WAS HE INNOCENT?

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 73, 25 October 1884, Page 6

WAS HE INNOCENT?

What Will Be Disclosed in the Miles Joyce Case, New York, September 21. — A London cable special of the 20th says : — When the Imperial Parliament convenes next month it will not be the Franchise Bill nor the future of the House of Lords, nor even the Egyptian crisis, which will excite the deepest feelings within St. Stephen's and evoke the widest attention outside of it. Instead of these topics the hapless end of a poor wretched old peasant on a wild mountain side in Connemara, as ignorant of the English language as any rioudan savage, promises to be the most striking subject of discussion and revelation in the session. The hanging of Miles Joyce in Galway, in December, 1882, attracted more than usual attention in America, not only because of the hideous bungling of the drunken hangman, the late Marwood, but because of the persistent and repeated declaratioTis of his innocence which Joyce made up to the last. The two other persons hanged at the same time, in dying depositions, admitted their guilt and solemnly swore to the innocence of Joyce. The telegraph offices in Dublin and Galway kept open all night in the belief that Lord Spencer would interfere on the strength of these statements, but he refused. The crime was the butchery of John Joyce, his wife, and three children. In all, ten men were arrested, the relatives of the victims. One of the arrested persons, Anthony Philbin, knew nothing of the murder, but, terrified at the danger and dazzled by the reward offered, turned informer and made up a story, giving some names at random. One of the guilty men, who had been arrested, Thomas Casey, also turned informer and gave the real names, but Bolton, the prosecutor, refused to accept him as a witness until he consented to make his evidence correspond with Philbin's. Bolton put the two men together in the prison yard to arrange their story, and he deliberately suppressed much evidence of an unanswerable sort showing the innocence of Miles Joyce. The first inkling of this conduct came out five weeks ago, when Thomas Casey, attending confession the first time since the murder, revealed the facts to a priest, with the result that they were disclosed to the Archbishop. Philbin also made a confession. In Parliament the Irish members extracted from the Government a promise that a full inquiry should be made into the mattei', as there were four men in prison who also are said to be innocent. But all this amounted to was a curt note from the Castle in Dublin that sufficient inquiry had been made already. The inquiry which the Castle refused Timothy Harrington, a member of Parliament from Westmeath, has made on his own responsibility. He interviewed everybo-iy in the district, with results which promise to be startling. He says: "The evidence which I have got is enough to put Spencer in the dock for conspiracy to murder. It will open the eyes of the whole world to the systematic wrongs committed in the name of justice under English rule in Ireland."'

Confession of Two Informers. Dublin, September 6. — Informers Casey and Philbin, who have claimed that they swore falsely against Miles Joyce in connection with the Maam Trasna murder case, are again talking. Casey declared that there were seven men concerned in the murders— himself, Michael Casey, Patrick Casey, Patrick Joyce, and three others. One of these was a wealthy farmer, still living near Maam Trasna. This man instigated the massacre and held a lamp whife the family •were murdered. It was he, too, who compelled them to return and murder the aged grandmother. Catey asserted that Joyce, Tom Myles, and Patrick and John Casey and Martin were not present. The interviewer was impressed that Casey was telling the truth. The " Freeman's Journal " alleges that the Government is well aware of the truth of Caseys statements, and again demands that a new public inquiry into the case be made.