Ireland.
The Times, 1824-09-01T00:00:00

I Promr he fl,1in . Post. i 1: will be in our readers' recollection. that *uring the last assi2e rcspectable man. narmed Arthur O'Keeffe. was taken irto custod and charged with the murler of the Franks' family: thaton hisax raig .ment thien, after pieading " not guilty." he moved to postpon his trial for a few day,. on the ground of the rece=ry of his appr :hension, tle impossibility of being prepared for trial, and the fact his not haling time to empiov an ucent or retaitt counsel. The pos ponement for a few davt's at the instance of the prisoner. was accor ingly g-anted, by .Mr. 'orrens. WVnen that agsize, was drawing a cinse, the Crowtn declined to proceed, and Mr. O'Keeffe, with oth individuals charged. were detained iti cusm,dv. bail being refittsed. This day (W' ednesday), after M'Connell's tnal had ended. Al Sergeant loor.D. as leading coinsel for ihe Crown. rose and stat to the Court. thtat ie lad an affidavit or Majjor C;trter'i. in wvhich (deponent) set farth, that a material and nectssary witness on beha of the Crown in rhis trial. whose namne he was. by the Crovn rsolic tor. directed to conceal, could not be produced at Lhe preserit assize but that he hadtlie best reasons for believing that he would be fort Icomisg at the next assizes. Under these circumstances. he wou move that the trial be postponed. without reqair:ng from the prisone any other security than entering into their own recognizances. The JTUDGE observed that this case did not comiie within the tern of the -labeow Corpue Act. ; lr. JACS ,ox, as counsel for the prisoner O'Keeffe, iust th came intn court, and resisting the postronement for which thie Crow contended. said it was grievous to impose any further condition on man who had been dctained in cusiodv s;nce the lastassizes, who w then, and is now. ready for trial. and who. when he then deemand to be tried, or held to bail, was still detained, even though be offer security to the amount of a thotusand pounds. Mr. Secgeant GOOLD repliew. that it was now proposed to let o ithe prisoner on his own reeoe:,izances. lSir. O'Coh' h'LL, who iust carue into Court, denied the right the Crown to conceal the name of the witness. The Crown could n postposne a trial without making out a siufficient case, and ir. ord to do that, the niame of the witness, on account of w-hose absence trial was to be postponed, should be xtated bv the Ctown. ad)d there son rwhy his attendance could not be piocured. Such were the cond itions upon which aprisuner could postpone. and he contended that Crown lav under the saiie condlitions: that the prissner was n brourcht in untii last assizes, waY no fault of his so far from a sconding, he remained openly in the country- andhe had now to con plain that without trial be had been punished by detention in priso for six months. It wa:s not a inatterof courie to send a m.an of h i station of life again into society without quashing the intdiettnen The cri me of wxhich lie stood charged was horrible in the extreme and was it nothlinl to send hint back again tO his ftiends and neig bours withou: re ieving him from such an imputation? Could habive the slightest dispute, on the most trif.ing occasion, witho being liable to be taunted with having been detained to, gaol for s -1month. atid that he might yet be hanged for the sanguinary murde sizce the indictment still retimained over him. The learned couns fLurther said, thait he could wet an affidavit to the effect that at the la tssizes there were certain indisiduals who could prove the periu of tie inf'ormner Alagner, and who were theri kept in custody byM. !jor Carter, and were now bringing actions ainsu thatgentleman. i- Sergeant (GOOLD contended, that Mlr. ('Gonnell was going out the matter before the Court. Tie evidence of the informer Ma ner was conuimied by the testimony of unim-peached wittnesses. reference to what MAr. O'Coanell had said about quashitig ti indictment, tie leamed Sergeant replied, that it had been rul that no indictment, under such circumstances, could be quashed and as to the suffering which O'KeefrIe was stated to have endure this was but the conmton lot of all who might be taken into custo without conviction. He was oniv detained from ne asslzes to a olther. Ile deeined it necessary t, protest against the doctrline th the Crown was bound to disclose the names t fwitnees;es. He sblou ne very sorrv, ia;leed. if such was the law. Nothing wvould mo defeat the adlininistiation of justice than the prevalence of Sucl i doctrine. 3ir. O' CO',NEL maintained, that it wyould promote theentas juctice if the names were disclosed. 