Old Belfast 13

13 Belfast’s Local History Magazine

TRUE ULSTER MURDERS

Glenravel Local History Project

There is perhaps no more fruitful for of education than to arouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings These words were written by Richard Livingstone and appeared in a book

by Alfred Moore called Old Belfast over fifty years ago. Looking back its hard to imagine that they are as true today as they were way back then. More and more people are becoming interested in the history of Belfast and it was out of this that the Glenravel Local History Project were born in May 1991.

Many could be forgiven for assuming that this name derived from the famous Glens in Co. Antrim and they would be right but in a roundabout way. Glenravel Street was situated directly behind in the old Poorhouse on North Queen Street and contained quite a few beautiful and historic buildings. One of these buildings was situated at its junction with Clifton Street and although it was officially known as the Ulster Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital it was known to most people as the Benn Hospital. This was due to the fact that it was built by Edward Benn (brother of the famous Victorian Belfast historian George). Mr Benn lived in the Glens of Antrim where Glenravel is situated. Although Glenravel Street contained all this history the street itself was totally obliterated to clear the way for the modern Westlink motorway system leaving us to question schemes such as historical areas of importance as well as buildings.

The Glenravel Project was established by local historians Joe Baker and Michael Liggett and has now went on to become the main local historical group in the whole of Belfast. Over three hundred publications have been published by the group as well and several web sites, DVDs and countless newspaper and magazine articles. The Project also conducts several walking tours ranging from the Belfast Blitz right through to a walking tour of the historic Cavehill area. One of these tours is also around the historic Clifton Street Burying Ground which is also situated behind the old Poorhouse and which was opened by them in the mid 1790s. Although our original aim was the historical promotion of this site we have now went on to cover the whole of Belfast as well as assist numerous local historical schemes far beyond our city’s boundaries. This magazine is now our main focus for the local and factual history of Belfast and we welcome all articles of interest relating to the history of our city. And our aim:-

To secure a future for our past

5 Churchill Street, Belfast. BT15 2BP

028 9035 1326

glenravel@ashtoncentre.com 028 9020 2100 028 9074 2255 2

www.glenravel.com

UNLUCKY THIRTEEN ith this being the thirteenth edition of our publication we thought we would start with the thirteenth person to be hanged in the Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road. The 13th man to hang in the Crumlin Road Jail was American Eddie Cullens who was hanged on Friday the 13th in conclusion to one of Belfast’s strangest murders which took place on September 4th 1931. The naked body of Achmet Musa, a Turk, had been dumped in a field at Seskin near Carrickfergus after a horse on a milk cart refused to go any further on the nearby road.

The man who had previously been shot through the head was naked except for a woman’s blue and white rubber bathing cap. The murder was similar to the Chicago style gangster killings in the United States of the time and caused great public interest in the North.

Through channels known only to the Ulster police a girl was found who had seen the distinctive blue and white bathing cap in the car of a man, later to be identified as Eddie Cullens, who she had met and was about to join on a trip to Derry City before the body of Musa had been

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Eddie Cullens

discovered. Patient inquiries, and the intricate process of deduction, based on and centred around the bathing cap enabled the police to spin the threads of circumstantial evidence into a rope strong enough to hang Cullens.

The story that later transpired told how Cullens and Musa had been part of a syndicate formed in New York with another Turk, Assim Redvan, in an enterprise to exploit an

old man named Zaro Agha, who was reported as "the oldest man in the world", aged 156 years. The quartet arrived in England and became a side show with Bertram Mills’ travelling circus. While in Liverpool it seems something happened which led to the beginning of the plot to murder Achmet Musa. Both Cullens and Musa split from the other two and went to live at a house at Wavetree. The landlord told 3

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the police of how Cullens, who now called himself Bernard Bermann, had negotiated the lease and was interested whether or not the garage floor was concrete. The landlord later told of how he had disturbed Cullens as he was digging in the garage. At the subsequent trial, the Crown suggested that they believed he was digging a grave for Musa and because he was disturbed he had to think of another way to murder his victim.

It was after this that the two men ended up in Ireland.

Cullens borrowed his other partner’s (Assim Redvan) car.

The pair arrived in Belfast on the morning of Saturday August 29th and put up at Ryan's Hotel, Donegal Quay.

On the Sunday afternoon, Cullens met two girls outside the General Post Office in Royal Avenue, intending to pick up Musa on the way to Bangor. While Cullens was changing the wheel of his car he asked one of the girls to give him out a towel which was in the pocket of the car door. It was then that the bathing cap fell out. This incident proved to be the damning at his trial.

After the run to Bangor there were other excursions until the crucial date September the 2nd. On that evening Cullens said he went to the dog racing at Celtic Park with Mr. Ryan and left Musa outside in the car. When they later came out he claimed Musa must have wandered off because he was no longer in the car. He said he returned to the hotel with Mr. Ryan and remained there for the rest of the night. Ryan however denied this version of events and both he and his wife swore that Cullens did not stay in the hotel and that they never saw him again after leaving him, Mrs. Ryan from earlier that day and Mr. Ryan since leaving him at the Grosvenor Road at around seven o’clock.

It was on Wednesday night that a farmer at Seskin near Carrickfergus identified Cullens as the man he clearly saw in the beam of his car headlights as he was sitting in a parked car not far from where Musa’s body was discovered.

On Thursday a parcel of men’s clothes, cut and blood-stained were found on a doorstep at Church Lane in the centre of Belfast. On Friday, the dead body of the murdered Turk was found in a field at Seskin.

The body of Achmet Musa Cullens meanwhile had left was left naked in a cornfield Belfast on Thursday and near Carrickfergus with a travelled back to England. The bathing cap on his head police found in his baggage at

Leeds, the case of a pistol of the odd pattern used in the murder. Cullens was later arrested by the London police on instruction and description supplied by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

A long and complicated trial lasting three days followed his indictment which even the genius of the eminent defence counsel could not overcome.

The jury brought in a verdict of guilty, the sentence of death was pronounced and the execution was fixed for January 13th 1932. Cullens claimed American citizenship and various appeals for clemency miserably failed.

Eddie Cullens was 28 years of age at the time of his death.

Rabbi Shachter, who ministered to the condemned man was quoted as saying, "He went to the scaffold with the deep conviction that his hands were clean and clear of the blood of this man."

Regardless of these claims he was executed at eight o’clock in the morning on Friday January 13th 1932 by Pierrepoint and his assistant Wilson.

So ended a series of strange and tragic events which began in Eastern Europe, travelled the ocean to America, came back to England and ended at Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road.

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FARMERS THROAT SLASHED IN ARMAGH n the morning of the 25th August 1884 at Eglish in County Armagh a local shop owner named Magee was called to the home of his neighbour Richard Conlan by William Passmore. Passmore had called at Conlan's home and discovered the door open and was suspicious as to where Conlan was.

He didn’t want to investigate further on his own as he suspected that something had happened to Conlan and so he immediately went to get help. Magee entered Conlan's house and found Conlan lying on his bed, dead, with his throat cut. The bed was soaked in blood and Conlan was holding a razor in his right hand. On his chest was a dead cat, which appeared to have been placed there, but which had connections to folklore in County Armagh at the time whereby people believed that a cat or dog, which passed over a dead body, would itself die.

Conlan’s body was lying under the bedclothes, with his arms lying on top of the blankets, his eyes were closed and his clothes were neatly folded on a nearby table.

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Richard Conlan was an 83-year-old bachelor who was well known in the area as a shrewd and careful farmer. He kept goats, grew flax and some vegetables to feed himself. He was on good terms with all his neighbours and was not known as a drinker or gambler but a man who worked well with his fellow farmers and was kind and considerate.

Dr Boyd, a local doctor, was called to the scene to examine the body and his first opinion was that Conlan could not have died from his own hand. He concluded that there was not enough blood on the deceased’s right 6

hand, which should have been covered with the blood spurting from the huge gash in Conlan’s neck. He also stated that he had never come across a dead body whose eyes were closed except by someone else, unless the person had died in their sleep. Dr Boyd also found some candle wax in the neck wound, which he concluded would have come from wax dripping into the wound after Conlan had died. It was as if someone had leaned over the body holding a candle and he felt it unlikely that Conlan would have cut his throat while holding a candle as he would not have needed to see what he was doing. His examination of the body also indicated to him that Conlan had died sometime around 11am on the 24th August, in the morning, which he felt was interesting as there would not have been any need for someone to use a candle to see what they were doing as it was daylight. In light of his conclusions Dr Boyd called the police to the house to investigate but they were unable to find any evidence of another person being in the house apart from a handkerchief found close to Conlan's house with blood on it, but they were unable to ascertain if the blood belonged to Conlan or how long the handkerchief had been there.

