In August, 1882, the ghastly and blood-curdling Maamstrasna massacre took place. This nocturnal murder of a defenceless family is unparalleled in human ferocity in the gloomy annals of agrarian crime. The scene of the murder was Maamstrasna, that wild region in Connemara known as the Joyce-country, where nearly all the peasants bear the name of Joyce. In that lonely and remote district, at the foot of a mountain, the cottage of John Joyce was situated. Joyce, an industrious man, was erroneously supposed to have given some information with reference to the murder of two bailiffs named Huddy, who had been in the employment of Lord Ardilaun. These men had been murdered, and their bodies, tied up in sacks, had been thrown into Lough Mask.
Joyce and his family were attacked about one o’clock when in bed. He was shot, and his son Michael mortally wounded, a bullet having pierced his stomach.
In November following the murder, before Mr. Justice Barry, Patrick Joyce, Patrick Joyce (John), Thomas Joyce (Pat), Michael Casey, Thomas Casey, [47] Patrick Casey, John Casey, Martin Joyce, Myles Joyce, and Anthony Philbin were assigned on an indictment charging them with the murder of John Joyce, Michael Joyce, Bridget Joyce, Margaret Joyce, senior, and Margaret Joyce, junior. As the prisoners spoke Irish only, there was an interpreter in court. For the most part they looked respectable enough, but Myles Joyce had a singularly unpleasant countenance. They were tried separately, and pleaded not guilty. Patrick Joyce was first placed in the dock, but the trial was postponed until Monday, as Philbin and Thomas Casey became informers. Nearly everybody involved in the case seemed to be named Joyce. The most important Crown witness was one Anthony Joyce, who told the jury that on the night of the murder he was awakened by the barking of a dog. He went to the window, and, looking out, saw men coming along the road. The witness said that he thought there was “bad work” on hand, and, thinking that the men intended to attack his brother’s house, he slipped out, and concealed himself behind a wall in advance of the men. When six of them had passed him, he ran by a short cut through the fields to his brother’s house, and awakened his brother and his brother’s son. Unperceived, they watched the six men. At a place called Derrypark the six were joined by four others, who came out of Michael Casey’s houses. The three men watching saw the ten men take the road to Maamstrasna, but, after a while, [48]
in order to avoid observation, they tooik a circuitous route through a bog to the cabin of John Joyce, while the three watchers hurried on by the direct road, and, when they had reached John Joyce’s cottage, lay down concealing themselves in some bushes. After a few minutes the terrified men in ambush heard the door of John Joyce’s cottage being taken off ite hinges, and then they heard shots and screams, after which all was silence, the silence of death. Horror-stricken, the listeners fled homewards, fearing that they, too, might be done to death. Patrick Joyce, whom I examined, identified nine of the prisoners; Anthony Philbin, the approver, corroborated the evidence of Anthony and Patrick Joyce. He said he had seen a revolver with the prisoner that night, and that the accused had helped to break hi the door of Joyce’s cottage.
Thomas Casey, the other approver, corroborated Philbin’s evidence. The little boy, Patrick Joyce, the sole survivor of the unfortunate family, was produced to give evidence. He was so ignorant that he did not know the nature of an oath, and could not be examined. The scars on his head were pointed out to the jury, who, after an absence of eight minutes, returned to court with a verdict of guilty. The prisoner heard the verdict unmoved, but Judge Barry, who had the kindest of hearts, wept when he sentenced him to death. The next prisoner tried was Patrick Casey, who was also found guilty. The third prisoner, Myles Joyce, was tried for the murder of the [49] girl, Margaret Joyce, on whom the most revolting cruelty had been practised. He was a cousin of the murdered man — a fact which made the crime even more appalling. The prisoner tried to establish an alibi, but completely failed ; he was found guilly and also sentenced to death. The other prisoners pleaded guilty and received a similar sentence, but were afterwards reprieved, and the death sentences commuted to penal servitude for life. Undoubtedly these men belonged to some secret society the object of which was the assassination of all people whom they considered obnoxious.
