Hello Listers It appears there is 1 more part on my extracts on the Potato Blight 1846-49 to follow, which will bring us to the end of 1849.
The following articles are transcribed by Teena from the Banner of Ulster, Dublin Evening Mail, Dublin Mercantile Advertiser, Freeman's Journal, Northern Whig, and the Tyrone Constitution. (unless otherwise noted) 12 May 1849 A Sign of the Times Waste Lands In the district country lying between Knappa and Benburb, about 3 miles, there are no less than 7 townlands covering an area of one thousand acres, totally unoccupied. Some 2 or 3 years ago this same district was inhabited by a comparatively wealthy population. Many other places are similarly circumstanced; so that our brethren in the south and west are not likely to have all the waste land to themselves- the baneful effects of legislative blundering, increasing our taxation while decreasing our means of paying it, are beginning to exhibit themselves in the Black North. Weekly Vindicator 8 Jun. 1849 death by Starvation An inquest was held last Saturday on the body of a man named Patrick MURTA, who lived Derryhaw, near Middletown, in this county. (Co. Armagh) Amongst the witnesses examined were T. J. TENISON Esq. J.P., and Mr. John GAMBLE, who knew the deceased to have been industrious man, using every effort to obtain sustenance, but unable to get employment to keep him alive. From Dr. CLARKE's statement of the emaciated state of the body of the unfortunate man, in conjunction with other evidence, the jury unanimously gave it their verdict that death was caused by starvation. Potato Crop As much anxiety is felt concerning this crop in consequence of slight symptoms of blight having been observed in one or two localities, we may state for the information of the public, that in this and the surrounding district, the crop never looked better, nor more healthy. Our informants being respectable, disinterested parties, the information may be relied on and the hopes of the people are well grounded, for with the blessing of providence, there will shortly be an abundant supply of good potatoes. Cholera During the last few days, we are sorry to say, several cases of cholera have occurred in this town (Newry). They have not all taken place in one neighbourhood, but in quarters widely apart from each other and, which is rather remarkable, all the parties attacked are females. Armagh Guardian 9 Jun. 1849 - Distressing case of Eviction near Buncrana A report having reached Buncrana on the evening of Wednesday last, that a girl, naned Biddy M'LAUGHLIN of Leophin, on the property of George HARVEY Esq., had been beaten almost to death by 2 bailiffs, in the employment of John MILLER Esq., the agent, in an attempt to drive her from the premises, of which the family she belonged had been lately dispossessed. I hastened to the spot to inform myself of the circumstances. I found the girl lying in a wretched little shed, built up within the open wallsteads of the house, from which the family had been lately evicted. She appeared terribly bruised and wounded; but in order to understand the full hardship of the case, I must relate briefly the history of the eviction from its commencement. Nancy M‘LAUGHLIN, alias M'GINNESS, a widow with 6 orphans, one of them the patient in question, occupied a small farm of land in the aforesaid townland. A short time ago, she was served with notice to quit, and was evicted at law. She owed, to be sure, some arrears of rent, but she had tendered what would put her on a level with the other tenants on the property. This offer was refused and when she found that her extermination had been determined on, she took the steamer in Derry for Liverpool, with scarcely a penny in her pocket, above her passage money, with a view tomake her way to Cheltenham, where her landlord George HARVEY Esq., resided and lay her case before him in person. She had no money to travel by railroad and set out on foot from Liverpool in the direction of London. According to her own statement, "she travelled one hundred miles in this direction, with swollen and bleeding feet and subsisting for three days at a time on one pound of Indian meal," when, partly from exhaustion, and partly from the advice of some humane persons she met with, she came to the resolution of acquainting her landlord, by letter, of her whereabouts and her errand. She remained at the end of her journey for 2 days or so, in expectation of an answer and some help to carry her back to Ireland and receiving neither, she set out again on foot, with heavy heart, to retrace her steps and visit her starving orphans and her cheerless home; not without a hope that the returning clemency of her agent might greet her with better news on her arrival. In the meantime and during the mother's absence, it had been intimated, I am informed, to the daughter (the now patient) that she might sell the lands to the highest and best bidder. An auction was accordingly called, but, the very day advertised for the sale and at the hour when some of the neighbours were assembling for the purpose of bidding for it, the sub-sheriff, with his posse, came down, dispossessed the family, unroofed the house, tore out doors and windows and left the wretched orphans without a shelter under the canopy of Heaven. It was in this roofless and dilapidated condition that the poor broken-hearted mother found her habitation on her return and in this condition I found it on the evening have alluded to. The girl was lying, as I said before, in a wretched little shed, which the family had constructed out of the sticks and thatch around them, against one of the standing gables of the open wall-steads. It was about 7 or 8 feet square and 5 feet high, with a squalid bed and bedstead at one end and a bundle of dirty straw at the other; and in this, the entire family, male and female, were obliged to spend their days and nights, in