Norwich bulletin., 1915-01-27
FAMOUS TRIALS
TRIAL OF THE FENIAN coNsPIRA-
 TORS,

 On the afternoon of Dec 13, 1S67 an attempt was made to blow up the outer walls of the House of Detention time two persons, named Burke and Casey charged with being implicated in the F'enian conspiracy, were con- 1 fined, with a view. as 1t afterward ap- peared, to effect their deliNeranCe. The explosion caused the death and In- persons were at once taken into GUS 1 tody, charged with being implicated in the crime: Timothy Desmond, Jeremiah Allen and Ann Justice. The he1lsion, made a determined effort to strangle herself in her cell, which was however unsuccessful
 As in the case of other movements l of the Fenian fraternity, there were l traitors in their camp on this oc- 1 casion, and information of the in tended operation was secretly con veyed to the authorities, although | they failed to take advantage of the l full notice which they received
 The following day the others ap- l prchended, besides the three already 1 named. were William Desmond, 1 Nicholas English, John Mullany and
 John O'Keefe. They were brought i u1 for examination on the same day 1 and were committed for trial at the ] Central Criminal Court, with the ex- 1 ception Of A1ullany This trial took l place on the goth of April. 1868, be- 1 fore Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and 1 Mir. Baron BramWeil
 The charge made against them held 1 them for the murder of Sarah Ann l Hodgklnson, who had been one of ] he victims of the Clerkenwell out ] rage. Tho attorney general and the 1 other able attorneys, appeared for l tho prosecution, while the prisoners had an equally strong array of 1 counsel
 At the opening of the case it was ! related how on the 20th of November l 1867, Richard Burke and man named | Casey had been arrested as being 1 Fenlan c0nsDirators and were impris- l oned and that the recent conspiracy 1 and explosion had been the result of the Fen;an Brotherhood attempt to release them. Mulany was not tried, 1 TOT the reason that he turned States evidence. and naturally he was the chief witness against the prisoner and ] was the first one called. He stated in complete detail how the plot had been matched and carried out and as a ] number of witnesses were present to 1 swear as to the identity of the men in connection with the gunpowder plot, the case for the prosecution was soon terminated. There was no evil denCe to hold Ann Justice further than that she was acquainted with
 several of the prisoners. and curios-
 ity as to what was going on had brought her to the prison and got her into an embarrassing position, consequently she was released.
 Then each attorney for a prisoner took up his specific case and pre- sented an argument to the court 1 showing how their client was wrong 1 fully accused. This led to the ac- quittaI of O'Keefe. Then the attor- ney general addressed the jury on . --la -l l. 1.s- charge to the jury. He said the evil dence of the alleged conspiracy to
 release Burke rested upon the evi- dence of Mullany, and he must Un- doubtedly be looked upon as an ac- l complice in the act that had been done.
 At the conclusion of his speech the 1 jury retired in deliberation for two thOurs and a half. When they re- ! turned their Iordships were sent for , the prisoners were placed in the 1 dock and the foreman gave the fol- 1 lowing verdict, that William Des-
 mond, Timothy Desmond and Nicho- 1 las English were not guilty, but that l Michael Barrett was guilty, where 1 upon the three prisoners first named
 were removed from the dock, and
 BGrrett, on being asked ais usual. il , he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced | made an able and eloquent speech and the Lord Chief Justice, after ex-
 pressing his concurrence in the yer 1 dict of the pury, passed sentence o1 death upon the prisoner.
 Barrett was executed at Newgate
 Prison on May 6,2 following the trial. At the trial a desperate ef- fort was made to prove an alibi fo1 1 him, and several witnesses were call
 ed who swore that he had been ir f Glasgow at the time of the exposior
 at the jail.
 . The year 1863 was an eventful one [ for the F'enians. On the 12th of F'eb- ? ruaTy 67 Fenians were arrested ir | Liverpool: on Feb. 16. Capt. Moriarity
 and others were captured in Kerry on March 4, the Fenian General Mas.
 sey was captured; on March they 2 rose in Cork, and on the Tth in Dublin ) at the latter POS prisoners being talk . en.
 On April g. 250 Fenians were placed
 on trial, May 1 Burke and Doran were T sentenced to death. During Augus and September many imprisoned
 Fenians were released and sent tC [ America. On Sept. 19. 23 Fenians were 3 tried for the murder of a policeman il 5 1 Manchester, five of whome were sen.
 fenced to death: and on Dec. 31, 1. Feniars were captured at Merthyl E TydviI in Wales. Aside from tiest 9 arrests there were many others anC
 a number of the leading Irish news papers were suppressed for sedition.