Two men named Nee and Kelly, supposed to be the instigators of the crime, escaped, and were probably in hiding on the shores of Lough Mask, whence they must have fled the country.
During the trial of Myles Joyce, my brief in the case was abstracted from my brief-bag, and was missing for three years. To the brief were attached some names from the jury panel, and in the marginal note was the letter C, which indicated that the Crown would exercise its prerogative to challenge.
In 1885, during the debate in the House known as the Maamstrasna debate, my brief, the letter C on which was represented as meaning Catholic, was produced by one of the Nationalist members of Parliament, in order to support the statement that I
had endeavoured to prevent Catholics from serving on juries. My object was not to exclude Catholics or Protestants from the jury, but to get men thereon
[50] who would do their duty fearlessly. Daring this debate, when the good faith of Irish Judges and juries was impeached, Sir William Harcourt called attention to the fact that, on the trial of the first of the Maamstrasna prisoners, there were five Catholics on the jury. He also quoted the following extract from United Ireland:
“On the trial of the first prisoner we may venture for once to point out that there were at least five Catholics on the jury, and we believe the Catholic jurors did their duty no less fearlessly, and their verdict will be approved and scrupulously respected.”
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That terrible secret organization known as the Irish Invincible Society was established in Dublin in the early eighties. Evolved from Fenianism, this society had for its object the murder, or “removal” (as the Invincibles expressed it), of those who had incurred its displeasure. The form of conspiracy advocated by this society was the lowest ever known in Ireland, or, perhaps, in any other country. The Fenians of ’98 and 1803 aimed at the overthrow of English rule in Ireland by rebellion and bloodshed; the Invincibles relied upon the knife of the assassin to accomplish their ends. This recrudescence of Fenianism was responsible for a series of street murders. In February, 1881, a Fenian named Bailey was shot in a laneway, because he was suspected of having given information to the police. A large reward was offered for information which would lead to the conviction of the murderer, but every effort to find him was unavailing. Shortly afterwards another Fenian, named Kenny, was also shot in the street. Judge Lawson was on his way to the Kildare Street Club one evening when an attempt was made to assassinate [52] him, and Detective Cos was fixed at and wounded while watching the movements of a gang of Invincibles. Mr. Field, who had acted as the foreman of a juiy in the case of a man named Walsh, who had been convicted for the murder of a constable, was set upon by four armed men, jostled against a railing, and stabbed. Badly wounded, he fell to the ground, and was stabbed again several times. It was only by feigning death that he saved his life. The Invincibles Curley and Carey were arrested on suspicion after the Phoenix Park murders, but were released in a short time, as it was impossible to bring their guilt home to them, owing to lack of evidence.
The Invincibles had over and over again planned the assassination of Mr. W. E. Forster, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, but some strange intervention of Providence frustrated their designs.
I think it was on the Wednesday before the Phoenix Park murders that Mr. Forster finally quitted Ireland. On the evening of the same day, Sir Edward Carson (then Mr. Carson) and I went to Westland Bow to wish Mr. Forster good-bye. We heard at the station that he had gone to Kingstown earlier in the day, and would dine there before going on board. little did we know that there were fifteen Invincibles on the platform at the time waiting to stab the Chief Secretary! It was not until the trial of the Invincibles that we realized how narrowly he had escaped death that evening at Westland Row. Carey, the [53] informer, said at that tarial that fifteen members of the society were waiting at the station with the intention of assassinating Mr. Forster as he entered the train.
That never-to-be-forgotten tragedy of the 6th May 1882, when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were stabbed to death, took place about seven o’clock on a lovely evening in the Park. The bodies of both victims, when discovered very shortly after the murder, were much mutilated. The wounds were caused by some sharp-edged instruments. Immediately after the murder, a car, upon which were five persons, was seen going at a desperate pace in the direction of one of the Park gates known as the Chapelizod gate. It was early in January, 1883, that twenty-one Invincibles were arrested, and a few days later Robert Farrell, who had been a Fenian, gave information to the police which resulted in the committal for trial of the following persons on the charge of murder: Joseph Brady, Daniel Curley, Timothy Kelly, Michael Fagan, Edward McCaffrey, James Mullett, Joseph Mullett, Patrick Delaney, Daniel Delaney, George Smith, James Fitzharris, Thomas Martin, Peter Carey, Edward O’Brien, Peter Doyle, Joseph Hanlon, Laurence Hanlon, William Moroney, Thomas Caffrey, Patrick Whelan, and Henry Bowles, who died in prison shortly after his arrest.