The police then began to interview Conlan’s friends and neighbours and they discovered that Conlan had been at the market on the 23rd August and had sold some animals for £31.00. This was a large sum of money at the time, Conlan’s rent for the year on his farm was £4, and when they searched the farm they were unable to find any trace of

field shouting at the goats and other farmers in the area agreed with Blackstock that he had been in the field with his crops.

The police arrested Blackstock as they had no other credible suspects but when they searched his home they could find no evidence of blood on his clothing and his family and neighbours were able to tell the police that he had not been agitated on the day of Conlan’s death, he was on good terms with Conlan, and was of no need of Conlan’s money as he had plenty of his own. Other neighbours told the police that they had seen a light on at the Conlan house on the evening of the 24th August, which contradicted the medical evidence.

the money or the purse, which many of his friends and neighbours were familiar with.

Conlan had been with his neighbour Samuel Blackstock at the market and many witnesses described how Blackstock had counted out the money for Conlan and put it in his purse.

Conlan’s neighbours also came forward to say that Blackstock had been at the Conlan house on the morning of the 24th but no one saw him with Conlan and Blackstock himself was candid to the police about his whereabouts that morning. He told the police that he had gone up to his fields that he shared with Conlan to chase away Conlan’s goats that were eating his crops.

Neighbours recalled that they heard shouting that morning coming from Conlan’s house but Blackstock admitted that he was in the

Blackstock was brought before the winter assizes in December 1884 for a trial that lasted two days. Much conflicting evidence was heard and in his summing up the judge pointed this out to the jury. The judge spent over two hours addressing the jury who retired for over two hours returning with a verdict of not guilty against Blackstock. The death of Conlan remained a mystery. No one else was ever brought before the courts to answer a charge of murder and so it remained in the minds of the people of County Armagh that Conlan had taken his own life. Many questions remained unanswered; who had dripped candle wax in the wound? how did the dead cat come to be lying on Conlan’s chest? who closed Conlan’s eyes? and would a man in good health, successful and who had spent the morning digging up potatoes for his dinner, take his own life in such a calm and unemotional manner?

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MARKET DAY MURDER IN LISBURN n October 1859 Robert McQuoid was at Lisburn Fair for the weekly Wednesday market. Joseph and John Geary, brothers who were his friends, and John McKnight, who owned a shop in Lisburn where the men had been drinking, accompanied him.

The group had spent several hours in a local tavern drinking whisky before heading home, walking slowly along the Ballynahinch Road in great spirits. The men walked for around an hour and it was nearly 11 o’clock when the men approached Largymore. When they were at Largymore, several miles from home, they were approached by three men who were known to them, James Coburn, John Graham and Edward McAtee. It was not apparent whether the men were lying in wait or had followed the group from Lisburn as they had not noticed them passing them on the road but it was obvious from the outset that the three men were only interested in Robert

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McQuoid as they shouted insults at him.

McQuoid replied with insults of his own by calling Graham a dwarf and McAtee a thief as he had stolen his hat, and when challenged to a fight by John Graham he declined and continued to walk along the road. Graham would not fight him if he wasn’t prepared to defend himself and said to the deceased ‘As there are three of us together I will not strike you, for fear you would think it was not fair’. However McAtee and Coburn were quick to take up the fight and took off their coats and struck McQuoid at the same time.

brothers and the shopkeeper McKnight attended to their friend. The Geary’s and McKnight called to the attackers to help them lift their friend from the road and finally McAtee returned and helped carry McQuoid to a ditch at the side of the road. McAtee told them that McQuoid was just pretending to be injured badly and that when they had gone he would get up and would be fully recovered.

Realising the severity of the beating that McQuoid had taken the three friends then carried him to a nearby house and called for the police and a doctor. They reported to the Police what had happened and Coburn, Graham and McAtee were arrested a short time later.

Meanwhile, Robert McQuoid died from his injuries before the doctor reached him and the three men were charged with his murder and taken into custody.

The two men jumped McQuoid, punching him about the head until he fell to the ground and then attacking him while he lay on the road. They kicked his back and around the head and then left him lying unconscious on the road.

Coburn continued to attack McQuoid after Graham and McAtee had left and then he also ended the attack. The The three appeared at men ran off and the Geary Downpatrick Assizes and

Robert McQuoid was at the Lisburn weekly market

evidence was heard from the witnesses to the assault and the medical examiner who described the injuries inflicted on McQuoid. Dr Campbell from Lisburn had carried out the post mortem on McQuoid and had found that his internal organs were all healthy.

It was confirmed by the deceased’s brother in law Robert Mulholland that he had seen him earlier at the fair in Lisburn and that he had not been as drunk as the Geary brothers and that he had been in good health in recent months. McQuoid was only 30 years old but had large blood clots on the brain and on the upper part

of the spinal marrow. This was the immediate cause of death. There was a slight mark on his right cheek above his ear, but no external contusions. This injury may have resulted from the rupture of a vessel or a blow or fall or even from jumping. The doctor told the jury that a blow to the head would not necessarily produce external discolouration where the death was instantaneous. When crossexamined by the defence barrister he confirmed that the blood vessel could not have ruptured due to anger but only from a blow or a fall.

The court then heard evidence as to the motive for the attack. It was discovered that several months earlier Robert McQuoid had been in court charged with attacking a young woman who was a relative of the three attackers. McQuoid had pleaded guilty and been convicted and fined for the attack but for the family of the young women the punishment was not enough.

When this information came before the court and the defence and prosecution had concluded their evidence the judge addressed the jury and advised them that a charge of murder against the three defendants should be dropped and that the jury should consider a charge of manslaughter.

The jury retired and a short time later returned with their verdict. James Coburn was found guilty of the manslaughter of Robert McQuoid and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Edward McAtee and John Graham were both acquitted and were discharged from custody.

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DOUBLE DEATH SENTENCE IN BELFAST n the 17th of October 1921 the body of Hugh Crymble, aged 27 of Derg Street off Manor Street, Belfast, was discovered by a watchman at the Sand Quay, Laganbank Road, a short distance from the Queens Bridge.

Hugh Crymble was a fitter by trade but had been unemployed for some time before his violent death. He was a quiet young man with no political connections and was a good son, who enjoyed spending time with his sisters and mother. As a young man he had travelled to Newcastle on Tyne to work at the gun manufacturer Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. He had volunteered to serve in both the Army and Navy during the war but was refused as he worked in an industry which was seen as essential war work. After the war when work in England had dried up he returned to Belfast but found it hard to keep down a job.

On the day of his death Crymble had left home to go for a walk, telling his mother that he would be home for his tea. When he did not return his mother did not worry but by the next morning she was very concerned. It was completely out of character and she reported that he was missing to the police. As a body, with two bullet wounds , and fitting his description had been found in a sheltered area of the Laganbank Road the police brought his father to the Mater Hospital to identify his body.

The police tried to find out what Hugh Crymbles movements were on the day he was shot and discovered that he had spent time with some friends. They told the police that they had been within the Church Lane area until around eight o’clock. The crime scene was thoroughly searched and it became apparent that Crymble had not been shot where he had been found; he had been carried to a place of shelter after he had been shot; he had not been

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The murder victim Hugh Crymble shot long before the watchman had found him.

The police had only Crymble's so called friends as suspects so they were brought in for questioning and it became apparent very quickly that these men were responsible for Crymble’s death. Frederick Robert Brown and Robert Auld were arrested and charged with the murder of Hugh Crymble. The police had pieced together the events of the fateful day from witness statements. It started with Robert Auld meeting with two women at the corner of Ann Street in the city centre before the three went off to have a meal at Macs restaurant.

They then moved on to the Stork pub on Ann Street where they met up with Hugh Crymble who was with a friend called Russell. Auld became angry when the two women started to

talk to Crymble and Russell. There was some trouble between them all but after a few more drinks everyone calmed down and Robert Brown joined the party. It was agreed that they should leave the pub but Auld and Brown told the two girls and Crymble and Russell to go on ahead with the girls, they would meet them at the Sand Quay. Crymble and Russell agreed they set off in good spirits. When they got there Auld and Brown were waiting; Auld handed Brown a revolver and Crymble was shot in the chest and the thigh, the shot to the chest proving fatal.

Brown and Auld lifted Crymble, moved his body out of sight and tried to conceal his body under the shelter of a mound of earth. Crymble was moaning at this point, he had not died instantly and Russell was so frightened that he ran off. Meanwhile both of the girls were

sobbing and frightened but Auld and Brown calmed them down and decided to take the girls to Bangor, to continue with the party. They left Crymble to die where they left him, travelled to Bangor with the girls and stayed there the night, spending the next day in Donaghadee. When they returned to Belfast, Crymble had been discovered, identified and the police were already beginning to suspect that Auld and Brown had something to do with the murder. A witness called Bell had seen the girls at the Sand Quay and the prosecution were able to link the four of them to the murder scene.