the most revolting discomfort. As I stepped over a heap of rubbish, to enter the little shed, my attention was directed by some of the children to large marks of blood upon the stones, where their sister, they said, had fallen and fainted, under the blows of the merciless bailiffs. She presented herself a horrid sight, her hair appeared clotted with blood, her mouth was severely wounded, there were one or two painful contusions on her head and 4 or 5 bloody marks on her neck, as if some person, in his endeavours to strangle her, had torn her with his nails. The poor sheet she lay upon was many parts stained and stiff with her blood. I must give here, her own relation of the whole affair, from the notes I took on the occasion of my visit. About 12 or 1 o'clock in the day ( Wednesday, ult.,) while her mother was at the market in Derry, she went to carry water from a small brook beside the house, when a bailiff of Mr. MILLER's, named M'LAUGHLIN, in company with another named KELLY, came to her and said they came to plant the site of her residence with trees. She said she should hold by the place while she had life, They then moved up to the house together and one of the bailiffs attempting to throw down with a crowbar the little shed where she lived, she seized upon him with considerable violence and endeavoured to prevent him. She struggled with him and the other bailiff for some time, when one of them threw her down, trampled on her, kicked her and commenced, to use her own expression, to 'shatter' her with a stone, but at this time she was blind and stunned and almost senseless and could only say that after this, she felt both of them kicking her at the same time. After all was over, one of the bailiffs, as the other children testified to me, threw a coal into the straw in the corner of the shed, to burn all within it. The neighbours who gathered to offer their condolence to the family, in my time there, gave as their apology for not running to the poor girl’s rescue, that they were afraid, if they interfered, that they themselves might be dispossessed and treated with similar severity. As I was returning, at about half-past 12 in the morning, I met a body of the constabulary police of Buncrana going down to apprehend the half-murdered girl and the other children who were in the shed with her. On account of the state in which they found the beaten girl, they allowed her to remain; but they brought with them as prisoners, two little boys, one of them, it appeared to me, about 14 and the other, 12 years of age and on their way, meeting the mother, who was returning from the market in Derry and who had been totally unconscious of all that happened, they apprehended her also and "without any magistrate's warrant", as they admitted themselves and (_?) by verbal directions, lodged the three in the bridewell of Buncrana. The prisoners were shortly after liberated, but on tomorrow, I learn, the wretched family are to come and appear and make a defence at the suit of the 2 bailiffs. The widow and her children must stand in court as culprits, before their agent, perhaps acting as their judge and hear the story of their guilt related by the officers of the agent, in all the fullness of truth, but the proceedings in the court tomorrow I shall supply you with for your next publication. Coleraine Chronicle 12 Jun. 1849 Harvest Prospects Very few, if any, new potatoes have, up to the present, come into the market which have been grown out of hot-beds. In some tubers of this kind we have seen evidences of an unsound condition, but we will not take it on ourselves to say that these were signs of the "disease" and it must also be recollected that "forced" potatoes have, in all years, been of an uncertain and inferior quality. Rumours have also been afloat that in many places the stalks have given signs of the blight; from some of the districts in which this is alleged to have happened, we have received private accounts and whilst in most cases there are no grounds at all for the statement, in a few, the only foundation for it is the fact that some of the leaves were slightly discoloured from the effects of a few inclement nights at the latter end of May; quite a common occurrence and not at all sufficient to justify any serious apprehensions. Throughout this country there never was a finer appearance, and we have letters from Tyrone, Derry, Sligo and Leitrim, which give the most cheering accounts of the crops. In the north of Ireland, the weather, during the week, has been sunny and brilliant, though the wind has frequently ranged from the north. The crops are progressing in the most favourable way. New potatoes are quite common in the Belfast market and are selling at 5d. and 6d. per pound. They seem clean and healthy. There is a decided failure, everywhere, in the gooseberry crop; as well as in cherries and plums.This arises from the late frosts, with which we are still visited. the Potato Disease We have heard of one case in the neighbourhood of Derry, in which suspicious appearances existed, but nothing of a decisive character has come under our own observation. On the contrary, we yesterday had an opportunity of inspecting two exceedingly fine samples of new potatoes, both of which had grown in the neighbourhood of Derry and they were not only wholly free from disease, but as healthy in all respects as we have ever seen potatoes at this early season. The first sample was of the ash-leafed kidney variety, and had been grown in the garden of Harvey NICHOLSON Esq.; the second belonged to a kind called "Forty- folds" and had been raised at Brookhall, the residence of Major MILLS. New potatoes, of a very superior quality, were selling here yesterday at 8d. per quart. 