The MacEgan, Egan, Eagan & Keegan Families
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Clann MacAodhagain
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THE MURDER OF BOYCE EGAN |
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From
Tales of the West of Ireland - by James Berry |
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"Musha" said the old packman, Hugh O'Malley, "the tale l am about to tell deals with two subjects which most engross the youthful minds of the present generation, namely love and murder. When I set out with the famous Tom Lavelle to learn how to be a packman, we went to Dadreen in the far west where we were welcomed with open arms by my aunt and her husband, William Egan. They were considered the wealthiest peasant couple in either of the two owls of the O'Malleys, for the word barony was never used in those days, but only the terms Owl Eaghter for Burrishoole and Owl Oughter for Murrisk. The Egans had only two in family, both sons, and surely one of them was the finest young man I have ever seen. He was named Behalagh, or Boyce Egan. When he found I was going to become a packman, he decided to go with us. Alas! that was the evil choice he made, as time revealed. "We took a supply of stockings and set out for Derry where we arrived safely. Lavelle took us to the merchant that he always dealt with, a very wealthy gentleman named McKenzie who had no family save one fully grown daughter who when she saw Boyce Egan, fell in love with him, nor did she try to conceal her passion. Western Egans had never yet married a Protestant. She then offered to become Catholic but her father objected. The next time we reached Derry, she offered to elope with him, but he would not have her that way. Her case was a sad one, for she loved him to distraction." "When we returned home from Derry, the girl Lavelle was engaged to had in his absence married, so he fled the country and went off to Jamica, so we were left without our guide and mentor, and we decided to give up the business. At that time there lived in the village of Cross a man named Jack Davitt, a packman. He came to us and induced us to go with him into Connemara to buy stockings, and in an evil hour we consented. When we were ready to start for Derry with him a very strange thing happened. A champion wrestler came to the parish and challenged any man in the parish to wrestle him, but if none could be found who was able to throw him he placed the parish under tribute, and he had to be given a certain amount of money before he departed. This sort of thing existed in Ireland since the earliest days, almost down to our time. It was for vanquishing a champion of this sort with the sword that Tiobod-naLong was created Lord Mayo, and it was for a similar deed that DeCourcey became Lord Kinsale, and also claimed the privilege of wearing his hat in the presence of royalty." "Well I wanted to see the wrestling, so I set out from Dadreen for Tooreen where Mass was offered up on Sunday, for there was no church near in those days. When the Mass was over the strange bully from Roscommon sprang into the field in which there were many stunted trees. He stripped himself naked above the hips and challenged any man in the parish to wrestle him. Not one man replied to his call, and like another Goliath he began to revile them and laugh them to scorn. I was leaning on the fence looking at him. His taunts so enraged me that I sprang into the field and alighted on some loose stones which caused me to twist my ankle. Still l ran towards him while he stood and laughed at me, but before he knew where he was I had caught him by the left hip and the right shoulder, and I lifted him as easily as I would a child. I swung him round, and in doing so I broke his thigh against a stunted ash tree, the roar he gave could be heard a mile off, but in fact he was the weakest man I ever handled. There was much cheering, but it's little I heeded it, for my ankle was throbbing painfully." "I had to rest for about three weeks, and the two Jack Davitts and Boyce Egan set out for Derry without me. When they drew near Derry, old Davitt proposed that they take some food. The food which we carried with us will astonish the refined present-day people. It was called Busthaun, and this is the way it was made; when the women were churning, they kneaded the fresh unsalted butter and oatmeal together and then formed it into balls as large as footballs. We carried these balls with us on the journey. Our ancestors maintained that it was the most substantial and wholesome food on earth, and I do believe it was. The two Davitts and Boyce Egan went into a field and the old Davitt spread a cloth and took his skean Dhu, or Irish dagger, out of its scabbard on his hip, and began to help himself from the crest ball of Busthaun." "When they were almost