The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-28 00:00:00

STARTLING CONFESSIONS OF A

.ROCKITE.

The following remarkable biography, professing
to be the history of a " Rockite" is taken from the
Kilkenny Moderator. It may be remarked that there
is nothing stated in the narrative beyond the range
of probability. The existence of organised bodies in
Ireland, similar to the Ribbon Society, having for
their object the removal of obnoxious persons, has
often been proved by deeds of blood incomparably
more cruel than those detailed below. Had these
" Confessions" first seen the light in the columns of
some Irish provincial journals their genuineness
might be doubted, but the character of the Mode-
rator is a guarantee of their faithfulness.
" There died very recently in the Kilkenny Union
Workhouse, in the 80th year of his age, a remark-
able person, whose departure from this earthly
stage we cannot permit to pass without a glance at
his strange eventful history. The personage whom
we would introduce to our readers is the once noto-
rious Wm. Delaney, generally known by the sobri-
quet of Billy the Boy.' He must not be confounded
with another Wm. Delaney, who gave evidence as
an informer on the trials of the murderers of Hoyne
and Mortimer, in this county. This latter person-
age was a much younger man. Billy the Boy' was
connected with what was called 'the Whitefeet
murders' of more than 30 years ago. He was not
very formidable in appearance,•being only 5 ft. 4 in.
in height, for he was found under the standard
height for' the army when in early life he offered to
enlist in her Majesty's service—a consummation
which, if attained, might have saved from serious
trouble many of her Majesty's loyal lieges. He
was rather broad-shouldered, and well made for
enduring fatigue, and he was a great sportsman. It
was the dexterity he had acquired in this manner
in the use of firearms which led him into the com-
mission of various crimes which we shall hereafter
glance at. His most remarkable feature was per-
haps his eye. If you knew even nothing of the
man, and were called on to remark him, you could
not, we think, fail to observe a degree of clear, cold,
cunning in the grey eye, which should make you
uneasy. This, however, may have been mere fancy.
Billy was more than a dozen times in gaol, and was
tried for capital offences, we believe, on five or six
occasions. At no time was there a conviction, and
he mice escaped through the sudden illness of a
juror. His pious expression on that occasion was
that God had a hand in him.' He never ' in-
formed' on his accomplices. He had the merit, if
it can be called so, of faithfulness to his rebellious
crew.' In his latter days we have reason to be-
lieve that he refused to have anything to do with
the lawless proceedings in the way of agrarian
crime which were so disgraceful to our county with-
in the last 15 years, and which were terminated by
the execution of Hoyne's murderers. The Boy'
sometimes talked freely about his former exploits,
and it is from his own lips that we give the follow-
ing stories. The only variation which we have allowed
ourselves to make is in patting together the different
accounts which he gave at different times of the
same transaction. It is necessary to do this in order
to limit our narrative. It will also explain why he
appears to have admitted his participation in the
crimes so freely. He never did so while telling his
story once? but by putt'ng together his different
versions of same occurrence his connection with
the crime was always clear. Giving this explana-
tion, we may now proceed to set down his own
words The first bad thing I had anything to
say to was the death of James Sutcliff. The boys
were out one night, and our leader was a black-
guard fellow of the name of (of course we omit
the name). Well, sir, this fellow had a grudge
against Sutcliff, something about a greyhound it
was, or some game. Well, our leader, the black-
guard, made us drunk, but he kept himself sober ;
and then he persuaded us that he had an order'
against Sutcliff. And so we went to his house, and
I staid in the background, because I was the only
one of the party that Sutcliff and his wife knew.
Well, when we went to the house, our leader de-
manded admittance, and, when he wasn't let in, he
lays down his gun against the jumb, and makes a
rush against the door and sends it in. They then
went in and brought out Sutcliff, and one of the
party fired a shot at him when he was in the yard.
That did not kill him, but then the leader went
back to where he had le-e; his gun beside the door,
and fired into him again, and so we left him.' We
