Estate of Sir George Calthurst: Eight appeals were heard from Sir George Colthurst’s Ballyvourney property… It appeared that one of the tenants, after having built a new house and lived in it some time, had suddenly deserted it, and made a dwelling house out of a stable. He declined to say whether it was on account of ‘the fairies being in the house’ he had left it…’ ‘The Land Act’ Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (21 Dec 1883), 7.

The only other case which he thought required any remarks from him was a case where a woman had been indicted for obtaining money under false pretences, under rather singular circumstances. It appeared that this woman was one of a band of persons who obtained money by going among the farmers and pretending to tell fortunes or representing themselves to have some power for good or evil – in this case believed with the fairies (laughter), The fact alleged against the accused was that she stated to a farmer’s wife that she had this power, and that if she did not get money she would exercise that power to her harm. In this way the unfortunate woman was induced to pay her about £2, to a farmer’s wife at all times, and at this session especially, a considerable sum. It appeared that she was afraid to tell her husband till came to pay his county cess, and then the murder came out.. Cases of this kind, although, perhaps, more common than they were aware of, did not often come before a criminal court. They must be satisfied that she did represent, for the purpose of obtaining the money, the fact that she had the power, either supernatural power, or power with the fairies, or those supposed qualities that enabled her to do this thing, and that the unfortunate woman, under that false representation, through fear of evil, or perhaps the hope of some good – in this case he believed the statement was that she would obtain a certain sum of money under a bed tied up in a purse, and that she was to give a shilling to little old woman with a red shawl – the usual nonsense that was told to young people, and that even some grown up people some times believed (laughter). It had been laid down by a very eminent judge that so far as the matter of fact was concerned that a pretence of power whether moral, physical or supernatural, made with the object of obtaining money, was one which came within the meaning of the statue. The case was somewhat peculiar in the circumstance that any person would be misled by such nonsense as this, and part with their money in consequence. That was the only case that he thought it necessary to make any particular remark upon…. Fortune Telling: Anne Smyth, alias Margaret Reilly, a young woman decked out in the showy habiliments so much affected by members of the gipsy class, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging her as follows: ‘That on the 9th of February, 1830, she did falsely pretend to one Eliza Reddington that she had the power to tell what would happen to her and her family; that she had the power to tell fortunes; that she had constant intercourse and communication with the good people, otherwise the fairies: that she had come from the next fort, where she spent an hour each day with them; that she had the power to prevent her losing husband or any of her four footed beasts; that she had been sent by certain deceased members of her family to tell her that certain good fortune would happen to her; that she had the power to prevent anything bad happening to her husband; and that by means of these false pretences she did obtain the sum of £2, the goods and money of her said husband, with intent to defraud.’ Counsel for the Crown, Mr Sergeant Robinson, Mr Andrews, Q.C. and Mr Sedley, solicitor, defended the prisoner Mrs Reddington, a respectable looking woman of middle age, deposed that she was the wife of John Reddington, farmer, residing in the county Sligo. On the 9th February last, when her husband was absent at a fair, the prisoner came to her house about two o’clock with two cans. She asked the witness if she wanted a good can. She asked witness if she wanted a good can. She replied that she did not, and the prisoner then asked her had she any old umbrellas to men. Witness told the servant girl to bring out an old umbrella, and she did so. The prisoner then said that one part of the house was built in a very unlucky place, that it was visited three times every week by fairies, and that there was a ‘pass’ through it (laughter); that her six brothers and sisters had become fairies, and that she had a ‘gift’, and anything she would rub her hand to, either man or beast, would be cured (laughter). She moved her features in a very curious way, and witness was very much frightened at her. She then asked witness was her husband at home, and she replied that he was at Ballinafad fair. She said that witness had gone through a good deal of trouble and had lost a great number of cattle, that she had a great many enemies, and that the place was ‘grudged’ to her. She asked for a handkerchief