to the Barber home, known as Sunnybank, Mr Conlon found the body of Mr Barber lying behind the hall door. He was already dead and on his lap was a revolver. The RUC at Holywood dispatched several detectives to the village along with Dr Lawrence Donnan and the house was quickly sealed the place off in their search for clues. Meanwhile neighbours stunned at the tragic killing comforted the distraught Mrs Barber.
from a considerable distance. The detectives studying the scene found the door against which Mr Barber’s body was found, was double locked. There was no sign of a struggle nor was there anything out of place. Everything about the house was normal with Christmas cards sitting on a tray in the kitchen and all the usual preparations made for the festive season. On the table where Mr Barber usually sat was a
Dickens novel, opened OLD SCROUNGE as if someone had been The inquest was held reading. on Christmas Day at the Royal North of STRUGGLE Ireland Yacht Club but The police interviewed was adjourned and the Mrs Barber and her RUC continued to testimony stated that question Mrs Barber as she was at home with the suspicion of the her husband at around police pointed to her 8.30 pm. While in the being the murderer. kitchen a man entered by the back door and William Barber was 79 made a grab at her. She years old when he died ran upstairs and locked and his wife was 30 herself in a bedroom. years his junior. He had She heard a struggle in retired form the RIC in the hall but could not 1909 and some time say that she heard any later had married for shots fired. She the second time. Mrs described her assailant Barber told one as being 45 years old, policeman on duty at square built, with a red the house, face, and a small “This is a plan of his moustache, wearing a family to do me out of dirty grey cap pulled the place. He was an down over his eyes. old scrounge. He never gave me anything, only She remained in the what barely kept the bedroom until she house. He always said heard her niece that he was putting it by returning at around for me, but I know who 9.00pm. Meanwhile he was putting it by back at the house the for”. police were searching for clues and Mrs Barber became discovered that the agitated and was deceased’s wallet certified as insane and containing £46 was still removed to in his pocket and his Downpatrick Asylum gold watch was in his where she stayed until purse. May 1934 when she
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moved to a voluntary home where she was charged with the murder of her husband. MOTIVE Her first trial at the Derry Winter Assizes ended with the jury being unable to agree on a verdict and the second trial took place in December 1933 at the County Down Assizes.
DEATH SENTENCE On March 12th 1935 the jury returned a verdict of guilty and Mrs Fanny Barber was sentenced to death at the Down Assizes. The scenes in the dock were quite unlike any that an Ulster court had witnessed before. A doctor was called to administer an injection of morphine to Mrs Barber to calm her. The judge on passing sentence: “The position in which you find yourself is indeed a terrible one, and I shall not add to your pain in passing sentence of death upon you except to say that the verdict is not only justified on the evidence but it was the only one an honest jury could come to.”
The jury was reminded what Mrs Barber had told the police and the prosecution asked why was it that she did not mention the prowler to her niece at the time. It was the Crown case that she had made up the story of this man and the jury’s attention was brought to various wills and insurance policies, which the The execution was set deceased had. for April 5th. Following It was suggested that various appeals Mrs Barber was afraid however the sentence of being written out of was commuted and the will and that this Fanny Barber was was her motive for the released on September 14th 1942. crime.
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SLAUGHTER AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE ne December day in 1903 two young men, Albert McCoy and John Farmer were employed to clear away a pile of filth from outside a slaughterhouse in Clones. The owners
EGG TRADER The story of John Flanagan starts on Thursday April 16 th 1903 when he came to Clones to buy eggs. He had set up a successful business with his Clones
of the slaughterhouse, Joseph and George Fee, had allowed a huge amount of manure and offal to collect in the yard outside their house and understandably the locals had complained to the council about the stench that was nauseating. As the two young men cleared away the mountain of muck John Farmers fork struck a laced boot and when he dug further he discovered the body of a man buried underneath the manure. The two men rushed to report their find to the local police and immediately the police suspected that it might be the body of John Flanagan who had been missing for eight months.
father buying eggs from the market and then transporting them up to Belfast to sell at a handsome profit. On this day he was at the Clones market with £80 in his pocket to buy
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eggs. He had brought with him two helpers, Patrick Moan and Joseph Connolly. After a couple of hours trading, Flanagan decided to start paying off his debts and visited Joseph Fee at the slaughterhouse who told him to come back later as he was busy. When Flanagan returned Fee was nowhere to be seen and although he waited for Fee for over an hour Flanagan returned to the market annoyed and frustrated at having missed so much time trading in the market. His two helpers weren’t too pleased either when Fee finally turned up andinsisted that’
Flanagan returned to the market annoyed and frustrated
Flanagan join him as he had something for him. Flanagan set of with Fee telling Patrick Moan that he would be back in ten minutes. ASHEN FACED Flanagan did not return and despite a desperate search by Moan and Connolly he could not be found. There were queues of farmers waiting in the market to be paid for their eggs and Flanagan’s father and sister had to travel to the market to pay their debts. The family searched Clones and
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asked about him in every public house, as he was known to enjoy a drink but nothing was seen or heard of him until that fateful December morning eight months later. When the body was found Head Constable McKeown asked to speak to Joe Fee and when he went to look for him in his house he found Joe Fee ashen faced, his eyes brimmed with tears and he groaned, embraced and kissed his sister and when he caught sight of the police officer he tried to make his escape. He did not get far and was arrested. SLAUGHERED LIKE A PIG The old saying ‘that murder will out’ had never rung truer. The body of John Flanagan had been buried under two feet of soil and several feet of manure for eight months. It had
been sprinkled with quicklime in an effort to hasten its decomposition. When the police removed the body they found that the corpse was in a remarkable condition as the peaty soil surrounding the slaughterhouse had counteracted the effects of the lime. The body was removed to the public house for the inquest where medical evidence stated that a violent blow to the head had caused death and that the brain had been punctured. There was also a vertical slash to the throat, so deep that it had sliced through the Adam’s apple. It was as if Flanagan had been slaughtered just like one of Fees pigs -poleaxed with a needle-sharp steel tip and stabbed with a wicked looking pigsticker’s knife, which had fallen from the
As the two young men cleared away the mountain of muck John Farmers fork struck a laced boot and when he dug further he discovered the body of a man buried underneath the manure.
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Armagh Jail
corpse as it had been weapon in a hurry on exhumed from its the day of the murder, makeshift grave. the building of a new fence around the DRUNKEN manure pile where the WITNESSES body was found, and Fee was arrested and also the sudden charged with the improvement in Fees murder of John financial position. He Flanagan and was tried was paying off debts twice in his native and buying good Monaghan, but the quality animals for the juries were in first time just after the disagreement in both murder. cases. Almost a year to The jury in Belfast the day in December found Fee guilty of 1904 Fee stood in the murder in less than one courthouse in Belfast hour and Joseph Fee on trial for the third was hanged two days time for the murder of before Christmas in John Flanagan. 1904 at Armagh Jail. Fees defence had little Though witnesses say to work with other than he died without a a few drunken struggle, the doctor witnesses who stated who examined the body that they had seen Fee reported to the Coroner on the day of the that Joseph Fee died of murder at the market strangulation. He may but the prosecution have hung for as long were able to provide as twenty minutes, evidence of Fee slowly choking to purchasing the murder death.
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BRUTAL IRISH MURDERS
CHILD STARVED TO DEATH AT A HOLYWOOD BABY FARM The death of a child is always difficult but when the death could so easily be prevented society is shocked and outraged. Almost every day we still read in the newspapers and listen to reports of the continuing cruelty that young children are subjected to. Nothing much has changed since the nineteenth century when illegitimacy created a dangerous environment for the young children born under these circumstances. NEW LIFE This is the story of a young boy named William McKeown who died aged just eight months. He was the son of William McKeown Sr of the Newtownards Road and Mary Faulkner. William McKeown was married with a family of his own and when Mary gave birth to William she shortly afterwards arrived at McKeown’s house on the Newtownards Road, gave him the child, and said that she was leaving Belfast to find a new life in America.
Newtownards Road
UNTHINKABLE ACT It didn’t take long for the strain of a newborn child in the McKeown household, and a child born of an illicit relationship, to cause problems for the McKeown family. Their marriage began to fall apart and it was decided that the baby should be sent to the home of Eliza Camock who was well known in East Belfast for taking in unwanted babies. Today this would seem to be a cruel and unthinkable act, to give away a baby to a complete stranger without the assistance of Social Services, or some kind of regulations and guidelines to ensure the safety of the child. However in the past this was how these unwanted children were dealt with.
STARVED Eliza Camock lived in Holywood and was a cripple who was paid a weekly rate to look after the unwanted babies. William McKeown took along his son to the house in Holywood in April 1884 and for a fee of 3s 6d it was agreed that Camock would care for the child. All was well with the child and as long as McKeown paid the weekly fee the child was cared for. In
October of 1884 a woman called at the house of Camock and told her that she was to be married to McKeown the following week and removed the child from the house. The identity of this woman has never been revealed but we know that she instead took the child to a sea captain whose wife was unable to have children and wished to adopt a young baby. The woman’s plans were quashed however when a doctor told the sea captain that the child was unfit for adoption. The unknown woman then returned the child to Eliza Camock the next day. It would seem that this woman had decided that she had a child that she could not sell and was of no use to her and she told Eliza Camock that McKeown would return the next day to collect the child. He didn’t call for the child and as the payments for the baby’s upkeep had been stopped Camock decided to stop feeding young William.
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COMATOSE STATE William McKeown, now eight months old was surviving on scraps of food left over by the other children in the care of Camock and his only other sustenance was sour milk. As well as this cruelty Camock had decided to administer to him small doses of laudanum to slowly poison him. We have no way of knowing how long this would have continued but the child was very weak and sickly and his plight was discovered by a local nurse from Holywood, Martha May, who heard his pathetic cries as she passed Camocks house on her way to work. She called to see the child, as she knew the business that Camock was involved in, and advised that a doctor should be called immediately. This was not done and when she called back a few days
Holywood
later she discovered the child to be in a comatose state and she immediately ordered that the doctor be called out but the child was unable to be revived as he described to the coroner after the death of William; - sI found the child in a comatose state, 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 unwise to allow it to remain in the charge of the woman. HARD LABOUR William McKeown aged eight months died the day after being examined by the doctor. His father William and Eliza Camock were arrested and charged with manslaughter. The evidence at their court case was enough for the jury to convict the
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As well as this cruelty Camock had decided to administer to him small doses of laudanum to slowly poison him couple within fifteen minutes of retiring and McKeown and Camock were each sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment, with hard labour. In passing sentence the judge summed up his feeling on the matter; We have the history of the unfortunate little creatures 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 this world – must be put a stop to. A story of cruelty, neglect and indifference to responsibility that even today we can relate to, the circumstances may differ, but these heartless acts still occur.
