Twenty Years' Recollections of an Irish Police Magistrate

by Frank Thorpe Porter

CIRCUIT REMINISCENCES.

Some friends of the Leinster Circuit have suggested that a few descriptive notices of my personal recollection of scenes in court, convivial evenings at the Bar-mess, or other amusing incidents of the period between 1827 and 1840, during which time I had attended every Assize Court held in Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, might not be unacceptable. The subject is one in which the pleasures of memory are mingled with numerous regrets; for of all those whose learning and talents excited my respect and admiration, or whose wit and conversational powers rendered their society invariably delightful, very few remain. Of the judges which I remember, I considered Chief Baron O'Grady (subsequently created Lord Guillamore) the most amusing public functionary that I ever had seen. He came our circuit but once during my time. At Wicklow he presided in the Crown Court; and amongst the cases for trial there were four or five for sheep-stealing, and they were all convicted. Sheep-farming was at that time so prevalent in Wicklow, and considered so important by the class of persons who were summoned as jurors, that an accusation of sheep-stealing almost invariably eventuated in conviction. Towards the close of the assizes, a member of the Militia band then stationed at Arklow was put forward for trial on an indictment for the manslaughter of a comrade, whom he had killed with his sword on a sudden altercation. The case appeared fully to warrant a conviction, but the jury, without even retiring, acquitted the prisoner. Mr. Scott, the senior counsel for the crown, expressed an indignant disapproval of the verdict, upon which the Chief Baron observed, "Mr. Scott, the prisoner is not yet discharged, and you can get a conviction immediately if you only indict him for sheep-stealing." When we proceeded to Wexford, the Chief Baron, as Record Judge, had but two short cases to try, and when they were disposed of, he engaged in the trial of criminals. A woman named Hester Carroll, who had been for some time a pest and disgrace to the town of Enniscorthy, was put forward, charged with a robbery of a gold watch and chain, and upwards of twenty pounds, from a farmer, who had become intoxicated in her society. She was found guilty, and when the verdict was announced, a sergeant of constabulary, who had been the principal means of her detection, advanced to the table in the Record Court where she was standing, to take away various articles which had been found in her possession; whereupon she sprang at him, tore his face fearfully, and bit his hand very severely. When she was disengaged from her intended victim, and held so as to prevent further violence, the Chief Baron pronounced the sentence of the court in terms which seemed to me and others of his hearers to be an imitation, in style and assumed solemnity, of that incident to a capital offence. After some preliminary observations on the heinous nature of her crime, and the certainty of her guilt, and the tendency of her conduct in court to prevent any mitigation of punishment, he concluded in the following words—"The sentence of the court is that you, Hester Carroll, shall be taken from the place where you now stand, to the gaol from whence you were brought, and from thence that you shall be transported for the term of seven years to such penal settlement or colony as his Majesty's government may direct, and may God have mercy upon those who shall have to manage you there."

A prisoner was tried before him at Wexford on an indictment for highway robbery, and although the evidence amounted to a strong probability of his guilt, the verdict was an acquittal. Richard Newton Bennett, who defended the prisoner, immediately applied to the Chief Baron to order the man to be liberated, to which the other replied, "He will be discharged from custody, Mr. Bennett, to-morrow at noon. I shall set out for Waterford in the morning, and I wish to have a couple of hours start of your client."

In my early professional days the law in reference to injuries to growing crops of vegetables was very imperfect, and although taking potatoes, turnips, &c. out of the owner's ground was considered a very serious trespass, the offence could not be treated as actual larceny. Some proceedings at Waterford, in reference to the abstraction of turnips, were held to be insufficient to sustain an indictment, and a deputation of the Grand Jury sought a conference with Chief Baron O'Grady on the subject. One of them asked his Lordship if the delinquents could be made liable to punishment under the Timber Act, to which he gravely replied, "Certainly not, unless you can prove that the turnips were sticky."

