Murder of Marlhill, New Inn (c.1940)

The Woodcock wrote: »

I've just finished reading The Dead Eight by Carlo Gebler, the novel based on the Marlhill murder case mentioned earlier in the thread. Gebler traces Moll's story right back to the days of her mother, who was a woman of ill repute and who sold her body to get by in life during the time she spent in Dublin. Moll herself lived in a children's home in Thurles for her first sixteen years and never knew her father. Gebler paints her as a very promiscious woman, even by today's moral standards, not to mind the standards of the times she lived in. For instance, she jumps into bed with Sergeant Daly almost immediately upon his arrival at New Inn Garda station. She had numerous relationships with local men, married and unmarried, and used these relationship to improve her material circumstances. Having said that, Moll was quite discreet and revealed little about her various trysts once they were over.

According to Gebler, Moll was in a relationship with a local IRA leader, who he calls JJ Spink. He fathered her seventh and last child, who died at a young age. As with all her previously relationships, this one ended as a result of the pregnancy and the potential for scandal that surrounded it. Moll then began a relationship with Sergeant Daly, who was married, immediately upon his arrival in New Inn early in 1940. Daly's role in the Gardai was to root out the remnants of the IRA who were still active and this meant he had been stationed at several locations over the course of his career and was somewhat notorious for the rough treatment he dished out. His relationship with Moll presented a threat to Spink, who thought she might pass on information about his activties, and this provided the motive for her murder. Spink and two IRA associated brought Moll to a deserted house close to Marlhill on Wednesday evening, got her drunk, shot her and then planted her body where they knew Gleeson would find it on Thursday morning. Spink then blackmailed Sergeant Daly, threatening to reveal his relationship with Moll unless Daly was prepared to frame Harry Gleeson. Daly coached one of Moll's sons to say that Gleeson was the father of Moll's last child and the whole case against Gleeson rested on this. Gebler makes no mention of locals having heard gunshots, either on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. There are other aspects of the case that are central to Marcus Bourke's book that don't appear in The Dead Eight.

One problem with the novel is that it is, as the author states in the afterword "a hybrid that combines some factual content with a great body of invented speculative material". The difficulty for the reader is identifying which aspects of the story are based on fact and which are speculative - frustrating if you want a clear factual account of the case but a good device from the author's perspective as Gebler cannot be accused of inventing facts or blackening the names of real people. It is interesting to note that Gebler got a lot encouragement from Marcus Bourke when decidig to write the novel. I am certain Marcus Bourke knew a lot about the case that wasn't included in his own book for legal or other reasons.

Two things jumped out at me in particular. One is a letter from Miss Cooney of Garranlea House to John Timoney, Gleeson's solictor, written over a year after the execution. Miss Cooney states that Moll's son admitted to her that he had been coached by Sergeant Daly to give testimony against Gleeson i.e. that Gleeson was the father of Moll's last child. I presume this is factual and based on an authentic letter.
There is also an account of a confession made by one of Moll's killers to her son and grandson in 1966. The man was terminally ill at te time. I'd love to know if this is a purely speculative account or based on something that Gebler would have heard from Moll's surviving relatives.

I am certain Marcus Bourke knew a lot about the case that wasn't included in his own book for legal or other reasons.

kfagan99 wrote: »

Marcus Bourke did know more than he told us, but he left clues for those who read Murder at Marlhill carefully.

Carlo Gebler wrote The Dead Eight, a very gripping fictional account, and he has the overall truth of the matter. I recommend it to anyone interested in the case.

However examining a fictional text in detail is not the way to solve the mystery of what happened in New Inn in November 1940.

I'm trying to answer the big questions of fact in a book to be published next year.

Kieran Fagan.

(kfagan99@yahoo.com, if anyone has any information to share)

The Woodcock wrote: »

I was delighted to read about these new developments in the case. I wasn't aware that there was a group still actively campaigning to clear Harry Gleeson's name but it is apparent from today's reports that they have been working quietly and diligently behind the scenes to seek justice. I sincerely hope that his final wishes can be granted and that his name will be cleared. Perhaps even there is a possibility that his remains will be brought back to Tipperary to be re-interred.