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THROAT CUT EAR TO EAR AT THE CANAL SIDE On Tuesday January 4th, 1910 at exactly 8 o’clock at Kilmainham Jail, 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’. On 7 th 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. 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 Mullingar
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. 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
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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 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
Kilmainham
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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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BRUTAL IRISH MURDERS
BOY BRUTALAY MURDERED IN BLOOMFIELD ne August morning in 1897 Isabella Dyer was sitting at her door at 118 Dee Street when she noticed a young boy come running toward her. She took the young boy into the house where she gave him breakfast.
SOBBING BOY Mrs Dyer had been expecting his arrival and young Robert Dougan was very frightened when he heard his father’s voice. He clung to Mrs Dyers dress in fear so she asked the father not to beat the boy, but he said
Mrs Dyer was waiting for her husband to return from work and while having breakfast she tried to find out who the boy was and why he was afraid to go home. She cleaned the lad up and noticed bad bruising on his arm and knuckles. His name was Robert Dougan he told her he had run away from home and did not want to return. He had been sleeping rough in Victoria Park and was from Evelyn Park. His father soon found out where he was and came to fetch him home.
WISHED DEAD On the night of the 16th August, at the bidding of Philip Dougan, two policemen and a doctor were sent from Strandtown Barracks to the Dougan home. They found the body of a boy lying stretched out on the sofa. Mrs Dougan was also in the
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house. The police sergeant cautioned them both and Philip Dougan made a statement. “The boy left on Friday. I can’t tell you why he left. He was in the habit of running away. He came back today and would eat nothing. His mouth was twisted and he complained of being sore. I undressed and bathed him. About 9.00pm he lay down on the sofa and I went for the doctor. When I returned he was dead”. Both Mr Dougan and his wife were arrested, that his son needed to as it was obvious from be chastised for the examination of the running away as he had done the same thing three or four times previous to this. He thanked her for her care and led the sobbing boy away.
boy’s body and from the result of a subsequent search of the house that the child had been murdered on the premises. During the course of investigation the police interviewed many people who gave evidence of the unsavoury character of both Mr and Mrs Dougan and they told of stories of Mrs Dougan beating the boy for not delivering a message or of his father punching the child on the back of the head. Mrs Dougan was also heard saying, “the boy is a bad lad….. he ran
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During the course of investigation the police interviewed many people who gave evidence of the unsavoury character of both Mr and Mrs Dougan and they told of stories of Mrs Dougan beating the boy for not delivering a message or of his father punching the child on the back of the head. away from home several times and many a time I wished he were brought home dead.” BEATEN The post mortem results revealed semicircular wounds to the child’s head and body which the examiner believed to have been caused by the buckle of a harness belt. Two wounds on each side of the forehead had caused an effusion of blood on the brain. It was believed that these wounds had been caused by severe punches to the child’s face. Other injuries especially to the chest were also believed to have been caused by a similar blow. There
had been evidence of extreme internal bleeding all over the body due to his violent injuries. Lower down in the region of the pelvis there was a great evidence of external and internal bleeding and the tissues were torn. The surface of the rectum was also lacerated, probably caused by a vicious kick. BLOODSTAINS The police in the course of their investigations discovered blood on the floorboards and in the front parlour and on the landing before the front bedroom. The bathroom, it was alleged was also bloodstained, and by
means of a chisel some patches of wood were collected from the flooring and taken away by the police to be used in evidence. The police believe the murder took place in the region of the kitchen and not the front room as at first believed. What strengthened that theory is that on the side of the wall of the room there were marks of blood, apparently the prints of small fingers. It is thought that after the boy received the fatal injuries he was thrown into that room while the bloodstains were washed off the tiles on the kitchen floor and that he must have been trying to rise from the ground to
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escape the house when putting his hands against the wall. SPECIAL PLACE Philip Dougan and his wife Agnes were both returned for trial in December 1897. Their defence was that the injures had occurred during his time away from home but the jury found Philip Dougan guilty of manslaughter. Dougan was led away to Crumlin Road Jail, having escaped the hangman. His wife was discharged. The little boys death was a great shock to the neighbours in Evelyn Avenue and led the Belfast coroner to remark, “That Belfast seems to be a special place for child murder”.
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MURDER ON THE SEAFORDE ESTATE he area of Seaforde today is well known for its unique collection of tropical butterflies but it has always been seen as one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. Due to this many country mansions were built in the area from the 12th century onwards. Seaforde House, the home of the Forde family, came into their possession in the 17th century, and stands in woodland and a picturesque park.
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BRUTAL MURDER This tranquillity was shattered in 1870 when a brutal murder occurred in the grounds of Seaforde House. John Gallagher, an employee of Colonel Forde was shot dead on the 29th July 1870 by another employee John Gregory. The motive and circumstances of the murder were that the murdered man Gallagher was a highly respected man in the area and had worked at the estate for over 25 years. He was a married man with children and held a responsible
Seaforde
position for a family well known in the county. Among his duties on the estate were to pay the labourers on the estate their wages from week to week and this payment took place on a Friday. We know little about Gregory other than he was 55 years old at the time of the murder and that his family were from Downpatrick, his father was a tailor and that John had also taken up tailoring. He became a soldier in his youth and served in the Crimean where he was well thought of. He was discharged from the army after twenty years service receiving a medal for good conduct and his discharges bore testimony to his courage and discipline. He was employed as the estate gatekeeper.
BLOODY HANDS On the morning of 30th July 1870 the body of John Gallagher was found under a tree on the road between the village of Seaforde and the gatehouse to the estate. The previous night many people had been out looking for Gallagher as he had not paid the wages to the labourers as usual and his wife and family were getting anxious. The last person to see him alive was John Gregory who had called at the house to
see Gallagher on the Friday and Gallaghers daughter thought she overheard them arranging to meet later. Gregory left the Gallagher house at around six o’clock and shortly afterwards Gallagher left his house carrying the linen wages bag containing £44. Shots were heard in the area around half past six and Gregory was seen hurrying home. When he got home his wife and a Mrs Morrison were there and both women
The entrance to Seaforde showing the gate lodge
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The gardens at Seaforde
observed that he had some blood on his hands, which he said he had torn on bushes while hiding whisky. CREATE A STIR We know that Gregory had recently been dismissed from service with the Forde family and that he had to leave the following Monday, losing not only his job but also his home so he had motive for the murder in that he would have needed money but he did not appear to have any grudge against Gallagher. After the murder Gregory’s house was searched but nothing was initially found but close by his gatehouse the wages bag was found and some percussion caps recently purchased from Downpatrick. Evidence was also
given that Gregory had been seen in the estate carpenters shop looking at bolts, a similar one to which was found to be the murder weapon. At the post mortem it was discovered that a bolt had been fired in to Gallaghers head and that this had caused his death. Gregory was also stated to have been heard talking about his leaving the estate and added that he “would create a stir in Seaforde before he left”. HANGED It was this chain of circumstances that led to John Gregory’s conviction although no one had seen him kill Gallagher nor had anyone seen him with the murder victim at the time of death. The jury convicted him of murder in a trail that
lasted only two days and it was clearly a murder with ‘malice aforethought’ and not one caused by drunkenness or passion. A few days after his conviction Gregory made a full confession of his guilt and spent time praying with various ministers however he did not wish his confession of guilt to be made public. Petition from the Grand Jury, the gentry, clergy and other inhabitants of
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Downpatrick and the surrounding districts were sent to the Lord Lieutenant, asking for a commutation of capital punishment. The Lord Lieutenant said that, after full considerations of all the circumstances of the case, he felt it to be his “painful duty to allow the law to take its course”. The execution of John Gregory was a private one as public hangings had been outlawed by this time. The executioner was known as “Irish Calcraft” and the execution went off with ease. Death was almost instantaneous and after the execution “Calcraft” was said to have coolly sat down and smoked his pipe until he received orders to complete his job by cutting down the body.
Gregory was also stated to have been heard talking about his leaving the estate and added that he “would create a stir in Seaforde before he left”.
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Military Duel in Newry t the Armagh Assizes in August 1808, Alexander Campbell, a brevet-major in the army and a captain in the 21 st Regiment was indicted for the wilful and felonious murder of Alexander Boyd, another captain in the same regiment, by shooting him with a pistol bullet a little over a year before.
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WRONG COMMAND In June 1807, the regiment was stationed in barracks on the County Armagh side of Newry, and on the 23 rd General Kerr inspected it. The General and officers messed together; about eight o’clock all had left the mess except Campbell, Boyd, Lieutenant
Hall, and George Adams, the regimental assistant surgeon. The talk turned to the operations of the day, given a personal twist by Campbell, who remarked that General Kerr had corrected him that day about a particular mode of giving a word of command, when he thought he gave it right. Boyd was of the opinion both were wrong. It was a case no doubt of the wine being in and the sense being out. Boyd knew his business as well as any man. Campbell doubted that very much. Boyd persisted with his views and threw caution to the wind in stating his own opinions.
