Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-12-15 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

BRP,:I-HOUSE :AND, , RASTRICK GAZETTE, -SATURD AY, DECEMBER -15, 1888  nognoournpoo, nut no did pot join. ne yaw a farm from which a nutn named A mkrson had been turned ont, and shortly afterward's. minas were fired into his house. He al-sn took some land which had bee:. left by a mail named Carline, and then five men came to him, beat him, and tired shots at lam, one ot which hit lain below the knee. _ _ _  Mr. George Scott, landed proprietor of 11:t said on the night of 4th Fehrta,y, 188!. he warmed at in his house after he had taken 1' .ir. field Farm. He returned. the nhots PEI ho t could. After that he %vas boycotted, and 4.V, up the farm a year afterwank The !tonne o. the father of a boy who worked for him was also tired into.• ' _  Joseph Hagan, farmer, of Crossmalins., also related how he was boycotted and subsequent!. shot from behind a hedge, the bollet lodging ,in his thigh. The only reason, so far as he knew., was that he had not joined the League, bit he was never asked to join. OtIno• evid met, of a similar character was taken, and the Commission adjourned.  In Mr on Mr. r.arreirs estate, and shorty attet he took it he was found shot dead on the roadside. The only reason he could assign for that was that his father had attended an eviction with. the sheriff. Cross-examined, witness said he subsequently took an evicted farm, and had his hay burned. His father was very popular up to the time of his death' and large numbers of the neighbours attended the wake. There was a police hut near his place, but it had been there for two years before the murder. Hedid not hear of any threat of outrage or murder. He heard some rumour about a policeman being charged with his father's murder. He never heard of his father visiting the police hut and drinking and playing cards there. He did not know that there was a " shebetn " house near. Be heard the policeman who was charged had been removed from the district His father was in the habit of carrying sums of money on him, but when his body was found he only had a few pence in his pocket. He did tot remember hearing a doctor say at the inquest that the bulletfound in his father's body was a military or constabulary bullet. Sir H. James here put in a letter which tire witness said was found in his father's papers. Mr. Ronan, as the only counsel who could decipher it, read portions of it. It began: "Good morrow to you friend Luke Dillon mind you attend to the words of the Shan Van Vogt." It proceeded to say that Dillon and Frank Conway were two blackguards, and should be shot for their behaviour to the poer tenants in respect to the payment of rents. It concluded by saying that when the letter was written there were 120 men present, all of wlrmi had sworn to shoot hint down, but the writer loved the first man would "have him down."  Mr. Taplow, a solicitor, said he was agent for Mr. Thompson's estate, near Killabragah, co. Cork. In 1885 he had some conversation with the tenants as to rents, and, in reply, he received a letter signed by the tenants mid purportin6 to come from the offices of the Dromma branch of the Irish National League. It was also signed by T. M. Brown and P. Quin, officials of the National League. He subsequently served writs on some of the tenants, as they said they would not pay unless they got a reduction of 30 per cent. Cross-examined by Sir C. Russell, Mr. Taplow said he had made no reduction on the estate since 1879, though the tenants had applied for a reduction. He had not given one penny of abatement to thetenants, though he was aware that there was an automatic reduction of rents now in force under the law on account of thefallin prices. He was not aware that the Dromina branch of the Land League was afterwards dissolved by order of the central body.  Thomas Fahy, a farmer, of Ballinrobe, and James Maloney, of Ballinamore, gave evidence of two Moonlight visits.