finished eating, old Davitt gathered up a handful of crumbs and with all his strength cast them into the eyes of Boyce Egan, blinding him. Then he drove his skean dhu to the hilt into his heart. Boyce, who was one of the strongest young men in Connacht, caught old Davitt, smashed him with his fist and knelt on his breast. Just as Boyce was about to stab old Davitt, young Davitt came from behind and drove his skean deep into Boyce's back. With the daggers of his murderers, driven deep into his body, Boyce Egan died, a young man who was said to be the finest and most beautiful man in all of Ireland." "Old Davitt took off the murdered man's shoes with the silver buckles and put them on his own feet, and then took all his money. The two Davitts placed the body in a drain which was arched over with briars and they started for Derry, taking the dead man's horse and load with them. When they reached Derry, Miss McKenzie asked old Davitt, "where is Boyce Egan, for I see you have his horse?" "He is not well", said Davitt, "so he asked me to take it along with me." "How is it I see you wearing his shoes with the silver buckles?", she asked. "My own were not the best, so he lent these to me" he said, ,'but he didn't forget sending you the two balls of yarn he promised you for the stockings." She seemed satisfied with his explanation. When the Davitts disposed of their goods they sold the dead man's horse on the way home, and when they reached there they circulated the news that Boyce Egan got married in Derry and remained there." "About a month afterwards old Davitt asked me to go with him to Connemara to buy stockings. I consented because I longed to see my cousin and comrade, Boyce Egan. We crossed the Killary and were bound for the fair of Dooneen. Halfway between Tully and Letterfrack, he asked me into a field which was surrounded by whin bushes. I agreed and as usual he took out the Busthaun spread the cloth on the grass and drew his skean dhu, but somehow I felt uneasy, nor could I eat any of the food." "I got up and walked towards the fence, and as I looked along the road we had come by, I saw three men coming towards me at a great pace. They had their sticks on their shoulders and their body coats thrown across them. When they drew near, I recognised them. Two of them were brothers named Durkan of Askalaun, and the other was a man of gigantic stature named O'Malley of Clankeen. All three were yeomen. "Where are you going in such haste?" I asked. "Didn't you hear?" they said. "What would I hear?" I replied. "Jack Davitt and his nephew killed your cousin, Boyce Egan, about six weeks ago near Derry, and we are looking for him.,' "Keep quite," I replied. "Old Davitt is in the field over there. I will go down and spring on him, and then you jump into my assistance.', l walked back into the field. "Who were you talking to?" asked old Davitt. "Three strangers like ourselves who are going to Dooneen," I replied. "Sit down, man, and take some food," he said. I pretended to do so, but I sprang upon him, caught his two wrists and raised his arms in the air. He fell back, and I placed my knee on his breast. The three men rushed into subdue him. We took the skean dhu out of his hand, bound him with ropes, and recrossed the Killary with him. The Yeomen took him to Westport, and handed him over to the terrible Denis Browne, better known as Soap the Rope, who forwarded him to Derry. He was tried where he committed the murder. But no trace could be found of his accomplice the nephew." "About six months afterwards, some children were herding cows on the brow of a cliff in the village of Dooaughtry when they saw small slates of shingle being cast from the base of the cliff to skim upon the smooth surface of the sea. Since they often did this themselves, they knew it was some person who was doing it. They told their parents who were aware that there was a cave at the base of the cliff and who guessed that young Davitt was concealed there. They sent word to Boyce Egan's relatives who gathered in great numbers. They went in by boat and captured young Davitt in the cave. He was handed over to Denis Browne, and was afterwards hanged in Derry." "The ends of justice were served, but Miss McKenzie was inconsolable and pined for her dead love. She composed a lament for her lover which I used to sing in the old days.', The company insisted that the old packman sing it once more, so he sang for them the lament of Rebecca McKenzie Egan:
Miss McKenzie pined away rapidly and died when the autumn leaves were falling, but before she died she became a Catholic, for she wished that no impediment should stand between herself and her beloved in the world beyond. Although the lovers were cruelly parted in this life by the daggers of dastardly murderers, they sleep side by side in a fine tomb in the Catholic Cemetery of Derry.
