HC Deb 12 March 1896 vol 38 cc759-60
MR. J. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, has his attention been drawn to a sentence of three years' penal servitude inflicted on two youths at the Westmeath October Sessions, for dropping a stone of about four ounces in weight from a bridge on a passing train; and, whether, as there was an entire absence of evidence that the act was committed with a malicious intent, he will have an Inquiry made into the case with the view to a reduction of the sentence?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

It is the fact that at the Quarter Sessions held at Mullingar, in October last, two young men, aged about 21 years, were convicted and sentenced to a term of three years' penal servitude on a charge of having thrown a stone weighing about a pound at a passing train. A memorial praying for a remission of the sentence has been received from one of the prisoners within the past few days, and this memorial is at present under the consideration of the Lords Justices.