HC Deb 18 March 1889 vol 334 cc16-7
MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Creagh, J.P., of Quin, county Clare, who was wounded on Sunday, the 10th instant, has been three times fired at since 1872; whether his attention has been called to the fact that on one of these occasions the man who fired at him blew off his own finger owing to the bursting of his gun, and was arrested, but acquitted by a Clare jury, although the finger which had been picked up on the spot was produced in Court, and found to be the finger of the prisoner; and if Mr. Creagh and his sister are under police protection?

MR. COX (Clare, E.)

asked whether the hon. and learned Gentleman's attention had been directed to a statement made at the local branch of the National League to the effect that Mr. Creagh was a kindly, good-natured gentleman, with all the qualities necessary to entitle him to the popularity he enjoyed, and that he was known to have supported many poor people out of his own pocket in times of distress?

*MR. MADDEN

The hon. Member must give notice of that question. It is the case that Mr. Creagh, J.P., has been fired at on three occasions since 1872. When fired at in 1872, he was about to evict the father of the man who was subsequently charged with the offence. The man was arrested as he was about to get his hand, which was in a shattered condition, amputated. It is the fact that medical evidence was given at the trial to the effect that a finger found at the scene of the outrage, where the blunderbuss used had exploded, belonged to the amputated hand, and that, notwithstanding this evidence, the jury acquitted the accused. Since the recent firing at Mr. Creagh and his sister, they are receiving police protection, and a police hut is about to be erected near Mr. Creagh's house.

MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)

Is the hon. and learned Gentleman aware that a public meeting has been held in the locality to protest, in the strongest manner, against the outrage in question?

*MR. MADDEN

I am not aware of it.