I suppose it is important in all of this not to forget Moll Carthy who was so brutally murdered and her children who were left as orphans.

Looking forward to reading the forthcoming book on this case.

Amtmann wrote: »

I can tell you that a documentary a few years ago named one of her relatives as a probable member of this gang of three.

The Woodcock wrote: »

I believe there was a memorial notice for Moll Carthy published in the Irish Independent last week on the 73rd anniversary of her death. It was placed by family and friends of Harry Gleeson.

This was followed by an article from Jim Cusack in the Sunday Independent (below). The two main points of interest for me from the article are (i) three of Moll Carthy's children are still alive but can't be traced (ii) someone gives a very different perspective on the role of Sean MacBride in the defence of Gleeson.

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Shatter orders case review 73 years after man hanged

IN MEMORIAM: The notice from the 'Irish Independent'
JIM CUSACK – 24 NOVEMBER 2013

THE first in memoriam notice for the unmarried mother of six whose murder in 1940 is still the cause of controversy in Co Tipperary appeared last week.


The notice in the Irish Independent was placed by family and friends of Harry Gleeson, whose conviction for murder and hanging is currently being reviewed by a senior counsel on behalf of Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who has ordered a review of the case.

Bernadette Gorman, whose father Billy was a close friend of Harry Gleeson, believes along with others that there was a conspiracy involving the State, gardai and the IRA men whom, she believes, murdered Mary 'Moll' McCarthy in November 1940.

Until last week the anniversary of Ms McCarthy's murder had gone unmarked, though her death and the execution of Harry Gleeson has been the cause of frequent revisiting. Ms Gorman hopes the death notice will spark wider interest in the case and come to the notice of the remaining children or grandchildren of Ms McCarthy.

Her children would need to give "locus standi" consent for any re-examination of the case by the courts.

Ms McCarthy was killed in November 1940 when she was shot in the face with a shotgun. No image of her alive has been found. She reputedly had six children by six different local men and raised her family with money paid by the fathers of her children, according to local legend.

Ms Gorman, among others, believes that she was murdered by the father of her last child – who died in infancy – to cover up the parenthood.

The State case was that Harry Gleeson made Ms McCarthy pregnant then killed her because she threatened to expose his paternity. It was argued that Gleeson's aunt and uncle, whose farm he hoped to inherit, would remove him from their will.

Ms Gorman said her father was in business with Harry Gleeson and at the time Ms McCarthy became pregnant, her father and Gleeson were working "day and night" with each other at their harvesting business. They had invested in modern threshing and binding machinery and were extremely busy at the time, she said. Mr Gleeson's aunt and uncle's farm, where he was living, was beside the cottage where Ms McCarthy lived. Mr Gleeson found her body but denied her murder right up to the moment of his execution.

Her father was not called as a witness and was present in court when the death sentence was handed down.

"That lived with him for the rest of his life," she said.

She also said that her father described Sean MacBride, defence counsel for Mr Gleeson as "a Judas".

Mr MacBride was chief of staff of the IRA until 1936 and suspicions remain that he failed to mount an adequate defence in order to protect the local IRA unit who, some believe, murdered McCarthy.

Suspicions remain that Ms McCarthy had been made pregnant by a leading IRA man and that he and three others murdered her to cover up his parternity.

Ms McCarthy, who was said to have made no secret of having had her children all by different fathers, was the subject of vilification and was reputedly denounced by a local priest as the "Devil's disciple".

Following petitioning by people who believe there was a conspiracy and miscarriage of justice, Mr Shatter ordered that the case be reviewed by senior counsel with the prospect of the case being returned to the courts for review.

The murder at Marlhill, New Inn, Tipperary, was the subject of the book Thou Shalt not Kill by the RTE journalist Cathal O'Shannon in 1995.

O'Shannon believed there had been a conspiracy and miscarriage of justice.

A group of academics and interested parties have continued campaigning for the re-opening of the case and appealed to Mr Shatter last year, leading to the review of the case.

Sunday Independent