In court no witnesses were called for the defence but Mr A E Wood who was the lead defence counsel for Brown made an impassioned speech in which he tried to raise doubt in the minds of the jury to try to avoid

The pathway leading from the Laganbank Road to where the grim discovery was made 11

The spot on which Mr Crymble’s body was found the death penalty. In court Brown was pale, Brown look dazed for a moment and he gripped despite his sallow complexion, he showed no the dock rail with his fingers but recovered his emotion throughout the trial. Auld, a big man composure. Auld kept his hands firmly in the with a bright red complexion and blond hair, pockets of his grey overcoat and gave no was restless and fidgeted while in court. indication that he had even heard the guilty Counsel for Auld, Mr B J Fox attempted to verdict. discredit the statements of the two girls but the When asked if they had anything to say both Lord Chief Justice instructed the jury to ignore men maintained their innocence. The Judge Fox’s attitude as they must approach the then assumed the black cap and passed sentence evidence in the spirit of the saying "he who is that the men were to be executed on the 12th without sin let him cast a stone". The women of January inside the walls of the Belfast prison. may not have shown high morals but this did Both men left the courtroom calmly, Auld not mean that they could not tell the truth. returning after a moment to pick up his cap The jury took just 59 minutes to return a guilty which he had left on the seat behind him. verdict and when the foreman confirmed the This death sentence was not carried out and guilty verdict both prisoners remained quiet. both were sentenced to penal servitude.

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The funeral of Mr Crymble making its way along the Oldpark Road

n February 1910 a young man, who gave the name of Frank Murray to the authorities, and said he belonged to Aughnacloy was brought before the Justice of the Peace in Caledon charged with the theft of a bicycle. The bicycle belonged to Miss Amy Brown of Tonnaghlane, Caledon and she had left her bicycle inside the railing at Mr Brewster’s house in Caledon around 6.45 pm.

She went into the house and when she came out her bicycle was gone. Frank Murray was spotted going into the bicycle shop in Lisburn the day after the theft and when questioned as to why he had a ladies bicycle the local constable was not satisfied with the answers he was given. Murray was duly arrested and charged with stealing the bicycle. When cautioned Murray admitted to seeing the bicycle inside the railing opposite the church

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in Caledon and he admitted that he took it and rode it to Lisburn. He was also charged with the theft of a bicycle belonging to Patrick O’Neill of Annagulgan on the 2nd February and when cautioned he said, "To tell the truth and nothing but the truth…I took it." The case being proven and other bicycle thefts taken into consideration Murray was imprisoned.

On Friday 4th February 1910 an unusual case came before the Belfast Summons Court.

Hugh Lavery, a spirit merchant of May Street summoned Sergeant Hugh Vaughan of Musgrave Street RIC Barracks on a charge of having assaulted him on Sunday 31st October 1909. Lavery’s story was that at around 10.45am he had returned from church and was standing outside his brother’s 13

premises when Sergeant Vaughan came round the corner of the street in a very excited state.

He walked about 3 metres past Lavery but then returned and asked Lavery what he was doing with the doors open of the pub and asked him to close them. Lavery pointed out to him that they were not his doors and the sergeant said he would call for constable Dignan. Vaughan asked him again to close the doors and when Dignan arrived the policemen asked to search the premises.

When the police got inside they rushed to the back of the premises and the sergeant got behind the bar. Lavery tried to get behind the bar counter first and caught the sergeant with his finger and thumb by the cape. The sergeant then turned round and twisted Lavery’s right arm with both hands. The wrench gave Lavery a lot of pain and he had to be seen by a doctor. Lavery then went to Musgrave Street barracks and made a complaint stating that he had gone behind the counter as he had left some money there and he wanted the sergeant to account for his conduct. In the summons court it was put to Lavery that he was insinuating that Vaughan was a thief and that he had also obstructed Vaughan from carrying out police business; the court dismissed the case.

John Mawhinney, a strongly built man, from Clonallen Street, appeared in the Belfast Police Court on 11th February 1910 charged with assaulting his wife. Constable Dowd told the court that he was passing the accuseds' house when he heard screams of "murder" and when he broke open the door Mawhinney’s wife rushed out. Her face was covered with blood and she claimed that her husband had "done time" on previous occasions for beating her, and this time had 14

made another unprovoked attack on her. "We have got a strong hand as well as you," said Mr Brady the magistrate as he sentenced Mawhinney to six months in jail.

Alexander McCartney and Annie Lavery pleaded guilty in the custody court on Thursday 10th February 1910 to stealing a coat, the property of William McCleery, in Divis Street. It appeared from the evidence that McCleery, who was from Cornleck, Portadown, came to Belfast for the Belfast Fair. Going along Divis Street he took off his coat to pawn it, when McCartney and Lavery attacked him and took possession of the coat. Each prisoner was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

In the Belfast custody courts on Friday 18th February 1910 James Allison was put forward and charged with having attempted to commit suicide at Vicarage Street, Belfast. A local policeman, Constable Fitzpatrick had found Allison lying on a couch in the kitchen. He brought Allison to hospital and when the doctors revived him he promptly arrested him.

Allison gave a statement when cautioned telling the police that he was unemployed, had two small children and had no way of supporting them. The day before he tried to commit suicide he had received a summons for non-payment of his rent. Allison’s father in law had called the police to the house when he found Allison with a gas tube round his neck and his face over a gas ring. Robert Mackey his father in law took the tube from around his neck and made him sit down on the couch but Allison was shouting that he would kill himself no matter what anyone did to try and stop him. Allison was sent to the workhouse to recover and Mackey was commended for saving Allison’s life.

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WHO MURDERED HUGH JORDAN n 1889, on New Year’s Eve, a young woman Jeanie Henry married Hugh Jordan, 20 years her senior.

Hugh Jordan was around 45 years old when he got married. Jordan was then a comfortable farmer, living in a farm just outside Loughbrickland in County Down. He had purchased the land in 1887 and according to that era he was an elderly man. As early as February 1890, just three months after their marriage, Jeanie began to complain by letters and by word of mouth that her husband was coming home tipsy, using bad language and generally being very difficult to live with. As one would expect her husband Hugh denied these claims by his new wife and alleged that the cause of her dissatisfaction was his refusal to allow her sister to come and live with them in the farmhouse. As well as Jeanie wanting her sister Mary Henry to come and live with her she also wanted her brother to live there also.

At any rate the fact that at this time the married couple were in disagreement was a

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matter of public knowledge in the area. The quarrelling went on during the entire year of 1890 and continued during 1891 and it came to such a bad state that Jeanie Jordan left her husband in 1891 and stayed away for nine months. In the autumn of 1891, through the efforts of Phillip Jordan, a brother of Hugh who was a very respectable man, Jeanie returned home.

Reconciliation took place and Jeanie promised not to leave her husband again and that a legacy of ÂŁ300 to which Jeanie was entitled was transferred from her to her husband. In return it was suggested to Hugh by Mary Henry that in order to ease the situation and bring peace to the farm that he should sign over the farm to his wife Jeanie.

Thus the couple were happy again for a short time but by September 1892 Jeanie issued a summons against her husband for threatening and ill treating her. When the case came to court Jeanie did not appear to give evidence and although Hugh and two of his servants turned up to the

court, the case was thrown out. The quarrelling continued throughout 1893 and on one occasion Jeanie threatened Hugh with a poker.

By 1893 Jeanie was very unhappy and her family had still not been allowed to join her in her marital home and she was heard talking with her sister about what would happen should her husband Hugh die. In fact many of the servants joked with her that Hugh would live at least another 20 years as he was a fit and healthy man, with financial means to keep him that way.

On the 11th January 1894 Hugh went to Newry to attend the market and while he was there he enjoyed a few drinks with his friends.

On his way back to Loughbrickland the weather deteriorated badly and the winds became so strong that as he walked a few miles from his home he had to stop at the home of Thomas Kinley to shield himself from the weather.

Kinley knew Jordan and welcomed him into his home where Jordan told him that he had been to the

market and that he was looking forward to getting home. A couple of hours later the winds subsided and Hugh Jordan continued home where he arrived in the early hours of the 12th January. The next morning Hugh got up and Jeanie began to make his breakfast and the servants and farmhands set about their daily chores.

It was around 11am in the morning when Jeanie called for the servants as her husband had collapsed while he was drinking a cup of tea by the fire in the kitchen.

Hugh was obviously in great pain as he

writhed on the floor and vomited several times before losing consciousness and dying a short time later.

The police were called and no one thought much about his death, assuming that he had had a heart attack, but the servant of the Jordan’s, Kate Toal began spreading rumours about the area that Jeanie had poisoned her husband.

Before the police arrived on the day of Hugh Jordan’s death, Jeanie had got rid of the vomit which was on the kitchen floor and when the police heard about this they decided to exhume his body, sent it to Belfast where an expert in forensic examination tested the organs in his body. He found a large quantity of strychnine in his organs and Jeanie was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband.