three times, and became very wicked looking (laughter). The servant girl gave her a handkerchief, and she asked the witness whether she was a Roman Catholic. Witness replied that she was. The prisoner then put two knots on the handkerchief and asked her to catch one corner of it and pull against her. She did so. The prisoner then put a third knot on the handkerchief, and told witness to pull again. She did so, and the prisoner asked weren’t the knots very tight. Witness did not answer her, and the prisoner took the knots, and concealed them beneath the other portion of the handkerchief, and said witnesses’s trouble would not be very great if the knots were all gone. The prisoner then breathed on the handkerchief, and opened it. His Lordship: And were the knots all gone? Witness: They were (laughter). The prisoner then asked that her hand might be crossed with gold or silver. Witness told her she had none, but gave her half a dozen eggs. The prisoner told her to go back again, and leave none behind her. Witness believed the prisoner knew everything when she said there were more eggs behind, and she went back and got the remainder. She said she went back and got the remainder. She said she was not used to taking such things, and asked again for gold or silver. Witness said she was sorry she had none. The prisoner replied that she knew she had paper money. Witness felt that she had no alternative but to give her the money, and she went down and got her a pound note. The prisoner then said she wanted to speak to her privately, but witness said she would hear anything she had to say in the kitchen. She was very nervous about her, and the prisoner told her not to be afraid of her, and that ‘faint heart ne’er won fair lady’ (laughter). She the went out with her, and the prisoner told her that something very bad was going to happen to her husband, that two men named John and James would come in nine days’ time and take him out into the field. Witness was to prevent him from going with them, and that if he would not be prevented by witness she (the prisoner) would prevent him. She said she was always within three miles of them, that she lived in the next fort, and that her husband could be brought out about some money affair and that there was a ‘splean’ against him. The prisoner then tied the knots again on the handkerchief and asked witness to pull again. After that she blow her breath on the handkerchief and opened it, and the knots were gone. She asked witness for another pound note. Witness did not know what on earth to do or how to manage. The prisoner follower her into the parlour and would not allow the servant girl to enter further than the door, although the witness insisted that she should remain. The prisoner demanded another note. Witness said she was very poor, and that her husband required all his money. The prisoner said witness could borrow it and want it for a few days. Witness then gave her the second pound. The prisoner told her the servant girl to say nothing of what had occurred, and that if she did she would get her arm broken. Mr Sergeant Robinson: Did she say how? Witness: She meant by the fairies. She acted as a fairy all through (laughter). She said it was better for me to give it than lose my stock. She said she was sent to me by my friends, and that there were a good many of them amongst the good people, and that only I had spared myself I would be left nothing at all. There is a fort within a short distance of my house, and prisoner said she lived amongst the fairies there. Mr Sergeant Robinson: And she said she was sent to you by some of these ‘gentry’? Witness: She did. I was greatly afraid of her. The witness in answer to further questions, said she was still afraid of the prisoner. When leaving her house the accused said ‘God be with all here until we see them again’. She also said that that day week witness would find a red purse under the bed containing ten sovereigns, three notes, and one shilling. A wee woman with a red cloak would call, and she was to give her the shilling, and keep the £18. The prisoner also asked witness to wish three things, and she would give them to her. Witness said nothing, and the prisoner said she would wish for her, and the wishes she made were ‘Heaven and salvation, a happy death and a favourable judgement’ She then blew her breath on the witness and went out. (Laughter). She brought witness round to the end of the house and pointed to a place under a tree, where she said she was to dig that day fortnight, and she would find a cup filled with gold, and another gold cup that day week again. She then went away. The servant Bridget Loftus gave corroborative evidence. The defence was that it was a case of mistaken identity. The jury at once convicted the prisoner, and as it appeared that she had already been over four months in jail, she was sentenced to a fortnight’s imprisonment. Anon ‘Assize Intelligence’, Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (9 Jul 1880), p.3

