The Daily Times. — 1860-07-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MURDER AT KILRUSH.  SENTENCE OF DEATH.  The Ennis assize court has been occupied for three days with the trial of Manus Hederman respectable'looking man, between 50 and 55 years of age) for the wilful murder of Patrick Mahony, at or near Kilrush, on the 3rd of April last, by inflicting on his head divers wounds, and throwing him into a lough, &c. The prisoner and the deceased were persons of the same occupation in life, namely, the owners, or part owners, of turf boati,on the river Shannon, and were constantly employed in conveying turf from the neighbourhood of Carrigaholt to the city of Limerick, from which place they brought back various descriptions of goods to the shopkeepers of Carrigaholt and Kilrush, &c. The prisoner and the deceased were, it also appeared, neighbours, and lived at a place called Cappa, and were always known to be on goOd terms. Upon the day in Question they were both in the town of Kilrush, on their way up to Limerick with turf, the deceased having in his possession a sum of £3l, consisting of small notes, gold, silver, and copper, which had been given to him by his sister, who was a shopkeeper in Carrigaholt, and other traders in that place, to make purchases for them in Limerick as usual. The prisoner did not appear to have had any money with him that day, but was rather in difficulties, and pressed for want of money by parties to whom he owed small sums. They applied to him for payment, and he did not pay them, and said he could not pay them, although' on the day after the murder he was found to have plenty of money, and went about settling with his creditors, and took up, amongst other bills, one which was in the. National Bank for a sum of about £2O, The deceased and the prisoner dined together at the house of a person named Gorman, in Malthouse-lane, Kilrush, on that day, and were afterwacls seen together through the town for a considerable time. They were in three different public-houses, where theyhaddrinkawhieh the deceased paid for, and continued in company up to and after ten o'clock at night, when they were observed to cross the bridge of the town together, and go in the direction of the lough, where the remains of the deceased.man were found on the following Sunday (Easter Sunday), the Bth of April, with marks of violence on the head and body. The deceased having been, of course, missed by the crew of his boat, search was made for him, and after the lapse of several days his body was discovered submerged in water, as already stated, and was recovered by the aid of a pair of grappling irons of some kind. The prisoner, who is a married man with a family, was not at his own house that night, but, about two o'clock on the morning of the 4th of April, called at the house of a person named Hennessey, near "The Ferry," when several persons who were there, including two men named Ring, observed that his face was torn and scratched, and that his clothes were dirty. He remained there for some hours, and was again seen in Kilrush before nine o'clock on the morniag of the following day, on which day he paid off bis debts, as already stated. When asked where he had been, he said he was at home, a distance of six miles, which was not the case, and when his house was searched a tub was found in it, under a bed, containing a shirt, the front of which was spotted with blood. It also appeared that when the deceased was missed and the prisoner was questioned about him, being the last person who was seen in his company, he offered to make an affidavit to clear himself, and asked the two Rings, whom he met in Hennessey's house on the morning of the 4th of April, to go with him before a magistrate and state what was not a fact—namely, that they had walked with him from Kilrush to Hennessey's house. After the fullest investigation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner had sentence of death passed upon him. " • '  inft9