At her trial the state of her marriage was discussed in great detail, and there was no denial that Hugh Jordan had died from ingesting a large quantity of strychnine but had Jeanie done it? Had she really laced her husbands’ breakfast with poison?

Jeanie and her sister Mary

had disposed of the strychnine which they kept in the kitchen of the farmhouse. It was normally used for killing rats but Jeanie could give the court no clear explanation as to why she had disposed so thoroughly of all the rat poison kept at the farm.

Despite what appeared to be a strong case brought by the prosecution they could not provide any evidence that Jeanie had been the one to administer the poison, although the Judge did point out to the jury that it was extremely rare for anyone to see someone poison another. The Judge put it to the jury that they must decide whether Jeanie had motive, opportunity and did they believe that this young woman would really commit such a dreadful act as to kill her husband.

The jury retired and a short time later returned a verdict of not guilty, and Jeanie Jordan was released from custody, to cheers from the spectators, and immediately she returned to her farmhouse, left to her by her husband and now filled with her immediate family. No one was ever prosecuted for the murder of Hugh Jordan.

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Workhouse Baby Suffocated he death of a child is very emotive, not only to the child’s family but to all who hear of its death. When a child dies under the care of its mother, the emotions tend to be of outrage, shock, horror and disbelief.

In the late nineteenth century the death of a young child was not unusual due to infections, poverty and little access to medical expertise, but often illegitimate children died when they were abandoned both physically and emotionally by their mother.

There are many stories of infanticide at this time but the story of Elizabeth Smith is tragic, and beyond belief when we read it through our 21st century eyes.

In late August 1882 Elizabeth Smith was working in service for a large family in Co Fermanagh. She knew she was pregnant and told the family that she needed some time off, a couple of weeks, as she was unwell as that she was to have treatment in Clones. She had been able to disguise her pregnancy and she knew that she would lose her job if her employer ever found out about her illegitimate child. She did not even tell any of her friends who lived in the area of her pregnancy, so determined was she to hide it.

Around the 20th of August Elizabeth went into labour while she sat on a riverbank just outside Clones. She was found, in severe pain, by a kindly woman from the town who brought her to the workhouse, where a couple of hour’s

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later Elizabeth gave birth to a healthy boy.

For the next few weeks all went well with Elizabeth feeding her baby well and generally taking good care of the child, who she named Thomas. On the 4th September it was time for Elizabeth to leave the workhouse as the baby Thomas was doing well, and the officers of the workhouse decided that as Elizabeth had employment she would be financially able to look after the child and had shown them no reasons for concern. Before she left many of the inmates came to bid her good luck, one woman in particular, Bessie Crawford, had been very kind to Elizabeth, and she was sad to see the young girl and her son leave.

Elizabeth set off for her workplace just outside Clones with the baby wrapped up well in blankets, and a parcel of donated clothes which had been left for her at the workhouse.

Her next stop was her friend Margaret Clendinnings house a few miles away.

Margaret knew nothing of Elizabeth’s pregnancy or that she had given birth to a son. She was delighted to see her friend as she had missed her and had been worried as she knew that Elizabeth had been sick. Elizabeth told her that she was now fully recovered, but when she went into Margaret’s house she did not have Thomas with her.

Elizabeth stayed the night with her friend before going back to work the following day and resumed her role as servant in

Elizabeth resumed her role as servant in the large house at Magheranure

the large house at Magheranure.

Ten days later a local farmer was out looking around his fields when he came across the body of a newborn child lying in a local river. The child was bloated and fully clothed. The dead baby was brought to the Clones workhouse where Bessie Crawford instantly recognised him as baby Thomas. When he was born he had a small red patch behind his ear, and this dead child also had the same red patch. The baby had been in the water for well over a week and when Bessie told the authorities Elizabeth was arrested and charged with the murder of her son.

The medical evidence showed that the baby had been dead when he entered the water but as to how he died the doctors could no be sure. He had no significant bruises but they believed that his death was not accidental, but that he had been suffocated.

At her trial Elizabeth did not receive any sympathy and the jury took only a short time to return a verdict of guilty for the murder of baby Thomas Smith.

The judge was clearly upset and told Elizabeth that her crime was brutal and unfeeling, he cried as he sentenced her to death by hanging at Monaghan County Jail on the 13th January 1883. The judge reminded her to remember the kindness of all the woman in the workhouse and also that she must pray to god for forgiveness and to have mercy on her soul. He told her to apply to the crown for mercy and that he himself would support the recommendation to mercy as the jury had also done.

In early January Elizabeth Smith heard that she would not be hanged but would remain in prison for life.

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Grim Tragedy in Kent Street sad story of unemployment and distress took place in Kent Street, Belfast in February 1925. A sailor, Alexander McEwan, cut his wife Minnie’s throat with a razor and then killed himself.

McEwan was only 26 and his wife of 13 weeks, Minnie, was aged 21. They had been married for a short time and during this period the husband lost his job and succumbed to depression. The couple then lived in a room in Samuel Street in the Millfield area and two weeks before the tragedy McEwan, who was so distressed by his troubles tired to kill himself with gas. He was saved, arrested, and remanded on a small bail.

After the Samuel Street incident the couple were homeless, and in their stress they met a true friend in Patrick O’Rorke of Kent Street, near Carrick Hill, who took in the couple. They slept in the kitchen of his house on an improvised bed, made up of a couch with chairs placed alongside to give support.

They had been staying in the house for only one week when in the early hours of the morning of the 5th February, McEwan snapped, took a razor

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The house in Kent Street where the tragedy occurred and cut his wife’s throat. A short time later O’Rorke was woken by the noise of someone coming into his bedroom and in the semi darkness he saw a figure approach his bed. One hand was clutched to the person’s throat and one hand reached over and touched his sleeping wife, and a gravelly voice murmured. He could not make out what the person was saying and he jumped out of bed and went after the figure, which he recognised as Mrs McEwan,

who stumbled into the lighted kitchen. As she walked, she slipped and fell back dead.

The O’Rorke’s then saw that her throat had been cut from ear to ear, and also were horrified in the discovery that the dead woman in the moments before her death had slipped in her bare feet in a pool of her own blood, which covered the kitchen floor and trailed away into the bedroom as the victim walked there.

Mr O’Rorke looked around to see where Mr McEwan was

Alexander McEwan

Mrs McEwan

and found him in the act of cutting at his throat with a razor. O’Rorke ran over to him and tried to grab the razor from his hands, but not before McEwan had severed the artery, and blood began to spurt from the wounds.

O’Rorke carrying the razor ran for help and as he made his way towards Royal Avenue he met a policeman. Showing him the razor he told him what had happened and the policeman came to the house with him and there they found both of the McEwan’s dead.

At the inquest into the tragedy it was discovered that McEwan had ten years service with the merchant navy and had a very good work record.

He had been involved in the Zeebrugge incident and this had greatly affected his mental health and he was discharged.

He could not cope with living

without a job, and the means to support his family. He had been refused a government pension to help his support his family, but further investigations made by the courts discovered that he had not been claiming the correct amount of unemployment benefit and had he done so he would have been able to support his family while he got some help for his depression.

Many of his friends and acquaintances came to the court to tell how they had in the weeks prior to the tragedy tried to help him. They had taken him out for walks around the city and tried to ‘talk him into happiness’ by hoping for better times for him, his wife and young son. The day of the tragedy he had a "fit of nerves", and Mr O’Rorke and another man, Mr Curry had taken him out once more, and

walked around for hours.

O’Rorke had promised to "stand" the pictures the following night and when the two men left McEwan home they thought he was in much brighter spirits.

The inquest heard how the young couple were very loving, a most affectionate couple, and never quarrelled, either before or after their marriage.

The coroner said that the case was a very sad one and admitted one verdict. He found in the case of Alexander McEwan that his wounds were self inflicted whilst in a state of unsound mind, and in the case of Mrs McEwan that she died from wounds wilfully inflicted by her husband. It was judged that McEwan had suffered a sudden attack of impulsive insanity which often occurred in nervous diseases and it was such that he committed the crime.

McEwan had left a letter which was read to the court; Dear Friends, Do not think I am daft or mad by doing this, as I am drove to it by my nerves, which I got in the war, and I think it is fair for the Government to grant by son a pension in respects to his daddy. So I kindly wish all goodbye.

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Unsolved Murder Near Lisburn ressed only in her nightdress and lying on the kitchen door with a wound three inches long on the top of her head, Miss Sarah Jane Downey, aged 59, was found dead in the cottage in which she lived alone at Ballynalargy, off the Moira Road, five miles from Lisburn.

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The house was in a state of disorder, drawers and cupboards were ransacked and the contents strewn about. The clothes on the beds were also disturbed, and the chairs in the kitchen were about the only articles which seemed to be in their proper places.

The lower half of a window in the front of the house near one end was smashed, and it was thought that the killer entered and left through the opening.

