Angry Protesters, an Exhumation and an Inquest

Historian Jonathan Smyth this week recalls a disinterment and inquest in 1857...

The community in Cootehill and surrounding district was thrown into turmoil over the disinterment of a young man who died having been thought to have contracted ‘farcy’ a disease causing the swelling of joints, normally found in horses, and often referred to as glanders. The deceased man had been tending an ill horse prior to becoming ill and having languished for some weeks, received regular attendance from both doctor and clergy until finally, he succumbed, ‘the illness proving fatal.’ The account which followed his burial appeared in the ‘The New York Tablet’, on 13th June 1857. The Cootehill correspondent for the Tablet recorded the handling of an inquest that erupted in protest.

The deceased was a son of Mr Gilmore, ‘a liberal Protestant’ who in accordance with his son’s final wishes, made certain that the young man was ‘interred’ in the graveyard attached to the Catholic Chapel, at the end of Chapel Lane, with full burial rites according to the Catholic Church. The correspondent regretfully noted how this ‘gave offence to some bigots’ who thought they knew better. The Gilmores may have been members of a long-forgotten Presbyterian Seceder congregation who in olden days had a church and cemetery at the top of the pig market. The Seceder church later became the Guild Hall where a popular cinema was in operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Interestingly, this historic building is currently undergoing renovations and is again looking very impressive.

The blacksmith attending the diseased horse in 1857 was charged with allowing Gilmore to be poisoned by and was then ‘thrown’ into prison. Afterwards, an inquest was called for and the coroner and the police force arrived at the graveyard at an appointed time to dig up the remains. Large crowds of spectators and protestors also gathered and threatened the coroner and his party, resulting in the police having to make their way back to the barracks in Cootehill. They soon enlisted more police to assist and on the following day, the coroner and grave diggers made a second attempt to enter the Chapel Lane graveyard where they were again threatened by a large crowd. However, Fr. T. O’Reilly, parish priest, stepped forward and made an appeal to the people to give way and allow the body to be exhumed for the inquest to take place in order to determine the truth of the man’s demise. In due course, an autopsy was performed, and no poisonous disease was found by the coroner in the deceased’s system. The jury in their verdict, called the inquest, a 'frivolous and vexatious' and ‘uncalled for’ act.

The coroner, according to the correspondent, ought to have taken the blame for having allowed such a proceeding to take place and hoped that he'd learn to be a little more cautious in future before calling for such an exhumation in future.

Gartbrattan Man in New Zealand

On February 14, 1906, New Zealand newspaper, The Tuapeka Times, published an account about a police officer, Mr West (he is only referred to as Mr West), and his family who were entertained to a ‘farewell social’ in Dwyer’s Hall, Waitahuna, on a Monday night surrounded by well-wishers who descended in large numbers to say their goodbyes. West had lived amongst them for twenty years, serving them with a glad heart and was about to go away with his family to Roslyn, Dunedin, departing from a hamlet which cherished him. Mr McAra who presided, stated ‘it was not his intention’, since it would be considered out of place, to speak of at any length about the able manner in which West acted and of his courteous nature.

The local Horticultural Society, it was pointed out would now suffer a severe loss with the removal of Mr West from their green-fingered midst. A purse of sovereigns was arranged for Mr West and Mr J. Ferris in turn presented them to Miss West, impressing upon her the good feelings and assured respect held by the citizens of Waitahuna towards the West family. Mr West, who was the eldest son of the late George West of Gartbrattan, Co Cavan.

Mr West then rose to his feet to speak, and thanked J. Ferris for the generous presentation handed to his daughter. A delighted Mr West told the assembled that ‘it was in his nature to try and live in an amicable and friendly way with those around him.’ A ‘musical programme’ entertained the guests during the intervals with performances from Misses J. McKenzie, V. and R. Patrick, and Ida Scott, and Messrs, W. McKenzie and Evison brought merriment to the sad occasion of the West’s departure.

BAILIEBOROUGH

In June 1922, Bailieborough’s Rural District Council decided by seven votes to five to approve the wages to ‘their labourers’ as recommended by the Dáil, which had conducted a ‘sworn inquiry.’ According to the Northern Standard, wages recommended for men were thirty shillings per week; for gangers, thirty-four shillings per week; and the old carters to be given employment at eleven shillings per day. In the same month, Mr J.A. Fitzsimons, Assistant Surveyor, Bailieborough, was promoted to engineer in the Bailieborough District Council.

In August of the same year, Bailieborough RDC, met with John Martin in the chair, with others present including J.H. Chambers, James Rogers, and Michael Kearney. James Rogers moved, ‘that we adjourn on account of the death of President Griffith, member of the Dáil for this constituency, and that we tender to Mrs Griffith our deepest sympathy in her great loss.’ Michael Kearney seconded the motion.

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