“Then Captain Boyd, you say I am wrong?” asked Campbell. “I do”, replied Boyd. PISTOL SHOT Campbell then left the room. He went home and drank tea with his wife and family, a point used by the Crown to show that he had time to cool. He came back to the barracks and sent the mess waiter to Captain Boyd –“a gentleman wished to
whom he was going to see. Ten minutes later Hoey the waiter heard a pistol shot, but he thought nothing of it until he heard another one. He then ran up to the messroom, where, with other officers, he saw Campbell and Boyd, the latter on the chair vomiting. L i e u t e n a n t McPherson, hurrying to the scene, heard Campbell ask- “On the word of a dying man, is everything
speak to him”. Boyd accordingly followed the waiter to the messroom; no one was there; the waiter pointed to the little room off it as the one the ‘gentleman’ was in, and Boyd went in. The waiter Hoey later gave evidence that he believed that Boyd did not know
fair?” As he reached the room where Boyd lay dying he heard his answer“Campbell, you hurried me. You are a bad man. You know I wanted you to wait and I have witnesses”. Asked if he forgave Campbell, Boyd put out his hand –“I
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forgive you; I feel for penalty was you, and I am attached. What sure your do for me. hanged Campbell ” A few was the cold hours later he deliberate way he did was dead. things and the fact that the duel was ESCAPED fought without No restraint seems to witnesses. There is have been put on no reason to think Campbell. He there was any foul walked out of the play, anything even barracks and escaped faintly unfair. The from the country. He two men were in the and his family lived room, seven paces for several months in from corner to Chelsea under an corner. One wanted assumed name. witnesses and the other wouldn’t wait. Sickened with the How they fired we do life of deceit and the not know but it is impossibility of a believed that future, and, Campbell himself comforted by the fact gave the word and it that a verdict of seems impossible not murder was to go through the unprecedented while formula, “Are you powerful friends ready? Fire,” without backed him, he was a i n s t i n c t i v e l y cousin of the Earl of shooting sooner than Breadalbane, he one’s enemy has a surrendered to take chance to. his trial. MERCY NO WITNESSES The jury at The law was against Campbell’s trial for duelling; in theory the murder of such deaths were Alexander Boyd on murder but in the 5th August 1808 practice they were found according to usually manslaughter the law, but both the Grand and the Petty and only a trivial
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The jury at Campbell’s trial for the murder of Alexander Boyd on the 5th August 1808 found according to the law, but both the Grand and the Petty jury petitioned in his favour. “That from the charge of the learned Judge who presided at the trial that all duelling was illegal, your memorialists thought themselves bound in point of law to find Alexander Campbell guilty, but at the same time recommended him to mercy”. jury petitioned in his favour. “That from the charge of the learned Judge who presided at the trial that all duelling was illegal, your memorialists thought themselves bound in point of law to find Alexander Campbell guilty, but at the same time recommended him to mercy”. To this the Grand Jury added their firm persuasion in the fairness of the duel, and referred further to the humane and exceptionable character, the good conduct and demeanour of Major Campbell.
EXECUTED Sentence was duly pronounced on him, but the matter was referred to the King. His wife went on her knees to the Princesses, to the Queen and to the Prince of Wales. It was to no avail. Alexander Campbell was executed and he met his death with pious and becoming fortitude. He spent his last moments with Dr Bowie, the father of his wife, and his body was immediately removed to a hearse, and he was laid to rest in the family vault in Ayr, Scotland.
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ARMAGH LOVERS HANGED 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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Such was the case in 1815 when Reid Mulholland was beaten with a hatchet and then had his throat cut and left to die. He lived
outside Armagh in Hamiltonsbawn with his wife Jane. His elderly father lived in the house next door and at this time was very ill and confined to his bed. On February 13th Reid Mulholland had been to Belfast on business and returned exhausted to his home where he retired almost immediately to bed. His wife Jane stayed up and a short time later a local man Robert Edgar, with whom she had been having an affair, called to the house. The couple went to her husband’s bedroom where Robert Edgar proceeded to attack Mulholland with a 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. 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 that her husband had been attacked by two robbers and that he had been murdered. Immediately suspicion fell on Jane Mulholland and her lover Robert Edgar as many people in this small community were aware of their affair. A search was made of Edgar’s property and there the police found the axe
Hamiltonsbawn
that he had borrowed from his neighbour Ann Cully, and a gun that he had stolen from Mulholland was found buried in his garden. The authorities approached Jane Mulholland and offered her immunity from prosecution if she would give evidence against Edgar but she refused as advised by her legal counsel. 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
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how Edgar had visited The action was country deny you in and ask forgiveness, the dead mans father described at the time as this. Your time in life through the merits and and read from the bible “a foul, black and is now very short, for death of our Lord Jesus the law of this land, Christ, the only holding such a crime as redeemer. your’s in the utmost Robert Edgar’s and abhorrence, appoints Jane Mulholland were the sentence of death to both executed by be carried into hanging in front of the deliberate crime” and execution within the new jail at Armagh in Jane Mulholland space of forty-eight the presence of a huge actions as “having burst hours after the prisoner crowd and their bodies asunder the strongest has been found guilty. dissected afterwards in bonds of God and You therefore, the day July 1815. Just before nature and violated after tomorrow shall be their execution the every obligation known lopped off from society couple made a full to society, virtue and as a withered injurious confession to the brutal religion”. branch. Go prostrate murder and both yourself before the appeared resigned to The jury took just throne of Gods grace their fate. seven hours to pronounce a verdict of guilty for both defendants and the judge, Hon. Baron McClelland on passing to comfort him just sentence of death on days before he carried the pair said; out the dreadful and It is not the purpose of brutal murder. The distressing or afflicting couple had your minds, that I have meticulously planned thus addressed you all aspects of their both. To me it has crime and in court Jane proved a painful task. Mulholland was (the judge became chastised by the judge distressed and agitated To obtain your copy simply send a cheque or not only for the murder at this point). But it is postal order for £2.50 to of her husband but also for the purpose of Glenravel Publications for her infidelity. It was impressing you with the Ashton Centre also discovered that enormity of your guilt, 5 Churchill Street Jane Mulholland had in the sight of God to Belfast BT15 2BP called for Edgar to lead you to seek that Remembering to enclose your name and address shave the head of her mercy in another (You'd be surprised how many people forget to do this!) dead husband before he world, which the was interred. injured laws of your
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TEENAGE SOLDIER HANGED BY A CONVICTED CRIMINAL hey 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 Wo r c e s t e r s h i r e ) Regiment of Foot. Corporal Brown had
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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
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.
JUDGE IN TEARS 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
Victoria Barracks where Private O’Neill shot dead his corporal.
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. EXECUTION ORDER The following day a verdict of wilful murder was found against him by a
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.
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
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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. TWENTY THOUSAND SPECTATORS 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. CONVICT HANGMAN The final moment for O’Neill’s execution arrived and a m e l a n c h o l y 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 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. FINAL PRAYERS The crowd began murmuring when O’Neill appeared on the 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 barely shrunk up and quivered for a little while, the hands grew black, and in less than a minute the corpse was
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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.
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THE STRANGE CASE OF BERNARD McCANN n 1823 there lived in Galway a butcher named Hughes. He was not a Galwegian by birth not a butcher by trade, but having settled there some years previously, he entered into the business and soon realised a moderate fortune. This man was the envy of all the other butchers and he bore all the apparent marks of prosperity. He was a model for all others in all aspects of life; a good father, a kind friend and a strict observer of his religious duties, but he also enjoyed a drink now and then with his friends.
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WORRY On night he took a rather large amount of drink and the usual amount of “slagging” took place. While in the height of the humour a man came along to his butchers stall and Hughes took up a conversation with the man. Towards the end of their conversation the man referred to
Galway where McCann built himself a whole new life when he thought he’d got away with murder
Hughes as Mr McCann and on hearing that the peddler knew his real name, he went bright red and then tried to cover up the secret. He invited the peddler to have breakfast with him the next day. Punctually the peddler arrived at Hughes stall and had a good breakfast. They then went for a walk together around the city. Over breakfast the butcher made no allusion whatever to the fact that the peddler had called him McCann but during the walk he soon began to sound out the peddler. The man
became nervous and as they had left the crowded and bustling parts of the city he began to worry. GREAT FEAR The fear was heightened by the manner of Hughes, who began to point out some observations to his companion while continuously looking behind him, as if to see who might be in view. So after reaching the first of the walls and after asking to return to the city about two or three times the peddler refused to go any further. He turned to retrace his steps at an increased
pace although de did not try to run. Calling on him in vain to return Hughes now darted furiously after him with the intention of forcing him back but the sight of some people on the road restrained him and the peddler pursed his way to the city with great fear. MURDER SECRET The peddler lost no time in heading for the mayor’s house to whom he accused Hughes, (or McCann his real name), of having perpetrated a murder in County Down ten years previously. The charge was so
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extraordinary and so utterly at variance with the peaceable, prosperous and even humorous nature of the accused that the mayor found the allegations hard to believe. He went as far to suggest that perhaps the peddler had mistaken Hughes for someone else. The peddler however was so convincing in his allegation that the mayor began to change his mind. The accuser recollected clearly to him that Hughes was better known as Bernard McCann and that he had been a journeyman baker when he carried out the murder of Owen McAdam near Lisburn. The mayor transferred McCann to Downpatrick where he was put on trial for wilful murder before Mr Justice Moore. Downpatrick
DEATH SENTENCE The court heard evidence for many people about how Owen McAdam was found floating in the canal near Coulavey with his money stolen form his pockets. Witnesses saw the dead man with the accused on the day of his murder. A James Rooney from Lisburn remembered the deceased coming to his house on the night of the murder accompanied by McCann. McAdam was drunk and McCann insisted that he take more drink. McAdam was seen with a large amount of cash in his pockets that night. The judge addressed the jury saying that the evidence was of a circumstantial nature and brought forward after a lapse
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Lisburn
of many years. The jury returned their guilty verdict within the hour and McCann was sentenced to death the following Thursday. It was reported at the time that McCann’s death was a torturing one as the rope broke and previous to his being again conducted to the gallows it was necessary to strengthen him with a draught of wine whilst seated on his coffin. It was the custom at this time to place before the eyes of the condemned the coffin that should their resting-place in a few hours. STILL REMEMBERED The detection of McCann created a great attention in Galway. Men there
remembered that he had been foremost in all charitable undertakings and had been equally liberal to all Christian sects. He was industrious and blameless in life and they found it hard to believe that such a man could be capable of such vile a deed. McCann’s case is still remembered in Galway and it is invariable pointed to as evidence that the hand of God will one day work out the detection of the murderer. McCann admitted his guilt on the gallows and perhaps illustrates the truth of the belief that punishment must follow the crime “There is a day of vengeance still, Linger it may, but come it will!”
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DOUBLE MURDER IN NORTH BELFAST or many people living in Belfast in the 1930s this era was known as the “hungry thirties�. It was a time of great poverty and unemployment as the mills began to close although there was little sectarian violence. The social injustice and poverty of the time united the two communities. Twenty seven percent of the workforce was unemployed and striking was commonplace and the connections between unemployment, sickness and poverty were recognised. The Ardoyne area of Belfast had grown up with the mills and had also suffered as the they closed.
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DEATH PENALTY In Rosebank Street, facing the gates of the Brookfield Mill, one of the largest in the area, Mary Mulholland and John McMullan were shot dead one night in April 1931.