It was established early on that the motive was robbery as Miss Downey kept a large amount of cash about the house and was well known in the area to be of substantial means.

At the inquest it was confirmed that she had been strangled, the cause of death being asphyxiation and shock. The injuries were consistent with the use of a garrotte and they could not have been self inflicted. She had been dead for at least two days before her body was discovered. Her murderer had two 22

days start on the police investigation however they had cast a wide net and both the Irish Civic Guard and cross Channel forces were involved in the man hunt.

The only definite line of inquiry that they had was that the murderer had received a severe cut on the hand when entering the cottage through a window, which was found broken. The woman’s face and head were covered with blood but at the inquest medical evidence revealed that when her body had been washed that no cuts were found, only the injuries to her neck.

The body was discovered by a neighbour Mr James Ritchie of Moyrask, for whom Miss Downey was in the habit of doing domestic work on certain days of the week. She was last seen by Mr Ritchie a couple of days before her death and when she did not turn up for work his wife went over to the cottage and shouted in for her.

When she got no response, she returned home and told her husband. He then went over the cottage and discovered her body and immediately contacted the Lisburn police.

The police were involved in making extensive enquiries into the circumstances and on January 31 1939 took the unusual step of broadcasting a message on the BBC radio giving the description of a labourer whom they

wished to interview in relation to the murder which occurred between the 21st and 25th January of that year.

Their enquiries had revealed that a farm labourer named as Thomas Mackell had left the district on January 24 1939.

The following description was given "Aged about 45 years of age, 5ft.

8inches in height, fresh complexion, thin face, hollow cheeks, prominent chin, black hair turning grey at side, front teeth missing in upper jaw, eye teeth prominent, decayed teeth in lower jaw, heavy cigarette smoker. Last seen dressed in navy blue suit, striped collar and tie, black boots and grey cap."

At that stage the police were "merely anxious to find out why he left."

The suspicions held by the public at the time that Thomas Mackell was indeed the perpetrator were further fuelled when the police offered a ÂŁ100 reward to anyone giving information resulting in his arrest.

A further and more detailed description was issued adding that Mackell had deep set eyes, believed to be blue or grey in colour, bushy eyebrows, scar at base of forefinger probably right

hand, frowning or scowling appearance, smoked Park Drive cigarettes and had a North of Ireland accent.

Members of the public swamped the Ballynalargy area after the murder just to catch a glimpse of the aftermath and ongoing police activity. It was reported at the time that lorry drivers were stopping on the main road and standing on their loads just to get a view of the cottage, such was the morbid interest.

The press meanwhile were reporting arrests at Pettigo, Dungiven and Glenarm although the individuals were later ruled out of enquiries. A body washed up on the shore of Portlogan in Wigtownshire on Sunday afternoon March 5 1939, thought to be the remains of Thomas Mackell, was later declared not to be him.

The rumours circulating locally at the time were that he had made his way to the mainland or to the Republic of Ireland.

Thomas Mackell was never apprehended and there was nothing other than circumstantial evidence to connect him to the crime but the entire locality was convinced of his guilt.

No one was ever charged with the murder of poor Miss Downey whose death caused great fear and sadness to the whole community, but especially her brother as the siblings were very close.

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Getting Away With Murder he residents of Larne were shocked by a terrible and cruel series of events, which took place in the most unlikely of places in 1901. During the nineteenth century many such cases of domestic cruelty occurred and also there were many incidents reported of employers ill treating their employees. This particular case took place at the beginning of the twentieth century when people believed that those bad old days were over and that social and work conditions were improving and that the poor were protected by law from the cruelty of the rich.

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In April of 1901 a Mr John Wilson and his wife Sarah Jane Wilson appeared in the Larne Petty Sessions charged with cruelty against their young servant Sarah Garvey. The two summonses against the Wilson’s were that firstly they deprived the young girl of food and lodging and that they also subjected her to physical assault. The case was brought by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children on behalf of Sarah Garvey who was at the time of the sessions an inmate in the Larne Union Infirmary, where 24

Clonlee today she was stated to be so weak that she was unable to attend the court case until she was due to give evidence.

The background to the story was that Mr and Mrs Wilson were a respectable couple with substantial financial means. In 1900 they employed the young Sarah Garvey as a domestic servant to do all the housework at their home at Clonlee, Larne. She was to be paid £6 per year that even in 1900 was a very small amount. With these wages it would be expected that in return for her work she would also receive sufficient food to live on a good lodgings as the 3d per day she was paid would not be sufficient to afford her food and lodgings of her choosing.

Mr Lewis for the prosecution described the girls living conditions and daily routine, which shocked the courtroom: She was expected to rise at six o’clock, and she got a cup of tea and two pieces of bread at ten o’clock. In the middle of the day she got four potatoes, a glass of water, and a little salt. In the evening she got her tea and two pieces of day. The girl slept on an old mattress on the kitchen floor and she was allowed some light covering.

During the day the mattress was usually kept in the coalhole. The girl had to cook on small oil stove or on the parlour fire. The fire was put out immediately after dinner, so that long before bedtime this kitchen would be reduced to the ultimate of an icehouse.

Sarah Garvey developed consumption due to the starvation and her living conditions. When she came to the court to give her evidence the court was already aware that she would not recover from the consumption and she was very weak. Her voice could barely be heard as she gave evidence and the courtroom was silent as they listened to the testimony of this young dying girl. She told the court that she received very little food and that Mr Wilson pulled her hair and Mrs Wilson had beaten her. She knew herself that she was healthy when she went to work at the Wilson’s and that her health had deteriorated by the time she left their employment. She described an incident when she worked all night during wet and windy weather clearing up

the mess in another house of was often left outside in the the Wilson’s called Manhattan rain.

House.

The Wilsons were released on Many people in the Larne area bail to appear in court at a later noticed the decline in Sarah date however Sarah Garvey Garvey at this time and she died in the Larne Union was visited by Inspectors of the Infirmary on the 9th May 1901 Workhouse who described in and the defendants were court the weak condition of immediately arrested on a Garvey. A Miss Moore of the charge of manslaughter. The local grocery store told the people of Larne had been very court how she had given Sarah hostile to the Wilsons when food on occasions and had they were released on bail but visited the Wilson’s house to now that Sarah Garvey was talk to them about the girl. Mr dead they crowded into the and Mrs Wilson described courthouse and a large number Sarah Garvey to Miss Moore waited outside. The Wilsons as a thief and that she was a were remanded in custody and girl with filthy habits. A were brought to Belfast Jail on neighbour of the Wilson’s also the evening train. The came to the court to give courtroom crowd went to the evidence of how he had seen railway station to "see them the girl doing hard labour for off". the Wilson’s and that the The Wilsons appeared before mattress on which she slept the Summer Assizes in Belfast and much of the evidence and witness statements heard at the previous hearings were repeated to the court. The prosecution believed that they had a strong case but the defence relied on attacking the witnesses and stated that the entire case was based on innuendoes and exaggeration.

Manhattan House

The judge summed up the evidence for the jury and after retiring for less than three minutes the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

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Brutal Murder in Ballymena n August 1954 John Gonzalez and his 19 year old wife, Teresa, were starting out their married life in Ballymena. John Gonzalez was of Mexican extraction and cut a dashing figure in the small County Antrim town. Gonzalez had been born in Bangor, County Down but when he was only three weeks old his parents took him to live in Spain. His father, a Mexican, was a trick horse rider, and gave exhibitions of his talents throughout Spain and America. The family left Spain in the 1930s to live in France and his father eventually left the family to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He had not seen his father since. Just before war broke out in Europe Gonzales’s mother brought him and five other children back to Ulster and they went to live in Carnlough. His wife Teresa was from Ballymena, her maiden name was McAllister, and had been brought up by foster parents when her parents had died while she was young.

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The young couple had settled at Ballyloughlin, on the Ballymoney Road, on the outskirts of the town. Each day Teresa would go into the town to North Street where she had lived with her foster parents, Mr and Mrs O’Loan, and have lunch with her friends who still lived along the little street. Most days she would have lunch with Mrs Thomas Fitzsimmons with whom Teresa had remained friendly. Mrs Fitzsimmons was originally from Huddersfield in Yorkshire, but had lived in Ballymena since 1941.

John Gonzalez had met Teresa in England while he was working there and had known her for three years before they were married. He was the father of their child born before they got married. They were married in London on February 290th 1954 and as Teresa was underage they had had to get a magistrates certificate. They moved from London to Birmingham and then back to London before they decided to settle in Ballymena in May 1954, John worked for a local poultry firm, owned by his uncle William O’Kane, and Teresa looked after the home.

Shortly after the couple settled in Ballymena Gonzalez quickly asserted his control over Teresa.