DANIEL
AND STEPHEN EGAN (1815-1816) By William J. O'Neill There occurred in I8I6 an incident strikingly illustrative of the Protestant ascendancy policy of making examples to preserve the quiet of the country. The gentleman who officiated as peace-preserver on the occasion to which I now allude, was the Rev. John Hamilton, Protestant Curate of Roscrea, in the King's County, and a magistrate. The reverend gentleman had been transplanted to Roscrea from the County Fermanagh. In politics he was an enthusiastic Orangeman: his personal disposition appears to have been romantic and adventurous. Mr. Hamilton, on receiving his appointment to the magistracy, promised, as he afterwards boasted, to distinguish himself by his zeal in discharging the duties of his office. He speedily set about redeeming his promise. The Monaghan militia commanded by Colonel Kerr, were at that time quartered in Roscrea. They were all of red hot Orange principles. and it was the familiar practice of the reverend gentleman to obtain from the commanding officer parties of the men, who scoured the country, firing shots, playing party tunes, and thus exhibiting their ardent loyalty in a sort of irregular ovation of perpetual recurrence. But these triumphant feu-de-joie, and the accompanying martial music, could not long furnish serious occupation to a spirit so adventurous as that of the Rev. John Hamilton. There resided at Roscrea two highly respectable Catholic Distillers, the Messrs. Daniel and Stephen Egan. It occurred to the Rev. Mr. Hamilton, J.P.., to evince his magisterial zeal by implicating the Messrs. Egan in a criminal conspiracy to murder the Protestant gentry of the neighbourhood. He possibly also desired to serve the commercial interests of his patron, Mr. Birch, by getting the rival manufacturers of whiskey hanged. He was bustling, active, and artful; and finding in many of his neighbour the ready credulity of prejudice, he soon succeeded in creating serious alarm in the minds. He procured the aid of a confederate named Dyer, who was groom or stableman in the employment of Mr. Birch (the reverend gentleman's patron); and Dyer, being duly drilled by Mr. Hamilton, swore informations, bearing that several persons engaged in the murderous conspiracy aforesaid, occasionally rendezvoused in a valley called the Cockpit situated in the domain of the Hon. Francis Aldborough Prittle, M.P., for the purpose of concerting their organisation, and also of practising the manoeuvres of military exercise. Matters were not yet ripe enough to explode the plot against the Egan family. An assistant for Dyer was procured from Dublin. a dexterous practitioner in informations, named Halfpenny, alias Halpin. That Reverend gentleman, his wife, and Halpin, dressed up a straw figure in a suit of Mr. Hamilton's clothes. They placed this figure in a sitting attitude, at a table in a parlour on the ground floor of Mr. Hamilton's house; its back was turned towards the window; on the table before it was expanded a large Bible; a pair of candles stood upon the table. From without, the appearance of the pantomime was precisely that of the reverend pastor of the Roscrea Protestants, deeply immersed in the study of the Word of God. The scenic illusion in the parlour being thus prepared, the reverend gentleman furnished a pistol to Halpin who, with Dyer, had received his instructions to fire through the window at the stuffed figure. A man named Quinlan was inveigled to join the shooting party. Dyer and Halpin, in obedience to Mr. Hamilton's injunctions, fired through the gash at that reverend gentleman's straw representative, the window shutters having been left open for that purpose, the figure was hit in the back with a bullet - the Bible was dislodged—two bullets struck the opposite wall. Dire was the commotion that instantly prevailed throughout the town. The shout rang from mouth to mouth that the excellent pastor had been fired at whilst studying the Bible. He had escaped — hurrah! - by the special interposition of Providence. His preservation was, doubtless, miraculous; but who could say that the same overruling care would be vouchsafed to the other Protestant inhabitants, whose lives were equally menaced by the popish conspiracy which had thus been mercifully baulked of its first intended victim? The Protestants clearly must defend themselves. The drums beat to arms. Parties of the Monaghan militia paraded the streets. In half-an-hour the Messrs. Egan, who were quietly sitting with some friends, were arrested by a piquet and conveyed to the guardhouse, where they were detained for a whole night on a charge of conspiracy to murder the Rev. Mr. Hamilton. These events all took place on the night of the 28th December, 1815. Next morning the two Egans were hauled out with great difficulty by the strenuous exertions of their friends. For some days a clam succeeded, interrupted only by the occasional visits to Mr. Egan's house, under pretext of searching for arms. It was surmised - I pretend not to say with what truth—that the Government felt rather disinclined to follow up the prosecution in consequence of the excellent character always borne by the parties accused. But Lord Norbury and the Earl of Rosse so vehemently urged the prosecution, that the scruples, if any, of the Government were overruled. A fresh witness to sustain the accusation was procured in the person of one Hickey, brother-in-law of the first witness, Dyer. Meanwhile, the rampant delight of the Orange inhabitants of Roscrea was evinced