Defence of William Bourke Kirwan, condemned for the alleged murder of his wife, and now a convict in Spike-Island / to which, amongst other documents, is appended the opinion of Alfred S. Taylor, that 'no murder was committed'.

  • Boswell, James Knight.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Defence of William Bourke Kirwan, condemned for the alleged murder of his wife, and now a convict in Spike-Island / to which, amongst other documents, is appended the opinion of Alfred S. Taylor, that 'no murder was committed'. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    own account, he next day went to Liverpool with cattle, and from Liverpool to Waterford. This man was traced by very singular means, unnecessary to de- tail, and was found living in Nicholas-street; and when discovered, he said that Kirwan was as innocent of the murder as the child un- born ; and when asked why he had himself absconded, he replied lie was afraid of being implicated himself. This man has since left Dublin, and no trace whatever can be found of him. Copy of Mr. Steele's Declaration. I, William Steele, of Bayview, Clontarf, do solemnly and sin- cerely declare that I was conversing with Mr. Smith, in his own house in Grafton-street, on Wednesday the 5th of January inst. when Mr. Eobert Bentley introduced into the room a man named John Gorman, who, in the presence of Messrs. Smith and Bentley, and subsequently in that of the Rev. Mr. Malet, made certain statements to the effect that he was on Ireland's Eye on the whole day of the 6th of September, 1852, and after the body of the late Mrs. Kirwan was removed; and that William Burke Kirwan was as innocent of the death of the late Mrs. Kirwan as the child un- born ; and on addressing himself to me said, ' He's as innocent as you are,' and which said statements I reduced to writing in the presence of said Gorman; that upon leaving the house he, said Gorman, told me he would expect to see me at his lodgings, No. 32, Nicholas-street, on that evening, in reference to his statements; and that I called on said evening, and repeatedly since, at said house, but never again saw said Gorman, and that I was informed yesterday by a lodger in said house that said Gorman had left same. William Steele. Declared at College-street Police Office, this 12th day of January, 1853. Letters from the Jury. Two letters have appeared since the trial, purporting to have come from the jury, one of them, signed by Mr. Dennis, the foreman, on behalf of himself and ten of the jury. There are some remarka- ble passages in these letters. The following extracts have been selected from the letter signed by Mr. Dennis which appeared in Saunders1 News Letter of the 13th January, 1853, evidencing what had been passing in the minds of the jury. Mr. Dennis says:— Seeing the two men, Patrick and Michael Nangle, and hearing the evidence, we could form no reasonable doubt of the truth of either of them. They are both elderly men. Michael appears older than Patrick, nor is he by many degrees so observant or so intelligent a man. Patrick Nangle's account of his finding the body with the sheet partly under it, and his tying it across the chest and knees, is perfectly consistent with all the circumstances of this particular period. If the jury had before them the statements of the Coroner, and