Fairies in Belfast! Yes, indeed. In Belfast – in this utilitarian town of ours, as well as in those German cities and villages where the bright mythology carried from Arabia by the Crusaders still lives in the popular belief, is to be found a lingering recollection of the beautiful little people in whom many of our grandmothers believed so steadfastly. In one of the crowded streets of small houses with which Belfast abounds an incident occurred the other evening, which, for the nonce, transports us to the ‘hills, brooks, standing lakes and gorves,’ once sacred to the elves. A woman had gone out of her house, leaving it in charge of a child, who, in turn, went out, locking the door after her. After sundown, a neighbour passing happened to look in and saw – a fairy. Looking again, she saw an ample ring of them, the Queen, – the veritable Empress Mab it must have been – sitting in the centre, dressed in the most brilliant green, and attended by little Hop and Mop and Drop and Pip and Skip and Gill and Tit and Nit and all the rest of the tiny and beautiful maids of honour. In a while, she brought another woman to look, and, in the gloaming, this new spectator certainly saw one, which was quite enough to confirm her friend’s revelation, since she knew that fairies had the power of making themselves invisible, and could get through any enclosure. Good gracious! She had a fine baby at home, and perhaps they were gone to steal it, and leave instead thereof one of their own mischievous little vixens. And off she hurried, for her mother – peace to her ashes! – had often told her of a good woman whose lovely child was stolen in the same way. A crowd gathered, and, as the shades of evening began to deepen, the conviction deepened too that all was not right. To heighten the alarm, it was whispered that the good woman had left one of her little girls in the house. What had become of her? Few dared to speculate, for the fairies were present, though unseen, and could hear what was said of them. In a remote country district we have actually heard the peasantry speak with bated breath about the exploits of these airy creatures in the belief that an incautious word would be avenged. But if the townspeople dared not to speak ill of them, they would do ill by deputy. In a trice a messenger was away for the police. In due course came the men in green, but not the delightful green which gives such fitting relief to the beautiful complexions of the fairies. The police actually looked in through the key hole, and saw the suggestion of one tiny being, the rest having perchance gone off one dew drops, pressed into their service, to their dwellings in the caves whose entrance overlooks the town. There was evidently something wrong. The house was haunted and the people about were indebted entirely to their numbers for keeping each other in countenance and courage. At the supreme moment, up came the good man of the house and his fugitive little daughter, who had gone to meet him. The door was timidly opened, for he thought there was surely something in all the stir. Imagine the disgust of the expectant crowd when a doll turned out to be the prolific fairy. It was handsomely dressed in green, having been presented on St Patrick’s Day to the little girl. Still there is always some water where the stirk drowned and it is clearly there must be something wrong with the house – at least such is the opinion of the more credulous of the recently affrighted neighbours, who hare not likely soon to forget this fairy tale of fact. ‘Fairies in Belfast’, 1870, p.3.

The following curious case was tried before Chief Justice Monahan at the Galway assizes. Jane Jennings was indicted for stealing several pieces of silver coin, amounting to twelve shillings, the goods of Richard Murphy, on the 14th of March last. Mrs Murphy examined: The prisoner came to the house of the prosecutor – prisoner was a tinker’s wife – on coming into the house she at once pronounced part of the house as ‘unlucky’ and part ‘lucky’; that the reason of the bad luck was that part of it was haunted by the ‘good people’ that she said was going through the country. Mrs Jenning, of course, showed her some money. She took out 10s and 2s 6d, and the prisoner at the bar, when she saw the money, blew on the palm of her hand and swept off the coins and put them into her own pocket. The prisoner also told her that she had an herb that she would give her that would insure the prosecutrix £50 in no time if she paid for this herb which had those wonderful qualities. John Price examined. Is a constable stationed at Athenry, arrested the prisoner on the 16th March; found half a sovereign and 2s in her possession. Counsel for the defendant apprehended that the offence did not amount to larceny. How could the taking of the money to bring this simple woman good luck amount to larceny? The Chief Justice in charging the jury said – I do not think there were such geese in the country as this Mrs Murphy now appears to be. I always understood that a larceny was the taking of