14 July 1849 Buncrana Petty sessions July 5th Bailiffs of Geo. HARVEY Esq., of Linsford House v. Biddy M'LAUGHLIN and other children of the evicted Widow M'LAUGHLIN of Leophin. The hearing of this very singular and distressing case, took place on Thursday last, the 5th inst. It was thought there would be a cause and cross cause, but the evicted party, careless of consequences, neglected to summon. The magistrates present on the bench; Colonel JONES, Fahan Mr. BATT, of Rathmullan Mr. MILLER, agent to George HARVEY Esq. The defendants were Biddy M'LAUGHLIN, the beaten girl, of middle size and about 18 years of age; her sister Mary, a small girl of about 15, and James, her brother, a ragged little fellow, about 10. Daniel M'LAUGHLIN, one of the plaintiffs, examined - He went down in company with Billy KELLY to Leophin, on the morning of the affray, by order Mr. MILLER, the agent, to throw down the standing ruins of Widow M'LAUGHLIN’s late residence and to remove whatever house furniture might be there; met the defendant, Biddy M'LAUGHLIN, some distance from the ruins where the family had taken shelter and told her what he was about to do; she followed him to the shed and took up a spade, with which she struck him; he then wrested the spade from her and defendant seized a scythe hook, which he also wrested from her, when one of the family struck him with a stone in the hand and cut him; on this, he made for a coal to set fire to the place, when defendant, Bridget, seized him hard and fast and pitched him out of the doorway. Billy KELLY, the other plaintiff, gave similar evidence Mr. MACKLIN then opened the case for the defence in a lucid and forcible speech. He said he had competent witnesses to prove that one of the prosecutors, at least, had transgressed the bounds of his duty in a very brutal manner and that the defendant Biddy had been inhumanly treated. Two of these were eye-witnesses to the treatment the girl received; the third was the mother, who would depose to the state she found her daughter in, on the evening in question. This poor woman had, on that day, been in Derry, marketing and in the evening was on her way home, when she met the police conducting 2 of her children, prisoners to Buncrana. She was made a prisoner herself, on the spot, although absent all day from home and without any magistrate’s warrant, was confined in bridewell. But this was a subject for another investigation and did not affect the present case. Patrick M'LAUGHLIN, a very intelligent looking lad, stated he saw Billy KELLY lift a spade and throw it after defendant Mary so violently that if it had taken her, it would certainly have killed her; saw Dan M'LAUGHLIN coming out of the wallsteads and washing his head at a little brook; he was bleeding, but it ceased after washing; heard him on returning quickly to the wallsteads, swear he would have revenge; saw him after this return to the doorway leading defendant Biddy by the hand; she was bleeding frightfully; her face was all blood; it came streaming out of one wound, about the thickness of your finger; when Dan M'LAUGHLIN let go her hand she fell, to all appearance, dead upon the ground and lay there; he was immediately beside her and thought her dead; on this both bailiffs walked off. Nancy M'LAUGHLIN, the mother, sworn and examined. Had been in Derry on the day in question; was returning home, when she met the Buncrana police, having with them two of her children prisoners; they would not allow her to go the length of her daughter, but took her prisoner, brought her back to the town, and lodged herself and the children in bridewell. Dr. WADDY, on the evening in question, found the girl lying on a pallet in the little shed; her head was altogether covered with blood and her lip was completely severed; she complained of several contusions on her head and sides, under which she winced on the touch; her neck exhibited the marks of fingers, as of person who had caught her violently; did not believe her life in danger; did not think it necessary to bleed her. The case here closed and the magistrates gave judgment 'that James and Mary M'LAUGHLIN be dismissed and that Biddy M'LAUGHLIN, the girl who had been beaten, pay a fine of 10s. or be confined in jail for a fortnight.' The Cholera We deeply regret to say that in the course of the week, four decided cases of Indian cholera occurred in one house in Derry, and another, in connection with them, in the town of Newtownlimavady. On Tuesday se’nnight, a man of the name of QUIGG, who dealt in old clothes and belonged to Newtownlimavady, arrived in Derry by the steamer from Liverpool and took up his abode in a lodging-house in Foyle st., kept by Mrs. HARRIET. Without complaining much he retired to bed and nothing was heard of him till next forenoon, when groans proceeded from his room, and he was found writhing on the floor and labouring under all the symptoms of the fell disease. He received the best medical treatment, but aid came to him in vain. He died on Thursday morning. His wife arrived from Newtownlimavady and though fully warned, insisted on removing the body, which was then uncoffined, to her house at town. There she would have it waked and, ''Pining the lid of the coffin, she kissed the lips of the dead man. On Saturday morning cholera seized her, and in a few hours, she was no more. Friday last Mrs. HARRIET fell herself indisposed, but not so much but she was able to look after her household affairs and was prevailed on to attend the Flower Show held that day. In the evening, however, strong symptoms of cholera appeared on her; the disease baffled all the medical skill that could be applied to subdue it and Saturday morning she expired. Two maid servants, who were of her household, were also attacked and they were at once removed to the workhouse infirmary and under medical treatment, we understand they are recovering. We have heard of no other case in this city and are assured that no other, besides that of Mrs. QUIGG, has occurred in Newtownlimavady. 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