in the most noisy and extravagant manner. Colonel Kerr was an active partisan of the Rev. Mr. Hamilton. He permitted the tattoo to be beaten through the town every evening, the drums being followed by a large military escort, at whose head the reverend gentleman ostentatiously strutted, arrayed in an orange cloak, and wearing round his waist a belt studded with pistols. This melodramatic exhibition was enlivened by such tunes as "Boyne Water" and "Protestant Boys" played on the military fifes. On the morning following the attack on the stuffed figure, the Hon. Mr. Prittie, son of Lord Dunally, visited the Rev. Mr. Hamilton to inquire the particulars, and asked him whether his (Mr. H.'s) son had not had a great escape? "Yes sir" replied Mr. Hamilton. "Where were you sitting" demanded Mr. Prittle, "when the shot was fired at you?" "There sir" answered Mr. Hamilton, pointing to a table in the room. Mr. Hamilton thus sought to confirm Mr. Prittle in the belief which that gentleman had, in common with the public, then adopted—namely, that the shot had been actually fired at himself. This attempt at deception should be carefully borne in mind, because it neutralises the defence which the reverend gentleman set up his conduct at a subsequent stage of the affair. On the 11th of January, 1816, the Messrs. Egan were arrested under a warrant of the Rev. Mr. Hamilton's they were placed in the custody of a party of soldiers and marched to the inn, where they found some eight or ten involved in the murderous conspiracy. The last named parties were confined for the night in the guardroom. At ten o'clock on the following forenoon all the prisoners set out for Clonmel, which is forty miles distant from Roscrea, escorted by a large body of military and police, the Egans travelled in a chaise which proceeded at a footpace; the other prisoners walked, handcuffed, after the carriage. The first day's journey was to Templemore. It was rendered extremely fatiguing by the slowness of the pace and the inclemency of the weather. The rain poured down in torrents, and the prisoners, on arriving at Templemore, were conducted to a miserable den without a fireplace, approximately named the Black Hole, in which they would have spent the night but for the humane interpostion of Sir John Garden, who obtained for them the accommodation of the Inn. Next day they proceeded to Cashel, where they were consigned to a small, dreary, damp apartment, without any sort of furniture. They applied for permission to occupy the Inn, but met a refusal on the plea that the disturbed state of the country would render compliance dangerous. It was, however, resolved to forward them at once to Clonmel. A curious incident occurred within a few miles of that town. Two of the escorts appeared to quarrel with each other, and in the course of the dispute they fell from their horses. The steeds, released from their riders, ran away, and the whole escort, with the exception of a single policeman, made off in pursuit of them. The solitary guard approached the Egans and strenuously urged them to escape. "I will follow my comrades" said he, "in pursuit of the runaway horses, and you can then act as you please." But the prisoners, apprehensive of some trick, rejected the advice thus urgently offered, and quietly awaited the return of the party of police . Arrived at Clonmel, they were met in jail by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Corker Wright a magistrate, who had seriously interested himself in the prosecution. Mr. Wright on the following morning visited the prisoners, affecting great friendliness, and strongly advised them to confess all they knew of the "conspiracy" promising to exert his influence to procure their pardon. Of course an indignant disclaimer of all knowledge of any conspiracy was the only reply elicited by this treacherous suggestion. The Egans were then invited to see the various apartments of the jail. In one room they were shown the hangman busily preparing ropes for the next execution. But this sight failed to scare them into the false and foolish act of self-incrimination. In a few days the special commission was opened by Lord Norbury and Baron George. The Crown Prosecutor was Charles Kendal Bushe, then Solicitor General, and afterwards Lord Chief Justice. The public argued very gloomily for the prisoners when it was known that Lord Norbury was to try the case. Norbury had a terrible reputation for severity. "We'll have great hanging next assizes - Lord Norbury's to come" was a phrase that familiarly heralded his lordship's approach to assize towns on the circuit. Two witnesses came from Roscrea to bear testimony to the excellent character of the Egans. One of these was the Rev. Mr. L'estrange, Protestant Rector of Roscrea. The other was a protestant layman Mr. William Smith, who informed the prisoners that shortly previous to the firing at the straw person through the window, he had been present at a dinner-party given by Mr. Birch, of Roscrea, at the Rev. Mr. Hamilton's instance. It was there stated that the Egans were accused, on Dyer's sworn informations, of drilling men in the domain of the Hon. Mr. Prittie, for treasonable purposes: and Mr. Smith was then told that he should be apprised of the mode in which it was intended to proceed against them, provided that he took an oath to keep secret the particulars. Mr. Smith rejected this condition, stating his conviction that the Egans were incapable of the imputed criminal acts; and that, to his own personal knowledge, Dyer