The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-10 00:00:00

MORNING SUN,

- _
THE BURNING ALIVE AN IRISH

MANIAC.

[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the
strong expressions used in the following article,
which has been communicated to us by a Corre-
spondent. Were the assumed facts true, no lan-
guage could be too strong to express our horror
of so dreadful a crime; but to believe them with-
out further evidence is impossible. Still a ter-
rible mystery hangs over the death of the poor
maniac, which it is the duty of the Irish Govern-
ment to clear up. Appended to the article of
our respected Correspondent are the latest ac-
counts on the subject which have appeared in the
papers.—En. Sun.]
We lately adverted to the atrocious mur-
der ofa poor idiot in Ireland, by a party of in-
carnate demons, described in the newspapers as
Ew2;lish military t;entlemen, and we again advert
to it because we have not heard that the 1ri.7.11
lovernment has yet taken any marked steps to
Ming the fiendish criminals to justice. There
was a time, indeed, when to have tarred,
feathered, and roasted a poor Irish peasant,
\vas a recreation of which officers of any rank
in Ireland were rarely denied the indulgence
by the authorities at the Castle; but we tell
Lords DL GREY and ELIOT that such times are
for ever past, and that were Ireland passively to
submit to the unpunished perpetration of such
an inhuman crime as we have recorded in our
(!olunins, the justly roused vengeance of England
and Scotland would pursue and overtake the
criminals. This is an outrage which must not be
hushed up. In the sacred names of justice, of
humanity, and of our country's honour, we de-
mand the fullest investigation into all the parti-
culars of this horrid murder. We insist, more-
over, upon the fullest publicity being given to
them. What are the alleged facts A poor
idiot, upon whose soul Heaven never reflected
the light of reason, and therefore an object of
commiseration to his poor countrymen, is seized
by a number of demons usurping the designa-
tion of men—of gentlemen forsooth !—and wear-
Mg the costume of British officers, and by them
steeped in turpentine and oil, set on fire, and
actuAlly burned to death ! Such is the account
published in the Dublin papers—in journals
every morning to be found at the break-
titst tables of the VICEROY and Irish Se-
cretary. Yes, iu the nineteenth century,
in the heart of a Christian country, and un-
der the boasted civilized and civilizing sway
of a Tory Administration, wretches calling thkan-
selves gentlemen, and wearing the QUEEN'S
livery, roasted to death a poor idiot, and, as the
local journals tell us, with quite a conviction on
their_part that not a hair of their heads would
suffer for it. Now, indeed, we can fully under-
stand the O'CONNELL cry for equal justice. In
Ear,dand no man can flog a donkey with impu-
nity ; in Ireland a scarlet coat purchases a sort of
taal t, permission to burn to death a fellow-creature.
Rat this must not be. The flames which en-
veloped the limbs, and drank the blood of this
poor idiot, ascended to the Throne of Gun, cry-
ing aloud for vengeance upon Ins murderers.
The Government is bound to prosecute the in-
quiry with the utmost diligence. Reports are
circulate& that the criminals, by the distri-
bution of • money, have withheld witnesses
from attendance at the inquest, so that the
verdict of that tribanal over the ashes of
time murdered mail is universally denounced
(:reland as a mockery. As the character of
the military is mi:“al up with this appalling
crime, and as the officers chiefly accused ara
said to be Ec.g.lishinen, we call upon the British
army to hasten to wipe this stain from its honour
by co-operating with the Government in drag-
into the lurid light of everlasting infamy
the cowardly perpetrators of so foul a murder.

(from the Dublin Eveniny Mail of Jan. 5.)

With respect to the terrible outrage said to
lw.ve been committed in the King's County, at
the house of a gentleman, and by certain Eng-
offieers, by means of which it is alleged that
► idiot-boy lost his life under circumstances of
71.2: and revolting barbarity-, it appears
Coroner's jury was legally assembled—
br,:l.v was viewed by the members of
..iquest—that medical practitioners were
ex:uninel as to the cause of the death of the de-
cea.ed, and that a unanimous verdict was re-
turned, tieclaring that the boy had " died by
the vi!;itation of God." We are quite confident
that the Monitor, in the columna of which
this dreadffil story first originated, will cis justice
to %air common nature and our common coun--
try-, by fully contradicting so horrible and dread-
fuL a statement as that it put forward—namely,
that any set of gentlemen, or of human beings,
e )uld be found capable of anointing the body of
a poor simpleton and idiot with oil of turpentine
—of setting fire to the inflammable matter, and
burning the wretched victim to death—and this
fo r amusement !! Indeed, we think that so deep
at Id so unpopular a sensation has the occurrence
woduced, that it would be well if the law officers
o the Crown—who by the way are, in conjunc-
tion with the Government, charged by the fac-
tions press with screening the alleged delinquents
from punishment—to call upon the Coroner tbr
his notes of the trial and findin4, and publish the
report—not in their own vindication from a charge
so foul, but for the satisfaction of the public, and
the credit of the country.

