August, 1852
On Monday August 9th 1852, The
Times published the following piece ... "extracted from the Carlow
Sentinel of this day, is another illustration of "freedom of
election", as it is understood at this side of the Channel:-
"On Thursday last, one of the most murderous attacks it was our
painful duty to record after a contested election was made on a
respectable Roman Catholic, the son of a freeholder of this county,
near Lisnevagh, the residence of Captain M'Clintock Bunbury. At an
early hour Mr. John Regan, an extensive road contractor, proceeded
with two men to raise some gravel from a pit in the neighbourhood. On
his arrival at the pit, about 20 men pounced on their victim, whom
they designated a 'bloody Bruenite'.
He was knocked down, brutally
maltreated with stones and shovels, and finally left in a state of
insensibility. Intelligence having reached Lisnevagh, Captain Bunbury
ordered his carriage, proceeded to the spot where this outrage was
committed, and conveyed Mr. Regan to the County Infirmary, where he
now lies in a dangerous state under the care of Dr. Rawson. We may
judge of the savage character of his assailants, when we inform the
reader that Mr. Regan sustained a compound fracture of the arm, had
eleven wounds on the head, one of which, it is feared, is accompanied
by a fracture, as a splinter from the skull was taken off, and that
his body, from head to foot, was covered with bruises, the effects of
kicks and blows while lying on the ground. Mr. Regan's father voted
for Colonel Bruen and Captain Bunbury; and the son is thus punished
because his father exercised the privilege of an elector in a county
governed by British law.
Here are some of the fruits of those
fanatical harangues delivered during the last month, when we were told
in the public streets that the contest was one between 'God and the
devil'. Five of the parties concerned in this inhuman outrage have
been arrested, and committed to the County Gaol for trial at the
assizes. Their names are Hugh Carty, John Carty, James Carty (three
brothers), James Walsh, and Patrick Bryan. We regret to state that the
life of Mr. Regan is in imminent peril".
Extract by
"Turtle Bunbury", 2008.