The Osceola times., 1882-12-16
The Burning of the SheaS--A Wild
Revenge.
Horrors seen by Woman who was Driven
Blackcst Crimes In ireland.

known in the blood-stained pages Of Irish
history as "rhe burning OF the Sheas."
On the morning of the 20th of November,
1921, the remains of the house of Patrick
Shea, q farmer, exhibited an appalling
sight. The dwelling had been consumed
by fire on the preceding night. A few
smoking rafters were all that remained
of the matched roof The walls had given
way and stood gaping in rents through
which could be seen the dreadful effects
of the devouring element The door was
burned to its hinges, and the bodies of
no less than sixteen human beings lay to-
gether, mass of burned flesh. The door
having been closed when the flames
broke out, the inmates Of the dwelling
precipitated themselves against it, and
mutually counteracted their efforts to
burst into the open air. The house was
small one, and every individual rushed
to the main entrance, where they
PERIsHED IN DESPAIR.
Here they lay piled upon each other,
those who were uppermost being burned
to the bones, while those beneath them
were only partially consumed: the melt
ed flesh running from the heap of car
casses in black streams along the floor.
One of those wholived in the house was
Catherine Mullaly. She had been mar
ried but year. Her body was not found
among those at the door, but OH advanc-
ing further into the house her corpse was
found alone, and its position accounted
for her separation from the group of the
dead. A tub of water stood beside her
in which was found the body of the child
to which she had given birth while the
flames were raging about her. She had
placed the babe, as soon as born, in the
water, in the hope of preserving it. She
had succeeded only in preserving its
limbs, for the body was perfect with the
exception of the head, which was held
above the water and entirely burned
away. The young mother was found near
the tub, with the skeleton of the arm
with which she had held her child hang
ing over it,
Merciful heaven Born in flames
Sent into the world in the midst of a fiery
furnacel Entering life in the flames that
swept round an expiring mother! What
must have been her agony when she felt
her offspring consumed by the fire with
which she was surrounded
There is nothing in the records of hor-
ror that can exceed this. But as the crowd
of spectators gazed upon this scene, no
pity filed their breasts, no tears trickled
down the cheeks of the so-called softer
sex. No; men and women alike looked
on the dread spectacle of human misery
and murmured aloud to one another that
"William German was
At LAST REvENGEDV
When the news of this dreadful event
reached Dublin it produced wonderful
sensation. II was first believed that the
burning of the Sheas was the result of
that confederacy by which the peasantry
had regulated the taking Of lands, and
that rs the previous tenant, one William
German, had been elected by the Sheas
against the will of the people, the house
had been set on fire. But it was wonder
ed what object there could have been in
destroying so many persons who We're
innocent of crime, and were only servants
in the employ of the occupying farmer
Notwithstanding large reward was of
fered by the government, no information
was obtained us to the real facts, and
gradually il came to be believed that the
fire had been accidental William Cor
man was peasant who had originally
held the house where the Sheas resided
lie was the under tenant and held the
lowest place in those numerous grada-
tions of tenure into which almost every
field in Ireland is divided and subdivided;
for the Sheas were not middlemen in the
strict sense of the word, but stood them
selves at great distance from the head
proprietor of the estate but they were
the immediate landlords of German.
The more remote the mead landlord the
heavier the weight with which oppression
falls on the occupier of the soil. The
owner of the fee presses his lessee, who
bears down upon the tenant who derives
from him, and he in his turn crushes his
own immediate slave-tenant. And if, as
often happens in this long concatenation
of vassalage there are even other inter-
ventions of estate, the occupier of the soil
is fairly ground to atoms. William Cor
man was
SHOWN no MERCY,
the whole dread machinery of the law
being put in action against him. He was
driven from his home, and left without
roofor any shelter; without food, stripped
of all his possessions. The wretched vic
tim turned at bay, and made an appeal
TO the league of peasants with whom he
was associated. Ii was determined by
them that the Sheas should die.
In, the neighborhood of the Sheas. at
the foot of Slievenamen, there was low
mountain resort kept by one Mary Kelly
and her husband. 1t was called she
been house." Mary Kelly and Catherine
Mullaly were cousins, Catherine being
servant to the Sheas. The head of the
league Of peasants was a bold ruffian
named Maher. After determining upon
the murder of the sheas Maher began