Patrick Mcguire

343

Maureen Withey on 14th August 2022

Irish Convict Database, by Peter Mayberry. Patrick McGuire, alias Maguire, per Morley (5) 1828, age on arrival, 22, tried at Monaghan, 1827, Life, for Abduction. DOB, 1806, native place, Monaghan. Single, catholic. Trade: pit sawyer, servant farm. --------------------------------------------------- Moreton Bay Convict Records. Patrick Maguire, per Morley 4, Tried at Monaghan, 22 Mar 1827, Life. Trade, Sawyer. Colonial Sentence: Tried at Sup. Ct. Sydney, 27 Jun 1831, Highway robbery. Seven years commuted from Death recorded. Sent to Sydney for trial – Murder, 5 Feb 1832. Run 15 Dec 1831, ret. 28th1831. Description: Patk. McGuire, native place, Monaghan, age 29, 5ft 9 ¾ fresh freckled comp, brown hair, hazle eyes catholic. -------------------------------------------------- MORE HORRORS AT MORETON BAY. SUPREME CRIMINAL COURT. FRIDAY, MARCH 2nd.—Before the CHIEF JUSTICE and the usual Military Commission. Patrick McGuire was indicted for the wilful murder of Matthew Gallagher, at Moreton Bay, on the 6th of January last. It appeared on the evidence of Pat. Whalen, (who was overseer of the gaol gang to which the prisoner was attached, corroborated by that of a private soldier of H. M. 17th regiment, on duty at the time) that on the day laid in the information, the prisoner and the deceased were employed drawing gravel in a hand-cart to repair roads, and that as they were in the gravel pit, the prisoner struck the deceased on the head with a grubbing hoe, and inflicted the wound of which he (the deceased) eventually died. The witnesses ran to the assistance of the deceased, and upon questioning the prisoner, he told them coolly, " the deceased had given no provocation that he hoped he was dead, as he (the prisoner) was weary of his life, and wished to die." The deceased was taken to the hospital, and died on the Sunday following. Mr. Henry Cowper, surgeon, deposed, that the deceased was carried to the hospital on the 6th of January last, wounded on the head, and remained insensible until he died; that on examination into the cause of his death, he found a deep wound on the right side of the head;, and immediately under the wound was about an ounce and a half of extravasated blood, between the bone of the head and the dura mater, which was the cause of the deceased's death. It appeared in the course of the trial, that the prisoner had received one hundred lashes the day before the deed was done, and fifty more lashes were still due to him. The prisoner, when called on for his defence, offered none, and remained perfectly unmoved, as if resigned to his fate. His Honor summed up briefly, and put the case to the Jury, who, without retiring, returned a verdict of Guilty. The crown officer prayed the judgment of the Court. His Honor in passing sentence of death on the prisoner, dwelt with particular energy on the atrocious nature of these crimes, so frequent at penal settlements. There was, His Honor observed, something so horrid, so entirely at variance with human nature, for a man to deprive his fellow creature of life without the least provocation, and merely (as the prisoner had observed) " because he was weary of life," that he (the learned judge) could not comprehend the feeling. He trusted in God, that these enormous offences would cease. After passing the sentence of the law, His Honor exhorted the prisoner to make use of the short space allotted him in this world, and to seek by penitence and prayer the pardon of his Maker. (The prisoner was totally unmoved throughout.) Execution.— Patrick McGuire, convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of Matthew Gallagher at Moreton Bay, underwent the utmost penalty of the law at the drop in the goal on Monday last. The murderer was attended in his dying moments by the Rev. V. Dowling. When on the drop, the prisoner advanced to the front, acknowledged his guilt, asking the prayers of the multitude, and saying that he died in peace with all men. There appeared to be the same determined calmness in the prisoner on the drop, that characterised him on his trial and under the feeling exhortation of the Chief Justice. He died almost without a struggle. Sydney Monitor, 7 Mar 1832. --------------------------------------------------- The following article discusses the severe conditions for the prisoners at Moreton Bay, following the case of Patrick McGuire and Mathew Gallagher's murder. MORETON BAY. In this Journal of date the 17th March last, a report appeared of the trial and conviction of Patrick Mc'Guire of Moreton Bay, a prisoner of the Crown, for the murder of Matthew Gallagher, another prisoner of the same place. Our Reporter made the following remark in the course of his report. "It appeared in the course of the trial, that the prisoner had received 100 lashes the day before the deed was done, 50 more being due to him. The prisoner when called upon for his defence, offered none, remaining perfectly unmoved, as if resigned to his fate." It also came out in evidence, that instantly after the perpetration, Mc'Guire adopted the sentiments of many others who committed murder at Moreton Bay when Captain Logan commarnded there, namely, that he had slaughtered his fellow prisoner merely because he was weary of his existence, and wished to go up to Sydney to be hanged. Captain Clunie has written to a friend in Sydney, to contradict the testimony given above, so far as to say, that Mc'Guire did not get 100 lashes the day before he committed the murder. Fifty lashes were hanging over his head at that period, in consequence of his having been sentenced thereto for running away the second time within a month. For the first offence he was punished only with a few hours extra work. For the second, he was sentenced to receive 50 lashes; but in consequence of the murder, the sentence was never put in execution. Captain Clunie also writes to his friend in Sydney, that in a report of another trial of, a prisoner, from Morton Bay, our reporter stated, that "a man named O'Mara, who had informed against an overseer, Blaher, had been about to