On the 11th of April, Joe Brady was the first of the Invincibles indicted for the murder of Mr. Burke. Judge O’Brien presided. The Crown counsel [54] were the Attorney-General, Mr. Andrew Porter [afterwards Sir Andrew Porter], John Naish [then Solicitor-General] James Murphy, and myself.
The court-house represented a remarkable scene during these trials. The prison van was guarded by cavalry escort, as it was feared that some attempt might be made to rescue the prisoners. The Judge went to court accompanied by detectives armed with revolvers, and the Crown counsel were also under protection.
Dr. Webb, Q.C., Denis B. Sullivan, and Richard Adams defended Brady, who was one of the inner circle of the Invincibles — that is to say, he belonged to what was known among his confederates as the assassination club.
Much interest was taken in Carey, the informer, who gave his evidence in a cool, collected, and nonchalant manner. He was a well-dressed man of respectable appearance, with a sinister expression of countenance. I am perfectly convinced he could have given more information had he chosen. I remember Carey turning to Dr. Webb, who was subjecting him to a severe cross-examination, and saying, “I am only answering what they ask me; I know a great deal more. I am more friendly to you. Dr. Webb, than you think; bear that in mind.”
The prisoner presented a different appearance from Carey. Brady was a great, strong, determined-looking young man. On the morning of the trial he leant over the dock as if to assault Carey, who gave [55] his evidence as if he were talking over the most ordinary events. He stated that he had himself pointed out Mr. Burke to the prisoner, saying, “Mind it is the man in grey,” before giving the signal for assassination. Carey was the paymaster of the Irish Invincibles, and had formerly belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood. In his evidence he said that, after the murders, Brady told him that he had followed Mr. Burke, put his hand on his shoulder, and stabbed him; and that Lord Frederick Cavendish (whom Brady did not know) struck him with an umbrella, and called him a ruffian, at which Brady said: “I got annoyed, and, following him out into the road, settled him there. When I looked round I saw Tim Kelly near Mr. Burke, whereupon I went over to where Kelly had left Mr. Burke, and cut his throat, wiping my knife in the grass.” Carey said seven men were assigned to what he called “the work,” but that it was Brady and Kelly who actually committed the deed.
In all my experience as an advocate, I never heard of a murder so callously and coolly executed. A few minutes before its occurrence Carey had been an interested spectator of a polo match on the Nine Acres, and had remarked that it was “the first time he had seen the game, which was a right good one.”
Smith, one of the Invincibles, worked at the Castle, and was familiar with the appearance of Mr. Burke. He was decoyed into joining the society in order that he might point him out to the assassins, who did not [56] even know him by sight. Smith declared that he was so overcome with horror and fright at the work assigned to him that he “shook like a sheet in the wiild.” He knew well that, were he to object to cany out the orders of the Invincibles, he would forfeit his own life. Indeed, the Invincibles, before the Park trial, had decided to do away with Kavanagh, the car-driver, and Smith, whom they had used as tools. Carey stated the objects of the society were, in the first place, to make history, and, in the next place, to remove all the principal tyrants in the country. He told the jury how the Invincible Society came to be established in Dublin by a man who went by the name of Walsh. The men selected for the society were sworn on a knife. Walsh, having enrolled Carey, James Mullett, Curley, and McCaffrey, informed them that the names put upon the removal list by the society in London were those of Mr. Forster and Lord Cowper, to which Mr. Burke’s name was added afterwards. On this occasion Walsh gave Carey fifty sovereigns. Carey stated that Walsh introduced him to a man named Sheridan, who was disguised as a priest. With this individual Carey arranged that weapons should be brought over to Ireland for the purpose of assassination. Shortly afterwards, a woman, supposed to be Mrs. Frank Byrne, wife of the secretary of the Land League in London, brought Carey a consignment of weapons. Carey further stated that a mysterious person, whose name he had never discovered, but whom he knew by [57] the name of No. 1, used frequently to call on him and give him sums of money. This man was a Fenian named Tynan. These organizers of the Invincible Society were of a better station in life than their tools, and were in command of money. Before the Phoenix Park trials, Tynan, Sheridan, and the man Walsh, escaped to the United States. Those of the Invincibles, known as the inner circle, were accustomed to hold courts martial upon anyone suspected of giving information. I examined Michael Kavanagh, the car-driver, one of the four approvers who gave evidence in Brady’s trial. He stated that, terrified and trembling all over, he drove Kelly and Brady from the scene of the murder at racing speed.