In July 1931 William Mulholland was charged with the murder of his wife and John Mulholland and the whole of Belfast waited to see if the death penalty would be handed
down to William Mulholland. Several people had been executed in Crumlin Road jail in the previous years, but Belfast was more usually the scene for sectarian murders
throughout the previous decade and this domestic double murder received a lot of attention. BRUTAL AND UNEXPECTED William Mulholland was aged 35 and was a fitter employed at the shipyards. His son, Richard Mulholland aged 19
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gave evidence in court that his parents had a poor relationship and had not spoken for two years. Richard Mulholland did not speak to his father either. The Mulholland house at 7 Rosebank Street was the scene of the deaths that were both brutal and unexpected. William Mulholland had returned to his house at around 10pm to find his son Richard in the kitchen with a friend John McMullan, his wife Mary and daughter were also in the kitchen. His son Willie was also in the house. John McMullan was often around at the Mulhollands house where he and Richard played music and practiced together. They often listened to music on the radio, which is what they were doing on the night of the terrible murders. B SPECIAL William Mulholland was in bad humour and told John McMullan “didn’t I
tell you not to come in again?””and then when he received no answer “I’ll give you three minutes to get out”. John McMullan did not reply although we did not hear in court why he did not answer Mulholland when he spoke to him. It was some time later that Mulholland appeared with a revolver he had had at the house since his days as a B Special and told McMullan to leave his house but to wait until 11.20pm when the ‘peeler ‘ would have left the area. When McMullan got up to put on his coat Mulholland suddenly reappeared and shot John McMullan dead in the hallway. Richard Mulholland ran from the house and went to Leopold Street Barracks to try and get some help. Meanwhile at the back of the house Mary Mulholland and Willie left the house through the yard and out onto the alley, with Mary running towards Ohio Street and Willie in the
other direction toward the Crumlin Road. They all feared for their lives as William Mulholland ran out after Mary and Willie. The court was silent as Willie Mulholland gave evidence of how his father ran after him with the revolver in his hand and then suddenly turned to run after his mother Mary Mulholland. The next thing the thirteen-year-old boy heard was a single shot and his mother lay dead in the alleyway behind Rosebank Street. ARRESTED In his evidence Richard Mulholland stated that McMullan was a frequent visitor to the house and that he had been on good terms with his father but on other occasions his fathers behaviour had been erratic when Richard had other visitors. He said that his father would at first appear to be friendly with the visitor and then would suddenly turn on them and insist that they leave the house.
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After shooting dead John McMullan and his wife Mary, William Mulholland returned to his house and then he went out into Rosebank Street where he was arrested by two policeman fetched by Richard from the local barracks. MEDICAL EVIDENCE DISMISSED Mulhollands defence rested solely on the accused being insane at the time of the murders and that he could not be held responsible for his actions. The Medical Superintendent from the County Antrim Asylum, Dr W J Smyth and Dr O’Flaherty the prison medical officer told the court that Mulholland was “sane on the night of the shooting and that he was still quite sane”. The jury however found Mulholland guilty but insane and he was detained as a criminal lunatic at the Governments pleasure.
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BRUTAL MURDER IN COOKSTOWN LEADS TO EXECUTION IN DERRY t the 1922 Winter Assizes held in Crumlin Road Courthouse the trial of William Rooney was held before Lord Justice Moore. Rooney was charged with the brutal murder of Lily Johnston, at Cookstown, on the 2nd November 1922 and he pleaded not guilty.
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INTEREST IN JURY Rooney who was around 40 years of age was described at the time as a man of labouring class, of stalwart build, dark complexion and a well trimmed moustache. At the beginning of his trial he had stepped smartly into the dock and appeared to take a keen interest in the swearing in of the jury. The prosecution stated that the dead girl had been a young woman of 21 years of age. She worked at Gunnings Mill in Cookstown and lived
with her mother near Coagh. On the morning of her murder Lily Johnston left her home for work at just after half past seven in the morning and was in good spirits. On her way to work she had to pass Kidds Bridge and as she walked she carried with her some lunch which she would usually eat at the mill and a muffler to keep warm. IGNORED ATTACK Mrs Martha Johnston who lived close to Lily and was her aunt told the court that she left home herself that morning at around eight o’clock and when she got to Kidds Bridge she saw a man in the field who was with a woman. He was shouting at her and pushing her around and Mrs Johnston heard some kicks being inflicted on the girl but she did not interfere and instead walked on toward
Cookstown. On the outskirts of the town she met some workmen and told them what she had seen and they decided to go back and check out the incident.
HUMAN BLOOD Meanwhile Patrick Devlin saw a man in the field kicking a woman and he recognised him straight away as William Rooney whom he had known for ten years. There was no one else in the field except the woman and Rooney who was bareheaded. The next witness Samuel Nelson was cycling past the field when he saw Rooney. Nellie McKenzie also saw
Rooney at around nine o’clock half a mile from the field and he bade her good morning and appeared to be waiting for someone. Later that morning Rooney was seen washing his clothes in a nearby stream and the clothes were
later examined and found to have traces of human blood on them. KICKED AND CHOKED The next time Lily’s mother saw her was when she identified her remains and also her muffler, which had been found by the police. The prosecution then told the court of the medical evidence that described the horrific injuries inflicted on poor Lily
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Johnston. Her face had several wounds including a lacerated wound above the left eyebrow and also on the right side of the skull. Her whole upper body was a mass of severe
bruises and contusions. The tissues on the neck were in an extreme condition of venous congestion indicating choking. Lily Johnston had been kicked and choked in such a brutal way that her death ensued. ABUSED BY POLICE The court then heard supporting evidence from a number of witnesses and during this time Rooney stated that after his arrest he had been beaten with revolvers and abused by the police and that at one point he believed he was going to be killed. The judge stated that he was not interested and continued with the
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hearing. The trial Afterwards Rooney continued the next was buried in a plot day and the jury took in the prison yard. just 25 minutes to By 1923 there had return a verdict of only been three guilty of the murder executions in Derry of Lily Johnston. during the previous Rooney spoke to the 100 years. court; ..the body of Rooney was taken
“Trillick Murderer” was hanged in Derry Prison on January 5th 1904 and John Boyle who murdered his wife at Aughnacloy was executed in January 1893.
down and placed in a rough coffin.
The previous execution was n 1820 when John McQuaide, John Rainey and Robert Acheson, members of a notorious gang of highwaymen were executed in front of the jail in Bishop Street. The men had been convicted for the murder of Henry O’Hagan in the Faughan district and also robbery at the house of Neal McGurk at Ballinscreen.
“All I have to say is that I am innocent of the charge. It is perjury that had been sworn against me, and, as for the blood on my clothes, that is my own blood since 1921…I never ‘knowed’ the girl in my life”.
The execution of Rooney had been the first since 1908, when John Berryman was executed on the 20th August 1908 for the murder of his brother William and Williams wife Jane, near Garvagh. Joseph Moan the
EXECUTED John McQuaide, John Rainey and Robert Acheson, members of a notorious gang of Rooney was executed at Derry highwaymen were executed in front of the jail Prison at 8 o’clock on the morning of February 8 th 1923 and after hanging for the statutory hour, the body of Rooney was taken down and placed in a rough coffin. It was then placed underneath a platform to await inspection by the jury at the inquest.
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Murder by an American G.I. n January 1942 American troops arrived in Belfast and were posted throughout the North. Many of the older people remember their arrival as they brought with them items such as chocolate, chewing gum and of course nylon stockings which were eagerly sought after by almost every woman. As a whole the A m e r i c a n servicemen were quite well behaved but unfortunately there were those who insisted in getting into trouble. Most of this was minor stuff such as brawling but
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Americian troops arriving in Belfast
there are a few cases where it was more serious and a few even involved murder, one of which occurred in North Belfast.
Georgia, was charged that he did on March 6th, 1944, at Belfast, feloniously and with malice aforethought and with premeditation, kill one Henry Coogan, of Lepper Street in the New Lodge, by stabbing him in the chest, head and stomach with a sharp instrument. The accused pleaded not guilty.
MURDER CHARGE On the 17th of March, 1944, Private Wylie Harris, stood before a CourtBLOOD ON martial in Belfast’s UNIFORM Victoria Barracks Ellen Megan told the charged with murder. court that she met Coogan and a The accused, aged “coloured American 26, whose home soldier” in the address was given as Greenville,
Diamond Bar, North Queen Street, on the evening of 6th March. The three left the bar and went to an air raid shelter in Earl Street where an argument arose among them over money. Another witness, Mrs Annie Murdock, Earl Street, told the hearing that she had been sitting in her home listening to the wireless. Her sister in law called and told her to come outside to see the ‘carry on.’ When she went out she heard them argue over money. When she asked’“what’s
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Victoria Barracks up?” Coogan replied using a derogatory term regarding the soldiers colour and stated that the serviceman was going to stab the woman. Coogan struck the soldier and in return the American stabbed him. The G.I. then jumped on the man and repeatedly stabbed him in the stomach, chest and head then ran off. He returned to the Red Cross Quarters where he attempted to remove the blood from his uniform, this was observed by Master Sergeant London and Private Fils, both U.S. Army.
SIXTEEN STAB WOUNDS The police were called and Head Constable Armstrong and Sergeant Herron arrived on the scene but there was nothing they could do as Coogan had been brutally stabbed and was lying dead in a large pool of blood. Coogan’s body was then removed and
taken to the Mater Hospital where it was examined by Dr. James Crilly. In a lengthy medical statement he described the deceased’s injuries and observed that there were sixteen stab wounds. They appeared to have been made with some sharp blade at least four inches long.
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UNKNOWN OUTCOME After the hearing, the court, which consisted of seven U.S. officers, announced that their decision would not be made known until a later date. What this decision was and the fate of Private Harris presently remains unknown but based on similar local incidents the charge would have been reduced to one of manslaughter (as he had not set out to kill Coogan), and he would have been sentenced to anything between eight and fifteen years to be served in a penitentiary in the United States. The Air Raid Shelter in Earl Street
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The Death of George Dowler hen a sixtyyear-old Fermanagh farmer named George Dowler died on February 15th 1939 no one had any reason to suspect that anything unusual had taken place. However, when his thirty-year-old wife moved their servant into her home, rumours began to circulate around the small close-knit community. The focal point for these rumours was that the pair were lovers, but after a short period these rumours became more malicious and concentrated on the theory that they had killed George Dowler.
