The Murder Trial of Patrick Donovan, of Ballyveria, Glenmore

In our last blog post we outlined the information that Danny Dowling recorded regarding the murder of Michael Rigby in Kilbride, Glenmore on 14 May 1841. In addition to the oral tradition that passed from one generation to the next, we are very fortunate that the details of the murder trial held in August of 1841 were reported extensively in the Kilkenny Moderator on 11 August 1841 (p. 2-3). From a legal history standpoint, one aspect of the reported trial that is interesting is the extensive exchange the judge had with the accused Patrick Donovan prior to sentencing. It was not until 1898, that an accused was allowed to testify in his criminal trial. It was believed that whether the accused was guilty or innocent, the fear of punishment would cause an accused to commit perjury, so no criminal defendant was allowed to testify. In Patrick Donovan’s trial for the murder of Micheal Rigby the judge was Baron Richard Pennefather (1773-1859). The prosecutor was Mr. Scott, Q.C. It is not stated that Patrick Donovan was represented by counsel, but there is a reference to Mr. Rolleston, cross-examining Crown witnesses. Excerpts of the newspaper account are provided below and where possible the actual language reported is utilized. The account was provided by a newspaper reporter and is not a verbatim transcript of the testimony.

Mr. Scott, Q.C. gave the jury a brief outline of the case. He contended that Patrick Donovan, aged 28, wilfully murdered Michael Rigby, aged 50, by “giving him a mortal wound on the head with a stone.” “The case was one which could only be presented as one of murder, and the only question was as to the identity of the perpetrator.” He set forth the motive, opportunity, dying declaration of the victim naming his killer, an eyewitness, as well as “so many circumstances…as to leave no doubt of the result.”

The first witness to testify was Captain Benjamin Bunbury who was the agent for Mrs. Caulfield the landlord of Ballyvara (sic). Captain Bunbury revealed to the jury the motive for the murder. “The prisoner married a widow woman, and so became tenant of four acres of the land; he was removed in June, 1840, for non-payment of rent, and for alienating two of them by sale…” In other words, Patrick Donovan as a tenant failed to pay the rent on the land and then alienated, or induced others to take part of the land, collected rent and kept the rent or rent in kind he collected. Before Captain Bunbury learned of the alienation of the two acres he had agreed that Donovan could return if he paid part of the rent owed. When Captain Bunbury found out about the “alienation” of the two acres he refused to allow Donovan to return to the land. Donovan then asked, “who will you get to take it?” Banbury replied, “many, no doubt.”

The next witness was Thomas Rigby one of the sons of the murder victim. He provided the jury among other things, that the defendant had opportunity. Although it was not reported in the newspaper account the age of this witness, (thanks to the Rigby research of Patty Brown & Ann Fitzgerald)  we know that Thomas was 19 years of age. Thomas testified, “my father is dead; I remember the day he died; we left home that morning in company at about the hour of eight o’clock; I was going to the land which Donovan formerly held; my father had been about eight months in possession of the land; the prisoner asked me would we give up possession of the ground if Captain Bunbury allowed him, and I said we would; on the morning of the murder I saw the prisoner coming up a lane from the village of Ballyvara; he was about a perch (16.5 feet) off; he shook his head at me, and I was alarmed and told my father what had been done by the prisoner; I looked back once more, and the prisoner again shook his head; I and my father then went on our land, and my father parted me and went off along a path in the direction of Glenmore, a man named Hanrahan was ploughing about three fields off, and my father stopped to speak to him; I here observed the prisoner and a man named Walsh coming from a lane and making towards the path on which my father was; they got on the path and went off in the direction of Glenmore; the deceased had only gone a few yards out of Hanrahan’s field when the prisoner and Walsh left it too, going the same way; after this I saw the three in company going off, and this was about four perches from the place where I lost sight of them; the next time I saw my father was about one o’clock; he was then beaten; I and two of my brothers and two girls remained working in the field, when Hanrahan brought the news that the deceased was killed; my brothers ran before me, and I knew where the deceased lay by hearing their cries; when I came up he was lying in my brother’s arms, and moaning; he died in an hour.”