had sworn falsely, in as much as the Egans were sworn by that person to have been drilling men in Mr. Prittie's grounds . Dyer was of course the principal witness. He gave his evidence with great self-possession and dexerity. He deposed to several meetings for military exercise in Mr. Prittie's domain. He was obliged to confess, on cross-examination, that he was in receipt of five shillings a week for suppressing his evidence against one Francis Cotton, on a trial in which the said Cotton had been charged with the murder of a man Quigley. The admission of his own infamy in compounding the felony of murder, necessarily deprived his evidence against the Egans of weight with the jury. Contradiclions in his testimony were also elicited on cross-examination. The Rev. John Hamilton was the next witness. The trick of the stuffed figure had transpired, and as he knew that a cross examination on the subject awaited him, he resolved to put a bold face on the matter. Accordingly, in his direct evidence, he spoke of the effigy as a stratagem, employed for the purpose of ascertaining if Dyers previous informations were true; but on his cross examination he was constrained to admit that he had left the Government as well as several of his brother magistrates, under the impression that the firing at the effigy was an actual firing at his person. The reader will remember that, when Mr. Prittie, on the morning following the attack on the straw figure, said to the Rev. Mr. Hamilton, in that gentleman's house, "where were you sitting when the shot was fired at you?" Mr. Hamilton answered, "there sir" pointing to a table in the room, and thus attempting to confirm, in Mr. Prittie's mind, the belief that he had been actualy fired at. When the reverend gentleman's testimony closed, the courthouse rang with execrations, and the judges had some difficulty in restoring order. Halpin, and Dyer's brother-in-law, Hickey, were next examined. Halpin gave his evidence with the composure and readiness of an expert informer. He inculpated Quinlan in the guilt of firing at Mr. Hamilton's effigy, under the belief that the effigy was the reverend gentleman himself. Hickey's evidence tended to exonerate Quinlan from having fired. but he swore that Mr. Stephen Egan had administered to him an oath to assist anyone who should attempt to take Mr. Hamilton's life. The infamous nature of the prosecution being manifest, the jury, without the least hesitation, unanimously acquitted the prisoners. Lord Norbury, deprived of an opportunity of hanging anybody, escaped from the court under the pretext of sudden indisposition, leaving Baron George alone on the bench. Dyer, with the concurrence of the learned Baron, was placed in the dock by the order of the Solicitor-General, and indicted for wilful and corrupt perjury, but the grand jury, thinking, perhaps, that he might be useful on some future occasion, committed the disgraceful act of ignoring the Bill. The liberated prisoners were warmly congratulated by their numerous friends. They had a narrow escape. Had the Rev. Mr. Hamilton's dexterity of execution been equal to the ingenuity of his invention, it would have fared hardly with them. He wanted onlv the opportunity to become a second Titus Oates. It was a romantic experiment, doubtless—that of the Orange divine who stuffed a figure of himself—delicious thought !—and had it shot at, to bring some Papists to the shelf, who could not otherwise be got at. The Egans on their return were obliged to enter Roscrea by a back lane, in order to avoid the sanguinary ferocity of about one hundred of the Monaghan militia who had turned out, half intoxicated, ready for a desperate riot. There were also a large number of Orangemen, armed and prepared for mischief, who excited alarm by firing squibs through the town. Colonel Kerr was with some difficulty induced, by the strong remonstrance of a military gentleman, to draw the soldiers into the barracks. Mr. Hamilton published a pamphlet in his own vindication. He expatiated on his magisterial zeal— on the innocent nature of the exploit of getting men to fire at the effigy, which exploit, he loudly protested, was merely an ingenious device resorted to with the view of ascertaining whether designs against his life were really harboured by the persons whom Dyer had accused. He disclaimed having represented to the Government that the firing at the effigy was a firing at his own person; he alleged that he had made Major Sirr privy to the trick, and that he had requested the major to convey that information to the Castle authorities. If he did so at all, it was somewhat of the latest . The most amusing part of Mr. Hamilton's pamphlet is his solemn complaint that the Messrs. Egan showed no gratitude to Colonel Kerr. He was also dissatisfied with Peel, who was then lrish Secretary. "lt is evident" says the ill used clergyman, "that Mr. Peel's sole object was to vindicate the Lord Chancellor for not superseding me, and that he had no wish to defend me on my own account. ,' One would think that Mr. Peel, in all conscience, had quite enough to do to palliate the retention of such person in the magistracy, without entering on a defence of his machinations against the Egan family. My account of the transactions described in this chapter is derived from a manuscript narrative lent me by one of the Egan family Alderman Egan of Dublin, and a pamphlet published by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton.
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