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

One of the Strangest Crimes i'm His
tOry-The Wanderers sturdy, But
Half-SavaEe DwelIers in Family
Hamlet, and Ruled After the An
cicnt PatrinrchaI Fashion.
From the New York Sun.
In the Irish papers received in yester-
days mail are accounts Of one of the
most remarkable crimes that has ever
come to light. 1t is the killing of James
Cunningham at Lisphelan, county Ros-
common, Ireland, about three weeks ago.
Lisphelan is a family hamlet of seven
houses, in which the Cunninghams, to
the number of about thirty-five. live, pre-
serving a latter-day style of patrarchal
government. The head of the family Is
Patrick Cunningham, a widower, and il
was his eldest son who was murdered all
the rest of the family being implicated
in the killing. His death was the result
of a strange mania which took the form
I of supersutious hysteria.
All the Cunningham family are of gi-
gantic hight and strength. No puny or
understood child has ever survived its in
fancy in Lisphelan, and gossip of the
county has 1T that the old Spartan law
! in this matter is followed by the Cum
ninghams. The seven families, each or
which has its own house, have intermar-
| ried to an extent that has involved re-
lationships in a hopeless tangle. Farm
| ing is the occupation of all except James,
the dead man, who was a cobbler They
are woefully ignorant speaking a dialect
| SO debased that even the nearby peas
| antry, whose own language has to an ex-
! tent been infected by the bastard tongue
/ of their neighbors, have difficulty often
! in understanding it. Instead of being vol
/ liable and light-hearted, like most of the
county Roscommon peasants, the Cum
! ninghams are silent, stern and morose
| They are also deeply religious. Their
| great physical strength makes them fear
| ed, and because of the jealousy with
| which they guard their family life from
! intrusions they have fallen under the ban
of suspicion among their neighbors In
Lescarron, the nearest town, which is
the ''black Cunninghams'-who are not
black but fair, for the most part-main-
tain unholy alliance with evil spirits.
1t appears that the dead man was the ag-
gressor in the fight that led to his death
About three weeks ago he developed
strange habits of walking back and forth
in the fields talking to himself and ges-
ticulating. Whatever the ailnent was it
was transmitted, by nervous contaeion IN
doubtedly, to the other members of the
household, Patrick, Jr., John, and Mich
ael his brothers. and his sister Bridget
TheY twitched and Jerked like persons af-
fected with ST. Vitus's dance William
Cunningham who lived in the next house.
advised sending for a doctor, but the pa
1T is the. bad spirit upon him Send for
the priest"
So William sent for both priest and doc
tor with the physician James would have
nothing to do, but the priest succeeded in
calming him. Before leaving he exhorted
the familysnot to give way to foolish SUI
perstitions, but to attend to their deyo-
lions regularly. and above all to note care
fully any increase of the affection in
James and let him know of it Immediately
AS matters turned out there was
no opportunity to let him know
la
it was on Tuesday. March 7. In a few days
thereafter James seemed to be better. He
still walked much alone, but was ration
al in conversation and did not gesticulate
and talk to himself. so much. On Friday
he went into his cobbler's shop to work as
usual. At the call of his father he came
in with the rest for the evening prayer,
and, kneeling down near the big fireplace
began to tell his beads. Suddenly he threw
his rosary into the fire, sprang at the
throat of his father. throwing him to the
floor, and began to throttle him.
The whole family came to the patriarch's
rescue, dragged the maddened son away,
and thrust him into an adjoining bedroom
What happened then will probably never
be known, rs the Cunninghams are evil
there is ground for the dreadful sus-
picion that the other members of the fam
ily acting ting. perhaps; under under the same
mined to kill him as a devil. This much is
known, that he was slain with the instru-
ments brought from his cobbler's shop at
the other end of the house. All the evil
/ dences show that it was a terrible fight
The dead man was unrecognizable when
found so terribly battered was his face
His neck was slashed in a dozen places
and any one of the many stab wounds in
his breast would have been sufficient to
stabbed through. Nor did his slayers es-
cape. Every one of the family, when ar
raigned for trial, showed some mark of
the battle-a knife wound, bruised face
or the mark of teeth.
No sound of the battle was heard in
II was fought with that silent fierceness
that have made all the Liaphelan people
feared for miles around. At midnight,
four hours after it was all over, terror
fell upon the slayers. With one accord
they burst from the house, ran to William
Cunninghams, and, falling on their knees,
begged in the name of God to be admitted,
crying out that there were a thousand
devils in their home. Terrified by their
cries, William hesitated. Then the patri-
arch gave the order:
Break in the door"
At the word the men battered the door in
and entered Meantime Bridget Cunning
ham had broken and crawled through a
Have no fear" said the patriarch to
williams family, who had run out into
the main room, frightened by the noise
I'VE left him dead. The devils have come
"Where is James?'' cried William. 'sYou
have killed him? What have you killed
I'VE have killed devil" said Michael,
shortly. There is no danger now Our
place is full of devils"
All were twitching and writing con-
tinually, and from time to time they ut
tered short cries as If involuntary. Will
liam and his family sat up all night, fear
ing a further murderous outbreak on the
part of the visitors, but they were peace
able enough. Twice during the night the
patriarch called upon them TO go down
upon their knees in thanks to the virgin,
who had spared them and given them
power to Stay the evil spirit which had
| taken up its abode in James body. In
| formation was sent TO the police in the
rnnrninr and pairlck CUNNINGHAM the