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by Fred Kee
Aug 27, 08 - 9:34 PM |
Assassination of a Five-Year-old
During my visits to the gravesides in and around Lisburn I have read inscriptions on headstones which were interesting, sad and melancholy, thought-provoking, ridiculous, uplifting and courageous, on plain and flamboyant stonework but the headstone which intrigued me most is in the Lisburn Cathedral Churchyard. A plain little stone stating: "John Young, aged five years and eight months, assassinated 23rd August 1822." It was on a Friday the boy died. It is about two years since I first noticed the headstone, and its inscription has been worrying away at the back of my mind on and off ever since. I made local enquiries without any result and gave it up. However, I had occasion to visit the Linenhall Library, Belfast, and then the inscription came into my mind. I got the copies of the Belfast News Letter for 1822, and in the issue of Tuesday, August 27th, found and read the following almost unbelievable story. "About seven o'clock on the evening of the 23rd instant, Patrick Maguire, a lad of about sixteen years of age, tied John Young, a very fine boy of about six years old, who had accompanied him to a field near Lisburn, to a cow's tail. At first the animal moved slowly forward, but soon, it appears, became terrified at the unusual weight appended to her tail. The driver of a mail-coach, as was proved at the inquest, called in vain for some passengers on the highway to stop the cow, which rushed violently through the turnpike on the Hillsborough Road. Before the arrival of the mail coach, the poor child, contused and mangled by percussion on the pavement, had expired. We are informed that his mother was just returning from Belfast when she met the cow dragging the lifeless corpse of her son on the highway, and was thrown into a state of distraction, in which she still continues. Maguire has fled. He is a lad about five feet high stout made with a downcast countenance, and had on him an old artillery coat and a woolen hat." An inquest was held on the body by Mr. Henry Allen, coroner, which found that "the said John Young came to his death in consequence of having been tied to a cow's s tail, the property of John Woods, by Patrick Maguire, and that the said tying was not through malice, but youthful inadvertence by said Maguire." Would you have used the word "assassinated"? You might if you had been the loving father or mother of little John Young. |
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Seoirse
Aug 28th, 2008 - 4:13 AM |
Re: Assassination of a Five-Year-old
What a bizarre and tragic tale! Cattle are nothing to mess with. My own grandfather, who would be about 110 if he were alive, was nearly killed by an enraged bull when he was about 8. He and his father were out mending fences when the bull charged and knocked my grandfather to the ground. The bull was just rearing back preparing to gore my grandfather with his horns when my great grandfather with a mighty blow from the heavy hammer he held struck the bull in the forehead cracking its skull and dropping it dead on the spot. But for my great grandfather's quick action I would not be here today. For the record, his name was Thomas McDonnell. He would not be pleased with me for mentioning his name, as he did not believe in such things. "Never speak the names of the dead!" he often told me when I was a wee lad. He would only refer to the dead in an oblique manner. He would say "That was my brother who died in 1913", for example rather than saying "That was my brother Denis." Death by animal reminds me of another bizarre tale, but a true one as well, which occurred in the area where I live now (Wisconsin, USA) about 100 years ago. There was a great deal of lead mining in this area then, and a great many of the miners were Irish, most from the copper mines around Allihies in Co. Cork. At any rate, several of them were keeping "Batchelors' Hall" in a shack near the mines. There had been a stray dog coming around and killing their chickens and generally annoying them. One fella by the name of Delahanty decided to rid them of this nusciance. He tied a stick of Dynamite to the dog's tail, then lit the fuse and chased the dog away thinking he and his mates would enjoy the spectacle of the dog being blown to atoms. However, the dog made a quick turn and with lightning speed ran under the porch of the Miners' shack where they were standing. The dynamite exploded and three of the four men were killed! What little bits of them that could be found were buried under a pile of the debris from the explosion, as no on thought they deserved a decent burial. This mound of earth and stones can still be seen. |
Maureen Macfarlane O'HARA
Oct 21st, 2008 - 7:47 AM |
Re: Assassination of a Five-Year-old
JUST SITTING HERE WITH MY 11 YEAR OLD GRANDSON HE FOUND THE STORIES WEIRD BUT WONDERFUL HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD STORY FOR ONE OF HIS SCHOOL PROJECTS THOSE WHERE STORIES MY DAD WOULD TELL ME WHEN WE LIVED IN BELFAST WHEN I WAS A CHILD THANK YOU MAUREEN |
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