Local history: hanging of four brothers in Ballinrobe in 1811
MARCH 30 will mark the 210th anniversary of the hanging of four brothers in Ballinrobe for murder, writes Tom Gillespie.
Ger Delaney of the South Mayo Family Research Centre and author Dr. Michael O’Connor, in his book ‘Anatomy of a County Gaol’, have carried out extensive research into the killing which took place on March 11, 1811.
The McCue (McHugh) brothers, Peter, Patrick, James and Den, and Patrick Hopkins were members of the ‘Trashers’, a secret society composed of poor Catholics who were mainly active against landlords’ agents.
They also took action against anyone with whom the general community had a grievance. Thrashers wore white handkerchiefs round their necks to identify themselves where necessary.
The McHughs and Patrick Hopkins, together with three or four other young men armed with guns, bayonets, pistols and sticks, called on the house of Peter Canna of Ballinrobe on the night of March 11, 1811, when the family were in bed.
The intruders, who disguised their voices, demanded firearms and enquired if the Cannas’ neighbour, a Mr. Fair, had a gun in his house, Ger Delaney’s article recalled.
It continued: Canna’s son, Anthony, was dragged out of bed and given a severe beating. There were shouts of ‘shoot him, Murty’ but Patrick Hopkins pulled Anthony out of the way and he managed to hide.
The forenamed Murty was spoken to several times by the attackers. The gang made Peter Canna swear that he did not know any of them. “I believe, boys, it was with intent of murder you came here,” said Peter Canna and two thrusts of a bayonet were then made at him but he avoided being wounded.
The gang briefly went next door but returned a few minutes later just as Peter finished putting on his shoes. They again demanded that he hand over his firearms.
Peter successfully defended himself at the door with a pitchfork. Despite the fact that the attackers fired 14 shots, he wasn’t hit. His wife, Mary, was less fortunate. She was in bed protecting her daughter who, according to Peter, the gang wanted to take out and abuse.
Two shots struck Mrs. Canna and she died instantly. The daughter was also dangerously wounded.
There was a suspicion that yeomanry arms are used in the assault. The following day, and based on the identification of the men by a boy who lay concealed in the house, the four McHugh brothers and Patrick Hopkins were arrested and taken to the Old Gaol by Courtney Kenny.
At their trial Peter McHugh was the only one to plead guilty. He confessed that he fired the shots that killed Mrs. Canna.
He was persuaded to confess by three priests who attended them after they were arrested. Two of the McHugh brothers claimed to have alibis but they were not believed by the jury. Anthony Canna said he knew Patrick Hopkins from infancy and he knew the McHughs for two or three years. He said Hopkins saved his life.
The four McHughs brothers were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. A large crowd assembled on Saturday, March 30, 1811, beside the Bridewell Jail in Ballinrobe, in what was later known as Flannery’s yard, to witness the public execution of the four McHugh brothers.
Their mother whispered to the first two ‘upon no account acknowledge anything’ before they were hung. Peter, the oldest of the brothers, was the last to be hanged.
On the day following the hanging the four bodies were taken to Castlebar by cart for dissection, as ordered by the court.
However, as the bodies were not required at the Mayo Infirmary on the Mall in Castlebar, the four were buried in the yard of the Old Jail in Castlebar.
The life of Patrick Hopkins was spared but he was transported for life. He arrived at the port of Sydney, Australia, on February 16, 1813, on the convict ship Archduke Charles after a 207 day voyage via Rio de Janeiro. He was 5’ 5’’ in height, of ruddy complexion with brown hair going bald.
In 1823 he was put in charge of Cornelius O’Brien’s grazing run east of Lake George.
Cornelius O’Brien (1796 to 1869), was a native of Hollymount, and a very substantial farmer in New South Wales. In May 1835, together with Andrew Loftus, Hopkins purchased 100 acres of land in Fosters Valley near Bathurst.
Among those who witnessed the executions was James Caulfield who was then a young man working in Creagh. James lived to over 100 years and died in Turloughmore, The Neale.
The acknowledgements on Dr. O’Connor’s ‘Anatomy of a County Gaol’ (part one), published last September, states: “My quest to reveal the now long-forgotten gaols of Co. Mayo was lengthy and fraught with myriad obstacles and potentially fateful pitfalls and diversions.”
The sleeve notes continue: In January 1918, the hanging tree on the Green in Castlebar, already stooped with age, finally succumbed to the burden of the history thrust upon it, when it toppled in a storm.
The following year, the last of the gaols of Mayo ceased to be a formal prison within the British prison system.
The story of the several gaols and bridewells of Mayo is largely untold and what is told is mostly incorrect, confused or blended with a colourful mix of half-truths and fabrications, all succinctly repackaged as folklore.
This study seeks to disentangle the facts from this body of folklore and fiction.
The gaols and bridewells at Castlebar, Ballinrobe, Prizon, Cong and elsewhere are considered in the social, economic, and political environment in which they operated, including the context of the many epidemics, famines, rebellions and periods of agrarian violence.
Over and above the incredible detail of prisoners, prison life, and the regulation and operation of the gaols of Mayo, the surviving records also contain many accounts of deeply disturbing and exceptionally cruel deeds and practices, including whippings and burning of limbs, and the gibbeting, quartering and dissection of executed convicts.
Women, children and the mentally ill were subjected to the most dehumanising treatment imaginable at detention centres operated by the Mayo Grand Jury in Castlebar.