The cross examination of Thomas Rigby was by Mr. Rolleston. From the answers reported in the newspaper it appears that the counsel was attempting to show that Walsh also had motive and opportunity to commit the murder. Thomas Rigby stated, “l knew Walsh’s brother; he held one of the four acres from which Donovan had been ejected.” He was also questioned about the distance from which he observed his father near Donovan and Walsh, “there were eleven stone fences between me and Hanrahan’s field, and four ditches between me and the place where I saw my father last.” It also appears that he was challenged regarding the alleged head shaking by the accused and replied, “I stated to several persons and to the coroner, that the prisoner shook his head at me that morning.”

The next to testify was another son of the victim 25 year-old James Rigby. He provided further information regarding the land and his father’s dying declaration.  “I know the four acres of ground which Donovan held, and my father got it about last Christmas; I was on the ground in last Spring digging potatoes, when the prisoner came up, and holding a little bit of earth in his hand, said, ‘I know that I will be burning in hell, where brimstone will be going through my nose and my belly, and I don’t care as much for my soul as for this bit of clay, and the first of you I catch on my ground I will settle him…’”

James Rigby went on to testify that on the day his father was murdered he saw his father going towards Hanrahan’s field and later “about one or two o’clock” Hanrahan came and told him that his father was at the top of Kilbride. “I ran off and found him lying partly in the ditch, and snorting, he was in very poor state; I asked him was he killed, and he replied ‘I am not killed, but as all as one’; I asked who killed him, and he said ‘Paddy Donovan.’” James Rigby then “threw off” his coat, and ran to the village of Glenmore for the priest, but by the time he returned his father was dead. As he was running for the priest, he met Richard Grace and Denis Lacy; on the path. “Grace asked me what happened.”

At this point the newspaper reported that accused Donovan interjected, “My Lord, if you won’t hang me he will go mad.”

During the cross-examination of James Rigby, he admitted that he had been in jail, “I was in the county gaol about “arguing” with some boys from Kilbrahan; I hit some of them; I cannot tell when it was I was in goal; one night in Ross they put me in gaol.” He denied that his father “turned him out of the house, but I used to go away for work and returned when wanted.”  Rigby was apparently questioned about making a statement to John Walsh on the evening of the murder that his father was not able to speak when he found him. James Rigby acknowledged seeing John Walsh, but stated, “my father spoke quite plain when I raised him up; … I never said to any person that my father was not able to speak when I came up to him.”

“Baron Pennefather—When you came up to your father did he seem very much hurt?

Witness—He did.

[Baron Pennefather]—What was the first word you said to him?

[Witness]—I asked him was he killed, and he said ‘I am not, but am all as one;’ I then asked him who killed him, and he said, ‘Paddy Donovan.’

[Baron Pennefather]—Did he speak distinctly?

[Witness]—Not very, but I could swear to those words.”

The next two witnesses were Mary Brophy, of Ballyveria and Edward Hanrahan. Mary Brophy testified that on the day of the murder she went to Stations in Glenmore. She was returning to Ballyveria about dinner time by the pathway when she saw the body of a man lying in the ditch. He was “snorting and lay stretched out; I left him and told Ned Hanrahan, who was ploughing, about the finding of the body.” Edward Hanrahan testified that on the day of the murder at about eight that morning he was plowing and the murder victim came into his field and they had a conversation. Hanrahan observed John Walsh and “another man”   come into the field. The victim left and went toward the path and the other two men were about eight perches from the path.  “I was afterwards told by Mrs. Brophy that a man was lying stretched, and I went off and found the deceased about three fields off, lying on the other side of the ditch farthest from the path.”

When cross-examined Edward Hanrahan admitted that he told the children of the victim that their father was killed. “When I came up the second time the eldest son had his father in his arms. To Baron Pennefather—When I first saw the body I cannot tell if the man was alive.” He stated that it was Dan [Rigby] (b. 1811) who he saw holding his father in his arms. Hanrahan stated that he knew Donovan, but did not identify him because he did not have “as good an opportunity of seeing the man with Walsh as he [Walsh] came in first.”

