The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-04 00:00:00

The Shooting of a Bailiff in Ireland.

We have now fuller, particulars of this sad affair. Mr
O'Dell was Galled to the bar in 1837, but he has not prac-
tised for some years, and the general impression is that he
was intemperate. At all events he was unable to pay his
rent. Some accounts state that he owed only £3 of rent,
others that his arrears amounted to £35. His landlord,
Mr John M'Donnell, «ho lives at 98, Upper Rathnoines,
ordered a distress to be made at the house on Thursday last.
The person employed to execute the warrant was Joseph
Grace, civil-bill officer of the city of Dublin. According to
his evidence at the coroner's inquest held on Friday on the
remains of Fox, the bailiff who was shot, ho was accom-
panied by a man named Hennessy, also a bailiff. Mr O'Dell
was in a parlour to the right of the door. Grace, standing
close to the parlour door, read a copy of the notice of dis-
tress, and putting it ue der the door,said, "Here, Mr.O'Dell,
is the notice of distress." He then went into the parlour
at the opposite side of the hall, where he waited for 20 or 30
minu'es till Mr. O'Dell made his appearance. Ho told him
that he had come to make a distress ; that Mr M'Donnell, the
landlord, was in Dublin, and that he would do nothing till
he saw him, counting on the probability of some arrange-
ment being made. Leaving Hennessy in charge of the fur-
niture, afte waiting from half-past ten till past one
o'clock, he went into the garden to smoke. While there
Mr. O'Dell came out and commenced grinding a large
pruning-knife, remarking, while he did so, " How hard it
is to get tobacco off a knife." When he was putting the
knife into his pocket Grace remarked something like the
butt-end of a pistol, and heard the knife rattling against it.
At half-past one the officer went away, met Mr M'Don-
nell in town and told him of the distress, after which he
brought with him the bailiff Fox, who was also named in
the warrant. They arrived at Mr O'Dell's house at half.-
past four, and waited another half-hour the arrival of the
landlord, when, seeing no chance of an arrangement, he
began to take an inventory of the furniture, which was ,
to be removed to the landlord's house, and stored there
to save expense. When Mr M'Donnell at length arrived
and had a conversation with Mr O'Dell, Grace asked
whether they were "to move," to which the landlord
replied "You know your duty." Grace stated that he
understood his duty to be to remove everything on the pre-
mises unless he received orders to the contrary. The bailiffs
thou began to remove the furniture. During this opera-
tion Mr O'Dell went in and out of the hall, but did not say
an uncivil word or offer the slightest resistance, and one of
the bailiffs remarked that he and his wife were as quiet as
two children. The landlord and tenant having had some
private conversation, which the bailiffs did not hear, the
former came into the room where Grace was, and said " We
wont remove Mrs O'Dell's bed or bedding. Subse-
quently he called Grace to the kitchen and said, " Yuu
must remove the things." The officer asked was he to take
the bed, to which he replied, "You know your duty," and
went away. Mr O'Dell afterwards went to Grace and asked,
" Is the bed to be taken away ? He promised it would not,"
Grace then said, "I do not understand Mr M'Donnell ; you
had better go down and have a positive direction about the
bed." ' Later Mr M'Donnell came back with Mr O'Dell,
and stated that the bed was not to be taken. Mr O'Dell
then asked whether the wearing apparel was to be taken, to
which the officers replied that it was liable to be seized in a
distress warrant for rent, but that he would not take it un-
less he got directions. He afterwards spoke about the matter
to Mr M'Donnell, who seems to have changed his mind
again, for he gave peremptory orders, saying, "Take every-
thing away to-night, and whatever he wants to-morrow will
be given up to-morrow, when we understand each other
better. You know I don't wish to be harsh." The wearing
apparel was then taken down and packed in a box. Every-
thing in the house had been removed, with the exception of
an old table and two earthen jars. The servant asked
for the old tab:e, and it was lifted into the house, and
Fox, one of the bailiffs, said, pointing to the two jars,
" There is something forgotten." Hitherto nothing unplea-
sant had occurred. Mr and Mrs O'Dell were very civil, and
gave Hennessy, one of the bailiffs, his dinner ; they also
thanked Grace for the way in which he had performed his
duty, and when he was going he wished them good evening.
It was then dark and candles were lighted in the parlour.
Fox was the last in the house : he said to the others, "I
will be after you." They were not more than eight or nine
paces from the door when they heard a shot and saw the
smoke of a pistol let off in the doorway. Fox exclaimed,
"Oh my God, lam shot; run, run l" Grace then turned fully
round, and saw Mr O'Dell with two women, heard a faint
shriek and the exclamation " Commit no violence." At
the same time he heard Mr O'Dell crying, "Now go for the
police ; charge me for murder." Grace ran to the landlord,
and said there was some one killed. Hennessy went by a
short cut for the police, who were quickly on the spot with
the landlord and Grace. They found the bailiff Fox shot
through the forehead and apparently dead. He was at once
removed to the Meath Hospital, where he breathed his last.
In the meantime Mr O'Dell had gone to the station-
house and delivered himself up to the police. When he en-
tered the office Hennessy said, " There is the gentleman that
shot him." "Yes," said O'Dell, "I shot him while in a
state of frenzy. I saw the man fall, and I got sorry for it.
1 come now to the police to give myselL up. Here is the
pistol I shot him with." It was a six-chambered revolver,
three of the chambers being loaded and capped. The pri•
soner was brought before Mr Allen at the head office on
Friday morning, and by him the case was remitted to the
coroner.
At the inquest, the finding of the jury was that death
was caused by a pistol shot wound, inflicted on deceased by
William O'Dell, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 186.1.
The Coroner remarked—l think it is the general opinion
of all who hoard the evidence that Mr M'Donnell acted with
great kindness to him all through.

VISIT OF MR GLADSTONE TO BOLTON.—The
Chancellor of the Exchequer having arranged to
open the public park at Farnw•orth (the magnificent gift of
Mr Thomas Barnes, M.P. for Bolton), the Mayor of Bolton
has been in communication with the right lion gentleman,
with the view of inducing him to eall at Bolton on Tuesday
night, on his way from Balmoral to Farnworth. Mr
Gladstone has politely consented to comply with the wish
of the Bolton corporation. The right hon gentleman will
arrive in Bolton at 6 38 p.m., and will be met by the mayor
and town counoil, the members for the borough, magistrates,
&o. He will be escorted to the Free Library and the Market
Hall, and from thence to the Temperance Hall, where an
address from the corporation will be presented. Ho is
expected to remain about an hour and a half, when he will
proceed to the residence of Mr Alfred Barnes, at Farnworth.
It has been arranged that a deputation from the Chamber
of Commerce and other commercial bodies connected with
the town and trade of Liverpool shall present an address to
the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the occasion of his visit
to Liverpool, which is fixed for the 13th inst.
BRUTAL OUTRAGE UPON A WOMAN.—DEATH OF
TIIE VICTIM.—A Liverpool coroner's jury yesterday
returned a verdict of wilful murder against a wan named
Green, who caused the death of his wife's sister under the
following circumstances. On the 25th September a quarrel
arose between the parties, and Green knocked the deceased
(Elizabeth Low) down, and after beating her severely about
the face and body, jumped upon her chest, and rendered her
insensible. The poor creatured lingered until Sunday,
when she died. Upon a post-mortem examination it was
feuad that the frontal bone had been fractured, and been
driven into the orbits of the eye; that the bones of the
nose had been broken, the cartilage severed, and part 01
the skull driven in upon the brain. There were also
other injuries. The immediate cause of death was bail un-
Illation of the brain, caused by the violence.