268 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



dieted having been arraigned, and 

 refusing to join in their challenges, 

 Edward Bradley alone was put 

 upon his trial. 



Mr. Smiley stated the case on 

 behalf of the prosecution. The 

 murder of Mr. Norton Butler, 

 two or tliree years ago, he said, 

 had led to the crime which was 

 the subject of the present prose- 

 cution. A person, named Daniel 

 Maginnis, had been charged with 

 the murder of Mr. Butler ; after 

 evading justice for a long time, he 

 was taken prisoner, in the sum- 

 mer of 1816, and was tried and 

 convicted of this crime at the 

 Lent Assizes of 1817. George 

 Balfour was suspected of having 

 given information which led to 

 the taking of Maginnis, and for 

 this offence it was determined, by 

 the prisoner and his associates, 

 that Balfour should be put to 

 death. 



Owen Breeson, John Maginnis, 

 and others, related the particulars 

 of this murder. The substance 

 of their evidence was as follows : 



They received summonses to 

 attend a meeting on the night of 

 the 1st of October, which they 

 were afraid to refuse, lest their 

 own lives should be endangered. 

 They joined a party, consisting 

 in all, of a hundred at least, as- 

 sembled near Glengannon-bridge; 

 tliey were under the bank of the 

 river, some sitting, and some 

 lying down. It was a moonlight 

 night, but not very bright. A 

 man came over the bridge along 

 the road from Carn, whistling, 

 which the witnesses understood 

 to be the signal that Balfour was 

 coming. In a very few minutes 

 after Balfour came by himself 

 along the road, in the same direc- 

 .tion. The party, on this, drew 



near to the bridge, and just as 

 Balfour had passed over it a man 

 rushed forward and seized him, 

 and dragged him back a few 

 paces. Balfour raised his hand 

 to his hat, and said, " Boys 

 dear, what you please," which 

 were the last words he spoke. 

 The person who had first seized 

 him immediately gave him a stab 

 with a sword, which he drew from 

 a cane, and instantly the whole 

 party rushed upon him with 

 various weapons, every body 

 striking him that could get at him; 

 they dragged him off the road 

 into the hollow, and when he was 

 despatched, a rope was put round 

 his neck, and he was dragged to 

 a flax-hole at some distance ; the 

 body was thrown into it, and a 

 man jumped on it to sink it. It 

 was then covered with sods. The 

 prisoner was present at the whole 

 of this, assisting and encouraging 

 the rest. When all was over, the 

 prisoner administered an oath to 

 several of the party to keep secret 

 all that had passed. This was 

 not taken by all the party, nor 

 by the witnesses. On the cross- 

 examination of these witnesses, it 

 appeared that they had given 

 their informations voluntarily, 

 and without any charge having 

 been made against them. They 

 admitted that they had been 

 highly criminal in being present 

 at the murder, but said they 

 should have been in danger of 

 their lives if they refused. 



The prisoner produced two 

 witnesses, a maid-servant, and a 

 son of his, a young boy, to prove 

 that, on the night of the murder, 

 he had not been out of his house 

 from night-fall. These witnesses 

 were cross-examined at consider- 



able length. 



He 