Teresa had begun to go out with her old friends from the town and John in particular objected to one girl with whom Teresa had associated with. After several disagreements about this Teresa agreed not to see the girl again, but she broke her promise and went on seeing her. Once after an argument between the newlyweds Teresa packed a case and left the house. John followed her to this girl’s house and Teresa agreed to return home. This happened many times over the first months of their marriage but the young couple seemed to have settled down until they had a massive fight over who should break sticks for the fire before going to Johns mothers’ house in Carnlough for Sunday lunch. Teresa got into a huff and John went without her, warning her that he did not want her to be in the house when he returned.

When he got back to the house at 10.15 on the evening of August 22nd he was surprised that she was not at home. He left the door unlocked fully expecting her to return that night but she did not return. At midnight John locked the door and Teresa returned at 1am and finding the door 26

Gonzalez’s father eventually left the family to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He had not seen his father since. locked returned to Ballymena and spent the night with friends with whom she had been with during the day. Teresa had spent the day in Belfast with a girlfriend and this girl’s boy friend, enjoying the sights of the city.

The following morning John decided to take the baby back to Carnlough so that his mother could look after it and he could find Teresa and try to sort out their differences. At 12.30pm he left home with the child to catch the bus to Carnlough but at the end of the lane leading up to their house he met Teresa who asked him for the key to the house. Neither Teresa nor John made any attempt at reconciliation at this point; John gave her the key and went on to Carnlough.

When John returned that evening Teresa wanted to make up to him and admitted that she had been wrong in what she was doing and begged him to try again with their marriage. However, John had already decided that their relationship was over, that she had made too many excuses and he left the house with a friend to go to a dance in Ballymena.

When he got home at midnight Teresa was still there, waiting for him, and she tried hard to convince John that she would change but he refused to listen to her. He went to work the next day as usual and before Teresa left the house she left him two notes. One of the notes said, "I 27

will be back for the rest of my things tonight because I couldn’t take all at once as I have no case. I sent things to the laundry, so you better get them". The other note said, "You think I love you but I do not. For a time I did think I loved you, but now I am glad we are finished, and if you want to know, I was at a dance in Belfast, so I can go to dances as well as you. Goodbye forever. I feel now as if I never have been married I just wish it had been to the one I really loved. You are not worth thinking about".

After Teresa left the house she went to her good friend Mrs Fitzsimons house and then went to find John at work. When she found him she told him that her solicitor told her that he could not put her out of the house and that she could stay there and he still had to support her. John told her that he would rather go to jail than give her a single penny to which she laughed and told him that she would like it if he went to jail. Teresa then left and went back to Mrs Fitzsimons house.

Meanwhile John was at work, his anger, resentment and frustration were eating away at him and he began to think about the girl who Teresa was friends with that he did not like and thought he could go and persuade her not to see Teresa any more. He took a knife from work with him but could not get into the girls house. He then went home where he found the notes which Teresa had written. He rushed on his bicycle around to Mrs Fitzsimons house where he knew Teresa would be, handed her the notes and demanded an explanation. Teresa told him that she only wrote the notes to annoy him but that was not enough for John. John thrust the notes at Mrs Fitzsimons and asked her to look at them. He raised the knife with the intention of scaring Teresa and said "I want the truth, or by God this is your last day in the world". Teresa smiled at him and said "Go on, kill me". Teresa was about to get up when John raised the knife and stabbed her in the back, driving the knife in to the hilt. Teresa turned round, said "John", and threw her arms around him, collapsing on the floor. At first John seemed to go mad, his face was twisted with rage and his eyes glared and he moaned. Then John knelt down beside Teresa but she died within seconds, never speaking again. John lay down beside her body saying, "Teresa, I’m sorry" over and over again. A neighbour rushed to the house after being alerted by the screaming coming from the house and he found Teresa lying on the floor with John astride her. He was swaying backwards and forwards and blood was coming for Teresa mouth. Mrs Fitzsimons tried to locate a doctor to help Teresa but could not find one and instead sent for the police. John was embracing his wife’s body, refusing to let go and it was only when the police arrived and they pulled him from her that they could see that they were both laying in a pool of blood. John was wailing "why did I do it", and he then took off her wedding ring, kissed it and then replaced it on her finger. John was immediately arrested and charged with the murder of his wife.

When brought to trial her claimed that he could not remember using the knife and he stated that he had no intention of killing his wife. The case was described as ‘remarkable’, in that Gonzalez had stabbed his wife in the presence of two witnesses at North Street, Ballymena; Mrs Fitzsimons and her daughter. Gonzalez appeared in court dressed in blue jeans, a black and fawn cardigan and open necked shirt. Throughout the trial he sat with his head bowed and was deeply emotional 28

while evidence was heard. Dr William Hopkins a consultant pathologist gave evidence of performing the autopsy on the body of Teresa in the Waveney hospital. In her back there were two wounds between the left shoulder blade and the spine. One of the wounds was superficial and had gone through only the skin and muscle. The other wound was one and quarter inches long and had penetrated the chest cavity through the substance of the left lung and also extended into the heart sac. His opinion was that considerable force was used to inflict the wound and death was due to haemorrhage into the chest cavity and into the heart sac and was instantaneous.

Mrs Fitzsimons was called as a prosecution witness and confirmed that before her marriage Teresa was known as Diana O’Loan, and that when John Gonzalez had entered her home just before stabbing Teresa he had been very pale and hardly spoke two words before the stabbing.

She knew Gonzalez was a gentleman and was quite a good husband and that Teresa was not a good manager of money.

John Gonzalez gave evidence for 65 minutes at his trial and told the court of the many arguments that he had with his wife in the days and weeks leading up to her murder. He told the court that he gave his wife all of his wages with the exception of his overtime money which he used to pay bus fares to Carnlough at the weekends. His wife had difficulty in managing the house and she always ran out of the money before the week was out. Under examination by the prosecution he admitted that he had hit his wife on one occasion while they were in Carnlough but he never had any intention of hurting her. All he ever wanted was for her to tell him the truth and that he had been enraged that she had taken her wedding ring off when he had attended dances in Belfast. He again stated that he could not remember striking his wife with the knife but he did remember his wife rising up against the knife, suggesting that he had not stabbed her; rather Teresa received her mortal injury as she moved towards her husband. The only witness for the defence was Gonzales’s mother, of Carnlough. She told the court that in recent weeks her son had looked lonely and that her son was always a good boy, he never touched drink, never gave her any trouble, and gave her money each week from his overtime payments.

The defence summed up by suggested that Teresa’s actions were a provocation too far for John, and one that he could not resist in that he lost control and committed a crime with was either a completely unintentional killing or manslaughter.

An all male jury took 45 minutes to find him guilty of the murder of his wife with a strong recommendation to mercy. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord McDermott, said that the recommendation would be forwarded for consideration. "Meantime," he said, "the law prescribes but one sentence for the crime of which you have been found properly guilty...." and he directed that on December 29th 1954 that Gonzalez should "suffer death by hanging". Gonzalez showing no outward sign of emotion and did not reply when asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed on him. A short time later he was taken from the dock and his 59 year old mother was given permission to visit him.

John considered an appeal in the case but he decided not to proceed with it and instead the Ulster Cabinet considered a reprieve to the death sentence that was passed and on 24th December 1954 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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Carlingford Mystery strange and disturbing incident was reported in the winter of 1935 in the North Louth area. The whole community was shocked when the body of a young local farmer John Patterson was found in a small pool of water on the 23rd February of that year. Mr Patterson was only 22 years old and when his body was discovered it was found bound with ropes and a gag of stocking type material was stuffed in his mouth.

At first the police were suspicious about how Patterson died but quickly ruled out foul play despite pleas from the young man’s family that he had been killed by a group of men.

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Patterson’s last hours began when he left the house near Carlingford that he shared with his mother, Mrs Lucinda Patterson. On the evening of the 22nd February he had tea with his mother, got dressed and told her that he was going to a wake at Greenore. It was the last time Mrs Patterson was to see her son. John Patterson was in fact going to visit a girl he had been going out with secretly for over two 30

years. Her name was Annie Marmion and John knew that his family would never accept that she was his girlfriend as they were of different religions.

After John left his mother’s house he went to Annie’s employers house where they had tea together and began to talk about their future together, he had told her that he would marry her back in 1934, and now that she was with child she told him that night that if he did not marry her she would be put out of her job as well as her home at Rallagan. After they talked, Patterson began to cry and he left the house shortly after midnight. When he left he told her that his family objected to his keeping company with her, they would never be able to marry.

She was worried about him as he was in a very emotional state and she wrapped a white handkerchief around her arm and told him as he walked away that if anything happened to him that the cloth would be a mourning band for him.

What happened next no one really knows but Patterson was found 20 yards from the

Greenore road, close to a spot where the tide rose when at full flood. He was lying on his back, his feet bound together with a rope, the rope was also passed twice around his body and his hands were behind and underneath his body. White froth had formed around his mouth, indicating that he had drowned, and that he was most probably conscious when he drowned. A brown stocking was pushed into his mouth, but not tied in place, and when he was lifted from the pool of water the ropes were loose enough that they had not caused any marks or bruising on his wrists and ankles.

