The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume TwoCarleton, William
General
The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
The three young men and the old man being now destroyed, a voice in the
rear of the crowd called out, in a fierce commanding them, to rescue
the women at all hazards, whereupon the sledges were applied to the
front door of the house; but while they were thus engaged, the young
women unbarred the back door, and rushing out with their mother,
uttering the most piercing shrieks, they ran into a stable which
was near, before they could be laid hold of. Here, however, the two
daughters were immediately seized on by order of the commander of the
siege, Buck English, and carried out, but not violently, until they came
to the stable-door, where the eldest daughter laid hold of the iron bolt
staple of the door-post, and so desperately did she hold it, that she
did not let it go till her shoulder was dislocated. They were both
carried off then to the Galtee mountains, the usual resort of the Buck,
who retained the eldest during pleasure. I forget what became of the
younger girl, but the other became deranged, and in that melancholy
state was subsequently taken into the “protection,” as it is called, of
a certain banker of Limerick, who shot himself in that city, to my own
knowledge, in 1815. * * *
The scene at the residence of the Bolands, on the morning after the
attack, was truly horrifying. The remains of the four men, almost
burned to cinders, were dug out of the still burning ruins, nor was the
spectacle in the yard and on the neighboring road less frightful; from
the multitude of dead bodies with which they were strewn; for most of
their stranger assailants who were killed were left on the spot--the
party not choosing to be seen carrying them off by daylight. But such
of the people of the neighboring parishes as fell, were carried off by
friends and acquaintances, and hid during that day, but buried at night
at remote distances from their houses, in the newly-ploughed and in the
wheat-sown fields. The inquest, &c, being over, the government and the
gentry of the county offered a large reward for any information that
would lead to the apprehension or knowledge of the actors, especially
the commander, in this fearful tragedy. A strong military force was
stationed in the neighborhood, and all the bad and suspicious characters
of the district were taken up, and committed to gaol on suspicion.
However, the original concocters of the murder made their escape, either
to England or to the remote parts of Clare, Kerry, and Cork; whilst
terror reigned throughout the whole County of Limerick among the farmers
at seeing the numbers that were arrested, and the largeness of the
reward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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