Emmetsburg Democrat; Emmetsburg, Iowa, Wednesday, November 4, 1885 CRIME IN IRELAND A Remarkable Case In Court at Cork London dispatch: a most remarkable case is on the docket of the Cork assizes, the winter term of which has just opened. Seven years ago, the people of Castletown Roche were startled by the sudden disappearance of the wife of Thomas Sheehan, a well-to-do popular resident, and his son and daughter. The father, who had been in England several days prior to the disappearance, immediately returned home, and every effort was made to obtain some information regarding the whereabouts of the missing people. Large sums of money were spent in the quest, but it was without result; the trio having disappeared as quickly as though the earth opened and swallowed them up. There were rumors of elopement and foul play, but every clue failed of confirmation. Years went by, but the matter was not forgotten and has furnished many a subject for speculation and chat to the village gossips around the winter fireside in huts and cabins. But a few months ago the neighborhood was astonished by the report that the mystery had been solved; that the three had been brutally murdered by their son and brother and the bodies hidden in an abandoned well. The rumors were confirmed by the arrest of William Sheehan and David Browne, and by the finding of the bodies, or rather of the remains, little more than the bones and skulls being left. The solicitor general allowed a reporter to make a copy of the principal evidence for the crown. It is a confession made by John Duane, father of a young man who admitted that he assisted in hiding the bodies. The confession is as follows: "On the day of the murder William Sheehan said to me,' Johnny, you won't tell what I'm going to do to-day.' He did not say what it was nor did I know what he meant. This was about an hour before anything took place. I was standing in the yard just outside the stable door. Thomas Sheehan first went into the stable and William followed him in. David Browne was also inside. Suddenly William picked up a club and struck his brother twice upon the head. He dropped, and I could see that he was killed -- dead. Then Will and Browne crossed over and went into the house, I following at a little distance. Will's mother and his little sister Hannah were in the little room below the kitchen. Will went behind his mother, struck her on the head with a club, and then he caught her by the throat and choked her until she was dead. At the same time Browne struck Hannah on the head with the same club, knocked her down and choked her until she was black in the face and ceased to breathe. I had been standing at the door all this time and Will asked me if I would help him take the bodies over to the stable. I was afraid they would kill me and consented. Next morning before daylight we put the bodies into the buggy and drove to the well. William throwed them in, the old woman first, then Hannah, and then Tom. After this we threw in a lot of stones and covered them over with white thorn bushes. Then we went back to the house, got some girls to come in, and played the concertina and danced all day. The motive of the crime was the desire on William Sheehan's part to obtain control of the property after his father's death and it is believed that at one time he contemplated making away with his sire. Both Brown and Duane knew that if they "gave away" the details of the terrible crime they would stand a chance of being hanged and hence the remarkable way in which the secret has been kept for so many years. There is no doubt but that Sheehan and Brown will go to the scaffold, while Duane is likely to seek a long term for his share in the bloody deed. Cathy Joynt Labath Ireland Old News http://www.IrelandOldNews.com/