The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-16 00:00:00

THE SENTENCE ON DILLANE.

(From the Dublin Freeman.)
Of all the persons implicated in the murder of Mr. Fitt-
gerald the Crown was most anxious to get hold of Matthew
and Denis Dillane. When the special commission took
place the evidence was considered incomplete by the law
officers. Links in the chain ware wanted, and until these
were supplied it would be dangerous to go to trial. Accord.
ingly the trial was postponed from one assizes to another,
until the Crown was enabled to prove the case against one
of the prisoners, and with what result the verdict of guilty,
after a few minutes' deliberation, sufficiently shows. Mr.
Justice Fitzgerald pronounced the sentence with which the
law visits such crimes, and the blood of a man who once filled
a respectable position will expiate the deed in which he par •
ticipated by instigating the actual murderer. The Dil-
lanes were always considered sober, industrious, and well-
behaved men. Denis received the highest character for
honesty and propriety of conduct. Until the murder of Mr.
Fitzgerald neither of them was charged with any crin.e.
Both Were models of good behaviour, awl until disputes
arose between the convicted prisoner and Mr. Fit zgcrald
about lend, he was quite satisfied with his conduct as tenant.
No mental state, short of madness, could have induced
Denis Dillane to go into Limerick with such a notorious
character as Beckham, with whom even Walsh retured
to associate, to purchase pistols at a gunsmith's shop. It
appeared on the evidence that he felt much aggrieved, and
thought he had been treated with some rigour, whether
justly or not we have no means of knowing. Let us take a
few facts from Mr. Lawson's reply. It had been urged on
the part of the prisoner that no motive existed for the com-
mission of the murder. On the contrary, a very adequate
motive might be found in certain documents discovered in
Dillane's house after the murder. It appears there had been
a negotiation for a lease between Mr. Fitzgerald and Dil-
lane, which was broken off, and the lease never executed.
Why Dillane refused to take the lease—what were the
conditions imposed on him antecedent to its execution—we
do not know—for the evidence cast no light on the subject
but he did refuse, though most tenants would only be tot!)
happy to have such a security if the terms were only fair
and reasonable. Mr. Fitzgerald's solicitor having received
directions to prepare the lease, wrote to the prisoner de-
manding £5 10s. costs, at the same time stating that if
Dillane refused to take out the lease, that was no reason
why he should not pay the costs after putting the solici-
tor to the trouble of its preparation. On this the Soli-
citor-General observed—" It was natural that the pri-
soner should feel considerable irritation at being called
upon to pay for a lease the benefit of which he had
never received." Dillane persisted in refusing to take the
lease or pay the costs, whereupon Mr. Fitzgerald wrote
to him to the effect that he was authorised by his solicitor
to take £5, and in default threatened legal proceedings.
Still no payment. Then followed a notice to quit on the 2d
of March, and on the 2d of April Mr. Fitzgerald again
wrote to Dillane insisting on a half year's rent "to be paid
before four o'clock on Friday," or a few days after the gale
fell due. Unquestionably these facts supplied evidence of
motive, for an action of ejectment was pending, and Mr.
Fitzgerald was peremptory about possession of the land.
Whatever may have been the value of the evidence for the
Crown before Cussen was produced, there could be little
doubt of Dillane's guilt after his examination. Counsel for
the prisoner confidently stated that an acquittal must ensue
without Cussen's evidence, and so it appeared to the law
officers during the special commission and at the previous
assizes. The Crown had all the evidence then on which it
relied now; but it had Cussen's now which it had not then,
and that completed the case for the Crown. Mr. Swedes
Cussen appeared in the witness-box with his arm in'a sling,
having been slightly wounded by a gun shot fired at him
in his house near KiLmallock. He is represented as appa-
rently of the better class, and gave his evidence with much
seeming reluctance. His evidence is very remarkable, and
we are not surprised at the unwillingness with which he
appeared against Dillane, who lent him a hundred pounds
in 1847. He knew Dillane for 15 years, and conversed
with him while in the dock during the Special Commission.
He saw him afterwards in jail, and had a curious conversa-
tion with him about the constitution of the jury, which
illustrates a feeling prevalent among the humbler classes of
our countrymen, that jurors and justices may be tampered
with. In this conversation Dillane admitted his privity
with the murderers. In reply to a question, whether
Walsh's evidence would be taken against him, and when
Cussen replied that he was himself once on a jury where
two men were convicted of a conspiracy on the evidence of
the principal engaged in the murder, Dillane said, " Then
God help me if that is the case." Cussen's evidence conduced
to the conviction. That he was a reluctant witness is pro-
bable, when his evidence doomed to the death of a felon the
man who accommodated him with £lOO sixteen years age.
In the prison interview Dillane introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's
name. He was hasty, but, "if taken at the right time," a
good man—that he had settled all claims with him, except
five pounds, we suppose the costs of the lease—and that he
did not know why he was tempted. Often, when the wicked
thought crossed his mind, ho made efforts to banish it; but
when he returned home " they used to be all at him again,"
and the wretched man yielded to the develish importunities.
No person can say that Dillane had not been guilty
of the terrible crime which conducts him to the scaf-
fold. The ignorant and brutal tool who commits
the murder is far less criminal than the reason-
ing head who contrives the crime and pays for its perpe-
tration. Since the trial of Matthew Dillane is for the pre-
sent postponed, we abstain from any comment. The trial
of Denis Dillane was conducted with the utmost fairness
on the part of the crown. The evidence, was never for a
moment strained, and, both in the opening statement of the
Attorney-General and the Solicitor-Qeneral's rep'y, the
effect of the evidence was stated without pressing with
undue severity on the unfortunate prisoner. His friends,
at least, must be satisfied that the crown did not roar for his
blood, while his counsel exerted on his behalt all that
earnestness, tact, and ability could supply. The case was
dead against the unhappy man. He follows his victim.