The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1882-01-07 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

TURBULENCE IN IRELAND. ,  Daring the past ten dap there have been many indications of the turbulent state of Ireland. At the inauguration of Mr. Dawson, M.P., as Lord Mayor cf Dublin, the Corporation refused by 18 votes to 18 to pass the customary vote of thanks to the outgoing Lord Mayor, who was hissed by the mob in the streets. At the installation of the Mayor of Cork for 1882 a scene of indescribable disorder took place, owing to the Parnellite candidate for the mayoralty having been ousted. Nobody was listened to, and sympathisers \of the opposing sections in the Council had several free fights with sticks. Mayor Galvin was installed in dumb show, and both he arid the retiring ,Mayor O'Sullivan got roughly handled. On leaving the courthouse a number of rowdies entered the late Mayor's carriage and accompanied • him. A correspondent gives the following account of an awful tragedy, of which Westmeath has been the scone. A murder, which is not agrarian, perhaps, in the ordinary sense of the word, but which is evidently the result of the spirit of lawlessness fostered by the agrarian agitation, has been committed within half-a-mile of the town of Mullingar. The crime is of an unusual character, inasmuch as the sole apparent motive is revenge. It appears that three women, widow Croughan and her two I daughters, Anne and Esther, lived alone in the house, the seene of the murder. The only male member of the family, John Croughan, a son of Mrs. Croughan, died about three months ago, her husband having been dead for many years. A servant boy named Molloy also lived on the premises. About half-past eight on Sunday morning, when Molloy had left, as usual, to deliver milk at the workhouse, a stranger, described by Mrs. Croughan as a tall, stoutly-built man, entered the kitchen where she and her younger daughter were. The latter was engaged in preparing some food for the cattle, and she herself was preparing breakfast. The stranger immediately on his entrance fired at the old woman. The shot passed over her head, pierced a plate which was on the dresser, and  fell on the floor. Anne, who was in bed in another room, hearing the shot, screamed. The intended assassin then proceeded in the direction whence the scream proceeded, and, pushing open the doors of the bedroom, fired, wounding Anne in the shoulder. She got up to follow him, but he• presented a revolver at her, and she closed the door between the kitchen and the parlour, the latter of which leads into her bedroom. The murderer then returned to the kitchen, and by this time widow Cronghan and her daughter Esther had concealed themselves in the bedreom leading off the kitchen, and placed themselves against the door separating the two apartments, so as to bar the entrance of their assailant. He endeavoured to force it open, but not Eneceed ing, he pulled out one of the panels of the door, and then fired three shots, one of which lodged under the arm of Esther, inflicting a wound which caused death to ensue in about a quarter of an hour. The murderer then withdrew. The wound received by the elder sister is not believed to be fatal. The only motive assigned for the outrage is that a man named Walsh, who had formerly been in the employment of the Cronghans, and who had been a favourite of John Croughan, the brother, claimed that John had before his death granted him the grass of a cow. This the female members of the family disputed, and the matter was before the Petty Sessions Court ten days ago. Mrs. °roughen states that Walsh threatened some time ago that neither she nor her daughters would be long in the place. Bishop Nulty referred to the occurrence on Sunday, after mass, and. said that he did not believe that the murder had been committed by any Westmeath in tn. If he believed that it had, he would never again raise his voice or hi ti pen in behalf of his country or his diocese. Unfortunately, the hardened scoundrel who committed the diabolical crime seems likely to escape the well-deserved consequences of his villany, as no arrests have been made.