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POISON These rumours came to the attention of the local police and on July 1st the body of Mr Dowler was exhumed from Belnaleck Cemetery. Organs were then removed and sent to Belfast for analysis. On receiving the
report of the analyst ten members of the RUC under District Inspector McNeill and Head Constable Thornton arrived in a tender at the Dowler home shortly before 5 o’clock and arrested Mrs Lilian Dowler and James Willoughby. Willoughby was employed as a servant man in the house. They were both taken to Enniskillen Barracks where they were charged at a special court with the murder of Mr Dowler by ‘the administration of strychnine’. PROTESTED INNOCENCE Mrs Dowler, who sat beside her solicitor, was pale and distressed and her eyes were red from crying. Willoughby sat with downcast eyes, which he raised occasionally to watch the proceedings. His curly unruly hair stood in a wild mass. District Inspector McNeill, the only
witness, read out the voluntary statement made by Mrs Dowler after she was cautioned: “I done nothing in the line of taking his life. I did everything to save him. I got a doctor and all I could do”. Willoughby said: “I have no statement to make. I was not there when the man died at although there had all. I left six weeks been five still born. Willoughby, whose before he died”. house was in the STRYCHNINE neighbourhood, M U R D E R worked as a servant CHARGE AT man for Dowler until ULSTER ASSIZE about six weeks was how the local before Dowler ’s press described the death on February and had trial when it 15th commenced on the returned to work 12 th of December there after Mr 1939. Hearing the Dowlers death. The case was Lord Justice Crown put forward a Babington and Mrs Isabella Topping opening for the who stated that Mrs Crown was the Dowler went into her Attorney General, chemist shop in and Mr Black. Mr Black Enniskillen began by saying that asked the assistant Dowler was the for strychnine ‘to owner of about 44 poison rats’. Mrs acres at Derrygiff. Topping recognised He was about 60 Mrs Dowler and the years of age and lived instructed on the farm with his assistant to supply wife. There were no her with the 10 grains children alive of strychnine.
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Mr Lowry for Mrs Dowler however asked the Head Constable Francis Thornton about a statement given to him by a Mr Stephenson in Enniskillen that indicated that the late Fred Dowler had called, accompanied by Mrs Dowler and asked for strychnine. Lowry knew it was important for the jury to know that the deceased had been trying to purchase strychnine himself.
poisoning and there were a number of witnesses who had told the Court that it was their belief that the couple were having an affair. Despite the odds against them at the final stages of the trial the whole outlook began to change dramatically. The Crown having called a number of additional witnesses in support of its case and relating in particular, to the alleged association
Enniskillen AFFAIR For the accused the prospects of being convicted and possibly hanged for the death of Mr Dowler looked certain. It was proved that both had tried to obtain strychnine shortly before Mr Dowler’s death. It was proved that Mr Dowler had died of strychnine
between the accused man and woman. Mr McSparran, for Willoughby, asked for a direction in the case. There was, he argued, no evidence that Willoughby was an actual perpetrator or present whether actively or constructively. Mr Lowry made a similar application in
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They were both taken to Enniskillen Barracks where they were charged at a special court with the murder of Mr Dowler by ‘the administration of strychnine’. the case of Mrs Dowler. The judge directed the jury to find Willoughby not guilty. NOT GUILTY The court continued to hear evidence from Mrs Dowler who stated how happy the couple had been during their married life although they had dearly wished to have children. She denied a relationship with Willoughby. In his summing up the Judge said it seemed to him very strange that if a woman had plotted the death of her husband to take place at a future date that she should walk openly into the shop
in Enniskillen where a register would have to be kept and purchase 10 grains of strychnine. Dealing with motive, his Lordship said the presence of motive did not supply essential evidence with regard to the act itself. The jury left the courtroom to consider their verdict. They returned 62 minutes later and returned a verdict of ‘Not Guilty’. There was then loud applause for the public gallery and Mrs Dowler turned when leaving he dock and, in an almost inaudible voice, expressed thanks to the judge.
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THE BALLYLEESON MURDER hen it comes to the horrific crime of murder one of the most common reasons in Victorian Ireland was greed. One such case occurred in May 1863 when the corpse of Charles Wilgar was dragged from the River Lagan on the outskirts of the town of Belfast. Because he lived quite a distance from his workplace Charles was in the habit of staying with his uncle and returning home at the weekends.
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WATCH On the evening of Saturday 10th May, his parents waited patiently for the return of their son but there was no sign of him. The following morning, anxious to find out whether or not anything had happened, they contacted the uncle, William Wright. He informed them that Charles had left at six o’clock the previous evening in the company of Daniel
Ward. The distracted father and some r e l a t i v e s immediately went around to Ward’s cottage to find out what had happened and were told that Charles had went on to meet his brother who was returning from Belfast. The police were contacted and they immediately began a search of the area. A watch, which was known to have been in the pocket of Charles Wilgar was discovered in a Pawnshop in Lisburn, where it had been left on the night of 10th May and two pounds received on it. Ward, his wife and his mother-in-law were arrested on suspicion and lodged in Downpatrick Jail. SKULL BATTERED The following Wednesday, May 14th, strange marks indicating that a struggle had taken place were seen on the banks of the Lagan and opposite them, in the river was
found the body of Charles Wilgar, with his skull battered in. His watch was missing. Near the spot where the body had been found, the drag brought up a handkerchief with a stone tied in the corner of it.
path which runs along the river bank, a watch key was discovered upon a drop of blood. A neighbour saw Ward and Wilgar turning from the high road and going down towards the water; a little over half an hour after another neighbour saw Ward
strange marks indicating that a struggle had taken place were seen on the banks of the Lagan and opposite them, in the river was found the body of Charles Wilgar, with his skull battered in. WILFUL MURDER Circumstantial evidence pointed the finger strongly at Ward. The handkerchief for example was identified by a Jane McCullagh, former sweetheart of Ward, who swore it had been given to him by her. The prosecution suggested that the stone tied to the end of the handkerchief would have made a formidable weapon, and whoever made such fatal use of it must have set out with murderous intent. On the tow-
returning alone, and actually greeted him. That same night Ward had been spotted in Lisburn by several persons and indeed several persons claimed to have seen Ward pawning the watch for £2. Daniel Ward was committed to the jail at Downpatrick on the charge of ‘Wilful Murder’. He was afterwards removed to Belfast, and at the Summer Assizes he was indicted for the crime, and a true bill was found against him. He pleaded not guilty. Counsel for
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The Belfast Prison
the Crown then applied for a postponement till the Spring Assizes of 1863. It was later claimed that if they had of went ahead with the trial in August, it is almost certain that he would have been acquitted. GUILTY The trial eventually took place before Baron Deasy and extended over three whole days. It excited great interest in Belfast. The crime was of unparalleled atrocity. To gain a small sum of money, he allegedly took the life of one who had
often done done him a kindness, and the only circumstance that could have led any one for an instant to doubt his guilt was the very audacity of the crime, and the bold and defiant conduct of the accused after he had consigned the body of his victim into the river. Ward’s able defence struggled to discredit the witnesses but to no avail. The jury had no option but to find the prisoner guilty. When the verdict had been pronounced the prisoner still protested his innocence. His
execution was to take hangman then went place on Wednesday into the room. He wore a mask but it his April 8th 1863. reported that he could be quite clearly EXECUTION On that morning at seen to be ‘eyeing up seventeen minutes his victim with the air after eight o’clock, of a bulldog’. He the execution of pinioned the doomed He then Daniel Ward for the man. murder of Charles jumped up onto the Wilgar took place at platform of the Belfast Prison in the gallows Ward took presence of between his place over the 8,000 and 9,000 drop. ‘O Lord Jesus, people. Ward arose be merciful to my at an early hour and soul. God pardon my it was stated there sins for the sake of was no difference in the Redeemer, and his demeanour. bless all my fellow About a quarter past creatures” With that eight he was the bolt was pulled conducted from his and Daniel Ward was cell to the launched into condemned cell. The eternity.
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A NEW LODGE SLAUGHTER HOUSE distressing and shocking family murder took place in the quiet residential area of North Belfast. Hillman Street is situated off the Antrim Road close to the junction of the Antrim Road and Cliftonville Road and today makes up part of what’s known as the New Lodge area.
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HOUSE MOVE Mr Spiller had become ill in the early part of 1894 and as his health had deteriorated he had had to give up his work as a fly tyer with Braddells & Co. This also meant that the family of four had to leave their own home and move in to the house of Lizzie Spillers, sister, a Mrs
attic in the house and called for his wife. Lizzie Spiller lifted the baby and went up to the attic but when she got there her husband grabbed her and there was a struggle between the husband and wife.
The struggle ended when Allan Spiller cut her throat with a razor, threw her on the bed and then Allan Spiller lifted the hammer and smashed smashed her skull with a hammer. in the skull of his three-year-old son. Death was almost It is always difficult Looney who lived in instantaneous. to hear about or read Hillman Street. It about the murder of was a large house so CHILDREN children but this there was no great MURDERED crime in 1894 is one difficulties as they Then Spiller went of the most difficult were able to store downstairs and to understand as no their excess furniture called in his son motive was ever and live quite James who was found for the comfortably in the playing outside with murders. The family large house. some friends. He involved was the called the boy into Spiller family. the house and CUT THROAT The murderer in this Mr Spiller was aged brought him up to the case was Allan 30, his wife, Lizzie attic where he cut his Spiller, a Scotsman was 26 and they had throat with a razor who was known to be two children, James twice and threw him a quiet, hardworking, aged 3 and Annetta onto o the mattress honest and sober aged just nine beside his mother, man. He had always months. On 6th April blood flowing form provided for his 1894 Mrs Looney the fatal wound. family and was left the house around Once more Allan known in the area to 10.30am to visit a Spiller lifted the Mr hammer and be a steady, excellent neighbour. and industrious man. Spiller went up to the smashed in the skull
of his three-year-old son. Finally Spiller lifted his nine-month-old daughter, Annetta, and placed her between her dead mother and brother and with one cut to the throat using the razor he murdered his baby daughter. As Spiller stood over the three dead bodies he intended to take his own life but could not take his own life or in his own words “ c o w a r d i c e overcame me”. HORRIFIC SCENE Calmly Allan Spiller walked from the house and set off up Hillman Street towards the Antrim Road. When he reached the top of Hillman Street he met a local doctor, Dr McFarland, and he told the man what he had done. Dr McFarland was not sure whether to believe him or not and when he saw Constable Kennedy close by he reported what Spiller had told him.
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Constable Kennedy spoke to Spiller who told him what he had told the doctor, that he had killed his wife and children and the policeman went to the house in Hillman Street to check out the story and it was then that he discovered the gruesome and horrific scene. Mrs Looney was now back in the house and she had no idea of what had happened upstairs in her house. The murder scene was a messy and bloody sight and the body of Lizzie Spiller showed that
she had tried to UNSOUND MIND defend herself from On 12 th April 1894 her husband. Spiller was in court charged with the Mr Spiller gave the murder of his wife following statement and children but as he when held at the local had no professional barracks: representation he I killed my wife and could could not enter two children. I a plea. enticed my wife up to the garret and cut Spiller had also been her throat with my confined to Dundrum own razor. I Criminal Lunatic finished her out with Asylum in Dublin a hammer. I took and the judge after Jim up first and cut consultation decided his throat with my that it would be razor. My wife lawful for Spiller to carried Annetta stand trial and after a upstairs in her arms. short time the jury I cut her throat last. found him to be of I gave them all the unsound mind and he same treatment. was ordered to
The house in which the horrific murders occurred lay vacant and was completely destroyed during the Luftwaffe Blitz on Belfast in 1941
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remain in the criminal lunatic asylum for the rest of his life. Most people expected that Spiller would hang for his crimes but it would be unlawful for this to occur when he had been found by a jury to be criminally insane. Instead Allan Spillers punishment was not the release of death by hanging, which he had wanted, but that he should spend the rest of his life thinking out what he had done to his young wife and family.
