The CastletowNROCHE Murder.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1633, 12 February 1886, Page 2

The CastletowNßOCHE Murder .

A HOREIBLE TBAGEDY.

i [English Correspondent.] The chief actor m one of the most terrible murders ever committed has just been brought to justice. In 1877 a cer- ' tain William ; Sheehan was living with hit mother, sister, and -brother at Castle- ; town Roche, m the Opnnty. of Gorki; Williara.it seems at that tube was anxious marry a Miss Browne, whose presence at 'the tarpj however, was 6trenuonsly/ob; jected to "by thi other relatives/ and they declared shu should riot live there. William Sheehan, it seemsi m conseqnence ! of this, 'cherished m his ' ;mind a' violent feeling of revenge,, and, on the morning of a certain day m ■ October m, the said year, 1877, satiated . his vengeaiice. 'JAt any rate, the brother, sister, and mother^ about that time, disappeared, and William publicly stated they : had gone to America. There was,- however, no trace of their departure, and no letters ever; came from the supposed emigrants. Then. Sheehan married Miss Browne, and took her to the farm. In' 1883 he was eyictted by his landlord, and lie went to Australia, and subsequently to New Zealand. In August, 1884, a neighboring farmer, 'finding his well had run dry, (had. it examined, and there, 72 feet below the surface, were found the bodies of Catherine, Hannah, and Thomas Sheehan. Their clothes were recognised, so there, was no doubt how or why they ■camYtb be there. But icis appalling to irefleat that for seven years- the water of 'this well had been drunk and used by human beings. To make a long story short, a certain laborer, who was known to be m the employ of th,e Sheehans m 1877 was arrested on suspicion, and on being apprehended he made a clean breast 'of it. -Itfappeared that David Browne, • brother to the intended Mrs Sheehan, and William Sheehan, on the morning of the;lisuppijarance,of the victims referred to attacked Thomas Sheehan; and struck .hiiii to t the : ground* Afterward they centered' the house, and m cold rb.lood 'cruelly slaughtered the two women. .Duane, the laborer, wlib told the tale, then helped to drag 'the bodies into a -barn, and the 1 story was at once put about I that -the missing persons bad-gone abroad., when the blood stains 1 ; could have hardly dried, William Shee;han ffave a musical, party, to which the [Brownes came\ \David Duane, a son of jthe former witness^ attracted by the ' music, went and Hat under a window, ; and ashe remained there, it' seems long ;in the night, he saw the'murderers come lout and put the bodies, into a cart, take | them to,the v jYell and throw them m. ! When the bodies were first discovered, James Browne, the prisoner's father-in- ; law attempted suicide, and had to be. put m confinement. William Sheehan was subsequently arrested at Auckland', N.Z. and has now been sentenced : to ; the : ex- ' treme pgnalty of the, law . Such .are the details of as bloody a' crime as was ever I perpetrated. In this case the proverb ■ that •" murder will out" has been proved to be true, : ■ , •,. • " : .: