MR. JOSEPH COWENwished to ask the Chief Secretary a Question in reference to the proceedings on Saturday last, when a statement was made by the hon. Member for King's County (Mr. Molloy) regarding certain outrages. The Committee understood that a woman accused of theft, and then in prison, confessed to having committed various incendiary fires, and written various threatening letters; that the charge against her had been withdrawn; and that she had disappeared from the district. His right hon. Friend was not able then to confirm those statements, but promised to make inquiries. He wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he had since made those inquiries?
§ MR. TREVELYANI have made inquiries, and I will confine myself absolutely to the points about which I was unable to give information to the House. It was confidently believed by a certain number of Members that Mary Grehan confessed to writing threatening letters for which the parishes of Bally-boggan and Castle Jordan were proclaimed. I have now ascertained the facts. Mary Grehan pleaded "Guilty," on the 6th of March, 1882, to the charge of writing threatening letters; and the Judge allowed her to stand out on her own recognizances to come up for judgment when called on. It was after this that every one of the 13 outrages occurred to which I referred as having been the cause of the district being proclaimed. These outrages included two shootings into houses, two incendiary fires, the shooting of a sheep, and the shooting of a mule, killed while it was being driven in a car by a man who was "Boycotted," the rest being threatening letters.
§ MR. MOLLOYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether all these outrages 1765 had not been predicted in the threatening letters?
§ [No answer was given to this Question.]