IRELAND
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, Saturday.
The latest particulars published in reference to the assassination
of Mr. John (JAMES) Murray in the county of Donegal, of which I appraised you
yesterday by telegram, are as follows:-
“It appears Murray left his cottage about 10 o’clock on Tuesday
morning, accompanied by two or three dogs, to look after his master’s
estate, and had travelled nearly a mile and a half from
home when he met his fate. The police had been scouring the
country from the first suspicion that Murray had been foully made away
with. Their search, however, on Tuesday and Wednesday proved
ineffectual. The tenantry on the Adair estate were warned to turn out,
they being familiar with the district, and search for the missing
land-steward, whom they shortly succeeded in finding at the foot of the
precipice, at the distance from his house mentioned above, about 9
o’clock on Thursday morning, and they at once brought the intelligence
to a party of police preparing for a day’s search, and all hastened to
the spot and found the corpse of poor Murray. He lay on his back, on a
ledge of one of the rocks near the foot of the precipice, with his face
turned upwards. One of his arms lay across his breast, and the other by
his side. His hair was dishevelled, clotted with blood, and the eyes
open. The body bore marks sufficient to prove that Murray met his death
by violence. The poor fellow seems to have made a desperate fight for
life, for all along the edge of the precipice footmarks indicate that a
struggle took place. The face of the murdered man presented a sad
spectacle. Immediately under the right eye was a frightful wound, as if
inflicted by a blunt instrument, and there was a similar wound on the
right temple. Murray’s skull, upon examination, was found to have been
completely smashed in. His shirt and the breast of his coat were torn by
the hands of the fiends who murdered him.
Near where the corpse lay was found a five-barrelled revolver,
with the stock smashed. The police state that the wood part was
completely wrenched from the steel work. Upon inspecting this weapon it
was found that one of the barrels had been discharged. Near to the body
was found a large stone, weighing about seven pounds, covered with blood
and hair. There was also found near the body a button which corresponded
with those on his shirt. The body was carried to the cottage which he
had left only two mornings before in health and strength. One can well
imagine the feelings of his poor widow and on receiving the remains of
her dead husband. He has left one child.”
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