A Missing Murder

Cathrinerose

I've gotten interested in researching family history and I've been interviewing family to get their stories of growing up in Dublin.

One of my aunts spoke to me about a family who were distantly related to us, where one of the daughters was murdered.

The family were named Daly and ran a guesthouse near Pearse Station in the Pearse Street/Spring Garden Lane area. The boat train came into Westland Row at the time and the guesthouse took in overflow from a hotel in the area.

The daughters name was Rita (though this may have been a shortening of some other name) and she was stabbed to death by a sailor off the boat train.

My aunt was born in the late 30s so this probably happened in the 40s/early 50s.
In spite of the fact there weren't that many murders in Ireland at the time I can't find one where the details match.

I've tried googling the details and checking some archives but I can't find anything and I'm wondering if anyone recognizes the crime and can give me more solid information to continue researching.

pinkypinky

Have you tried newspapers? www.irishnewsarchive.com would have a good range of papers covering that timeframe.

tabbey

Cathrinerose wrote: »

The daughters name was Rita (though this may have been a shortening of some other name) and she was stabbed to death by a sailor off the boat train.

Rita is usually short for Margaret.

In spite of the fact there weren't that many murders in Ireland at the time I can't find one where the details match.
.

Statistics show a low number of murders in the 1950s, but they do not include deaths where the perpetrator is convicted of manslaughter or found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Oral history is notoriously unreliable, over time, a word is added or lost, totally changing the story which is remembered by the next person. The actual event could be that Rita's friend/acquaintance could have been almost murdered by someone who was thought to be a sailor.

The truth when you ascertain it, should always be more satisfying than a rumour, so enjoy the search.

Dr_serious2

It wouldn't be Robert Stevenson who was sentenced to death in 1954? He was a Scottish Seaman who was less than 12 hours in Dublin when the murder occured. http://www.somervillepress.com/sentence.html