COMMITTAL OF A POPISH PRIEST.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 38, 9 December 1842, Page 3

COMMITTAL OF A POPISH PRIEST.

The following curious statement appears in the Londonderry Journal, June 7 : " The Rev. Daniel M’Gettigan, R.C.C., was summoned to appear before Daniel Chambers, John Chambers, John Robert Boyd, and John Beers, Esqrs., the magistrates assembled at petty sessions, at Letterkenny, on Wednesday last, the Ist June instant, to give evidence touching his knowledge of a felony, alleged to have been committed by one Hugh Mulloy, and attended on said day, in obedience to such summons. The circumstances of the case which led to the summoning of Mr. M'Gettigan, are as follows:—A person of the name of Harkin, was indebted in a sum of money to said Hugh Mulloy, which Mulloy could not recover, in consequence of the existence against him of certain legal difficulties. Harkin had a horse,, which he sent to one Barrin, his. son-in-law, who resides in Glenfinn. Barrin’s stable shortly after Harlem’s horse was sent to him, was entered at night, and his own horse taken by some person at present unknown, either by mistake for Harkin’s horse, or because Barrin’s horse was more valuable than Harkin’s, which latter is believed to be the fact. Some time after the stealing, some of the parties came to the Rev. Mr. M'Gettigan on the subject, and what transpired before lpm is not known, but the result was, that Barrin got his horse, and Mulloy was paid His money. Mr. M'Gettigan having been required by the magistrates to be sworn, and state that part of the transaction of of which he was aware, refused doing so, stating that he could not conscientiously reveal what was imparted to him as a secret, the parties having entrusted him therewith under the impression that he neither could nor would reveal it. The magistrates read him a letter, purporting to have been written by Mr. Lucas, the under-secretary, stating that no clergyman was exempted from giving evidence, in any case, no matter how his knowledge may have been obtained ; to which dictum Mr. M'Gettigan said he could not assent, and stated, as an instance of the

hardship of the adoption of such a principle,’ that he had at that moment a letter in his pocket from an individual enclosing a pound-n’Ote. whjich lie had stolen from another, and requesting Mr. M'Gehigan to restore it, of which (if Mr. Lucas and the magistrates were- correct) he would be obliged, upon a summons being, issued, and served upon him at the instance of the person to whom he would restore the pound, to give evidence as to how he obtained, and who the party was, that' stole the same. The magistrates finally committed Mr. M'Gettigan for such refusal to give evidence, under the 9tli Geo. IV. c. 54. s. 2, and he now lies immured in Lifford gaol. The following is an extract of a private letter received from him since his incarceration : ‘ The propriety of the course which I have taken in this affair, no matter what may be the issue, appears to me every hour greater and more just. * * * I have great consolation in the plaudits of a clear conscience ; and, on mature reflection, you and every other maii will commend the course, and advocate the principle, which has led me to this.’ The excitement through all parts of the county is intense.’