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From: ConnorsGenealogy <>
Subject: Women of Ireland Series: The Infamous Lady Betty
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:43:46 -0800


A Chaide:
A special thanks to IH Aideen for bringing Lady Betty to my attention.
And what perfect timing for Samhain.
George
Lady Betty

From 1780 to about 1810, the executioner at Roscommon Jail was a
cold-blooded, brutal woman.
Originally from Kerry, "Lady Betty" and her story have become the stuff of
legend in Roscommon and the surrounding area. Her rise to infamy is the
stuff
Hollywood scripts are made of (back off Spielberg, I have the rights!). She
was one of the most bloodthirsty and feared women in all of Irish history
(even more than Mary Harney? - ed.).

She moved up from Kerry to Roscommon for reasons best known to herself
in the
late 18th century, and lived in total poverty on the West side of the
county.
A single mother with a young son, she was (very unusually for the times)
literate, and taught her child to read and write. She also taught him that
nothing matters in the world but money. When he was old enough, this well
educated urchin headed to America to seek his fortune.

One night, a few years later, there was a knock on Betty's door, and a well
dressed gentleman stood framed against the western weather. He asked for
shelter, and, as was traditional, Betty invited him in. Here, there are two
versions of the story. One says that she had been systematically butchering
guests for years and taking their belongings. The other says that this was
her first time performing the grisly deed. Regardless, the tall stranger was
soon dispatched, and it was only when leafing through his documents that
Betty discovered she had killed her own son, which naturally didn't go down
too well.

Betty fled in hysterics, and was soon picked up by the local constable. As a
murderer, she was tranported to the prison at Roscommon town (now a shopping
centre, of all things!) to be hanged. There aren't too many differences in
the concept of bureacracy then and now; it got itself tied up in knots as it
still tends to (I think civil servants have to take a course in fouling
things up horrendously before they're allowed into the job), and there
was no
hangman avilable to deal with Betty and her fellow homicidal maniacs on the
appointed day. As the sherrif himself was preparing to attend to the
gruesome
task, Betty stepped forward, looked him in the eye, and said "let me
free and
I'll hang them all!"

The rest is, as they say, history. For the best part of the next two
decades,
Lady Betty as she came to be known, was chief executioner at Roscommon Jail.
She lived rent free in a third floor chamber at the prison, and although she
was paid no salary she loved her work and never had to worry about food. She
had a very public method of haging too; a scaffold was erected right outside
her window, and the unfortunate hangee had to crawl out, ready- noosed, and
stand there as she pulled a lever, swinging him to kingdom come. She had a
nasty habit of leaving the bodies placidly "do the pendulum thing" while she
sketched them in charcoal. When she eventually died, in the first decade of
the 19th century, her room was decorated with the images of the hundreds of
people she had happily sent to their deaths.

Thanks to the Irish Heritage Newsletter.



--
Pat Connors, currently visiting Sharon Springs, NY
http://www.connorsgenealogy.com



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