may remark that Billy keeps himself as far
as possible from the murder. Some said that
it was he • who actually fired the first
shot ; but his account is somewhat corrobo-
rated by Sutcliff's wife's story, who stated that,
though she knew Delaney, yet she did not see him
of the party.
"To proceed to another story :—‘ There were
people of the name of ejected from a farm,
and it was taken by another set ' • and Andy Mul-
downey wasleft as caretaker. The boys were watch-
ing him for a long time, for he was a terrible man.
He built up the windows of the house, and he was
well armed, and it was long before we got an offer
at him. Well, one day he went to a neighbouring
house to meet a friend, ye understand, and we knew
that he would not leave the neighbouring house for
some time ; so we went up to his own place and
took the stones out of some of the windows, and
three went in and the stones were built in again.
Andy Muldowney returned, and of course when lie
saw all as it was when he left, he opened the
door and went in. :But he wasn't long in when he
was no more. There were people tried for that, but
they wern't the people that did it, though they
wern't sorry for what had happened.' Billy was
generally believed to have: been himself one of the
three who went into the house. When asked about
the murder of D elaney,which occurrednear the round
tower of Fartagh, this was the story : The black-
guard was a cousin as well as a namesake of my
own, and he wanted to betray some ofthe boys to the
police, for they had bribed:him ; so he laid a plan
to get the boys to attack some house where the po-
lice would be ready to seize them. Well, sir, he was
afraid to betray any of us, and so it was some of
the Galmoy boys he wanted to bring into the trap,
and we found it out. So we determined to give
the Galmoy boys word, and lots were drawn to
know who was to give them the intelligence. The
lot fell on me. (We may remark that it is probable,
from this' and other circumstances, that Billy, ruf-
fian as he was, was generally the tool of others.)
Well, sir, I went and told them the design, and I
never saw him more.' When he was asked did he
ever hear anything of the particulais of the case,
he -would reply—' Well, they said the Galmonians
went out with him as if they were going to fall
into the trap, and when they got him near a bog
hole, they, fired a shot at him and threw him into
the hole. The leader of the party was a terrible
fellow ; they called him Bloodybones. Well, when
Delaney fell into the water he wasn't dead, and he
tried to getout, find Bloodvbones fold him to come
to the side where lie was. 'lt was said through the
country that when hc struggled:to the side, Bloody-
bones hit him on the head with the butt of short
gun, and said when he hit him, " Dead dogs tell no
tales," so he fell over and perished.'
" There were two attempts made on the life of
Mr. Barton of Greenhills. Billy alwaysindignantly
denied having had anything to say to the first of
these attempts. Why, he was out of his gig,
walking quietly beside it, and is it me to miss him
in that way ! The blackguards to say that I was
such a bad shot as that ! Of the second attempt he
gave the following account There were two of
us appointed for it, but the other party failed me,
the blackguard, because he thought I was able to
do it myself. There were two roads to his house,
and I was on one of them, behind a hedge.
The other road was open, because it wasn't a
safe road to do anything on. The way we were to
know had he came home was by a light in the win-
dow of his house, for we had a friend in it ; and if the
light was to be put out, then we were to know that
lie_had come home. Well, I was. watching the light
every now and then, and I was - listening for • the
horse's steps, and it was a terrible cold night. I
had a bottle of whisky with me, so I took a long
drink to get some warmth into me; and before I
had the bottle down from my mouth I heard the
trot of the horse, and I laid down the bottle in a
hurry, and put my gun through the hedge. But
between the whisky and the slapping of the
branches across my face, my sight spread a little, so
I could not take steady aim--z-that was what saved
him, for I only took off two of his fingers.'
" One story somewhat to the credit of the
wretched man we must add, There was a game-
keeper whom he considered his friend, .and when
this person was threatened by some of the White-
feet, Billy interposed in his behalf, but he did so
after a characteristic fashion. He did not give the
threatened man notice, much less the police intelli-
gence, of what was to take place ; but he assembled
a party of his own and met in such force those

