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Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1984, 17 November 1863, Page 4

The Last of a Thain of Tbagedj.es. — The last of a train of fearful tiagedies was concluded on Monday at Limerick, in the sentence of Michael Dillane to ten years' penal servitude, [n May, 1862, two brothers of that name, men of positii'i) and intelligence, fancied they had some ground of complaint against their landlord about a lease. They resolved to take away his life. Tli«y had not courage to commit the ciime themselves, or they did not choose to run the risk of detection and punishment — and why should they when they could get the job done for a few pounos ? They accordingly hired two desperate ruffians, named Beckham and Walsh, whom they armed i.nd sent on their dreadful mission. They met their destined victim, Mr Francis Fitzgerald, walking near his own house, accompanied by his young wife to whom be was but recently married. They shot him in her presence and walked way. The deed was done in open day with a reckless disregard of consequences, the assassins and iheir employers relying on the sympathy or the fears of the peasantry to secure their impunity. But they were wofully deceived. Beckham was soon arrested, while his hands were yet red with the innocent blood of his victi'a. A special commission was appointed ; he was tried, convicted, and executed within one month after the perpetration of the crime. Yet justice was not administered hurriedly, but «ith care and caution. The attorney' general conducted the prosecution with moderation, and the jury was so fairly selected that there was not a word against its composition or its verdict. The second assassin, Walsh, managed to conceal himself for a considerable time ; but the police were constantly on bis track; he was hunted down, and having been tried and convicted at the ensuing assizes, he too was executed. A " respectable" farmer, named Cooke, who harboured Walsh, was tried and found guilty of the offence and severely punished. It was long felt to be almost a useless sacrifice of human life to lnug the hired instruments of agrarian combination while the secret instigators and employers of those wretches escaped. Justice could never be satisfied, society could never be safe, while the chief criminals were beyond the reach of punishment. It was felt, therefore, to be a matter of vital import nice to the peace of the community to convict the men who had hired the assassins of Mr Fitzgerald. This the Attorney-General has happily aecomplisded in a way which leaves nothing to be desired or regretted. Denis Dillaae was tried as an accessory before the fact, in hiring and arming the assassins. The evidence against him was conclusive. He was found guilty and executed. Only one of the guilty parties now remained unpunished — Michael Dillane, and he was on Tuesday awarded the just punish mettt of his crime. He had been in gaol for eighteen months. The indictment charged him also with being an accessory before the fact; but in consequence of a defect in the evidence to sustain the capital charge, the Attorney General withdrew it, and resolved to proceed upon the minor counts. To these the prisoner pleaded guilty, finding it in vain to struggle against the evidence. The highest penalty the hw allows in such a case — soliciting to commit murder, is ten years' penal servi» tude, and of this Mi Justice Keogh declared he would not abate one hour. This case is I believe, without parallel in the criminal records of Ireland. Such speedy and complete retribution — so many trials for an agrarian murder in Munster, without a single lailure of justice, without disagreement of the jury — so much public sui.isiuci.ion with the results — have not been known during the present century.