October 20th-26th 1916
John Walsh, aged about 50 years, belonging to Shean, Ballyduff was found dead underneath his donkey cart about quarter of a mile from his home. He was shopping at Tallow the previous night and it appears that the donkey cart got upturned. The sideboard of the cart was found down the poor fellow’s throat by two passers-by in the morning. The deceased was a woodranger employed by Sir Richard Musgrave Bart. He was laid to rest at Lismore Cemetery.
A dead horse and sidecar were found lying on the weir at Artillery Quay, Fermoy. No owner claimed them until Mr Thomas Kilkeary, King Street said he loaned them to Mr Thomas Phelan, Abbey Street, who since the day of Fermoy Races was missing. It was believed that whilst being watered by Phelan at the slip in the West Quay, that the horse went too far into the river, drowning both of them. There was to this point no account of Phelan’s body, a native of Cappoquin.
The marriage took place at Rathcormac Protestant Church of William Smyth (youngest son of the late Henry Smyth of Millvale, Ballyhooly) and Mary E. Hales (eldest daughter of the late John Hales of Renny, Ballyhooly). The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. J. G. Nason, Rector.
At a special court held at Tallow, Daniel O’Connell, a painter by trade, was charged under the Army Act of 1881 for desertion from the army – as an absconding recruit from Edinburgh where he had been attested. In the Scottish city he got his pass and route and left for the Royal Irish Regiment at Clonmel. Arriving at Dublin he consulted a solicitor, after which he travelled to his home at Tallow and not to Clonmel. He was arrested; his defence in court being that he was forced to attest against his will. He had worked previously at his trade in Edinburgh. Sergeant Devlin, Royal Irish Regiment, handed in an attestation paper believed to be that of the defendant. O’Connell was remanded to Cork Gaol awaiting the arrival of a military escort.
At Fermoy Sessions, the N.S.P.C.C. prosecuted Mrs Margaret Leahy, Barrack Hill for cruelty to her four children aged 13, 11, 6 and 2 years. Inspector Farrell, who appeared for the society, said the case was very bad. The defendant had 24s 6d a week separation allowance and besides that she informed him that she could earn 20s at washing. The children were not fed and there was general neglect. She was sent to gaol for one month. The society also prosecuted Mrs Margaret Hanley, Prince’s Street for cruelty to her seven children. They were found to be badly clad and poorly nourished. There were also complaints about her drunken habits. She denied some of the charges insisting there were worse cases in Fermoy than hers. She was sent to gaol for one month with hard labour.
