The Death of John Donnelly

CRIME

The Death of John Donnelly and other incidents in Penton

The Death of John Donnelly and some other Nicholforest eventsThe construction of the Border Union Railway in the early 1860s brought a large population of ?Navvies? to a quiet rural area:July 26 1861 Carlisle JournalBrutal Manslaughter at PentonOn Tuesday?s Journal we stated briefly that a man named John Donnelly had been found at Penton on Sunday morning, under circumstances which left no doubt that he had met his death by unfair means. Details which we have since been able to obtain show the case to have been one of brutal manslaughter.Penton is a small hamlet of a few scattered houses, about six miles beyond Longtown, situated on the borders of the wild and sparsely populated district of Nicholforest, a region rendered famous by many a border raid and foray in olden times, and by the exploits of the Elliots and the Armstrongs celebrated in the minstrelsy of the borders. The scenery in that locality is of a most picturesque character; near Penton the Liddel hastens to join the equally classic Esk, and not far distant are the well-known beauties of Penton Linns. Through this romantic district the new Border Union Railway is now in course of construction, and at this point, in a distance of eleven miles of the line, there are employed about a thousand railway labourers, or as they are more commonly called ?navvies,? The widely scattered houses not affording these men accommodation, wooden huts have been erected for them by the railway company, and by the men themselves, and there are several of these temporary erections near Penton. The men are paid their wages monthly, that long interval being probably chosen so that the men cannot leave their work at short notice. When they get so much money into their hands, the public house forms to them the natural channel for getting rid of it, and scenes of the greatest riot and debauchery characterise the monthly pay days.Saturday last was one of these monthly pay days, and in the evening the men, as usual, gave themselves up to unrestrained indulgence, and crowded the four or five public houses in the district. At Penton there was a large gathering; and the Penton Bridge Inn was filled with drinkers. As the navvies became drunk, several quarrels took place, and the use of the fists being with them the most forcible argument, many fights took place in the course of the evening, both in the Penton Bridge Inn and on the road in front of the house.In these disturbances the deceased, John Donnelly, a Scotchman, took a prominent part in the early part of the evening. He had gone into the public house, and when intoxicated had accused some of the company of stealing a shirt he had just bought; for this he was knocked down. This quarrel appears to have fought out on the road, and the men afterwards returned to the public house, where another row arose, and according to the evidence of one of the men present, Flannaghan, the man now in custody and a tall man named Tom Hagan, took a prominent part in it. They were swearing and ?jumping to get at him? and then it was proposed and settled that they should make ?scores? and go out and fight. The deceased was then very drunk, and the other men were doubtless inflamed by drink. The men went out, and this was the last time the deceased was seen alive by any of the witnesses who have been examined, the other men who were present having absconded since the affray. Whether they went out for the purpose of fighting, or whether the inn was now cleared, it being 12 o?clock, seems doubtful. The boots of the deceased indicate that he had been in the cowhouse at the back of the house, and one supposition is that he had gone there to hide till the navvies who had threatened him had gone, but that he had come out of his hiding place too soon, and they had met him at the end of the house. However shortly afterwards, a voice was heard telling Flannaghan to put on his clothes and come home, ?he would get no more fighting tonight? another voice, probably that of the deceased, called ?Murder? and another said ?Let him go.? Between 12 and 1 o?clock five or six men were seen on the road holding a candle over the deceased, who was now dead; and the body was carried into the inn which had been closed at midnight, and which the navvies broke open summarily to take the dead body inside. The policeman, who had left the scene of the fatal affray just a few minutes before it occurred, was sent for and on Sunday morning Sergeant Cosser apprehended William Flannaghan in his hut; but by that time Hagan and the other men who appear to have been present had absconded. Post mortem examinations of the body of the deceased showed that his neck had been broken. His neck was much bruised and swollen; the spine was completely broken and the upper part was forced to the left side, the external injuries being on the right. There is no doubt, therefore, that the deceased was first knocked down by a blow of the fist, and when down in that helpless state he was violently kicked in such a brutal manner as to cause immediate death.We believe the police have a good deal of further testimony to bring forward next Monday, although they have met with the greatest difficulty in obtaining evidence, on account of the fear entertained by those who could give it that if they did so the consequences might be serious to them from the future violence of the navvies. As an example of this dread, we may state that so late as Sunday last, a woman, the wife of a navvie, was criminally assaulted by some of these men, but she declined to prosecute because it was ?as much as her life was worth to do so.?The drunkenness and riot prevailing at these pay day orgies, which have thus culminated in this brutal affray, are described as something dreadful. Fights are frequent, and after the men are - - out of the public houses, they may be seen lying drunk huddled in groups in the dyke backs. If you enter one of their huts, as soon as you can see through the smoke, drunken men or drunken women are found lying about in every corner, and the children are running about half naked. Upon such occasions, the police force is strengthened by the addition of two or three constables, but what are half a dozen men to keep in order as many hundreds of these lawless fellows? The whole force would scarcely be able to cope with them.August 9th 1861 Carlisle JournalAttempted Rape at PentonA man named Donald Cameron a railway labourer was apprehended by P C Brown at Nichol Forest, under the following circumstances; a little girl, 12 years of age, named Janet Graham, had been sent to a beerhouse near Seegars for some milk, and was returning about 8 pm, when she was overtaken by Cameron, who threw her down upon the road and pulled her into the dyke, pulled up her clothes, and attempted further liberties with her, and would have completed his purpose but for the arrival of Brown, who immediately apprehended Cameron and forthwith conveyed him to Longtown. The prisoner was afterwards taken to Brampton, and was brought before the magistrates at the Police Station there on Tuesday last, when the circumstances were fully proved, and the prisoner was committed for trial at the next assizes.February 4th 1862 Carlisle JournalDisgusting charge of Indecent Assault upon a ChildOn Sunday the 19th inst a brutal case of this description was perpetrated at Longtown the victim being a little girl named Ellen Donnelly, five years of age, and the perpetrator of the outrage a navvie named James Briggs, aged 23years, and a native of Kirkcudbright. It appears that Briggs has been lodging with the little girl?s uncle, a man named Swaney, who lives at the Reddens. On the afternoon of Sunday, the 19th inst, about three or four o?clock, the little girl, who lives with her uncle, was playing with two other children near to her uncle?s house, then Briggs came up and asked her to go with him to seek her uncle. The little girl consented to go with him, and he led her through a wood on to a road leading to Longtown. After walking along the road for about 100 yards, he lifted her over some palings into the wood again, and having retired among some dark fir trees he committed the outrage upon the little girl. Having threatened her with what he would do to her if she mentioned the circumstances the little girl never said anything about it until questioned by her friends on Tuesday morning last, when she informed them of what had taken place. Information having been given to the County Constabulary, sergeant Cosser of Longtown proceeded to the railway works at the Moat in the parish of Nicholforest, where he apprehended Briggs on Thursday last. It appeared from subsequent medical examination that the prisoner was suffering from a loathsome disease which he communicated to the child. He was taken before the magistrates and the above circumstances having been brought forward he was committed for trial at the Assizes.