The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-06 00:00:00

THE WESTMEATH RIBAND OUTRAGE.

Tne following additional particulars are from the
Dublin Mail of Wednesday. Saunders's Newsletter
of Thursday morning states that Mr. Jessop has
died of his wounds :—" We have just learned that
the unfortunate Jessop still survives, but with little
or no hope of his recovery. The assassin has not
yet been captured, but we understand that the
authorities have been furnished with a clue to his
detection. His escape would be a matter of im•
possibility if the feeling of the inhabitants were in
a healthy state. This, howeVer, we are sorry to say,
is far from being the case, the sympathies of poor
Jessop's neighbours being entirely with the would-
be murderer. The land, for being in possession of
which Jessop was doomed to death, was some years
since held by a farmer named Ryan, who, finding
his circumstances much redue;d by the occurreneco
of the famine years, and being apprehensive o
eviction for non-payment of rent, disposed of his
good-will of the land to Mr. B. Delaney, a magis-
trate at that time residing in the neighbourhood.
Mr. Delaney, after having held the farm fir some
years, removed to another county and determined
to surrender it to the landlord, having previously,
as we are informed, had substantial reasons for
believing that he could not, with safety to his own
life, let it to anybody but a relation of the former
possessor. Pending the final surrender of the farm,
Mr. Delaney let it in conacre to Edward Kelly, who
was not many months in possession when he was
foully murdered at his own door. His widow con-
tinued to hold the land until she had secured the
growing crops, which were gathered under the
superintendence of a body of police armed with
muskets and bayonets, the relatives of Ryan, the
former occupier, ostentatiously assisting in reap-
ing the corn. The crops being secured, Mrs.
Kelly was only too glad to get rid of the farm,
which was then formally given up to the owner,
Mr. Smythe, of Drogheda. No sooner was it known
that the farm was again to be let than the Ryans
posted written requests' (not notices) to all per-
sons whom they deemed likely to become candidates
for the tenancy, including several respectable gen-
tlemen, asking them not to compete for the land.
It would appear that the hint was understoo3, for
the Ryans were not opposed by their immediate
neighbours. Poor Jessop, of Tyrrellspass, however,
a stranger and a Protestant, was rash enough to
offer himself as a tenant a few months ago ; and,
unfortunately for himself, he was accepted. Had
he remained in his former district he would have
There escaped the blunderbuss of the assassin. is
reason to believe that the murder of Jessop was not
only deliberately planned, but that the Riband
judgment was well known throughout the neigh-
bourhood for a considerable time before it was put
into execution. The market of Kilbeggan last
Saturday was one of the most crowded which has
been known for months past, and the numbers
returning to their houses in the afternoon was pro-
portionately large. It was about three o'clock p.m.
when Jessop left the town, and proceeded home-
wards on the high road leading to Mullingar. He
must have been marked in Kilbeggan by his
enemies, and closely watched on his return by the
assassin, whom he had more than once remarked
walking near him. The spot selected for the
murder was apparently chosen far the facilities
it afforded for escape. The road is bounded on the
one side by a low wall, in which is a stile com-
municating with a large pasture field containing
30 or 40 acres. Here it was that the assassin
approached his victim so closely that the clothes of
dtheeroluasttwereawpoenre. burnedH
He
fell obnyhi
tshkenefierse;
but,ofthgeuitnekulry-
recovering himself, he endeavoured to pursue
the man who shot him. But the poor fellow knew
nAoetentrinhdatahe had other enemies to contend with.
to his own account, no sooner had he
risen from his knees than a farmer, who was re-
turning from the market with a load of corn,
rapidly
drew his horse and cart across the path of
the wounded man, so as to obstruct his view of the
assassin until he had escaped over the wall, and
was beyond the range of Jessop's pistol. A man
is in custody, as an accessory after the fact, sup-
posed to be the person who screened the murderer.
We have now to record an occurrence still more
disgraceful. Immediately before Jessop was shot
eeralwthays
fianrmtheresadcit.nvoef
weapon—in
—perhapspresenting
his
the mutwrdoetw•
ut nh e
ylg car, the other in a gig.
past, one on
os
af
wt hje e
sbs loupn df ea rl uusns
d,
thenth e they
Thetur nye dh eartheird heads,tae .reporta
' --they
tpreocteeemdepdnromn.y barrack,theirwa adjoining Jessop s Nay,. more, they
passed the
house, and they did
id
thenot
shootingreport t o
ofththee policeman whom th at
they had witnessed
those police were appointed to protect. However,
after driving a mile and a-half further they called
at the police barrack in fthte ehvtlfloaugle
doefedßawllhinieahghoraed.;
and gave information o
cur Meantime, the other
f
eyes.o n his way home, leaving
occurred e dhabdefpor re oee thedeiL
poor wounded Jessop to struggle as he best could
to reach his dwelling, fully half a mile distant. We
believe it is an undoubted fact that he was passed
on the road by several other persons, not one of
whom offered to assist him. How he ultimately
reached his house is not yet known ; but, notwith-
standing the desperate nature of his wound, he did
succeed in crawlin g home just before the arrival of the
Ballinagore police, who at once procured medical
assistance and gave notice to the neighbouring ma-
gistrates. There is every reason to believe that the
three formerB to whom we have alluded were not

__._.,............................a.....................1'
1 the only persons who saw Jessop shot. There must
have been many others returning from the market,
and it is known that several labourers arid women
were at work in the adjoining fields, who could
hardly have failed to witness the outrage and the
escape of the assassin. And it is gathered from
poor Jessop's incoherent and half-delirious expres-
sions that he entreated two passers-by to help him
to his home, and was coldly refused ! It is reported
that the sacrifice of Jessop as resolved on, not
merely because he became the tenant of the farm
for occupying which his predecessor was murdered,
but also as a lesson to a neighbouring proprietor,
some of whose tenants were under notice to quit on
the Ist of May. If this be true, we fancy the con-
spirators have reckoned without their host, for the
gentleman to whom we allude is said to be a man
not easily intimidated."