The sixth witness was the eye witness John Walsh. He testified that he had lived in Ballyveria for thirty years and he knew the victim Michael Rigby and the accused Patrick Donovan. On the day of the murder, he met Donovan in the village of Ballyveria and they were walking to Glenmore for Stations. “We went by a path towards Glenmore, and the path went by Hanrahan’s field; I saw Hanrahan in the field sowing potatoes; I saw the deceased speaking to Hanrahan, and he then went on the path towards the chapel; I went on a little in advance of the prisoner, and when in Collattin’s field I heard a cry, “Oh don’t Paddy,” and turned round, when I saw Rigby lying on the ground in a corner of the field; I saw the prisoner strike him down on the head with a stone, and then I ran off for fear of my life; the prisoner overtook me some time afterwards, and told me he had thrown Rigby over the ditch; he came with me to the chapel, where we remained a good while; Donovan told me not to swear against him; I left the chapel first, and the prisoner followed me; I came to my own house at Ballyvara, and the prisoner went by the road; the same evening I told my neighbours what occurred.”

On cross-examination Walsh admitted that his brother “had a crop off of one acre of the four acres from which Donovan had been ejected.” In other words, Walsh’s brother was one of the men who alienated or rented part of the property from Donovan. Walsh stated that he was afraid to call out to Hanrahan when he saw Donovan striking the victim. Walsh stated that he was arrested in his own garden, and “told in one day what I knew.” He asserted that he was only arrested because he was with Donovan when the murder took place.  

The next two witnesses were Denis Lacey and Richard Grace. Denis Lacey testified that Hanrahan’s house is situated between the Villages of Ballyveria and Glenmore and his own house was close to the pathway. He saw Walsh and Donovan together in the morning and after dinner returning from Glenmore. “James Rigby passed me during the day going for the priest, and he called out aloud to Richard Grace that his father was killed; in about five minutes after this the prisoner came up; I told him that Rigby was struck, and he made no reply.” Richard Grace corroborated that Walsh and Donovan were together in the morning and after dinner “saw the prisoner in Lacey’s house.”

The last two witnesses in the newspaper coverage were Mr. George White, Inspector of Police and Dr. Cummins. White testified that he went to the murder scene and found blood on the ground. He found a stone near the spot with blood and human hair on it. On the night after the murder he arrested Donovan between 11 and 12 o’clock, “at the distance of about two miles from his residence; he was in bed in a barn with two men, and a man who was dressed appeared acting as a sentry.”  Dr. Cummins testified that he examined the victim’s body and found twelve wounds and contusions on his head. Two stones were shown to the doctor and he identified that one corresponded with several of the bruises. In his opinion the victim’s death was “produced by these wounds and bruises.” On cross examination he stated that it was possible a man might, “although thus injured, speak some intelligible words.”

“Baron Pennefather charged the jury in a most lucid address, and remarked on the many dreadful crimes that disgraced the country, in connection with the taking of land. The jury, however, were not, because the crime was great, to impute guilt to any individual, unless the evidence established his crimination ‘beyond any rational doubt.’ The learned judge, then, with extreme care, recapitulated the evidence. The jury retired at half past eight o’clock, and at half past ten brought in a verdict of guilty. The foreman said some of the jury wished to recommend the prisoner to mercy. Baron Pennyfather—On what ground? The jury could not assign a reason, and his lordship said he saw no ground for extending mercy. The prisoner, who was rather unmoved, was then taken back to prison.” It is assumed that the entire trial was heard in one day and the jury deliberated from 8:30 to 10:30 that night.

In our next blog we will provide details of the sentencing and Patrick Donovan’s exchange with the judge, as well as personal details concerning Patrick Donovan and Michael Rigby.

Special thanks to Patty Brown and Ann Fitzgerald for sharing their Rigby family research and to all who helped us today in locating some of the 1841 murder related landmarks. Any and all corrections greatly appreciated. Please send any information, corrections, etc. to glenmore.history@gmail.com.

The featured photo above is the old Hogan house in Haggard, Glenmore identified by James “Jimmy Mac” McDonald as the place were Patrick Donovan was arrested on 15 May 1841. The old stone gate pillars are still standing as well as the house behind the trees.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh