1830’s

As highlighted in a previous blog post–on the 8th of March 1833, Joseph Leonard, of Waterford, was stoned to death on the Hill of Glenmore about 3 miles from New Ross in Shanbogh Townland on the old Coach Road.

The Murder: Account I

In 1980 Danny Dowling interviewed Patrick Hennessy, of Hoodsgrove, Rosbercon concerning the murder of the landlord Joseph Leonard in 1833. According to Patrick his mother’s people were the same Malone’s that were involved in the murder. Patrick went on to explain that Master Moore, the National teacher, stated that there was a mill in Kilbrahan townland of Rosbercon. Meany who was executed for the murder of Joseph Leonard, along with the Malones lived on a farm where the mill was situated. According to Patrick Hennessy, Meany was thrown out of the farm before Leonard’s murder.

On the day of the murder, one of the Malone men was home on leave from the British army. He was a veteran of some wars. He said to the mother, Mrs. Malone, who was a Treacy born in Ballymagill, that if Leonard the landlord was living where he had been he would be murdered. Mrs. Malone said in reply, “Why can’t ye do away with him?” She was putting down the spuds for the dinner when her two sons went off to kill the landlord. When they returned she said, “Ye are bad men to take so long to kill him.” Later, she claimed not to have known that they had gone to kill Leonard. The Cashins lived at Shambogh, and a Cashin girl, “gave the game away.” One of the Malone brothers escaped and when he was caught, he was strapped to the wrists and made to walk or dragged between two mounted horse soldiers. In this way he either walked or was dragged to jail. More than likely it was the way he was conveyed to jail when arrested. After the trials the Malone family on their farm in Kilhalan got it tough.

The Murder: Account II

A second oral history of the murder was provided by Ned Fortune and was recorded and can be found in the Folklore Commission. According to this account Joseph Leonard was the landlord of Kilbrahan, a small townland to the north of Shanbogh. Although Joseph Leonard lived in Waterford he was in the habit of traveling to New Ross a few times a week. By all accounts Joseph Leonard was a “good man” and there was “no reason for killing him.”

Leonard was murdered on the 8th March 1833, where the Old Coach Road just enters Shanbogh. A lime-kiln is close to the spot. Leonard was beaten to death, the horse then galloped toward Ross till the body was observed hanging out of the chaise or car. A man named Cassin gave information to the police, and they went to a house in Kilbrahan of a man named Meaney. The police found the whip of the murdered Leonard. This evidence was regarded as conclusive and Meaney was sentenced to be hanged.

The Execution

The scaffold was erected at the scene of the murder. The hanging was witnessed by thousands of people. Mrs Greene recalled her grandmother telling of how she dressed up in her best for the occasion and went off to witness the execution. The place of execution and murder in now known as Leonard’s Corner. A man named Malone was also convicted of the murder. He escaped at the time, but twelve months later was arrested in Tipperary. He was brought to Kilkenny Gaol and later executed outside it. Cassin, the informer, was given money by the government to leave the country, he did, and was never heard from again.

Contempoary Newspaper Accounts

Danny has collected a large number of copies of contemporary newspaper articles that give further and often conflicting information concerning the murder, trial and executions. Similar to what often happens today with the media linking crime to terrorism some contemporary newspaper linked the murder to agrarian eviction violence. The Battle of Carrickshock occurred on the 14^th of December 1832 and was fought over the imposition of Tithes for the upkeep of the Church of Ireland on Catholics and other Protestants. The Battle resulted in several of the police being killed. Most of the contemporary newspapers articles did not link the murder of Joseph Leonard to the White Feet, Carrickshock or any other cause.

The Murder

According to the contemporary newspaper accounts, Joseph Leonard left Waterford in high spirits at 11 in the morning for New Ross on the 8^th of March 1833. He was on his way to New Ross to arrange to sell some “distrained” cattle belonging to a tenant. The sale was to take place on the 9^th of March. It was reported that £125 of rent was overdue and Joseph Leonard offered to settle for the sum of £80, but the tenant refused. Joseph Leonard was described as an inoffensive gentleman. At 2 or 3 in the afternoon Joseph Leonard was walking alongside his horse that was pulling the gig up the hill of Glenmore.

As he walked along Joseph Leonard was attacked in an area where there were several houses nearby. According to Danny the nearby lime kiln became known as the murdering kiln because of the murder. A blunderbuss was fired at Joseph Leonard, but it missed. He was taken by three men who broke his right arm and they put his head on a low adjacent wall and beat his head with stones until he was dead. The killers then cut off his left ear. His corpse was placed in the gig and large stones were placed in front of the wheels to keep the horse from moving. Some accounts provide that the Wexford Car came along and brought the gig and corpse into Ross. Other accounts provide that a “country boy” came along and brought the gig and corpse into Ross. Joseph Leonard’s death is recorded in the Roman Catholic Parish records thus indicating that the newspaper accounts stating that the murdered man was a Catholic landlord were correct.

Arrests

Joseph Leonard’s corpse was returned to Waterford on the 11^th of March 1833 and buried according to Danny in the St. Patrick’s cemetery of Ballybricken. A quick hunt through the cemetery on the 7^th of February 2020 did not result in his grave being discovered. The newspaper articles record that the Kilkenny magistrate, Henry Alcock, Esq. acting on information received, from what was described as two children named Cashin, arrested four men at the funeral. Other newspaper articles provide that Magistrate Alcock arrested only one man at the funeral, Philip Malone, of Kilbrahon, Rosbercon. Eventually three men and one woman were charged in connection with the murder of Joseph Leonard.

Defendants Philip Malone and his mother

Philip Malone and his mother Mary Malone stood trial in Kilkenny in March 1834 and although Mary Malone was acquitted Philip Malone was convicted. He was sentenced to be executed by hanging in chains. The grand jury petitioned the court to allow the execution to be carried out at the place of the murder. The principal witnesses at the trial were: James Roche, a boy of 14, who witnessed “the transaction,” and James Cashen, aged 18, who gave King’s evidence as an approver. Apparently James Cashen was hired by Malone to kill Joseph Leonard. Another witness named in newspaper articles was Richard Cashen whose age is not revealed.

On the 17^th of March 1834 Philip Malone was taken from Kilkenny City and transported to the place of the murder and hanged at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Newspapers accounts provide that Philip Malone conducted himself in an exemplary manner and acknowledged the justice of his sentence. The execution was well attended and there was little sympathy expressed for the condemned. Philip Malone was described as a “remarkable as a man of great physical prowess.”

Defendant Patrick Meany

Patrick Meany, a neighbour, attended the hanging of Philip Malone and later while drinking in a public house was arrested by Magistrate Esmond of Kilkenny. Patrick Meany believed that because he did not do the actual killing he could not be convicted of a crime. Danny believes that Patrick Meany was originally from Robinstown, in Glenmore. Due to a land dispute he moved to Rosbercon. Patrick Meany stood trial in Kilkenny city for conspiring to murder Joseph Leonard. He too was convicted and sentenced to hang at the place of the murder. According to newspaper accounts an immense number of country people assembled and covered the surrounding hills around the place of the murder to witness the execution.

The condemned man left Kilkenny City on the 7^th of August 1834 at 6:30 in the morning in a chaise chair. Just prior to execution he prayed and asked the attending priest to speak for him. The priest said that Patrick Meany asked him to convey that Meany was sorry for the expression he used against the prosecutor when he was convicted and hoped the people would pray to God to pardon him. Patrick Meany was described as being about 45 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches tall and of “Herculean make.” Although he was described as in “comfortable circumstances” he was dressed like a common labourer. The newspaper accounts noted that he was a widower, and left five children orphans. His eldest child was a daughter who was 18 and attended her father’s execution with her father’s sister and his son aged 14 also attended.

Aftermath of Executions

The night after the execution of Patrick Meany, four men attacked and stoned to death a soldier just outside New Ross. All four men were arrested.

The stigma to the families of the convicted murders continued for some time. Danny recorded in a 1974 interview of Nicholas Forristal, of Graiguenakill, Glenmore an incident that occurred near the Glenmore Parish Priest’s house in Robinstown. Father Aylward, the Parish Priest, asked a beggar if he “…was anything to Meany who killed Leonard the Landlord.” The beggar responded by asking Father Aylward, “How near related are you to the Belekums, who killed the girl on the mountain and buried her in a bog?”

The Victim

Very little information is recorded concerning the murdered Mr. Leonard. His age is not recorded and there is no indication that he was married at the time he was murdered.

House of Commons’ Account

In attempting to try to find information concerning the brother of Philip Malone, I came across perhaps the most unusual contemporary account of the murder conspiracy in the Evidence on Drunkeness: Presented to the House of Commons (1834) by James Silk Buckingham. In this account Philip Malone when the guilty verdict was rendered against him pointed to his 80 year old mother who shared the dock with him and said, “Yes, my Lord, I am guilty. She is the cause of it.” It was reported that his mother agreed to the price of the blood to be shed by her two sons. She watched Joseph Leonard approach and handed the pistol to her son. Malone was startled, “How can I murder the poor gentleman?” His mother called him a coward and handed him the remains of a ½ pint of whiskey which he drank and then went and killed his landlord.

Special thanks to Louise Walsh for the photos taken in St. Patrick’s Church Yard, Ballybricken, Waterford City.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh