Yesterday, a poor old woman applied to the Head Police Office, and stated the following very curious circumstances: She said that her name was Kearns; that she was a widow, and with her daughter, Mary Kearns, a very handsome young woman, lived at Toomevara, in the county of Tipperary. Both supported themselves by needle-work. About a fortnight since there came to the house a woman, whose name is since ascertained to be Mary Mac, otherwise Fitzgerald; whose age seemed to be forty years, black-haired, a small red face, slightly pock-marked, wearing an old red coat and blue flannel petticoat. This woman pretended to be what the people in that part of the country designate ‘a fairy woman’ – one who could not only tell fortunes, but knew the haunts of ‘the good people’ and was able even to raise the dead. This wretch, by the story of her gifts, so influenced the mind of the young girl, that she believed Mary Mac to possess all the powers she boasted of. In a conversation with the young girl one day, she told her that her father was not dead; that she knew was with the fairies, and asked the girl if she would wish then to see her father. The young girl replied she was afraid; but the fairy woman spoke to some accomplice who was concealed, and an answer was given in the hearing of the young girl. A voice was heard to declare, ‘I am your father’. The girl asked him would he not remain with them. ‘No’ exclaimed the voice, ‘I cannot leave the fairies yet, but I shall be home with you in four days.’ This appeared to be glorious news to the deluded girl, and the fairy woman then told her they would have to go to a place that it would require them two days to walk to, and two to return; and that it would be necessary for them to procure some money, which she would have to pay in a certain place before the father could be got back. Under this persuasion, the girl left the house with the fairy woman. The mother was absent at the time, and on her return she discovered that her only child was taken from her, and their little home stripped of every article of value. The fairy woman, whose dress we have described, had, it is known, two companions, one a person who was called Peggy Fitzgerald, having black hair, cut short behind, wearing an old patched petticoat, with white pockets, and who is supposed to be a man in woman’s clothes; the other called Peter Fitzgerald, a boy about twelve years of age, spoke with a Limerick accent, and wore a grey frize coat, corduroy trowsers, and a straw hat. These persons with their dupe, have been traced from Toomevara to Monasterevan. The unfortunate mother of the girl appeared in the police-office in a state of distraction, as her impression was that her daughter had been murdered by those miscreants. So much is the character of this woman respected in the neighbourhood where she lives, that a reward of 50l. has been offered by the inhabitants for the discovery of her daughter, and a letter was received at the Head-office from a Magistrate at Toomevara, requesting the cooperation of the police in searching for Mary Kearns, and apprehending those who have taken her from home.’ Anon, ‘Curious Fact’ 1834