The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-29 00:00:00

SENTENCED TO DEATH.

The Dublin correspondent of The Times writes :

One of the snort important trials at the present
Assizes is that of Stephen Pil'lCeown for the murder of
Mary M'Shane, a young girl of 17 years of age, at
Forkhill in the county Armagh, terminated on
Wednesday in a verdict of guilty. The indictment
was supported altogether by circumstantial evidence,
a fact which makes the conviction remarkable con-
sidering the general disinclination of jurors to convict
upon such proof. The murder excited feelings
of indignation and horror in the county,
especially as the father of the girl was mur-
dered about a year before. It was committed
on Sunday, the 23rd of April, about four o'clock
in the afternoon, the time having been fixed by the
fact that the bell of Forkhill Church was rung for
evening service at that hour, and was heard by some
of the witnesses. The prisoner had been prosecuted
for the murder of Mary M'Shane's father, but there
was not sufficient evidence against him and he was
acquitted. He entertained a very bitter feeling against
her on account of the part she took in the proceedings
against him, and she had applied to have him bound
over to keep the peace in consequence of his threats. It
was sworn by different witnesses that during the fort-
night before the murder be called her a "bloodhound,"
and declared that be would "stop her talking."
Shortly before the murder she went with a basket
to get some groceries at a shop in Forkhill, and on
returning through a. field was attacked by the prisoner
and her head battered in with a stone. A number
of witnesses were produced for the Crown, who saw
her at different points of the wood between her own
home, which was near the prisoner's, and the pub-
lican's where she bought some whi-ley, and also saw
the prisoner near the spot where the body was found
shonly after the crime was committed. One of the
witnesses saw a struggle between a girl and a man, and
heard a cry, but made no effort to interfere, and did
not seispect its real character. It was sworn that
the prisoner stopped for twenty minutes in a tavern
at which he called on his way, and that he was
met coming very fast in a stooping position with a
stone in his hand, which he threw away when observed.
About five o'clock in the evening hie was arrested in
his own house while in the act of looking over an
album, from which cartes were afterwards taken and
published in the local papers. He was duly cautioned
when taken into custody, and then declared that hel
had not left the house at all since he was at mass in.
the morning. The defence was mainly an alibi, and
the members of his family all swore that be came
home at eight minutes before four o'clock on that day,
and did not go out again. Some discrepancies in the
evidence for the Crown were also relied on. Mr.
Justice Fitzgerald, in the charge to the jury, com-
mented on the fact that all swore to the one exact
point of time, but could not recollect other circum-
stances and thought the fact material, as owing to the
promptitude with which he was arrested there was no
opportunity for fabricating a story. After an hour's
deliberation, the jury found a verdict of "Guilty."
The prisoner made a leng, rambling statement, in
which he impeached the credit of the witnesses, and
protested his innocence. Fie was sentenced to be
executed on the 21st of August.