One could not help feeling sorry for dupes like Smith and Kavanagh, who were deceived and misled, and who acted at the dictates of ruffians such as Carey and Tynan, who, when the game was up, either informed or sought refuge in America.
If any Invincible was told to be at a particular place, there he had to be, and it was often only before the occasion arose that he was told what he was to do. Sometimes a man’s courage would fail at the last moment, as in the case of Patrick Delaney. He had been told off to assassinate Judge Lawson, and, feeling he could not do so, touched one of the Judge’s detectives, and having thus called attention to himself, was arrested, pistol in hand. The result of Brady’s trial was a foregone conclusion. Both approvers, Smith and Kavanagh, swore that Brady was [58] present in the Park at the tune of the murder, Kavanagh having been an eyewitness of the deed. A Park ranger and several other witnesses identified the prisoner as one of the men whom they had seen at the Park when the murder was committed. A young girl was the principal witness for the defence. She swore to having gone for a walk with Brady on the night of the 6th. On cross-examination it transpired that she was a personal friend of the prisoner, and was evidently keeping company with him.
Brady was found guilty (as Judge O’Brien said, before passing sentence of death), “upon cumulative and overwhelming evidence: evidence such as to preclude any intelligent person from entertaining any doubt of his guilt.”
Daniel Curley was the second of the Invincibles tried, and the evidence was practically the same as in the case of Brady. All the informers were examined, Peter Carey, the brother of James Carey, being added to their number. Evidence was given to show that the prisoner had been in charge of the arrangements for the assassination of Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish on the 6th of May. It was, of course, necessary to satisfy the jury that Curley had been actually seen in the Park on the day of the murder, and a servant-girl who had at one time been in service at the Chief Secretary’s Lodge identified Curley. She stated that she saw “the scuffle” taking place in the Park, and that while she was feeling terrified, Curley had come towards her, [59] and that his face was for ever stamped on her memory. True, she had seen it for only a second, but what a haunting and abiding memory it must have been — the face of a murderer on the scene of a murder! Curley, before sentence of death was passed upon him, made a long speech in which he asserted his innocence, and denounced informers, though it was known to the Crown counsel that he had offered to turn Queen’s evidence. Carey had, however, forestalled him by an hour’s time. “I was an hour before you, Dan,” Carey had said to the prisoner at the magisterial investigation, meaning thereby that he had been the first to offer information.
The jury having disagreed twice in the case of Tim Kelly, the third Invincible, Michael Fagan, was put on trial. In his case a dramatic incident occurred . Two witnesses, a Mrs. McMahon and her married daughter (a Mrs. Forester, the wife of a journalist), came forward to prove an alibi for the defence. Mrs. McMahon, an elderly woman of nice appearance, said that she had come from Liverpool at great expense and inconvenience, solely in order that justice might be done to the prisoners. Mrs. McMahon stated that Fagan had been with her and her daughter at about a quarter past seven o’clock on the night of the murder. When adroitly cross-examined by the Attorney-General, she said that she did not know her son-in-law Forester’s address. On cross-examination it transpired that her son-in-law had left Dublin at the time of the arrest in connection with [60] the Park murders, and that she herself and her daughter had also left Dublin shortly before the trial. On being asked if her son-in-law took a considerable interest in Irish politics, she briefly replied, “I don’t know.” The Attorney-General, however, pressed the question: “Come, madam,” he said; ’’was Forester a Fenian centre here in Dublin — perfectly well-known on the directorate of the Fenian organization?” The good lady, affecting an air of complete innocence, answered the question by putting another:
“How can I tell?” she asked.