goods of another against that other person’s will. There is not doubt that the ‘good people’ were said by this young lady to be haunting the place, and this young woman, downright fool as she was, did hand out 12s. The old lady told her that if the young lady put this most extraordinary herb into her pocket, or when ever she took the 12s from it, £50 would be in that pocket before that day week. Well, I myself don’t believe in fairies; but that is not the question. If this old lady persuaded this Mrs Murphy that the fairies were undoubtedly there, and that she allowed the money to be taken out of her hand, that is not larceny; but if you believe that this woman swept the money off the palm of the woman’s hand and contrary to the will of the prosecutrix, that would constitute larceny. Verdict: guilty. The Chief Justice would not sentence the prisoner until he further considered the case. ‘The Fairies – Stealing’, Nation, 27 Mar 1869, p. 6

Mary Gormley was indicted that she, on the 15th day of June 1866, did feloniously steal and keep Anthony Daly, the child of Patrick Daly. Messrs. West, Q. C., and Jordan prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by Mr Regan, an attorney. It appeared that the prisoner had been carrying on an illicit intercourse with a person of the name of Cooney, a married man, and represented to him she was about being confined. This, however, was untrue, but to carry out the deception she looked out for a child to substitute as if for her own. The prosecutor Daly lived near the prisoner, and his wife was confined on the 10th June of a son, which he and his wife had in bed between them on the night of the 14th of June and when the mother awoke the child was gone. She rushed out of the room in a state of perfect nudity, and ran through the fields searching the ditches with a stick for the child, believing the fairies had taken it, but was unsuccessful. Three days after she heard the prisoner had an infant, and she went to her house. She saw the infant with the prisoner, and knew it by a piece of flannel which it had on when stolen. Dr Mulvy was examined and deposed that the prisoner had not been a mother, and, therefore the story was fabricated. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and she was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour.’ Anon, Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, ‘County Galway’ (16 July 1866), p. 4

The victim ‘a delicate-looking young woman, whose dropsical state was painfully apparent, deposed: The prisoner [Mary Colbert] came into the house where I was in Shandon Street [Cork]. I am a servant in Shandon Street… She said she would take me in hands, and cure me if I gave her 9s three times – that was 27 s. I was very glad of the opportunity… I got a loan of 9s, and she told me to get a naggin of milk, and she took out a bit of herbs, and said. ‘Oh! I have your cure here’… She rolled up a few withered herbs and put them on the table and made them stick up, and, pointing to them, said, ‘There’s the person that cursed you’… I would not give her the 9s, but she said she could not take it, but said, ‘Give it to me for the soul that injured you, for God’s sake.’… I said I would give her 3s each time. She went away and returned and said that as she went down the lane she was stopped by some person . the ‘Fairies’ – and desired by them to come back and cure me… I gave her 9s , and she did not come near me after.’ The accused had some withered herbs and a pack of cards in her possession that she used to ‘get the husbands for the girls’. ‘A Perfect Cure – Extraordinary Credulity’, Belfast News-Letter (11 August 1862), no 15352, p. 4

An extraordinary case of proselytism has occurred in Strabane. On Friday and Saturday last the Rev. Patrick Magee, a Roman Catholic curate, obtruded himself into the house of an aged and dying Presbyterian, and performed upon him the last rites of the Romish Church. The principal circumstances are these: John McCorkle, the dying man, aged eighty, was all his life a Presbyterian. He lived in a house by himself, being attended by a woman who is a Roman Catholic. The Rev. Jas. Gibson regularly visited him, and entertained a favourable opinion of the old man’s piety. He was also frequently visited by one of the elders. On Sunday the 22nd ult.. Mr McCorkle sent word to Mr Gibson that he was very ill, and requested to be remembered in the prayers of the congregation; soon after his mind began to wander. He accused the fairies of having shot him through the head, and he mentioned the name of Mr Magee – the priest – as having power to save him from their influence. On being asked, he said that the suggestion had come from ‘that woman there’, meaning his Roman Catholic servant. Mr Magee was afterwards summoned by the woman in Mr McCorkles’s name.He came at once, and began his ministrations before any of the old man’s relatives, who are all Presbyterians, were aware. An old neighbour woman, a Presbyterian, came in, and was astonished to see the priest at