Murders that left a scar on Cork history

AS this is the fifth book in the Murder Most Local series, it must be obvious that Ballycotton man, Peter O’Shea intends to cover historical murders all over Cork.

“I get hooked when I investigate Cork murders,” says Peter. “I tried to carve up the county into manageable chunks.”

During his investigations for the Murder Most Local series, he has researched military records, courts of assizes records, library archives and local folk-lore.

“Unravelling the stories of Cork murders was an amazing project,” says Peter. “The other four titles in the series so far are North, South, East and West, but they were not published in that order. So when the dilemma arose of what to call this chunk of Cork in the middle, I settled on mid Cork. That leaves me another year to decide what to call the other bit in the middle, just North of the city but not quite North Cork.

“That means its going to be six books to cover the county, with another at least for the city.”

The motives for murder are the same down through the centuries.

“While the motives are the same - money, land, greed, and jealousy - the outcomes are different,” says Peter.

“Sometimes, the suspect was never found, others accused were hanged for their crime, and the wrong person could be found guilty. Locals often suspected ‘who done it’ from the start.”

Where does his motivation for the subject of murder most local come from?

“Sometimes it is difficult to keep writing, but then I keep finding interesting cases that are unique and different in so many way and also how they pan out,” says Peter.

“I was really intrigued from the beginning and then I just couldn’t stop.”

Peter is like a modern day Agatha Christie.

“It still shocks me what ordinary people got themselves into, some unintentionally on the spur of the moment, while for others every detail was planned out.

“This year, I found so many interconnects between the stories. For example, a witness in one becomes a victim in another. Not only that, but I’m finding connections between the books, where a police constable in this book is later charged with murder in Murder Most Local, Historic Murders of South Cork.

Peter has penned engrossing chapters containing elements of intrigue, mystery, subterfuge, suspicion, hidden bodies, disappearing bodies and the demon drink. The devil is in the detail.

Some of the stories in Mid-Cork Murders are well known.

“One of the more well-known stories here features Dr Cross of Shandy Hall and it takes up quite a few pages.

“The Cross family are mentioned in more than one murder story, it reveals more about them and their ways. It also demonstrates how intertwined people were in small communities, but we can never understand the long term effects of these brutal crimes.

“Where the main breadwinner was either the victim or perpetrator, the families suffered the most from that loss, but over time we want to know what went on.”

The crimes were brutal.

“Some believe that these crimes were so bad, they must never be mentioned again,” says Peter.

“I don’t have to say that I disagree. We must try to understand where we came from and the struggles of our forefathers, even if they broke the law or did something awful.

“Some find the crimes against newborn babies that occurred all too frequently in the 1920s and ’30s the hardest to come to terms with. But should these lives that were cut so short be forgotten to protect others?”

This is Peter’s sixth book. His first, Here I Am In Ballycotton, combined his appreciation for Ballycotton and its history with his love of the sea and his passion for postcards.

He received a lot of feedback about a local murder in his Ballycotton book and from this the Murder Most Local series was born.

The Mid-Cork book follows those on North Cork, East Cork and West Cork and South Cork. While researching his East Cork edition, he found many other historical murders around Cork county.

‘Driven To It’ is set in Moneyreague, Dunmanway, in 1846.

One Saturday morning in November, Coroner Franklin Baldwin arrived at Kinneigh Graveyard to carry out an inquest. The deceased was a married woman from Moneyreague, a townland north of Dunmanway.

The chief suspect was her husband, Cornelius Crowley, who had already been arrested and was being held by police in Dunmanway.

At the inquest, the chief witness was a neighbour of the Crowleys, Jeremiah Farrell. He recalled a few days before when he was alerted to a woman’s scream. He went to Crowley’s and found the couple fighting, which was not uncommon, according to him. This time though Farrell must have thought it worse as he intervened.

What was the row about? Was Mary cruel to her husband? Was he cruel to her? Cornelius had grievances with his wife. Did he kill her?

Jeremiah Farrell came across Mary lying in the yard.

“Her husband was standing over her, shovel in hand, laying into her with all the force he could manage.”

He didn’t need a doctor to tell that Mary was dead, or how she died. Farrell knew there and then her skull was smashed to pieces.

What Jeremiah did next was seize his neighbour, Cornelius Crowley, rather than running away for help. He managed, with the assistance of another man, to drag Crowley into a house and tied him up. Then, between them, Crowley was loaded into a cart and delivered to the police in Dunmanway.

The reader is reeled in with stories like these, eager to get to the outcome and totally taken up with the drama.

Jeremiah Farrell’s evidence seems suspect. One could almost imagine that he had done it and blamed the husband. But then, when you hear that the woman had a few pounds on her, it begs the question of what motive would he have to do such a thing?

It shows, if anything, how people reacted differently to the dreadful circumstances they found themselves in.

The jury of the inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder against Cornelius Crowley. Coroner Franklin issued a coroner’s warrant which was enough to commit Crowley to the County Gaol and for trial at the next assizes.

The plot thickens, as it does in all the murder stories.

Murder Most Local, Historic Murders of Mid Cork is a riveting read.

It tells the gruesome stories of true historic murders in Mid-Cork from near Kanturk to Millstreet, south to Macroom and west along to Gougane Barra and on to Bantry. The area is covered with historic crimes.

Peter encourages everyone to shop local this Christmas. Murder Mmost Local is available in the following outlets. Wordsworth, Millstreet, O’Learys Supervalu, Macroom, Smyths Supervalu, Kinsale, Bandon Books Plus, Skibbereen Bookshop. Bookstór Kinsale, Scally’s Supervalu Clonakilty, O’Farrells Bandon, Bantry Bookshop, Carrigaline Bookshop, Cottrells Gala Ballinhassig, Midleton and Fermoy Books, McCarthys News Midleton, Phillips Bookshop Mallow, Vibes& Scribes, Kanturk Bookshop and many more.

“I am looking forward again to all the lovely feedback I get,” says Peter.

“And I hope people enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it.”