’Here a scene of the wildest excitement took place, some cried one thing—­some another.  I was beaten again, my clothes torn off my back, and sticks whirled over my head.  Four or five policemen met me as I was being dragged along, but they might as well have attempted to stop the rushing of an Atlantic wave, as to stern the crowd that had assembled around me; and they only looked on and let me pass.’

If the sub-inspector, who was present, and his men acted in this manner, I venture to say it is the only instance in the whole history of the force in which the Royal Irish constabulary were guilty of such a cowardly neglect of duty.  However, not only the police, but the best part of the crowd deserted this strange gentleman, and he was ’left in the hands of the vilest and most furious of the mob.’  Where was Mr. Shirley?  Where were the clergy and the respectable inhabitants of the town?  The mob dragged him along towards Loughfea Castle—­a mile and a half—­whither they heard Mr. Shirley had fled, still beating, kicking, and strangling their victim, without any object; for how could they serve their cause by killing an agent who had never injured them?  And how easy it was to kill him if they wished!  But here comes the climax; he asked the murderous multitude to let him stop a few moments to breathe—­he then proceeds:  ’I shall never forget that moment.  I was then about a mile from the town on the broad and open road leading to Loughfea Castle.  I turned and looked around me, thinking my last hour was come, and anxious to see if there was one kind face, one countenance, I had ever seen before, who could at least tell my friends how I had died.  But I looked in vain.  The hills were crowded with people.  The long line of road was one mass of human beings, whilst those immediately around me, mad with excitement, seemed only to thirst for my blood.

‘Having got a few moments’ breathing-time, and seeing all appeal to be vain, I turned again on my way, determined, however, to hold out to the last, as I felt that to fall or to faint must be certain death.  Just then I became conscious of an able hand and a stout heart beside me, and I heard a whisper in my ear:  “They are determined to have your blood, but hold up, they shall have mine first.”  The speaker grasped my arm firmly under his own, and walked on steadily by my side.

’By this time I was completely naked with the exception of my trousers.  My coat, even my shirt, had been torn off, and I walked on, still beaten and ill-treated, like a man to execution; my head bare, and without any clothes from my waist upwards.  To increase the misery of my situation, I found that my friend had been beaten and dragged away in spite of himself, and again I was left alone in the hands of those merciless men.  I felt also I could now go no further, and that a last effort must be made before my senses left me from exhaustion.  Stopping therefore once more, I asked to be led towards a high bank at the roadside, and leaning against this I turned and faced those whom I now believed would soon become my murderers.