The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-05

elder. with all his immediate family was
arrested. BY order CT the patriarch ali
went peaceably TO the Jail. but al milnight
on Saturday. exactly the same hour when
on the previous night they had run from
the devils that infested their house. they
raised a terrible cry, tore the bar from
strength. and were only overcome when
a dozen cOnstahles with clubs attacked
them and drove them back All that ul-ht
they prayed and shriekcd, the burden of
their terror being that devils and inns
were after them At the inquest held al
Lisphelan. the father testified i'm his bar
barous dialect. helped out 10y an intcr-
prefer. that his son James had first at
tackled him and then the others so fercelv
that they were forced to kill him TO pre-
serve their own lives.
when ne was dead and the devil gone
from him" he testified. Il heard a voice
from the loft cry out, Look out for your
has been tOrmcnting US. He came 10 look
after his own. Well for us that we killed
the man that was my son. for the devil
had entered into him. Unless We had
done il other devils would have come
10 seize on us all. for the devil that was i'm
him would have had our lives When the
prayer was going up to heaven. the devil
in him became mad and seized me bv
the throat and dragged me toward the
fire. That proves ii was devil and not
my SON."
William Cunningham. the neighbor. de-
posed that the patriarch was his uncle.
and then went into further details OF
family relationship that utterly confused
Coroner Bourke. Bidder to let the rela-
tionship go and tell what he knew Of the
nights occurrences, he told of the COM
ing of the Cunninghams to his house
They called out in the name of God, f."
he depOsed. that / might know there
were no devils IN them; but I feared ana
would not let them in They broke the
door down. They were making strange
motions and noises all the night IL was
because they had been near the devils
in the house"
The witness applied to the dead man a
strange word, which some of the peas
ants said meant IAN innocent while otn-
ers translated il devil worker After
hearing other testimony, the coroncr's
jury brought in a verdict that deceased
was done to death by his friends i'm SELF
defense" The family was taken under
police guard and a special guard from
the Lancashire Fusileers TO Tulamorc,
where the county prison is. Crowds gain
cred to see them and wondered al their
great stature and wild appearance. Each
was separately handcuffed and bound
loosely about the knees.
They had not washed nor changed their
clothing since the killing, and their
clothes and faces were stained with their
own blood and that of the dead man. No
such band was ever before seen In Tulla-
more. While awaiting trial the prisoners
are confined in separate cells As far as
can be ascertained, no one Of the Iisphei-
an settlement has ever before been
charged with any serious crime, although
the Cunninghams had a reputation as ter
rible fighters. Everything goes to show,
however, that they have always inclined
toward peace and quiet. OF their piety
there can be no doubt.
A few cases analogous TO this murder
are preserved in Irish criminal records.
though none is so remarkable MS an evil
dence of hysterical mania communicated
from one person to another. The Cleary
homicide in Tipperary Is an instance A
husband. aided by his neighbors, both men
and women, burned his wife to death over
a fire built for that purpose. The murder
ers then hid the corpse. When arrested
they claimed that the woman was pos
sessed of a demon which they had en-
deavored to drive ont by the method APP
proved in legend. In this case, however,
there was some doubt of their motives.
Another case, and one in which supersti-
ton was doubtless the cause of the crime,
was the Clonmel murder in 1884; the roast
ing of peasant woman's deformed child,
while she was away, by two other women
who believed the child to be a changeling.
They put the child on red-hot shovel,
expecting to see It fly away and a straight
child appear on the shovel cooled to re-
ceve it. AS in the Cunningham tragedy,
the Clonmel women and the Cleary muir
derers were deeply religious.