the bedside. She told him he must have made a mistake, and requested him to withdraw. He told her he had been sent for, and refused to withdraw, but ordered her to leave the house. She at length ran and acquainted the sick man’s relatives. One of them, a respectable young woman, ran in and ordered the priest to desist. The priest seized her by the arm roughly, and forcibly expelled her, barricading the door. A male relative soon arrived and forced the door open, so as to be able to see the priest, and warn him to desist. Mr Magee put his head out of the door and ordered a Romanist, who was passing, to put the man away. This he did speedily and violently. A Romish crowd also collected to protect their priest from interruption. Mr Magee, on Sunday evening went to a magistrate and made an affidavit, in which he swore that he had been sent for by Mr McCorkle, that he had found him quite sensible and anxious to see him, but that he apprehended personal violence in case he attempted to repeat his visit, and therefore claimed the protection of the constabulary. This was granted, and shortly after eleven o’clock at night he proceeded again to the house, accompanied by a number of armed police and a crowd of Romanists. All the sick man’s relations but one, a young man, had gone home. The priest ordered his friends away. This was done, the door closed, and the priest finished his work. McCorkle was made a Romanist, and died a few hours later ‘a good Catholic’. It is no wonder that such proceedings have excited deep feelings of indignation in the minds of the Protestant members of the community. The Romanists exult over their new ‘convert’ and prayers were offered for the repose of his soul in Strabane Chapel, on Sunday last. Here we have the whole machinery of proselytism. An old man, in a state of mental aberration, a Romish woman bringing the priest, a Romish crowd, and even the police assisting. Are these things to be allowed in the Protestant North? Is an aged Protestant not to be allowed to die in peace? This is another instance of the mode in which converts are made to Romanism. The conversion is a farce, but greater care must be taken that sick Protestants be protected from annoyance. We allow religious liberty to others, and we must have it to ourselves, otherwise the struggles of the past are vain and must be re-commenced.’ ‘Proselytism in Strabane’, Belfast News-Letter (5 July 1862) no. 15321, p. 3 excerpted from the Derry Sentinel.

The prisoner [Anne McAvine] in this case was indicted for obtaining money under false pretences. The indictment set forth that the prisoner, being an evil-disposed person, and fraudently intending to cheat and defraud certain persons on the 14th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1860, at Brookboro’, in the County of Fermanagh, did unlawfully, knowingly, and designedly, falsely pretend that the said Anne McAvine had influence with certain beings called fairies and that through the agency of the said fairies she would obtain a large sum of money – to wit, £11,000 – by means of false pretences, etc. Dawson, Jane of Brookboro’, deposed that the prisoner was in the habit of offering to obtain money for her from the fairies; she at last consented, and gave her £2 11s. 6d., for which sum the prisoner was to have obtained for her £11,000, at the same time swearing her to secrecy on the Bible. She subsequently gave her at different times £2 11s. 6d., £1 11s. 6d., £1 1 s. 5d., and at four different times 7s. 6d., and again at four different times 5s., besides shop goods, furniture, and wearing apparel to the amount of £2 or £3. For all this money she received a bottle of oil to rub on her eyes when she should arrive in Scotland, where she was going; that when she would do so she would see a gentleman who would bring her to a house where she would get the money from the fairies but she never got any.’ ‘The performances commenced in Spring last, and continued for some months, till Dawson began to get anxious for the fulfilment of the contract. Mrs McAvinea consulted her favourite fairy, ‘Little Mick’ as she called him, and he said Dawson must go to Scotland when, without fail, the money would be got. On landing she must rub some oil on her eyes, which he (the fairy) supplied, and on opening them a person would meet her and take her to a furnished house and give her the cash. The poor woman fulfilled her part  to the very letter, but without effect. After remaining for a few months, during which time she kept up a correspondence with McAvinea, complaining very much, of course, of her want of success, she told her to return to Ireland, as all was in a fair way of being accomplished; she came back hoping that luck would turn on this side of the water. But she must make further sacrifices, or the charm could not be completed. A portion of her own and her husband’s clothing and bed clothes must be given, and more money. Want now began to stare the family in the face, and, though sworn to secrecy, Dawson made information before a magistrate, had McAvinea arrested, and she has been fully committed from the Petty Sessions to jail to stand her trial at the next Assizes. The Court-house was densely crowded, as such a case had not occurred in this part of the country in the memory of any person living. Strange to say, Dawson’s husband was kept in the dark all through, as and cash they had among them was the wife’s, which she got by a legacy. At all events, they were fleeced to the tune of about £20, between cash, value, and expenses, and left without a shilling. All this was sworn to, and much more, to the great amusement of the crowded court. So much for fairies in Fermanagh.’ The prisoner was eventually sentenced to twelve months. ‘Extraordinary Credulity in the Nineteenth Century’*, Belfast News-Letter (11 Feb 1861) no. 13895, p. 4

An inquest was held at Kilmooganny by T. Izod, Esq, county coroner, on Tuesday, and resumed on Wednesday, on the body of a boy aged nine years, the son of a labourer named Patrick Kearns. It appeared that this child had been ailing for three weeks, and confined to bed, when his superstitious family formed the idea that he was being gradually carried off by the fairies. A neighbour, name Patrick Murphy, brought a ‘fairy man’, named Thomas Donovan, to see the sufferer. Donovan pronounced him to have a received ‘a blast’, but undertook to cure him. He gave the child a few spoonfuls of water and ordered him to cough; the patient would not cough, and as this interfered with the spell, the ‘fairy man’ declared that more violent means were necessary; whereupon he dragged the child out of bed, along the floor of the house, and out about the yard in front; after continuing which proceeding for some time he directed him to be put to bed again. The little sufferer was in a unconscious state when take up for the purpose, and almost immediately expired. The miserable parents never interfered, supposing that the treatment to which the child was subjected was necessary and proper for its cure; and even after its death they made no complaint, and were about to bury it privately had not the police discovered the facts. The jury found a verdict of murder against Donovan, who had absconded and found that Murphy was a party to the crime, being influenced thereto by superstition’. ‘On the 6th instant a case of gross superstition, which resulted in the death of a boy, took place in Kilkenny. The facts were these . A boy, about ten years of age, named Patrick Kearns, who resided with his parents near Kilkenny, was attacked with illness, but the nature of the disease is not stated. Some of the neighbours persuaded the parents of the boy that he was ‘fairy struck!’ In consequence, a ‘fairy man’ was sought, and found in the person of one Michael Donovan, an ignorant fellow about twenty one years of age. He was sent for, and on arriving at the house he was shown the poor lad, who was at the time in articulo mortis. Donovan dragged the boy out of bed and gave him a jug full of  cold water to drink. The boy rejected this being at the moment in the last pangs of existence. Donovan then declared that the fairies would not be put out of the boy in this manner, and in order to show his power this ‘wee people’ he pulled the boy violently by the ears, beating him about the head, and kicked him severely on various parts of the body.  The boy died and there was no more about the matter until the priest of the neighbourhood heard of the transaction, and he at once informed the coroner who held an inquest on the body and the jury found a verdict of wilful murder against Donovan. The ‘fairy man’ had, in the mean time, absconded, and a reward was issued for his apprehension. On Monday head constable Richard McHale, of the Irish constabulary, arrested Donovan on board the ship Bridgewater, now in the River Mersey, and bound for America. He had a sum of 1l. 4s. in money, and a good store of clothes and provisions on board. The accused at first denied that he was the person charged, and said he was from Tipperary, but ultimately he confessed he was the man. Mr McHale brought him on shore and this evening he will be transmitted to Ireland to answer the charge. Liverpool Daily Times.’  ‘Baron Pennefather, accompanied by Arthur Kavanah, Esq. of Borris House, high sheriff of the county Kilkenny, entered the court soon after one o’clock. The grand jury was then resworn. His Lordship said he was glad to have the pleasure of meeting them again. He had to congratulate them upon the state of their county. Judging from the calendar their country was an example to other countries and credit to themselves. There were only two cases on the calendar which called for any particular observation. These were cases of manslaughter. One of them was for causing the death of a child by inoculating it with small pox, an act which was forbidden by the legislature, and which therefore made those who committed it liable for any consequences that followed. They would have to find whether the death of the child had resulted from the disease contracted by such inoculation. The other was a charge of manslaughter under circumstances which he was surprised to find occurring in this country in the present century. It was alleged against the accused that he sought by spells and magic and communing with fairies to resuscitate a sick child, and with that view the prisoner, as alleged, had inhumanely exposed the child on a cold night on a dunghill, so that it died. This offence, if proved, would amount to manslaughter if not to a more aggravated crime. He would be happy to give them any assistance they might require in discharging their duties.’ ‘Baron Pennefather took his seat on the bench at ten o’clock, and proceeded with the trial of the following cases: Manslaughter Thomas Donvan was indicted for the manslaughter of a Patrick Kearns on the 7th of April last. The deceased was a child about nine years old, who lost his life under the following extraordinary circumstances: The child had been a sickly, delicate child, and had a tumour on its head and other disorders, for which it was under the treatment of Drs. Denn and Cronin. The prisoner and a man named Murphy, who has since left the country, called at the house of the parents of the deceased on the evening of the 6th of April last, when the prisoner volunteered to cure the child, who was lying in bed. Donovan took the child out of bed, made him drink a pint of cold water, and brought the child out into the yard. It appeared that when there he dragged him along the ground. He then brought the child into the house. The father took the child out of his arms. The prisoner dragged it from him, and throttled the child and dragged it again along the ground. The father again took it from him, when he kicked the father. The child died the next morning. Mr George QC and Mr Curtis prosecuted for the crown. The prisoner was defended by Mr E. Johnstone. The parents of the child were examined and proved the foregoing facts. The father deposed that the child was almost in a dying state at the time, and the he believed the prisoner would not knowingly have done anything to injure the child. Dr Denn proved that he was attending the child some weeks before the death; he was suffering from inflammatory fever, and was greatly emaciated; he attended him some years ago when he recovered. Doctor Cronin proved that he had been attending the child before his death; he exhibited symptoms of water on the brain, had a malformed head, liver disease, symptoms of dropsy, and a tumour on the abdomen, witness made a post mortem examination; found the body a mass of bruises; the face was much scratched; opened the head; found a blood vessel ruptured and much suffusion of blood; these symptoms resulted from pressure or strangulation; the bruises were the result of kicks, blows, or other direct violence; death was accelerated from the ill usage he received. On cross examination by Mr Johnstone, he stated that the child could not have lived more than five or six days from the state of disease it was in, even if it had sustained no injury at the hands of the plaintiff. Mr Johnstone cited a case from Lewen’s Crown Cases, to show that when it did not appear clearly whether the deceased from the violence of the accused or from natural causes then affecting him, an acquittal ought to be directed and submitted there was no case to go to the jury. His lordship, however, ruled otherwise. Mr Johnstone then addressed the jury for the prisoner. His Lordship charged the jury, observing that Mr Johnstone had addressed them very strongly and effectively, but they were to take the law, not from the counsel but from the court. Having recapitulated the evidence, he commented on the apparent absence of motive for the prisoner’s conduct. It did not appear that he was influenced by superstitious motives, or a desire to effect a cure by fairies or supernatural influences, as had been stated on behalf of the prosecution. If they were satisfied  that death was caused or accelerated by the prisoner’s conduct, they should find him guilty. The jury found the prisoner guilty.’ Bibliography: Anon ‘Superstition in Kilkenny’, 1856

On Monday last three young women name Sarah Reynolds, Margaret Magaghran, and another, were brought before Captain Erskine, J.P., Cavan, for assaulting and abusing each other. It seems that a day or two previous, Sarah Reynolds, who has a child whom she imagines to be fairy-struck, communicated her misgivings on that point to her two companions, when the three immediately agreed to start off in search of a wizard or fairy-man, living some miles distant, who would supply them with a magic thread to remedy the mischief done by the evil-minded fairies. On their way, they made rather free with the ‘mountain dew’, and before arriving at the fairy-man’s they quarrelled and battered each other with great gusto. The upshot of the expedition was that three ‘chums’ returned to Cavan minus some blood, but plus a goodly quantity of alcohol.’ Belfast News-Letter (9 August 1852) p. 1