'or instance, in this casc, they knew the name of the witness whoum MAjor Carter thought msiterial. it night be in their power to find him out and serve h ii ith a Crown summons, though not in M-1'ajor LCarter's. The prisoners, Arthur O'Keefle and the rest, were then set liberty, it being understood thiat no magistrate should issue a capt against them. EXECL'TIOy OF TEtREE ItNtE. Yesterday (Thurtiday, the 20th of August) John 1J07lan,Tirnot Ilannan (brothers), wfto were coinvicted on Tuesday for the murd of David Kilbicrew, at the tair of BlWTditif, in the county of 1W terford, but wvho resided at Araglin, near Kilworth, and John Ho ho7ne, for the murder of Denis Aluhony, at Pt.novan's Cove, in t west of this county, were executed at Gallows-;L.ecn, pursuant their sentence. Since ther were contlemned, the nmost assiduouss tentioin was besto ed on then by time Roman Catholic cergy who endeavoured to awaken in their minids a proper sense of th awful situation. But, strange to say, notwithstanding the elearn with wihich the facts were developed, and the zeal an d humiant with which the learned Judge who presided on their trials examain the several witnesses. they, as we have been infornied, at the fa moment in which this earthly scene was about to close on them ever, and when in a few mnoments they were to be ushered into resence of their God, asserted a perfect innocence of their crim To those who were present at thg trials we feel it would be usel to sav a word.in explanationi; but to those vwho bare not had t opportunity, we feel it necessary to the due administration ofjus to state, that in oar view, the guilt of the unfortunate and wretch %nen was estsblishefl in such a manner as could not leave a doubt the nmind of any one. They vrereesonrted bv a party of tbe 15th Hiaussars qnd ietaclmei, of the infantry and police. The wretched man Holohane, rh arms, it would seem, were not sufficiently secured, disengaged ti in part from the cords with which they were bound, and i his cc vulzive efForts, after being turned off, succeelbd in catching the rc with both hands by which he was suspended, and in that sicuatiro [remained for a considerable time, to the great distress Qf all pres until dleath terminated his suffierings. He was about26 years ca and one of the Hannans was about the same ,sge; the ote about 35. EXECUTION OF THlE MURDEPERS OF sIn mAutylst. At half-past five o'clock on Thursday morning, the six Prison were conducted froms the county gaol, under a strong escort cd sisding of a troop of the 3d Dragoon Guards, which had beell dered from Caher for this service, a cormpany of the 78th ni landers, and a numerous police force, under comrand of :hei r spective chief constables. On leaving the gaol, Michcai C 4 Roaert fmare,all, iUiana Deklanrty, Wit-m Phcra, and Sales, made the strongest declarations of their innocence4 buit trick Phelaan continued silent. Their language and deportment, f were ha py tO observe, evinced a juster sense of their cor)dft! than bad been before apparent, andit was gratifying to ttaee tie flaence of religious impressions in the earnestness of theidesoti., exercises. They continued to pray with fervour wldlepaahig fe, the interior of the prison, and seenied to have been tasght:a eo sponding resignation to their fate. An immense-crowd hed ctilr in front of the gaol, but we could not discover, in the conduct gusge of the wpuoacm, the operation of any feelRng u ited to* lerrnity0o?the occasion. T1he cars inwhich t,e prisonersgeatteftthie gaol, accOMP-led by the military and Police, who were drawn.up on either side,a adfollowedbymulttudes fromeve.yquarter of the city. The procesagon moved slowly from the Raol, and exhibited a striking array, The attendance of our country gentry was numcrous. As each of the culprits ascended the scafFold, (with the exception of Patrick Phelan, who observed a sullensilence,) he protested in strong terrns his innocence of the crime for which he was about to suffer. ITmnie&itelv after being tied, and previons to their caps having been put on, the Shiervif addressed Phelan, and observed to him, that he alone, Of the six unfortunate sufferers, continued silent ; he therefore exhorted hirn to disayow or acknowledge the justice of his sentence upon which Phielan replied " I have notihing to savy I'll leave it all to God Alinighty-" Upon tbe Sheriff's telling hfn' that such a de. claration was tantamount to an acknowledgment of his guilt, Phelan aain repeated wvhat we have stated above, and the caps were then drawn over their faces. Just as tiley were about to be turned off, hean deired that it mi4ht he signified to the Sheriff, that if an O%portuiiy were afforded him, he would wish to say something, W ereupon his cap was raised, and he then, with a loud voice, and Wth tnuch energy, said, " I acknowledge I had a hand in the killing of larusn- e added, that " Dwyer, the informer, had nothing t y tt, nor did he know any of the partv concerned in it." The Re. r. Gorman. one of the attending clergy, then asked him w her any of his unfortunate fellow tsfferers had heen impli- c in the murder ?" to which he replied, " They hatl nothing to W\Ze should obsere. that on thle arrival of the procession at Johnstown, they were ioined by a considerable reinforcelent of the 52 _ eagitnentand Rifle Corps. utnder the command of Lieutenant-Co- l loberts, wo that morning marched from Temnlemore for the Purpose, an the staff of the Kilkenny militia, commanded by CGp- tai Gordon. he Woole party t!,cn procee!ded to the place of exe- ction, stant about thre mile from Johnstown, and were there jotnetI byabout seventy of theQueen's County Police, making in theentidre a military fbrce of about 500 men. There were, we un- d frtand about twenty thousand s,'ectators present. Anter hanging for uppwards of half an hour, the bodies were brouight into tovwn under tile samise escort, where they arrived sooni after 11 o'clock that evenitig, atnd on the foliowingmornitw they were hatidedl over to the surgeon of the County Infirmary for dissection. IRELAND. CORK ASSIZES MT lRDEJ? OF TIUE FRAN'S 'AM ILY.