flpp!

(From the Dublin Pilot of Jan. 5:)

'llh Government organ of last night has the
foil wing confirmation of the acconws that have
already appeared of the Philipstown tragedy,
which has been fittingly described as the most
brutal and inhuman murder on record :

An inquest was held so far back as the 19th
ultimo, by the Coroner of that district and a re-
spectable jury, numbering '2l bonos et legales
n es, on the body of a person named Fiana-
,,m who died on the preceding day in conse-
so
(Fictive of extensive injuries, by fire, received on
the .I.lth of said month, in two houses of William
Mu g an, Esq.. near Philipstown.
Alter examining several witnesses, and amongst
them the brother and sister of the deceased, with
two, medical gentlemen ofthe Philipstown dispen-
sar4-, who attended Flanagan during his illness,
the jury unanimously returned a verdictof " Ae-
eid.ntal Death."

(-From the Dublin Evening Post of Jan. 6.)

'!'his article- shall be confined to the foul mitr-

der s:! id to have been committed at Philipstown,
;iOll for which we have already twice called the
puliiie attention. It was only on Saturday last
a :it we first noticed it, expressing, in the part of
ti'e paper where the detail was given, on the
atthority of a contemporary—very truly— our
(E.,:belict at the time, of the fiendish atrocity of
the parties who perpetrated the murder. Sub-
sequent inquiry, however, satisfied us that the
,statement was not overcharged—and we so ex-
pre.sed -eurselves in a shurt paragraph on the
same evening. That we had not been made,
01. i!t:(1 Hot made ourselves previously ac-

.
qtainted with the fact, arose from the indis-
position.of crime-hunting, and of our natural in-
credulity -subsequently at the recital of such hot.-
. Besides, we took it for granted, if such
it event ;:ad taken place, the Government would
necessarily he infintned of the circumstance, and
would take prompt measures for the apprehen-
sion of the murderer, or murderers, if there were
more than one, and placing them safely for trial
in the felons' gaol of the county where the foul
deed was committed. The reader, therefore,
may judge of our surprise when we learnt from
the Evening Mail of Monday—speaking evi-
dently about the matter on authority—that Go-
vernment had received no account at all of the
matter up to Saturday night last!
Upon this tact we expressed no little surprise
in our last. The murder, we now learn for the
first time, was committed on the 11th ult., the
victim of the hellish crime died, we are told, on
_the I9th, and the Mail of the 3d inst. tells us,
: that the Government knew nothing of the facts
on the Ist of the present month. This is a most
extraordinary statement—and well night we ask
has Lord De Grey abdicated his function—has
Lord. Eliot been writing r:gtnaroles, or Squire
Lucas fashioning his face betbre a looking-glass,
into the most approved lineaments of wisdom ?
A murder is committed forty-seven miles from
town, and twenty days at least have passed over
1i(love the Government 'ever heard a word upon
the !,it'.!jez.:t. Vigilant and active Administration!
-w,, are told by the Parket in thief's Latin,
that an inquest was held on the body of a per-
son, named Flanagan(the idiot boy), on the 19th
ult.—that he had died of extensive injuries by
fire, received on the llth preceding, in two
Alktiiits of NV.Magan, Esq., near Philipstown.
...r..t, ee
eaty are informed, moreover, that the Jury
;-"r)- - lisis..)a,d of twenty-one competent persons. It
-: i.4tiedl/4, that the. brother and sister of the de-
,......it-iimoitt• tid two medical men were examined, and
that tittle was au unanimous verdict of acciden-
AV ckttailk
, '-,„&" NYc must first inquire, who was the Coro-

rors