Transcription
FORTY WHITEBOYS SENTENCED TO DEATH!! An Account of the Proceedings of the Special Commission at Cork for the Trials of the Whiteboys, when nearly FORTY unfor- tunate Human Beings received the awful sentence of Death; se- veral of whom were ordered for Execution on Monday last 25th day of Feb., 1822, and their bodies to be given for Dissection. CORK, FEBRUARY 18. THIS day, at nine o'clock,the Judges M'- Clelland and Moore, came into Court, which from an early hour, was crowded to ex- cess in all parts by persons of the highest re- spectability. Fourteen men were put to the bar, charged with having at Carriganisi, in this county, on the 24th day of January assembled illegally in company with some other persons, and hav- ing fired a gun at the liege subjects of the King. The Jury found the following ten pri- soners guilty?D. Murphy, D. Reardon, Pa- trick Lehane, Pat. Breen, T. Gogg n, Corne lius Buckley, Cornelius Lucy, Jerem. Hurley, Humphry Hincy, and J. Kellaher. Four were acquitted. The Court met again on Tuesday, when o- ther fifteen men were brought before them, charged with having assembled with arms on the 25th of January last, near Macroom, and with having fired on two of the Magistrates. The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty against twelve of the prisoners. On Wednesday the Court continued its sit- tings, when eight more were convicted under the Whiteboy Act. On Thursday J. Leary and G. Cotter were found guilty of compelling T. Evans to deliver up a sword. The wounded appearance of E- vans excited expressions of horror and pity from all present, and shewed the barbarity with which he had been treated. He was borne into Court, and supported whilst giving his evidence. D. Cronin, E. Brien, were found, guilty of unlawfully assembling on the 21st of Jan last, and firing on the Earl of Ban- try and several Magistrates, at the head of a civil and military force. Cronin was recom- mended to mercy; being subject to fits. On Friday, Cornelius Rylahan, John Ma- hony, and Daniel Bryan, were found guilty of aiding in the murder of Hugh Cologan, on the 31st of January last, when the Churchtown barracks were burned by a party of the White- boys, and two police officers murdered. Mr. Justice Moore then proceeded to pass sentence upon them, which he did with solemn effect, and ordered them for execution on Monday last(25th Feb.,) and their bodies to be dis. sected and anatomised. When the Jury who tried the last case were deliberating on their verdicts the several pri- soners who had been convicted during the Com- mission, were brought to the bar, to be sen- tenced, which painful duty was performed by Baron M'Clelland, with an impressive solem- nity which, it, is to be hoped,reached the hearts of those to whom it. was immediately addressed with as much effect as it did those of the au- ditory. Towards the conclusion of his ad- dress, the Learned Judge intimated that a se- lection had been made of the cases of the pri- soners, that some of there were to undergo at an early day the ignominious end to which their crimes had brought them, while the ex- istence of the others would be prolonged to a more distant day, and if in the interval tran- quillity was restored, a perfect change effected in the disposition and conduct of the peo- ple, and a surrender of arms, mercy may be extended to them; but if there were not these demonstrations of returning peace and tran- quiliity, their doom was certain The Baron then proceeded to pass the awful sentence of the law on the thirty-two persons who had been capitally converted, intimating that the recommendation of the Jury as to three of them would be transmitted to the proper quarter. The last lrish Papers we lament to say, fur- nish more than the usual number of atrocities, and among them is to be found one care of such preeminent wickedness, such unmanly and beastly barbarity, as proves that the sa- vages of Munster have not only renouncod the laws of their country and their God, but have divested themselves of the frist instincts of the r nature. They carried off nine of the wives, belonging to the Soldiers of the Rifle Brigade and violated the whole of their persons. The wars of the Cherokees and Osages, of North America, or the Malays or Dahomians of A- frica, furnish no parallel for th s loathsome - bomination, before which murders and house- breakings rise into comparative innocence.? Nothing could equal the feelings of the injured and incensed soldiery; and but for the lauda- ble persuasions of their offices, the retributive consequences might have been dreadful. John Muir, Printer. Glasgow.
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1822 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.73(026)
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