An inquest was held during which Patterson’s family pleaded with the police and the coroner to instigate an investigation in to their beloved sons’ death. They were sure that their son would not have killed himself and that they felt that it was possible that John Patterson had been assaulted elsewhere and carried, bound and gagged, to the spot where he was left to drown in a pool of water. The medical evidence

did not indicate a struggle and Dr McGrath told the inquest that he believed that the cause of death was asphyxia, due to drowning. There was no evidence of any resistance by Patterson to the ropes which bound him.

A witness was called who relayed an interesting story to the coroner and jury. Thomas Kelly of Ballytrasna, a fisherman, identified the rope used on Patterson as similar to rope which Patterson had borrowed from him a few months earlier. A friend of

Patterson’s, Daniel O’Rourke, stated that Patterson often experimented with ropes and would ask O’Rourke to tie him up with ropes so that he could not escape. Every time Patterson was able to release himself except for one time when Patterson asked him to tie a knot on the rope at his back and Patterson was unable to get out of the rope.

The jury took a long time deliberating the evidence but eventually returned a verdict of suicide by drowning. The

manner of which was most unusual in 1935 and would incur great suspicion today despite the emotional distress that Patterson was experiencing at the time the motivation and manner of his death were weak and out of the ordinary. The jury said, after delivering the verdict, that they wanted to congratulate the police for the manner of which the matter had been investigated and they were convinced that no suggestion of murder could be entertained.

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Magherafelt Manslaughter n July 1900 a young man lost his life in circumstances which we are too familiar with today. It was on the 12th July 1900 that William Houston from Mullaghboy near Magherafelt left his home in the early hours of the morning to take part in the annual Orange demonstration at Aughrim.

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Houston had breakfast with his mother and sister before going to Castledawson to meet up with friends. Those taking part in the demonstration all enjoyed a few drinks in the bars of Castledawson before the procession passed through the town as it made its way from Magherafelt to Castledawson and then on to the field at Aughrim, a mile or so from the town.

William Houston and other Orangemen enjoyed some drinks before the parade in Castledawson.

Alcohol had contributed to his death

Maggie Houston, the sister of the deceased saw her brother at Castledawson and he was in good health and in high spirits, if a little worse for drink. About half a mile from the field a young friend of Williams, Sam Fleming, came up to him and there was a slight scuffle. The two men then shook hands and all seemed well but Fleming returned about ten minutes later and struck William Houston on the face with such force that William was knocked to the ground.

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There seemed to be no provocation for the attack but William managed to get back on to his feet and walked a further mile towards the field. Half a mile from the field Fleming came back again and asked William if "he was as good a man as he used to be". William did not answer him and Fleming struck him again, this time William fell on his back onto the road.

A crowd gathered around William and carried him over to the side of the road, laying him in a ditch, but not doing anything to help him.

Most of the crowd seemed to think that he was just drunk and it was only when Henry Dixon, another Orangeman, came on the scene that the crowd realised that William Houston was badly hurt. Dixon cleared the crowd away from William and pulled off his collar and tie, opened his shirt and put his hand on Williams’s heart and found it was still beating. He called for some water but William lived for only another couple of minutes after Henry Dixon tried to give him some water.

The police were immediately called and a constable went off to see if he could find Fleming who was part of the Desertmartin Lodge. Sam Fleming was arrested and brought to the local police station where he was held in custody until the inquest was held the next day.

At the inquest Dr Thompson, J.P., the medical officer of Bellaghy Dispensary district examined the body and found no blood externally on Williams’s body. There were three slight marks on his back and a scratch on the inside of the deceased upper lip. He found no fractures or dislocations and the heart and lungs were healthy. He found some blood lying just below the liver and his stomach was ruptured, the rupture being about four inches

in length. Houston’s pancreas was bruised and congested and his brain was healthy but there was some bleeding just below the surface. The doctor concluded that a fall on the hard surface of the road would have caused the injuries and the cause of death was recorded was shock and collapse arising from the rupture of the stomach and the injuries to the adjoining organs. A kick or a strong blow would also have caused these injuries.

also noted in the official report that alcohol had contributed to the death of this young man.

A few days later William Houston, a popular young man in his community, was laid to rest in the family burying ground in the Old Churchyard at Magherafelt. There was a huge crowd at the funeral and the Orangemen of Magherafelt, whose lodge Houston belonged to, also preceded the hearse as it made it way through the town, all the Orangemen wearing mourning bands.

The jury concluded that he came to his death Samuel Fleming was arrested after the inquest by abuse and violence given to him by Samuel and charged with the manslaughter of William Fleming which contributed to his death. It was Houston.

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Belfast soldier charged in Vienna n June 1954 two young Briitsh soldiers stationed in Vienna were out enjoying the sights of the city while off duty.

Denis Warrington and Richard James McBrinn from Cape Street in the Falls Road area of Belfast were both privates in the Middlesex regiment and had been out drinking beer in the city before returning to Schoenbrunn barracks which were formerly SS barracks.

Outside the barracks they met up with two girls and began chatting and flirting with them when the girls asked them to meet them later. The two young soldiers could not resist the invitation but they were due back in the barrracks so they approached the guard commander to find out what would happen if they remained out after hours. The guard commander told them they would be arrested by the military police and it was then that all the trouble started as the young men were outraged that they would not be able to enjoy a night with the girls without getting into serious trouble.

McBrinn from Belfast punched the guard commander, ran around the barrier into the barracks and grabbed a rifle with a bayonet

I

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attached from the rack. He then shouted "I will kill you, you b……." before pointing the rifle at the guard. Other soldiers summoned help and Warrington from London took another rifle and also threatened to kill the guard.

Then both the young men ran to the sentry in front of the barracks and forced him to give them his ammunition before runing off with their loaded weapons and all ideas of a night out with the girls forgotten.

McBrinn and Warrington were followed quickley by a group of soldiers and a hunt was started to find them. Suddenly two shots were fired in a corridor of the barracks, one of the shots hitting Corporal Beard in his left eye, he would later lose this eye and was left with a glass one for the rest of his life. Then Warrington and McBrinn shot at a passing car, killing the driver Armin Schwarb and wounding his passenger. They then hijacked a passing taxi at gunpoint, forcing the driver to take them away from the barracks but the driver drove them straight to the local police station.

Before they could be arrested the men fled on foot and the

taxi driver reported what had happened to the police. The two young soldiers were in a panic and they ran to a nearby house where they battered at the doors with their rifle butts to try and get in and then fired in through one door, wounding a man and his wife. Eventually they were arrested by an Austrian police riot squad.

When questioned Warrington said the "I don’t remember anything, I remember being arrested in an Austrian house, but I don’t know how I got there.

The men were charged with the murder of Armin Schwarb, a Viennese merchant and appeared in court in Vienna in September 1954. Both men pleaded not guilty at the court martial.

A tram conductor, Josef Rycica, was called as awitness to what had happened on the night of June 2nd. He told the court that he was grazed on the right temple by a shot from the soldiers rifles asa he sat in Armin Schwarbs car. Another witness named Wurm who was a taxi driver said that one of the soldiers had pricked his neck with a bayonet while he drove wildly towards the police station with them in his

James McBrinn was from West Belfast and based in Victoria Barracks cab. He had been terrified as the soliders did not seem to be in control at all and he wanted to get help from the local police before they started shooting again. He pulled up outside the police station and dashed from his car to alert the authorities but when he came out of the police station with the police the men had gone from his taxi.

An elderly man Robert Rabensteiner had seen the

incident from his home. He was able to give the court a clear statement of what had happened when the soliders were trying to escape from the army and the police. Firstly he heard two shots and then he saw a car driven by Armin Schwarb run onto the pavement and bounce off a wall. The driver seemed to be slumped over his wheel and he then saw two men in British army uniform and carrying

rifles with bayonets fixed walk up to the car and fire two more shots into the car. He then saw a taxi stop across the road and the soldiers fired three shots into the radiator and tyres, then they jumped into the taxi which drove off at speed.

The next witnesses were residents living near the police station. Rudolf Diblik, a house caretaker in Lainserstrasse, stated that two soldiers forced 35

him from the garden into his house. While one of them was poking at the door of a house with his rifle it went off. The shot went straight throught the door and into the apartment of the Freiberger family, injuring Mr Freiberger. By this time many of the residents in the apartment building began coming out of their apartments to see what was going on.

When anyone appeared the soldiers pointed their rifles at them and many fled back to the safety of their homes. One man said to the soldiers, "No shoot", and grabbed at one of the rifles, twisting it upwards causing a shot to go off into the ceiling. He identifed at a line up that it was McBrinn who had fired this shot and that Warrington had attacked him when he grabbed the rifle, threatening him with the bayonet. The man again pleaded "Don’t shoot, don’t shoot", at which point the police showed up and McBrinn turned his rifle on them.