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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
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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 at the bridegroom, from Lisnamintry, Thomas Thompson. which was situated in the locality. TRANSFIXED The female members REVOLVER of the wedding party, The weddings in the Mary Ann Moffatt, nineteenth century sister of the bride, were small affairs Fanny Jane Moffatt, and the bride 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
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 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. FORGIVE 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
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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.
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 MOTHER that he had CHARGED committed the William Thompson murder. was then charged with the murder of BRIDE’S his brother-in-law EVIDENCE Thomas Thompson At the trial of and sent for trial at William Thompson the Armagh Assizes. evidence was heard In a twist to the tale from members of the William Thompson’s wedding party mother Elizabeth including the bride Thompson was also who confirmed that
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
she had been engaged to the deceased man since Christmas of 1887 and the accused William Thompson who conducted some of his own defence suggested to her that her future husband had been seeing other women while he was engaged to her. No
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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. evidence was brought before the court to substantiate this. BAD FAMILY However evidence was given that William Thompson had purchased a gun and that he had spoken about the impending marriage believing it to be a bad marriage for his brother-in-law Thomas and his sister child. He felt that the bride to be, Fanny Moffatt, was 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 court; Every time that this man’s name (Thomas Thompson) was mentioned I could not overcome my feelings…. he was married to my sister and he told many things to her which were not proper, and charged her with unfaithfulness towards him. Those things, I believe, were the curse of bringing the disease upon her, and the effect this had upon her mind was the cause of her death. I was greatly attached to her…I have nothing more to say, my lord, and I know that I deserve death. The judge agreed and sentenced him to be hanged by the neck at the common place of execution on the 8th August 1888.
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TODAY THE LESSON IS MURDER!
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t the County Meath Assizes on March 1st 1912 the trial began of eight young men charged with being involved in the death of a John Kelly. Mr Kelly had been assistant master of the Trim Industrial School and had been brutally murdered on the 12 th February 1912.
over seventeen years of age, however the rest of the accused were under the age of sixteen. The three boys over the age of seventeen should have been out at work and earning their own living instead of being a charge on the rate payers, according to the Judge.
CHILL OF HORROR The Lord Justice Cherry, in addressing the Grand Jury, said it sent a chill of horror through the heart and mind of every right thinking and law-abiding person to think that boys in a school could be guilty of the brutality displayed in this attack. Three of the boys, he understood were
DELIBERATELY PLANNED The Grand Jury returned charges of murder against five of the boys and for manslaughter in the cases of the other three boys. One of the boys charged with murder was to have his trial held separately. This young man was Thomas Reilly.
Mr Kelly had been assistant master of the Trim Industrial School and had been brutally murdered on the 12 th February 1912.
The jury found Reilly guilty of manslaughter and the judge remarked on the mercy shown to the boy by the jury. The jury’s merciful position, although the boy Reilly had shown a most depraved disposition, showed there was always hope for the young, and the sentence would be such as would not prevent him from becoming a good citizen. He was sentenced to be detained in a reformatory for three ATTACK Mr Kelly was then years. attacked by the boys PENAL and Thomas Reilly SERVITUDE allegedly dealt him a blow from which he Peter Tuite, William Phillip never recovered. In Smith, fact evidence was Farrelly and James heard that John Kelly Brennan were then did not get up from put forward on the the ground after this charge of having blow from Reilly murdered John Kelly. was however the other Brennan boys were discharged and the implicated. The jury found Tuite and seven boys on trial Smith guilty of together then joined manslaughter and in the attack on Mr they were both Kelly, but the fatal sentenced to penal blow had already servitude of three years. been delivered. The AttorneyGeneral who consented to the case of Thomas Reilly being tried separately, said the act was not as a result of passion, but was deliberately planned, and evidence would be given as to Reilly having been heard to make arrangements to beat Kelly who was enticed out into the yard of the school by a tar brush.
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Phillip Farrelly was discharged as the jury found him not guilty of any charges and the remaining three boys on trial, Patrick Cox, Patrick O’Hara and John Conlan attended court the next day. Conlon was found not guilty and was discharged but Cox and O’Hara were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve m o n t h s imprisonment with hard labour. District Inspector Roe, who was in charge of the case, came to the judge informing him that two reformatories, Philipstown and Glencree had refused to take two of the boys, Tuite and Smith, under any
circumstances, and there were no other reformatory places. He asked if the sentence could be varied the Judge amended the sentence to two years detention with hard labour. SCHOOL SYSTEM A statement was also read at the trial by R H Calvert who held a watching brief on behalf of the Industrial School Committee and a wanted to explain why the boys were still attending school aged seventeen. Trim Industrial School was not an industrial school in the ordinary sense of the term and it was a school that had been formed by five unions and the boys
from the different workhouses of these five unions were sent to Trim School on the same principle instead of being boarded out as in other unions. They were taught different trades – carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring, and baking – and–it was found– out by experience that when the boys reached the age of sixteen years they were not really adept at their chosen trade and it was considered that if they were kept on in the school for another two years that when they would be then discharged they would be in a better position when they went out into the world to earn money. Mr Calvert also noted that the contracts‘received by
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the school from the various unions ensured that the school was almost self sufficient and so that it was for the benefit of the institution that instead of being discharged at sixteen the boys should remain on until they were eighteen. The Lord Justice noted that the statement by Calvert was very clear and that he felt that it was for the ratepayers of the area to decide on how their money was spent but that in his own opinion that it was not wise to keep these boys on in the school over the age of sixteen. Philipstown Reformatory refused to take the boys
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Murder and Suicide in Dundalk n Monday October 27 th 1902 a shocking tragedy occurred at Stephenstown House, the residence of a Major Fortescue. A butler named Breen and a maid named Moore were found dead in the Major’s dining room.
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MURDER AND SUICIDE Later that day as the facts began to become known it was realised that the butler had shot the maid and then committed suicide. It appeared that there was a shooting party staying at Stephenstown as guests of Major Fortescue, and as there were a large number of guests the Major had to employ an extra butler, Breen, who had worked at the house before. Breen was from Dublin, aged about 45 and it was
thought that he had made the acquaintance of the maid Moore on his previous visit to the house. They had become engaged but in his absence it was thought that Alice Moore had become involved with a good-looking footman
who had come to work for the major. We do not know if the engagement had been called off but there was a quarrel when Breen returned to the house. HORRIFIC DISCOVERY The house party had retired to the library at around 10.30 p.m. on the evening of the 27th when the sound of rapid revolver shots from the dining
room stopped the conversation. Major Fortescue and his brother-in-law rushed in and were horrified to find the bodies of Breen and Moore lying on the floor, between them lay a revolver, which belonged to the Major. At the inquest the Major explained that Alice Moore had been in his employment
for around 18 months. On the day of the tragedy the Major had heard three shots from the dining room. The revolver, which was lying between the knees of John Breen when he was found, belonged to the Major and he told the coroner that he kept the gun in his dressing room and the cartridges in the library and study. He explained that Breen
could easily have gained access to the gun. TEMPER Evidence was given to the court of the possible motive for the incident, as it was through jealously for the attentions of Alice Moore that Breen planned his brutal revenge. Apparently Breen had been engaged to Alice Moore but since his departure to
England to find work she had begun to receive the attentions of a John Smyth. There had been an argument between Breen and Smyth and Smyth came to court to give evidence. He told the court that at about 7.30 p.m. when Alice Moore came to the pantry to wash her hands Breen began a tirade of abuse calling her a slut and a whore and
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said he would not let a woman of her reputation stand beside him. Smyth claimed he defended Moore and confronted Breen, gripped him by the throat and punched him in the face. Breen at once grabbed for a knife to stab Smyth but at his point the chief Butler John Bowers, got between them and calmed the situation. Breen then stormed out of the pantry. He had not been drinking but it was quite obvious he was raging in temper. HIDDEN GUN The Stephenstown House was busy and the Major had various servants’ working day and night to look after all the guests. Many of the servants would not have known each other well but the staff worked to a strict rota and because of the rota the movements of individuals could be accounted for down to the nearest minute. It was obvious that Breen had planned
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the confrontation began. After the argument and Breen had cooled down both he and another servant Dobbyn served dinner. At around 10.30p.m. Breen cleared away dessert with Alice Moore and Dobbyn outside the dining room putting away the silver when the shots rang out. Three shots were fired; one lodged in the ceiling, probably a result of a struggle.
his attack meticulously. The only time he could have gained access to the Major’s dressing room was when the others were sitting down to supper and the Major was in the dining room. Prior to this Breen was at’Claremont’and then came home around 5.30 p.m. It was then that Breen excused himself from supper stating that he would get something to eat
One hit Alice Moore in the neck and although she was alive when the Major arrived, she died soon after. Breen had finished himself off, apparently placing the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. Death was instantaneous.
later. He then secured the revolver, went to the study where he obtained the cartridges and loaded the gun. Noone knows where he hid the gun but it was sure that when he went down to the coroner, pantry to clean his The hands he had already addressing the jury, said it was clear then hidden the gun. that Breen in a fit of INSTANT DEATH jealousy, shot this At just after 7.30 poor woman, and p.m. Breen walked then took his own straight in to Alice life. The jury found Moore and at once accordingly.