assembled to attack the gamekeeper, that the latter
were discomfited and obliged to desist from their
attempt.

" This is enough about Delaney's crimes.
We may add something about the state of his con-
science in his latter days. When asked if lie did
not think himself a very bad man, he would reply,
God help me, sir, I'm very bad—l took an oath
against drink before the altar, and it was not
long till I broke it, and that was very bad.' Yes,
Billy,' his interrogator might say, ' but it's not
about drink I am now speaking, but about the mur-
ders you were concerned in. Were not they very

bad crimes ?' His reply to this on one occasion was
very peculiar. Well, sir, I don't know about that.
You see, sir, liwas a. very
.handy fellow aboutAret
arras, and the people had a Tory great respect 'or
me on that account, so they put me on every wick

edness that was to be done.' Notwithstanding
these attempts at extenuating his guilt, we have
reason to believe that he felt to some extent the
wickedness of his career. Ile refused in later life,
as we have mentioned, to have anything to ,say to
the people who got up. the murders of Hoyne and
Mortimer; and on one occasion, having got some
idea that another life was in danger, he endeavoured
to put the intended victim on his guard. On this
occasion he said—' God knows it is not for any re-
ward I am looking, but I don't wish to have any-
thing to say to more blood—a hundred thousand
pounds would not bribe me to do that.' He gotta
Testament, which he promised to read, and on one
occasion, we are assured, a gentleman saw him on
his knees in a field, when he supposed there was no
one looking at him. He also stated that his reason
for going into the workhouse, where he died the
other day, was that he might have time for reflec-
tion.' Whether there was anything of real repen-
tance in all this the Great Day alone can tell."

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Sept. 27.

WESTMINSTER.—DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO
MURDER A HUSBAND.—Elizabeth Waring, a dimi-
nutive woman, 30 years of age, who was committed
from this court a short time ago for a serious assault
upon another woman, was placed at the bar,
charged with the following determined attempts to
murder her husband :
George Waring, of Union-place, Castle-lane,
Westminster, hawker, whose head was enveloped
in surgical bandages, and who appeared in a very
faint and low condition, said that he had gone to
bed in prisoner's absence on Saturday night and
fallen fast asleep, when he was awoke by a severe
pressure on his throat, and subsequently found that
the prisoner had rolled her apron round his neck,
and, tightly pulling each end, endeavoured to
strangle him. He tried to speak, but could not,
but by a violent effort rose up partially, and, by
inflicting a blow on her eye, released himself. He
then called out, and a young man in the next room
came to his assistance. Prisoner immediately went
out, and he shortly afterwards got into bed again
and fell asleep. How long he remained undis-
turbed he could not say, but was awoke by feeling
blood: streaming from his head, forehead, and
fingers, and found that he had been attacked by
his wife with a 51b. stone bottle.
Mr. Arnold inquired whether he saw his wife
when he awoke the second time ?
Prosecutor replied she was in the room, and he
saw her run out.
Mr. Arnold asked whether she had anything in
her hand ?
Prosecutor answered, she had part of a stone
bottle, which was smashed to pieces. When she
left his sleeping room he got out of bed, and while
the blood was pouring from his wounds, she threw
two large earthenware vessels at him from the
door, which were dashed to pieces against the wall.
An alarm was then given, the police came in, and
he was taken to the hospital.
By the Magistrate—She was not sober. She
drinks very often.
Henry Gear, 252 B, said that at three in the
morning he was attracted to 2, Union-place by the
cries of " Murder" and " Police." He found prose-
cutor leaning against the street-door, bleeding pro-
fusely from the head. He said his wife had cut
him with a bottle. On examining the bed he found
a pool of blood, and there were parts of a broken
glass bottle, a broken stone bottle, and earthenware
vessels on the floor. The prisoner was intoxicated.
In answer to an inquiry from the Bench witness
said there was blood on part of the stone bottle.
When he apprehended the prisoner, and told her
what she was charged with, the only reply she
made was, that they had had words together.
The following certificate was handed in :
" This is to certify that George Waring is an in-
patient of this hospital, afflicted with two scalp
wounds. " PONSONBY KELLY ADAIR.

" Westminster Hospital, Sept. 27."
The prisoner was remanded till Wednesday.
CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER.—Edmund Galley,
a man about 25 years of age, described as a journey-
man carpenter, was charged with the manslaughter
of Sampson Stroud, also a journeyman carpenter.
It appeared from the statement of Joseph John-
son, that on Saturday evening Stroud discovered
that his wife had run away with the prisciner or some
other man, and her husband's furniture. Upon in-
quiry of the man employed to move the goods, it
was ascertained that they had been conveyed to 36,
Graham-street, Pimlico, where apartments had been
taken in the prisoner's name. While witness and
Stroud were standing at the corner of Graham-
street, after having made this discovery, prisoner
turned the corner, apparently with the intention of
ping into the house, when Stroud, who was much
excited, went up to him and said, " What have you
done with my wife ?" and a scuffle immediately
occurred between them, both being in the act of
fighting. Prisoner, who is a very tall powerful
man, then took Stroud round the waist, swung him
round two or three times, and fell with all his
weight upon him on the ground, Stroud's head
striking on the pavement with great force. Witness
immediately pulled prisoner off Stroud and sepa-
rated them, and they then followed prisoner, who
went away down Coleshill-street, to give him into
custody. While engaged in following him, prisoner
turned round and again showed fight to Stroud,
but witness prevented it. Witness then went back
to Graham-street, to watch the house No. 36, while
Stroud, in a very excited state, went by his advice
to the station. Witness waited three-quarters of
an hour in Graham-street expecting Stroud, and
then heard that he had been taken to the hospital
and was dead.

