The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1833-09-13 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

DREADFUL MURDER IN THE COUNTY LOUTH. ( From the Drogheda Journal.) On last Friday evening a most diabolical murder was perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Churchtown, near Ardee. The victim of this nefarious outrage was an inoffensive, well-conducted young man, named Sharkey, residing under the same roof, but not in the same house, with his father, who is a respectable farmer, renting a large tract of land. We must make a few observations, which, though tending to prolixity, are necessary for elucidating the affair. It appears the perpetrators of the murder are a family named Finegan, who resided in the same bairn, as it is termed, with the Sharkeys •' but their residences were separated from each other by a wall, which, from the situation of the ground, was about seven feet high on the side next Finegan's, and about half that ' height on the side fronting Sharkey's. In this wall there was a stile, which was used as a pass to and fro to both dwellings for upwards of forty years. The Finegans, for some reason, wished to stop up this pass, which was opposed by the Sharkeys, and this has been for some time past a bone of contention between the two families. On Friday last the deceased went to Dundalk, and during his absence the Finegans built a turf clamp against the pass, and on old Sharkey remonstrating with them they threatened him very hard and gave him a beating. When the son came home in the evening, and was informed of what had occurred, he went out to the wall and began to speak to the Finegan:3, who immediately pounced on him, dragged him across the wall, and continued beating him until they deprived him of life. Such was the ferocity with which they attacked him that they tore the flesh off his neck in endeavouring to strangle him with his cravat, which snapped in two in the struggle. There were no less than thirteen at this savage attack ; the poor fellow was literally beat into a jelly. His old father came out in his shirt on hearing the row, and on seeing them dragging his son across the wall, he laid hold of him, and was dragged over with him, and would have been murdered also but that one of his daughters threw herself on him, and at the risk of her life saved him. It is thought, only a younger son of Sharkey's made off and alarmed the neighbours, that the whole family would have been murdered. As soon the next morning as the police of Ardee heard of the circumstance, sub-constable Woods and others went to the scene and secured eleven persons. Woods and his small party deserve the greatest praise for the promptitude with which they acted; were it not for their exertions the whole of them might have escaped. Two of the principals have made off, the servant boy and the maid servant of the Finegans. The police are on the alert for them, and it is to be hoped they will not long elude their vigilance. Shortly after the prisoners were captured, a party of the peace preservation establishment from Ardee, under the command of Sergeant Williams, joined the constabulary. As soon as C. C. Barry was apprised of the circumstance, lie was promptly on the spot to assist in furthering the ends of justice. The coroner, J. Byrne, Esq., did not arrive until late in the evening, and having empannelled a respectable jury, a verdict of wilful murder was returned against ten persons, eight of whom were in custody, and have been committed by the coroner to Dundalk. The eight persons committed are old Finegan, his two sons, a grandson, two daughters, and two granddaughters. It appears old Finegan, who is on the verge of the grave, was the most ferocious in exciting his family to the murder. The remains of poor Sharkey were interred in 'l'allanstown, on Sunday, attended by as great a concourse of persons as was ever witnessed on any similar occasion, in general, respectable farmers, from the surrounding neighbourhood. The greatest sympathy was evinced for the unfortunate deceased. He has left a wife and two young children to deplore his untimely fate. It appears Sharkey had become so obnoxious to the ruffians who were last winter keeping the country in a state of alarm, that he was afraid to go to either fair or market for some time.