All of these Austrian witnesses appealed to he court for clemency towards the soldiers "because they were so young".

The children of Armin Schwab, the murdered man, asked to make a statement to the court. The children, Uta aged 13 and her 14 year old 36

brother Wolfgang made their statement to the court in a letter sent to the court by Dr Aufricht, their lawyer, who was naturalised British citizen.

In the letter the children asked the court martial to have mercy on the two young soldiers, they did not want any more lives to be lost as a result of the killing of their father.

The next witnesses in the court martial were military personnel. Firstly the Provost Marshal of British troops in Vienna, Major George Denis Pillitz, told the court that he had been called to the police station to see the men and he had cautioned them. He did not think that the two accused were drunk on the night of the "shooting spree’, as it came to be descirbed in reports of the case. He did not smell alcohol from either of the men and McBrinn’s manner was brisk and alert when he talked to him immediately after he was arrested. He answered all questions put to him coherently, concisely and both were able to stand to attention when he walked in to their cells. Major Pillitz had undertaken the initial interview of the men and McBrinn from Belfast when questioned as to what had been going on, and if he could explain his behaviour to which McBrinn answered, "No sir".

When Warrington was asked the same questsions he answered "I don’t know anything, except that somebody’s been twisitng my arm".

Warrington was described in court as being defiant, while McBrinn was certainly the more subdued and remorseful of the two. Major Pillitz described the scene where the shootings had taken place as confused and chaotic. The local police inspector, Otto Mahut was called to give evidence and confirmed that he had taken part in the soldiers’ arrest. He described what had happened as two of his men had disarmed McBrinn after a brief but heated struggle.

Warrington had tried to hide behind a door with a loaded rifle in his hand but Mahut kept him covered with his pistol and called for backup. It took up to five policemen to drag him out, all the time resisting violently and they eventually wrestled the loaded rifle from him. Mahut was sure that both men had been drinking heavily but agreed that they had not had so much beer as to make them irresponsible for their actions. The military at all times during the court proceedings denied that they had been heavy handed in their arrest of the men and had not

at any time assaulted the men, as Warrington had accused the arresting soldiers of pulling him out of a truck feet first so that he landed on his face on the ground. The army would only confirm that it was usual under these circumstances for the soldiers to be kept under ‘close’ arrest.

Richard James McBrinn was then called to give evidence and he described what he could remember of the evening. His thick Irish accent was at times misunderstood and on more than one occasion he lawyer had to ‘interpret’ his evidence.

He described how he had drunk at least 7 pints of beer both in the N.A.A.F.I. at round 6.30pm and then in taverns in Vienna. He remembered returning to the barracks before midnight, loading a rifle and then firing aimlessly at cars before getting into a taxi.

He next recollection was of getting out of the taxi, shooting at it then trying to get into an apartment block where he got into an argument with a group of four men. He claimed to have walked up and asked the men for a light when he was jumped and he then ended up at the police staition. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth at this point and asked for water to wash his face. He told the court that he had never

been in any trouble before and that he had been working since the age fo 14 to support his mother back in Belfast. He had only joined the Middlesex Regiment in 1953 and within three months he had been sent to Austria. Most of the questions put to McBrinn by the prosecution were answered with "Don’t know, sir" or "No idea, sir", to which the frustrated prosecutor claimed that McBrinn had convenient gaps in his memory which the young soldier denied.

and were sentenced to death by the court martial in Vienna.

The president of the court, Brigadier Long added a recommendation to mercy on the grounds of their youth and their previous exemplary character.

The courts recommendation together with the plea for clemency by the defending counsel, letters from the Schwarb orphans and accuseds families were forwarded to the higher army authority for review.

Both soldiers listened unmoved when the verdict was The judge advocate in his announced and when they summing up stated that a were marched out of the court manslaughter charge could be their faces showed no emotion. considered however although both soldiers would not have On October 13th 1954 the behaved in the way in which death sentences passed on they did without alcohol it was Private Ricahrd Janes not sufficient to reduce the McBrinn and the other soldier offence from murder to were commuted to life manslaughter unless the court imprisonment. The decision were convinced that both men was announced by the British did not intend to fire their Embassy in Vienna and details weapons at all. The defence released to Reuters. During read a letter written on behalf the weeks between the verdict of McBrinns mother in Belfast, and the reprieve neighbours of who was very ill and had the McBrinn family in the become blind stating, "we are Falls area of Belfast collected heartbroken to think that he is signatures for a petition urging out there and there is no one to for the reprieve and more than speak for him".

4000 signatures were collected and were about to be sent to On the 18th September 1954 the military authorities in McBrinn and Warrington were Vienna when news of found guilty on the charge of McBrinns reprieve were the murder of Armin Schwab received.

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N

ow that we have the Old Belfast publication up and going it's now time to continue with our sister title Belfast Magazine. We will publish this from December onwards and as always this will also contain fascinating stories of local historical interest as well as various stories from places all over Ireland. We will continue with our chronology of the Northern Ireland conflict which from this issue is up to July 1977. As always it will on sale in all leading newsagents every month but if you wish to have it and Old Belfast posted to you then why not subscribe to the Glenravel Project.

In doing so you will be sent all our publications compiled during your subscription period as well as free access to all our walking tours. Simply fill in the form below and we'll do the rest.

GLENRAVEL PROJECT SUBSCRIPTION FORM I wish to subscribe to the Glenravel Project at a cost of £40 per year. I understand that I will have an average of fifteen of the Projects publications sent to me for that year as well as free access to all the tours* and exhibitions organised by the Project within that year. * Only includes our Belfast walking tours and not the bus runs or trips abroad NAME .............................................................

ADDRESS ....................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................... POSTCODE ............................................

E-MAIL ADDRESS• .....................................................................................................................

• Your E-Mail address will ONLY be used to keep you informed of upcoming events and publications and will NOT be passed to anyone else

I have enclosed a cheque/Postal Order for £ ..... made payable to Glenravel for ............. year(s) subscription to the Glenravel Project. Send your completed form and payment to:-

Glenravel Project, 5 Churchill Street. Belfast BT15 2BP 38

This Halloween weekend the Glenravel Project will begin a new series of tours on the darker side of Belfast’s history. There will be a number of dates available at the start and then it will be available every Sunday at 6.30pm from the front of the St Anne’s Cathedral. The tour guides will be Joe Baker and Michael Liggett who have been involved in local historical studies for the past twenty years. Joe has written extensively on the subject including Old Belfast Ghost Stories and Haunted Belfast to name just two. Michael has written on true local crimes from Belfast Executions through to Belfast Murders. Between the two of them they have produced over two hundred publications relating to the history of Belfast.

They are also two of the most experienced local tours guides having ran city based tours long before many of the tour operators were even established. They were the first to organise tours of the Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road and conducted the extremely popular Belfast Ghost Hunt there until the building closed for renovations. They have also conducted tours around the old Victorian Red Light District, the historic burying ground at Clifton Street as well as the Belfast Blitz tours.

The first tours will be on the following dates Thursday 28th of October Friday 29th of October Saturday 30th of October Sunday 31st of October (Halloween Night) You can simply show up at the front of St Anne’s Cathedral at 6.30pm on any of these nights but we must state that preference will be given to those who have pre-booked. To do this see the advertisement on the back cover.

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MURDERS, GHOSTS AND BODYSNATCHERS

This Halloween weekend the Glenravel Project will start a new tour which will explore the darker side of Belfast’s history. The city centre tour will meet at St Anne’s Cathedral and end at Castle Junction where all the horrific executions took place and we will look at the gory details behind a few of them. Before that we will tell a few of the ghost stories from that area such as the tragedy which occurred in the Lucifer Match Factory and Smithfield Mill before moving on to the old Victorian red light district and exploring what life was really like there. We will look at the popular bar room activity where bets were taken on killing rats with bare teeth as well as some of the ‘dreadful’ crimes which saw some of the areas residents being transported. There will be more murder stories as well as the sad ghost story telling the fate of the Five Mary’s.

We will visit Academy Street where the lodgings of most of Belfast’s bodysnatchers were situated. We will hear the tales of how the robbed the local graveyards of corpses and why they tore the teeth from the heads. We will ten cross to the site of the infamous Hundon’s Entry which was so notorious even the police refused to go in.

If interested contact us ASAP as places will be booked up pretty quick especially on Halloween night. The total cost is £7 per person and will include a fascinating DVD looking at the darker side of Belfast’s history. To book your place you can call the Glenravel Project on 90310859 or book online at www.toursofbelfast.com Old Belfast is published by the Glenravel Local History Project as part of our Belfast History Project scheme www.glenravel.com

£2.50

ISSN 1757-7284