Judge O’Brien bade her answer “Yes” or “No.”
She then said: “I know nothing.” When she was asked how she came to make the prisoner’s acquaintance, she said she knew him through his coming to see her son-in-law, and she admitted that he had been coming to see Forester for a considerable time. She was then asked how Forester came to be acquainted with Fagan, to which question she replied by saying that she could not tell. The Attorney-General once more pressed her for her son-in-law’s address, of which she again pleaded ignorance.
’’ Are you on bad terms with him, then, that you don’t know his address?” she was asked.
“No, sir,” she replied.
“Did you ever hear of his being arrested?”
The witness admitted that she had.
’’ Where?” she was asked. “ In Liverpool.”
’’When?” asked the Attorney-General. [61]
’Many years ago, before he met my daughter.”
“Was he ever arrested in this city?”
“No, I never heard of it.”
“Used he to carry a revolver?”
“No, sir; I never saw one.”
It was at this juncture that the dramatic incident took place. A constable was directed to stand forward, and the Attorney-General, pointing to him, said: “Supposing it was deposed by that man that he arrested him in Camden Street with a six-chambered revolver in his pocket — would that be accurate ?”
On farther cross-examination, it transpired that the very respectable-looking Mrs. McMahon was herself arrested in company with her husband at the house of Joseph Mullett, on the day that the latter was arrested for having attempted the assassination of Mr. Field. The McMahons were released next day, and the lady’s husband left Ireland for ever. Her son-in-law was also a fugitive from justice, so that her evidence had a most damaging effect on the prisoner’s case, and showed clearly that he belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood. He was sentenced to death.
Kelly was the last prisoner who expiated his crime on the scaffold. Though barely twenty years of age, he was one of the most desperate of the Invincibles, and was one of the men who had been actually engaged in the attack on Mr. Field. I was told that Kelly had gone to a well-known photographer’s to buy the photographs oi the Crown Prosecution, James [62] Murphy and myself. He wished to possess them in order that he might identify us foi the purpose of assassination. Luckily the photographer refused to sell or show him the photographs. In those days one went about with one’s life in one’s hands. Judge O’Brien was supposed to be a doomed man, and four detectives kept constant watch over him. I, too, was under police protection for a considerable time.
At the first and second trial of Kelly there was some difficulty in identifying him as having been one of the Invincibles in the Park on the evening of the 6th of May, but at the third trial his guilt was clearly established. An Invincible named Hanlon, who was examined for the first time, swore he had seen the prisoner on the scene of the murder, and Kavanagh, the car-driver, deposed to having driven him from it. Counsel for the defence impeached Kavanagh’s testimony on the ground that it was not reliable, owing to his having taken drink that day. Carey swore that Kelly was there; and Huxley, a gardener in the service of the Guinness family at Farmleigh, stated that he had seen Kelly get off Kavanagh’s car.
The Invincibles Caffrey and Delaney pleaded guilty to the charge of murder, and were sentenced to death. Delaney’s sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Fitzharris, a cab-driver, who drove Smith and Carey to the Park on the night of the murders, was indicted for having aided and abetted the murderers of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke, and was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. [63]
Laurence Hanlon and Joseph Mullett, tried for the attempted assassination of Mr. Field, were sentenced to penal servitude for life. Mr. Field received no less than six wounds. Joe Brady, under sentence of death at Kilmainham Prison, had over and over again struck at him. The remaining Invincibles pleaded guilty of having unlawfully conspired to murder certain public officers of Her Majesty’s Government, and were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment. The Government, fearing for Carey’s safety, sent him to South Africa, but, ere he reached Cape Town, he was shot by Francis O’Donnell, a Fenian. |