The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-19 00:00:00

.......
Our reporter, on proceeding to the inquest next morning,
went to the spot where the transaction occurred, and by his
minute inquiry and observation, together with the accounts
which previously reached town, and that In the Erfening Post
of Thursday, which seems to be from an authentic source, but
written immediately after the occurrence, we are led to con-
clude that the followng are the facts—(by reference to our re-
port of the inquest, it will be seen in what this statement differs
from that of the witnesses) :—A large body of people accom-
panied the police throughout the day, and made several demands
to have the process-server delivered to them, that he might be
forced to eat the latitats, but resorted to no violence. About
two o'clock the party reached a wild part of the common of
Carrickshock, three miles from Knoctopher, and were
proceeding in narrow files through a lane, the loose
stone walls to which were so low that the lane might be said
to form an uninterrupted part of the common. Here the pro-
cess-server was again demanded, with a promise that no attack
on the police would be made ; of course he was refused to
be delivered up, and then a young fellow darted in, seized him,
tried to drag him from the police, and was immediately shot—
some say with a pistol, bY Mr. Gibbons, who at the same time
gave an order to fire. A number of shots succeeded—two country-
men dropped dead--and the great body of the people instantly
closed in and killed Mr. Gibbons and eleven of the police. The
act was instantaneous, and scarcely occupied the time we have
taken to relate it. Such is the only account universally told
and believed, till, on the inquest, one of the two witnesses, an
intemperate, and, we are informed, a prejudiced man, stated
that the police were klled before instead of after the firing.
When our reporter visited the spot, the bodies of the police had
been removed to the Kilmaganny barrack, and those of the
countrymen by their friends; but sufficient evidence of the
slaughter remained in the large red patches visible where each
body dropped, while the disgust of the observer was increased
by a number of pigs engaged in feeding on the clotted blood.
Not a human being was visible on the wild mountain side; ter-
ror seemed to have driven all from the battle scene ; and,
had not the crimsoned lane recorded the tragedy, nothing could
have led an observer to suppose that a few hours before had seen
that spot covered with thousands, engaged in a brief but despe-
rate deed of blood.
It is a curious fact that in the first series of the " Tales of
the O'Hara Family," our distinguished townsmen, the Messrs.
Banim, have recorded a similar catastrophe, three miles from
this spot, and which occurred fifty-five years before, between
the forefathers of those same people and a party of the King's
troops. But it is more remarkable that the cause was the
same—the tithes—the accursed tithes that now, as then, are
devastating the country, subjecting it to plunder, and staining
it with blood. Some of our readers will recollect the occurrence
to be that of a mock funeral, which met and put to death a

party of dragoons, who had taken a person charged with bury-
ing a tithe proctor alive. The same oppression that ground the
people then, still weighs them to the earth. The tragedy of
that day has been re-enacted, after five-and-fifty years, by the
descendants of the then actors ; and let but our rulers do as
their predecessors have ever done, and the church militant
continue as rapacious, insolent, and domineering as at present,
and the mountains' sides of Ireland must often again, we fear,
become the theatres of the bloody;drama.
In the barrack of Kilmaganny we found the bodies of Mr.

Gibbons and eleven of his men, stretched in rows on a floor, and

nearly all exhibiting the most appalling appearance from wounds
inflicted about their heads. 'MY. Gibbons was killed by a stab

from a pitchfork, which, after passing through his hand, en-
tered his side. Most of the wounds seemed to be indicted by
similar weapons, and Dr. Peel, the medical man who looked at
the bodies, said that only one death was caused by a bayonet
wound.
Beside the twelve whose bodies were before the Jury on the
inquest, the process-server has died, and we are informed another
policeman, which, with two countrymen shot, make the whole
number of sixteen deaths ascertained. There are, beside, eight
or ten of the police wounded, some very seriously, and one of
whom is not expected to recover. The number of countrymen
injured is unknown.
About eleven o'clock on Thursday, the county Magistrates
began to assemble at the Kilmaganny barrack. Among the
gentlemen in attendance, we observed the Marquis of Ormonde,
Earl of Ossory, W. Morris Reade, William Bayly, John Power,
Joseph Greene, C. H. Tuckey, Pope, J. Jones, S. Matthews,
Esqrs. the Rev. B. Morris, &c. &c.
These gentlemen held a private investigation which lasted
upwards of three hours, and called in several of the police, it is
supposed for examination. It is also presumed that this inves-
tigation was so minute and perfect, that nothing remained for
the Magistrates to do at the public inquest where few of them at-
tended—where but two witnessrs, and both of one party, ap-
peared and were permitted to tell their tale as they thought pro-
per, without being questioned or strictly examined—yet the re-
port of the inquest will show how materially even those two
disagreed.