Cavan solicitor charged with poaching in 1906
In 1906, Thomas Atwell, a solicitor on Wesley Street (Ashe Street), Cavan Town, found himself in court on a charge of poaching on the lands of the Clements of Dromkeen. Such interference with the ‘landed gentry’, especially Clements, could potentially ruin a young solicitor’s reputation. The Cavan Weekly News carried the headline, ‘Solicitor charged with poaching’, which obviously made difficult reading for Atwell. However, all was to be well that ended well for Atwell.
The situation arose when Thomas Atwell and a friend were reported to the police by Clements of Dromkeen, near Cavan Town. The belligerent Mrs Agnes Lucas Clements and her son believed that Atwell and company had entered her land to hunt game on July 20, 1905. The case was to be of considerable interest to the newspapers nationally. The matter was brought before the courts under the ‘9th George II, Chap 29'.
In January 1906, the case was heard at Cavan’s Petty Sessions before Messrs G.D. Mercer, R.M. (who took the chair); P. Cahill; P. McManus; T.R. Blackley; T. Fegan; J. Fegan; T. Smith; and Lord Farnham, JP. The court was full to capacity.
Mr Blood Smyth, a solicitor from Cootehill acted for the prosecution. Mrs Clements son, Captain T.E.L. Clements who was sworn in, ‘deposed’ that between 8 o’clock and 9 0’clock on the night in question, he was alerted to the sound of gunshots fired on his mother’s property. Clements went to investigate, taking John Hall his steward and Thomas Johnson, one of his man servants. They hid nearby as the shots rang out. Then at ten minutes to 10 o’clock, Captain Clements saw Thomas Atwell accompanied by a man later identified as John Robinson. Both Atwell and Robinson were holding guns. Since the land was well-stocked with game, especially pheasant and partridge, Clements decided that the pair were poachers.
Blood Smyth asked Clements where he saw Atwell and Robinson, and if he had seen them on his mother’s land. ‘I did’, said Clements, and when pressed further, he added, that they were ‘walking between the railway and the mearing drain between my mother’s and Miss Moore’s’.
They were walking through the centre of the field. The steward challenged Atwell and Robinson as to what business they had on Mrs Clements' property.
W.J. Fegan in his cross-examination was deeply curious as to why an offence, which alleged took place in July of that year, had taken until December to have a summons issued. ‘Tell us why you delayed so long?’ Fegan demanded of Captain Clements.
The delay, came his answer, was due to an action pending in the ‘higher court’ by Atwell and was not being settled until November, after which Clements himself was not at home in Cavan and therefore unable to proceed with the matter.
The Clements were not a year living in Dromkeen, and their quarrelling with the neighbours was brought up by Fegan who asked ‘are you intimate with Mr Ebbitt?’ Clements responded that he was not. To which Fegan retorted, sure didn’t you go and poach there, and did Ebbitt ‘not threaten to kick you off!’ ‘No’, came Clements reply. Another piece of information to emerge was that the Dromkeen farm now in Clements' possession, had for the previous 23 years been in the possession of Atwell’s father. When put to Clements, that the shots had in fact rang out on Miss Moore’s farm, he said he could not be sure. ‘Did you see them fired on your land? asked Fegan. ‘I did not’ replied Clements.
Clements was asked if he knew that Thomas Atwell kept a pony and trap up at Larry Meehan’s, and to reach it, he had to walk along the railway track. Clements was not aware of it. Would you report trespassers to the railway company? Fegan asked. Clements said he would not. The problem now was that, if Atwell was proven guilty, he would face three months in jail with hard labour.
Miss Moore, when questioned about Atwell, said she had allowed him to walk over her land to pick up his pony and trap. Blood Smyth then firmly intoned that the defendant had no right to enter the Clements' property. However, Fegan presented further information about Atwell’s ‘right’ to enter the Clements' land, stating that his family still ‘had horses there, and most of the animals now on the land are his, so that he had perfect right to go there, up to the 31 December’. Miss Moore when cross-examined by Blood Smyth, informed him that there was a right of way through her land.
Fegan then turned on Captain Clements, letting him have it, he told the court that he had never witnessed ‘a more low, mean, shabby, contemptible case’ that was only ‘worthy of the low, mean, contemptible creature that prompted it', to which he pointed directly at Clements. It was concluded that the shots were most likely fired on Miss Moore’s land. To everyone’s relief, Thomas Atwell was acquitted.
In July 1906, Atwell whose honour had been impugned, took the matter further and appealed the poaching charge brought against him. He was a well-respected solicitor who went on to serve many years in Cavan, later in Roscommon and Limerick.
Rail accident
On September 6, 1862, the Cavan Observer reported that on Wednesday evening an accident of ‘a serious character’ occurred on the North Western railway, just a few miles from Cavan Town. Some of the railway workers at Belturbet Junction were in the habit of returning from work each evening by a ‘bogey’ used for carrying materials on the line, which they attached to the train by a rope.
On the night in question, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Luke Martin, Thomas Reilly, and John Trainor left Belturbet Junction on the "bogey" to travel home to Butlersbidge. They had not gone far when the wheel on the bogey broke, throwing the four men on to the railway track. Trainor escaped unhurt, but the other men received ‘severe’ contusions.
They were speedily taken to the County Infirmary in Cavan, where they were treated. Dr Mees, the medical officer at the Infirmary ‘dressed their wounds’. The injuries, although severe, were not life threatening.