Charles Kendal Bushe had been a member of the Leinster Bar; and when he had attained the distinguished position of Chief Justice, he frequently selected his former circuit as a Judge of Assize. Amongst the members of the Bar he was not merely respected and admired, but beloved. Portly in his personal appearance, he was dignified without ostentation, witty without sarcasm, learned without pedantry, and his judicial duties were discharged with impartiality, patience, kindness, and humanity. Kilkenny was his native county, and amongst the gentry of that place his family had been long established. The judges on circuit usually invite two or three barristers to dinner daily in each town; and I had the very agreeable honor of being an occasional guest of Chief Justice Bushe. I recollect a conversation relative to the criminal calendars of that time compared with those of the previous century. The Chief Justice said that the name of his family had been introduced into the charge of a judge to the Grand Jury of Kilkenny, about the year 1760, in terms far from complimentary. There were then organised bands or gangs of freebooters, who plundered and maltreated the proprietors and tenants of estates, unless a certain subsidy, called rapparee rent, or blackmail, was paid for their forbearance, and concealment and subsistence afforded whenever required. He said that the Agar family, (pronounced Eager,) the Floods, and the Bushes had become contributory to the marauders, and sheltered them from capture. Rumours of such an arrangement having been circulated, it was alluded to by Baron Dawson telling the Grand Jury of Kilkenny that their county was eager for prey, flooded with iniquity, and that every bush sheltered a knave.

Having given the Chief Justice's anecdote in reference to three names, I may mention that my own name has not passed scotfree. At our Bar-mess, the Hon. Patrick Plunket was one evening insisting that I should sing a particular song. I begged to be excused, but he persevered, and continued exclaiming, "Porter! Porter!" I said that "although I was 'Porter,' he should not make a butt of me." He replied, "I don't want to make a butt of you, I only wish to get a stave out of you."

Judge Torrens often came on our circuit, and generally dined twice at the bar-mess: one dinner being the customary banquet given by the Bar to the judges at Kilkenny, and the other being by special invitation at Clonmel. He was always desirous on such convivial occasions of obtaining some vocal contributions, especially of a comic character. His favorite song was "The Wedding of Ballyporeen." He was Judge of the Record Court at Clonmel in 1833, and immediately after taking his seat at the commencement of the Assizes, was applied to by the late Mr. Brewster to fix a day for the trial of a case, the parties to which, and their witnesses, had to come from the most distant part of the country, namely, Ballyporeen. The Judge made the order sought, saying, in a playful tone, "Is Mr. Porter engaged in this Ballyporeen case?" "No, my Lord," replied Brewster, "I regret that I have not the assistance of my learned friend."

"Most unquestionably," said his Lordship, "he ought to be in it."

There were some attorneys present who heard his remark, but they were not aware of the origin of his suggestion. Perhaps they ascribed it to a very favorable opinion of my professional capacity, or to a feeling of personal friendship; but I found it subsequently productive of several record-briefs, which I might truly say were obtained "for a song."

In 1836, the Attorney-General (Richards) appointed me to a Crown prosecutorship on the circuit. In the afternoon of a day next before the opening of the Assizes of Clonmel, in 1838, I was sitting and noting a brief, whilst about a dozen more were lying on my table, when I was informed that a gentleman wished me to grant him an interview. Acceding to his request, I desired the servant to show him up, and I immediately perceived that he was an ecclesiastic. I proffered him a chair, and he proceeded to inform me that he was the Rev. Mr. Coony, a Catholic curate in a parish the name of which has escaped my memory; but it was near Clonmel. He was young, and zealous in advancing the religious interests of the flock with which he had recently become connected, and stated it was much to be regretted that the Catholic church of his parish was so completely out of repair as to require almost a total renovation. That he had been encouraged by the character he had heard of me to appeal to my generous and charitable disposition for a subscription towards rendering the church suitable and safe for his numerous poor parishioners. I was inclined at the time to have a little fun with his reverence, and said, "Well, sir, when you have your church repaired, I suppose you will make it as available as possible to the religious and moral improvement of your people."