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MURDER MOST HORRID O n Wednesday the 15th of September, 1875, a man named Thomas Burns was proceeding to work along Bathurst Court in the Durham Street area when he saw something bulky against the wall. On examining it he discovered it to be the body of a woman terribly mutilated. The police were immediately summoned and when crowds began to assemble a female named Whiteside recognised the body to be that of Margaret Whitely, of Humphrey’s Court. This was a clue and the police seemed to have followed and
developed it with great vigilance. Inquiries were made at Humphrey’s Court, which resulted in the disclosure that the deceased had gone on the previous day to visit her niece, a Mrs. Daly, who lived in Durham Street, and had not since returned. When the police examined the body they concluded that the woman had not been murdered where she was found but had been dumped there. Further investigation showed that Mrs Daly’s house was not a dozen yards from where the body
was discovered. Having knocked at this door for some time, and failing to gain admittance, the police managed to enter it from the back yard. No person was found in the house, which bore internally most of the tokens of penury and neglect. One of the rooms was evidently used as a kitchen and the other a sleeping apartment. Here they found clothing belong to the dead woman and in the centre of the room lay a quantity of straw used as bedding, and portions of this were found saturated with
blood. There were blood stains on the floor and a heavy wooded stool lay broken on the floor and was also covered in blood. The police had found their murder scene. On talking to the neighbours the police discovered that the deceased was in this house on the previous evening, and it is stated that, contrary to her custom, she had taken some drink with Mrs. Daly, her niece. It was also discovered that John Daly came home in a drunken state, and beat both the deceased and his wife. Mrs. Daly subsequently left the
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house, leaving Margaret Whitley in bed and her husband also in the house. Margaret Whitley was never seen alive again. Mrs. Daly slept with a friend all night and Mr Daly, who was a coal-cart driver, went to his work as usual and it was here that the police arrested him. He was described as “a little strong wiry looking individual, with a small face and regular but sharply put features. His hair is intensely black, and his a p p e a r a n c e altogether gives one the idea of shrewd intelligence.” When brought before the magistrates on the charge of ‘wilful murder’ he seemed to be acutely distressed, but merely for a moment. He looked feebly at the constable, and endeavoured to speak, but his utterance failed him. Mrs. Daly was arrested in the
vicinity of the ‘brickfields’, Durham Street. She had with her at the time two children, one about six years old and the other an infant some eighteen months old and completely blind. The woman was c o m p l e t e l y exculpated from any participation in the outrage and was soon released from custody. At the subsequent trial the evidence against Daly was overwhelming and included among the witnesses was Daly’s own daughter. After very exhaustive defence put forward by the prisoners counsel, the jury, on a short deliberation, brought in a verdict of guilty and sentenced to hang. Daly slept until 5 o’clock on the day of his death, when he was awakened by a warder. He resumed his devotional duties with every appearance of earnest penitence. He attended Mass at
six o’clock and continued praying until the terrible hour arrived. Eight o’clock came and the unhappy man was pinioned with leather straps by the executioner, who it is believed was Marwood. The pinioning took place in the cell in the presence of Captain Keough, the governor of the gaol Daly came out of his cell dressed in his prison garb, followed by the executioner, his clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Hamill, who was reading prayers to the condemned man, who it is reported walked firmly to the scaffold. When he arrived at the place of execution the rope was placed on his neck, a white cap was drawn over his head and face and a leaver was pulled opening the trap door below him. He d i e d instantaneously. As soon as it was observed that the man was dead the black flag was
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hoisted. Daly did not make a public confession of his guilt. The body after hanging for an hour or so, was cut down and placed in an ordinary deal coffin painted black, which had been in readiness for some time. The body having been lowered into the coffin, was conveyed to a passage underneath the scaffold, where it was placed on a stand prepared for the occasion. The body of the wretched man was divested of the whole of the clothing which he wore at the time of his execution and the coffin was filled up with quicklime. The lid was then screwed down and John Daly was for ever removed from mortal eye. The body was buried in the course of the evening in one of the gloomy passages of the prison by the side of the last convicted murderers, O’Neill and Ward.
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MURDERED FOR BEING A WITCH t’s hard to believe that just over 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 she was discovered it was found that one side of her body had been dreadfully burned form the face down to the legs.
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HEAR CRIES 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. HELD AT FIRE 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. FAIRY DOCTOR 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 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. BURNED ALIVE 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
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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
Cleary smell and smoke in Michael allegedly made Mrs the room. Burke swear on her knees that his wife REMOVED had vanished and no BODY Mr Cleary afterwards one knew what had came up and got become of her. He some sacks and with told her that it was the assistance of the not his wife that he others took away the was burning but a body, the party taking fairy and that she with them also a would see the fairy spade and a shovel. disappearing up the This occurred in the chimney. Michael middle of the night Cleary, apparently and the next day after burying the
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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!
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Double Murder and Suicide at Mayobridge I n 1886 a double murder and suicide took place in Mayobridge, just outside Newry, which shocked the whole country. It was even more upsetting than other murders as this was what is now described as a domestic murder. These types of murders where the people know each other is not as rare as the ordinary murder when people are killed by complete strangers, but the “domestic” murder is the one which shocks the most. This particular incident in late 1886 involved a family called Fegan who lived on a farm just outside Mayobridge and the nature of the murders and suicide disgusted the whole community. Thomas Fegan was a farmer who had returned to the Newry area after a
spell living in America. When he returned home he married a local girl, Mary Ann, who was also the daughter of a local farmer, and they had a daughter Mary Ellen. Thomas Fegan was fond of the drink the couple often argued and became separated in 1886 for a couple of months and Mary Ann took their daughter and went into service but the family were reunited in August 1886. Fegans drinking caused unrest in the home and he was often in dispute with his in laws over a portion of a marriage settlement that was to be paid to Fegan by his wife’s family which Fegan believed he had not received.
they received none. The couple then called with Bernard Fegan, a brother of Thomas, for a short time and then went home. When the next day Bernard did not hear from his brother he sent his son up to Thomas house and there the young boy discovered a horrific scene of death and violence.
Mary Ann Fegan was lying face down on the floor near the fire and she was covered with blood and multiple wounds. Close to her body lay the young child, Mary Ellen, also covered in blood and with obvious wounds to her body. Above their bodies the young boy saw Thomas Fegan hung from a beam, quite On the night of the dead. murders Fegan and his wife Mary Ann When the local visited the home of policeman, Sergeant her father looking for Flynn arrived it was money to go to the obvious what had fair the next day but happened had been a
frenzied and spontaneous attack and a large hatchet covered with blood and brains was found in the room lying under a table. There had been no attempt to cleam up the room or hide the murder weapon. Mary Ann had been killed first in a fit of rage and then Thomas Fegan had carried his three year old daughter from her bed in to the room where her mother lay violated and bleeding and there Fegan used the hatchet to kill his daughter. The child’s hands had been raised to protect her face and the hatchet had cut clean through her small hand. One wonders what could have been going through the mind of this young child as she saw her mother dead on the floor in a pool of blood and the terror she must have felt when she saw her father with the hatchet. After committing these two murders Thomas Fegan threw a rope over the beam in the room and
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placed the rope around his neck and kicked over the stool he was standing on. At the inquest quite graphic evidence was heard regarding the type of injuries the mother and daughter had received and a Doctor Douglas told the court that: Mary Anns death was caused by a fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain. Mary Ellen Fegan was lying prone on the body of Mary Ann Fegan…. the skull was broken by two wounds on the right side of the head, from which brains protruded. There was also a wound under the left ear…the ear was partly torn off, and part of the left hand was missing. Death was caused by fracture of the skull. Regarding the suicide of Thomas Fegan the Doctor reported that: Thomas Fegan was suspended from the roof of the kitchen by a rope…the eyes were half open, the tongue protruding and congested, the
pupils of the eyes were dilated. Death was instantaneous, and there was not the slightest appearance of a struggle.
local people refused to allow the body of Thomas Fegan to be buried with his wife and child, and also would not allow it to be buried in the same So horrific where graveyard. these deaths to the The body of Thomas whole area that the Fegan today lies in
the Workhouse graveyard in Newry and it was reported that no one attended his funeral. The local police had to provide a hearse in order that his body could be removed to the burying ground.
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SHE HAS OFTEN BEEN THIS WAY BEFORE! house in Robert Street, which was situated directly behind St. Anne’s Cathedral, was the scene of the brutal murder of a poor defenceless woman by the name of Mary Anne Phillips. When police arrived at the scene they found the woman’s dead body lying inside the house. She had been badly beaten.
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with the help of the main witness, an unfortunate young boy of only seven years. He pointed the guilty finger at his father, Arthur McKeown, a married man who was separated and lived at the time at 38 Robert Street with Mary Anne Phillips as husband and wife. He was promptly arrested and remanded in custody.
The head and face were covered with blood from eight different wounds, varying from two inches to half an inch in length, some of which penetrated to the bone. The head and face were covered with blood from eight different wounds, varying from two inches to half an inch in length, some of which penetrated to the bone. The police quickly ascertained what had happened
SOAKED IN BLOOD He eventually went on trial before Mr. Justice Holmes and a twelve man jury at Belfast Crown Court. Constable John Douglass then went to describe the scene before him as he entered
”The judge then summed up by explaining the law to the jury before they retired to decide their verdict. After a half an hour they jury returned with a verdict of guilty. The accused was taken away to the gaol to await execution.
the house. In the back room off the kitchen the body of the murdered woman had been lying between the bed and a chest of drawers, parallel to the bed with the head resting on a pillow which was soaked in blood. FULL PENALTY OF HIS CRIME There was a pool Arthur McKeown of blood half way was 35 years of age between the body and was born at and the door which Carrick Hill in bore the evidence Belfast. His of an attempt to parents kept a small brush the same grocers shop on the pool away. While corner of Carrick C o n s t a b l e Hill and Kent Douglass was Street. His two examining the little children aged scene the accused five and seven were entered the room placed in the and made the B e l f a s t f o l l o w i n g Workhouse. e x t r a o r d i n a r y On Monday statement which January 14th at the constables took Eight o’clock in the a note of at the m o r n i n g time; “You need McKeown paid the not be uneasy about full penalty for his her. She has often crime on the been this way scaffold at Belfast before” Prison. Crowds
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began to gather from Carlisle Circus right up to the gates of the gaol from as early as six thirty eager to monitor the movements of anyone entering the prison. The scaffold had been erected at the end of ‘D’ Wing (the eastern wing of the prison). The hangman was Berry and he and his able assistant had to adjust the rope so that all would go smoothly at the fateful hour. The press were allowed to visit the scaffold before the actual execution and after this they proceeded to interview the hangman. With a grin on his face that morning Berry explained that he had “pushed off” considerably more than one hundred people in his time and the rope he would be using to hang McKeown
would be a tried and trusty Manilla of the Government regulation type, three-quarter inch diameter. He went on to explain that he would have given the prisoner an eight foot drop, but fearing the weakness of his neck and considering that he was but little over eight stone in weight, he had reduced it to seven. Notwithstanding this reduction he assured the press that the strain on
the neck was equal to one ton six and three quarter hundredweight. At that the sound of a heavy door opening along the corridor brought silence among the gathering of journalists. Slowly and solemnly the little company approached the h a n g m a n . McKeown held a crucifix in his hands and prayed audibly as Berry began to pinion him with the leather straps.
