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Letter from Theobald A.Dillon
Land War and Eviction in Derryveagh 1840 - 1865
Donegal
30th May 1861.
My Dear Sir Thomas
I am in receipt of yours of the 28th instant and in reply beg to
say I have not examined Mrs. Murray on oath, nor was she examined
by the Coroner. I do not know why he did not examine her, but the
following are my reasons for not doing so. I believe that she and
Dugald Rankin conspired to get Murray murdered, and I believe the
actual murderer was Archibald Campbell one of the late Mr. hunter's
herds who perjured himself before Chief Justice Monahan in the Guidor
sheep case. For some time before the murder he was constantly seen
in Rankin's company and used to go several miles to meet him. I
am endeavouring to discover whether he was seen about Murray's place
on the day of the murder, but he was certainly there the day Murray's
body was found and also on the day of the inquest. I examined Mrs.
Murray's sister on oath and it is a remarkable fact that on the
day Murray was murdered either she or Mrs. Murray never left Rankin
the entire day, as it were to be prepared to prove an alibi. With
regard to Mrs. Murray herself, her husband was not three days buried
when she had Rankin sleeping in the same room with her, and he continued
to do so up to the time of his arrest. He wore Murray's clothes
at the funeral and Mrs. Murray was heard to say by the police, that
indeed she never cared about poor James tho' he had spent a good
deal of money when courting her. When Rankin was bailed after firing
the shot at Strabane he returned to Mr. Adair's lodge where Mrs.
Murray was living. Mr. Adair's agent was in the kitchen with her
when Rankin came in and he remarked that a very cold and distant
salute passed between them. He got up and left closing the door
after him but suddenly returned and found them kissing locked in
each others arms. On the morning Murray was murdered, he said to
his wife, "There is a stirabout here, give me a little milk
and I will eat some of it before going to the mountains," She
replied, "There is only a little there and I am keeping it
for Rankin and the devil a drop of it you shall get. He had to go
out, having taken two spoonfuls of the dry stirabout. Taking all
these circumstances into consideration and believing that many of
them point to Mrs. Murray as an accessory to the murder. I did not
conceive I would be justified in examining her and perhaps frustrating
the ends of justice in case at any future time other and more conclusive
circumstances should come to light. I enclose Mr. Carwell's and
Sir H. Brownrigg's letters. Trusting this explanation will be satisfactory,
I remain
My dear Sir Thomas
Yours faithfully,
Theobald A. Dillon.
From Larcom Papers Ms. 7633, National Library of Ireland
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