receive 50 lashes, &c." Capt. Clunie, says, that O'Meara not only did not get 50 lashes, but that he was not to get them at any time, nor had he been threatened there with in any way, or with any other punishment. On searching our Journal, we find that in the Sydney Monitor of the 22nd of February last, there is reported the trial of John Blewer, (alias Blaher,) a prisoner, for attempting to murder at Moreton Bay on the 19th Nov. 1831, one Thomas O'Meara, another prisoner, by cutting him in the throat with a razor On this trial, one Reily Smith, (also a prisoner from Moreton Bay,) is reported as having sworn, that "O'Meara, on the day he was cut in the throat, had been warned for the Court to get 50 lashes about some pork amid bread, supposed to have been stolen from the Court-house; and that he heard him say, that before he would go to Court and take 50 lashes, he would put an end to his existence." And Martin Smith, (another prisoner) swore, that O'Meara said to him the day before he was cut in the throat, that " he supposed he should be punished ; but that before he would take 50 lashes, or give any scoundrel the satisfaction of seeing him punished, he would put an end to his existence." Captain Clunie seems to complain of the report of these expressions. At all events, he denies that O'Meara was ever threatened by him with 50 lashes. Certaily not. Whoever reads Reily Smith and Martin Smith's several testimony, will perceive clearly, that what they intended to express was, that if O'Meara did go to Court, and was convicted of the theft with which he had been accused, he would most likely be punished with 50 lashes. A very natural conclusion ; and not in the least reflecting on the Magistrate who was to try him Captain Clunie also writes to his friend respecting a paragraph in our leading article of the Syd. Mon of the 22nd Februtrry, which runs thus. "In the trial of one Byford, Mackintosh, chief constable of Moreton Bay, whom Byford attempted to murder, acknowledged, that the prisoner never had a blanket allowed him ; that blankets and slops were often omitted to be sent down by the Commissariat of Sydney; and that in such cases, the prisoners got neither blankets nor slops when due. The ration of food allowed the prisoners was (formerly) six ounces of maize meal porridge before day light. At eleven o'clock one pound of beef each man, or eight ounces of pork ; (quere—what is the quality of the meat? Ed ;) a pint of pease among seven men, and six ounces of maize-cake each man. No supper. That since that period a portion of wheaten bread had been substitlited for the maize-cake. Hours of work, from day-light to 11 A. M. and from 2 to sun-down. Sugar was sometimes allowed to their breakfasts (of maize porridge), at the rate of an ounce per man, but as sugar, like the slops and blankets, was seldom in the stores, the seecnth part of a pint of pease was given as a substitute." Captain Clunie remarks on this paragraph, that the beef is good, and is the same which is eaten by himself and the oflicers of the settlement. Also, that the prisoners now get more supper than they.can eat and that, in addition to their ration, they in general get as many vegetables as they can consume. If this were the case at the time the chief constable gave his testimony, (and we believe Captain Clunie,) the chief constable did not tell "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Nevertheless, while Capt. C- is quite right in vindicating the Government from the implied charge of continuing to ill feed the men with rotten American beef, and bad maize, and hall wheaten meal, as Darling certainly did in Capt. Logan's time (by which the men were accustomed to devour putrid sharks, dead dogs, and other carrion, and to rush to the river and pull up the flags, in order to get at their sweet root); at the same time, supposing the chief constable's testimony as to the ill-feeding of the men to be true, would not have reflected the least on Capt. Clunie ? Two years ago, we made known the bad feeding of the men at Moreton Bay to Darling? and if he did not choose to alter it, what business would it have been of Captain Clunie? But it appears, the feeding is now improved from unwholesome to wholesome food, and from a starving to a plentiful ration. There fore, the chief constable was wrong to swear in such a way, as to cause the public here to think the contrary; and Captain Clunie is certainly right, in stating the real truth for the information of the public of London and New South Wales respectively. We shall be glad to learn, that the full ration is continued, seeing the men work from 4½ to 7½ in summer, with a single intermission of three hours for dinner. Such labour in a tropical climate, (the men being coerced by the Overseers on pain of being severely flogged for skulking, unless sick,) requires a full ration of wholesome food. But the tale of the blankets and slops being short, remains uncontradicted by Captain Clunie. We are informed that the great flow of perspiration in working eleven hours in the sun of Moreton Bay, renders the men very chilly, and that the absence of clothes and blankets has caused intense suffering there. We doubt not from what we hear of Captain Clunie's character for intelligence and humanity, that whenever the slops and bedding are due, but do not arrive, that he will not hesitate to inform Governor Bourke of the neglect. We know, that neither he, nor any other officer who might wish to retain his post, dared to do this in Darling's tyrannical reign. We are ready to prove this by a case or two in point, if required. For the cruelties practised at Moreton Bay, both as to ill-feeding and ill-clothing the men, and the most dreadlful scourging, the same being inflicted without trial by the monster Logan, we refer our Readers both in London and the Colony, to the Sydney Monitors of date the 17th July and 14th Aug. 1830 Also, for other cruelties practised in the reign of Darling, we refer them to the Sydney Monitor of dates the 24th April, 30th June, 7th July, and 7th August 1830, respectively. Sydney Monitor, 25 July 1832.