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When this was done the party proceeded through another door to the scaffold. The hangman now directed the proceedings by placing the condemned man over the trapdoor. The white cap was then placed over his eyes, the legs were strapped together, the assistant then handed the executioner the noose which he adjusted. All this time the man was constantly praying and imploring God’s mercy. Stepping aside he touched the lever and Arthur McKeown was launched into eternity. The last words upon his lips were, “Into Thy hands Lord Jesus I commend my spirit”. McKeown died without making any formal admission of his guilt.
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BRUTAL IRISH MURDERS
Sister’s Throat Cut From Ear to Ear
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 15 th 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 16 th Thomas returned to the house and finding his sister in the room quickly drew a razor
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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.
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
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,
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”. Thomas J Doyle was indicted for the wilful murder of
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The horrific murder of Josephine Doyle sent shockwaves throughout Dublin
Josephine Doyle and evidence heard in court revealed that on 22 nd October 1906 the accused was convicted of u n l a w f u l l y wounding Josephine so seriously that he was sentenced to three years penal servitude. He was discharged 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 (Left) and was discharged from the army in 1904. William Doyle was called to give evidence and he
protested at this and said that he would pay no more rent for the place if his brother was going to bring people like that into the house. The young woman then went out followed by Thomas had been out Thomas Doyle. and William met his Doyle sister at Duffy’s William room for a drink. He claimed that he went claimed that there and closed the door had been a bit of a after them but 20 singsong in the room minutes later he and then he and his heard his brother sister went to his knocking the door. room along with Mrs William tried to stop Duffy where they Thomas coming in drank another bottle but he forced his way of stout. Later on, his in and after taking brother, Thomas, just two steps to came in bringing a where his sister was young woman with sitting, he drew a him. William Doyle razor straight across claimed that he her throat. Thomas explained how the family unit had broken up but the day before her death, Josephine, his sister, had returned to the house again at Grants Row.
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then attacked him and tried to cut his throat but as he still had his clothes on and a heavy coat, he was saved. Thomas Doyle’s defence rested on the accusation that William and Josephine Doyle were engaged in an inappropriate relationship for a brother and sister and that he got into such a frenzy about the relations between the two that the took his razor and killed his sister and attacked his brother. Mr Hanna, his counsel, stated that the law was that a man in a case of this kind was not to be held guilty of the extreme crime where there had been provocation of that kind. The jury retired and deliberated for just over an hour and returned a verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter. Thomas Doyle was sentenced to fifteen years of penal servitude.
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BRUTAL MURDER SEEN IN A DREAM
t was in August 1874 when Mary Levey awoke with a start. She was trembling from the horror that had come with her latest nightmare. This time though, the image appeared to be far more real than before. Getting out of bed she fumbled to light a candle. It was the end of October and the room was pitch black.
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There was still another four hours before daybreak. In the dim light she told her husband that she had had the same dream again about her Uncle Ned only this time he was dead. The next day she decided to pay a visit to her uncle’s house but even before she got there she knew that something dreadful had happened.
MONEY STASHED Edward Ferguson lived in an isolated cottage not far from Sligo town and although he was seventy years of age he was still lucid and full of the strength of a young man. He had survived the ravages of the Famine and had eked out a living in the markets since then. Now he lived alone and was reported to have
still had some money stashed away in the house SKULL SMASHED Having failed to gain entry she called the police who forced open the front door and entered. Her dream was true. There on the bedroom floor lay the body of her uncle. He had been covered by bedclothes and there
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was a knee rug over his legs. When these had been taken off him it was discovered that he had several wounds to the head and body. His skull had been smashed in by the rock that lay beside him on the bedroom floor. The house had been ransacked and whatever valuables the old man had had in his possession were now gone. MONEYLENDER Meanwhile in Belfast a group of strangers were enjoying themselves in a tavern in the town. Flush with money they drank till after closing time. Later that night they hatched their plan to commit another robbery. Their target this time would be a moneylender who lived not far away in Joy Street. The following day they gained access to the house at around 7.00 p.m. However they fell asleep in an upstairs room and were later awakened by the striking of a clock. They were met on the stairs by the boy in charge, John Norton. The burglars armed with a jemmy bar hit
the poor lad over the gathered until at length head knocking him out. a mass of evidence, most of it ARRESTED circumstantial, was The boy’s mother came accumulated. When he on the scene and was was tried however the dealt with in a similar judge said that the manner hitting her so amount of information hard that she was still that had been gathered unconscious when the in relation to McDade, police arrived. The rendered it impossible attackers succeeded in for any sane man to escaping and in eluding doubt that he was also the vigilance of the the murderer of Ned police. From here it is Ferguson. Such was known that the burglar the reputation of and his accomplices McDade that every left Belfast and newspaper in Ireland committed several carried the story. burglaries and robberies in the ALIASES surrounding villages. His case was heard in The culprits luck was Sligo before Judge fast running out and a Barry, where the few days later they prisoner pleaded guilty, entered the town of expressing remorse and Antrim. Some trivial penitence. The court circumstances occurred was told that McDade which aroused the had several different suspicion of the local aliases. He frequently police and two of them told people his name were arrested. The two was either Bernard men were identified as McLoughlin or Brown and McDade. sometimes James Jones. REPUTATION At the time of his Upon the arrest of capture he was around McDade news spread thirty-one years of age. throughout the country. It was claimed that he This time his past had had been before the caught up with him and courts from a very early the time of reckoning age. His first had come. Facts and appearance was that witnesses were quickly The Belfast Court when
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he was seven years old, and his latest was on Spike Island where he was released in August 1874. REPENTANT McDade was found guilty and was sentenced to die on March 24th 1875. He was placed in the condemned cell in Sligo Jail where the Sister of Mercy nuns visited him. It was after their visit to him that his demeanour changed dramatically as he listened to their words with deep attention. Before their departure they recited a short and earnest prayer for his conversion. It was reported afterwards that big tears trickled down his rough cheeks and he became truly repentant for his cruel deeds. His last words to the nuns were “I have not wish to live. I am going home now. I never knew a home here.” On the day of his execution he was calm and at peace with himself as he called for the prayers of the faithful for the repose of his soul.
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Triple Murder and Suicide at Ballinamullan n April 1914 a terrible tragedy took place just two and a half miles from Omagh in the townland of Ballinamullin. Owen McAleer, a large and powerfully built farmer, aged just forty five years, murdered his wife, Annie and two of the couples children, Mary and Bernard.
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DEPRESSION On the morning of the 18 th April 1914 Owen McAleer returned to the family home in the early hours. He had been staying at his brother in law,s Patrick McCrystals house, as he had been unwell in recent months. His illness took the form of depression that
After Owen McAleer had murdered his wife and children he took his own life by drowning in a deep quarry hole at the end of his farm. Another child, who survived, witnessed the murders, which took place in the family home. After Owen McAleer had murdered his wife and children he took his own life by drowning in a deep quarry hole at the end of his farm.
manifested itself in violence against his family. He often suffered hallucinations that his wife would bring a gang of men to kill him. He had twice been sent to the asylum and on the night of the 17th April the local
doctor, Dr Todd, had visited Owen McAleer at the McCrystal house, at the request of his wife Annie. HEADS SMASHED When Patrick McCrystal woke early on the morning of the 18th April he found that his brother in law had gone and that the door on the outside of his house was tied with a chain. His daughter Mary Alice McCrystal came running to the house shouting that Owen McAleer was beating his wife. Patrick ran to the house where he found his sister Annie lying dead in the lane leading up to her house. As he approached the house he found the two children, Mary aged four and Bernard aged six months dead on the street with their heads smashed and bloody. The police were called and at the inquest Constable Daniel Kerrin gave evidence that he found Mrs McAleers body lying in a pool
of blood with her skull fractured and portions of her skull and brains scattered about. He found the two children dead on the street covered with a bag and a doormat. He also gave evidence that Owen McAleers body was found floating in the quarry hole. INQUEST At the inquest Mary Alice McCrystal was able to tell the coroner what had happened in the McAleer house that April morning as she had spent the night there with her cousins. She had shared a bed with Mary McAleer and the baby Bernard, who also died, had been sleeping with his mother. An Ellen McCollum and another daughter Alice were also sleeping in the room. Mary Alice McCrystal had been awakened by the sound of her Uncle Owen returning to the house at daybreak. He had gone to bed but when he awoke a short time
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three other cases death was due to extensive fractures of the skull, haemorrhage, and shock. All the injuries were caused by great violence.
later he was very troubled. He took a bicycle and threw it out on to the street, shouting and cursing at his wife. He left the house and returned with a shovel which he struck his child Mary with and when she cried he carried her outside and killed her. He then lifted the baby Bernard and took him outside. Mary Alice heard him crying and then there was silence. She hid in the house for a while and then fled the house and ran to the neighbours to raise the alarm.
Michael to help her. Owen McAleer was beating his wife with his fists and Michael McCollum managed to get him off her and they both escaped and ran off but not before Owen gave Michael McCollum his wife a fatal blow stated that he heard to the head. his sister Ellen GREAT screaming and ran to VIOLENCE find her. He found her being attacked by Doctor Todd and a Owen McAleer but Doctor Leitch who when he got close had conducted a she managed to p o s t - m o r t e m escape and ran off. examination of he Owen McAleer then dead bodies stated pulled his wife, that death in Owen Annie, across the McAleer’s case was lane, and she due to suffocation by screamed for drowning and in the She did not see what happened to Annie McAleer but a young man Michael McCollum, a servant employed in the McAleer ’s gave evidence.
The jury decided that the murders had been carried out while Owen McAleer was temporarily insane as all who knew him said that when he was well he was good to his wife and children and was a peaceful and loving husband. The violence that he inflicted on his family was due only to his illness and that had he been taken to the asylum on the night of the 17th when he had been examined by the doctor perhaps Annie McAleer and her two children would not have suffered such a dreadful attack and Owen McAleer himself would be alive. Instead the remaining children would be left without parents and siblings and growing up knowing what their father had done to his family.
........Mary Ann had been killed first in a fit of rage and then Thomas Fegan had carried his three year old daughter from her bed in to the room where her mother lay violated and bleeding and there Fegan used the hatchet to kill his daughter. The child’s hands had been raised to protect her face and the hatchet had cut clean through her small hand. One wonders what could have been going through the mind of this young child as she saw her mother dead on the floor in a pool of blood and the terror she must have felt when she saw her father with the hatchet. Double Murder and Suicide at Mayobridge
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