By the Court—l cannot say who struck the first
blow. When deceased got up after falling he looked
delirious and very ghastly. He did not complain
of suffering—he had no opportunity of communicat-
ing his feelings to me, as we were running after
the prisoner. 'Witness added that while watching
in Graham-street, during Stroud's absence, he saw
prisoner let himself into the house No. 36.
Inspector Friar said that at half-past six on
Saturday evening Stroud came to the station in a
most excited state, and made a complaint to him of
the circumstances above detailed. He had not
left the station-house above a minute when
witness was told by a little boy that he had
fallen down in the street. Witness immediately
sent constables out with a stretcher, and Stroud
was picked up insensible and conveyed to the hos-
pital, but he never spoke, and was found to be dead.
Evidence was given showing that prisoner, who
had absconded, was apprehended by Birch, 208 A,
on Sunday evening at his sister's house, Grove-road,
between Holloway and Highgate. He was at first
denied by his sister, but witness forced his way into
the house, and found him in a room at the top of
the house. The constable then told him the nature
of the charge against him, but the prisoner denied
that his name was Oaticy, or that he had ary know-
ledge of Stroud. The constable then desired him
to come out to the light, and on his doing so found
he had the remainder of a neckerchief on, a piece of
which had been previously given to the officer.
Finding it useless to deny his identity any longer,
prisoner admitted that he was the man of whom
the constable was in quest, and said Stroud had
struck him first.
The accused was remanded for a week.

HAMMERSMITH.—EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF
ABDUCTION.—ROMANTIC STORY.—John Haines, a
rough-looking man, about 30 years of age, who was
described as a " brickey," was brought before Mr.
Ingham on a warrant, charged with unlawfully
taking away from her home a young girl, named
Lucy Parton Nicol, the daughter of Mr. Robert
Nicol, the landlord of the Elgin Arms, in the Elgin-
road, Notting•hill.
The complainant, an interesting-looking young
woman, who had all the appearance of being 18
years of age, deposed that she would be 16 on the
20th January next. She had known the prisoner
about 14 months: He was formerly in her lather's
service as
.potman, and he left in April last. In
the following July she was passing the Planta-
tion-road, near her father's house, when. she met
the prisoner, who took her by the hand, and
led her amongst some trees. They sat down
together, and he then accomplished his pur-
pose. She did not scream, although he forced
her backwards. She met him frequently after
that time, and he asked her if she would leave
home and go with him. He also said if she would
go with him he would take care of her. She refused
to leave home, or to go with him. In the beginning
of the present month she again saw him, and he
gave her some beer. She then promised to meet
him in the fields, and she went out for that purpose.
She waited a long time, and she was about going
home, when he came up, and said she must go with
giddey, drank
and
everything beenhad
him. She believed the beer sh
drugged, for she felt very
sensesappeared
she
found to becomerds
ea
walkinglf . Vl ien
withsh e r
himec ioverielcivihmel:
holt Scrubbs, and she then said that she would go
home. He said she should not, but go with him,
and that if she told anything about the matter he
would either shoot or stab her. She then went
quietly with hi
house kept by 7Ain
rtso.
iFt
nusleh a in ,T
hand
h head t osoukppheerr, taon
da
remained up till one o'clo.ck in the morning. She
slept with two girls, and the prisoner with Mrs.
Rose's brother. In the morning prisoner took her
out, and the intimacy was renewed. They then
Went home to breakfast, and slie-remained there for
another night, and left with hire. on Saturday. He
then took her td- Brentford,• afterwards to Shep- •
Slerd's-bush, and' they. reinained*.tiliOnt fife field
until Sunday morning, when he took her home.
The prisoner declared that he did not take he