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From: "Maureen Reynolds" <>
Subject: [DONEGAL] Re: Lord Leitrim/MCELWEE info?
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 13:22:20 +1000


The despised William Sydney Clements, Third Earl of Leitrim, was killed on Tuesday, 2nd April, 1878, at Woodquarter on Mulroy Bay, near Milford, County Donegal. Also killed were his young driver, Charles Buchanan, and his clerk, John Makim.

Michael McElwee, of Ballyhooriskey, was known locally as 'Mickey Rua'. He was a man of bull-like strength, with a shock of red hair and a flaming red beard. He was accompanied by Neil Shiels of Doaghmore and Michael Heraghty of Tullyconnell.

This poem is from the book 'The Fanad Martyrs' in the National Library, Dublin.

THE BANKS OF MULROY BAY

On the second day of April, It's well I mind the date,
On the morning of that fateful day in 1878,
When this great Earl of Leitrim - the tyrant I should say,
Left his home in Manorvaughan on the banks of Mulroy Bay.

The landlord gave strict orders, when leaving home that day,
That evictions they should then take place, without undue delay,
His bailiffs they should get to work, as you may understand,
And banish us poor Catholics from out our native land.

The morning it was gentle and the birds did sweetly sing,
And 'neath the woods of Cratlagh, they made the valleys ring
When Leitrim and his party were driving at full trot,
And entering into Cratlagh Wood they got a fearful shock.

The coachman named Buchanan, a lad from Milford town,
He was blown from the dickie, and left sprawling on the ground,
May the Lord have mercy on his soul, poor boy he suffered sore,
Till death did end his sufferings on the banks of Mulroy shore.

John Makin then, the tyrant's clerk, a lad so strong and stout,
He too received some slugs of lead, which made him reel and shout,
He shouts aloud unto Kincaid as on the ground he lay,
"I'm shot, I'm shot, dear Willie", on the banks of Mulroy Bay.

The great exterminator, the Lord of this estate,
For him there was an inch of lead - too hard to masticate.
His body it lay lifeless on the road, I heard them say,
To feed the dogs and hungry crows on the banks of Mulroy Bay.


> Am looking for any info on a Michael McElwee who was involved in
> the murder of Lord Leitrim in 1878. I have been told that my McIlwee
> line is connected to his, but I havent had any luck putting the line
> together. My McIlwees were from the Dargan, Moross, Gortnacor
> area. Thank you, Roy McIlwee, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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