Deposition of Thomas Smith and Joane Killin

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Thomas Smith late of Belturbett in the County of Cavan Gunsmith and Joane Killin late of Belturbet aforesaid spinster sworne & examined depose and say That at the begining of the present rebellion in October 1641 <a> Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely Esquire Edmund mc Mulmore ô Rely Phillip mc Mulmore ô Rely Hugh mc Mulmore ô Rely Mulmore Rely the then sherriff & John Rely together with many others of the irish gentry of the County of Cavan gathered themselues together and with their souldjers came in hostile manner to a place which was within half a myle of Belturbett aforesaid, And from thence sent to the cheefe inhabitants of the said towne of Belturbet to know whether they would surrender vp vnto them their Armes and Amunition: Promissing them (if they would soe doe) saffty both for liffe & goodes: whereunto they (for feare) consenting, An instrument in writing was drawne to that purpose and signed by the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely & the rest abovenamed together with seuerall others: And the next day after the said agreement the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely Edmund Rely & the rest came into the towne of Belturbet and sett guardes vpon all the Merchants shopps there and vpon all other howses wherein they conceived there was any thing of value And afterwards they went to a division of the shopps and goods among themselues: And vpon that division the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely had for his share John Andersons howse shopp and goods: Mulmore ô Rely the then sherriff had for his share Mr Denmans howse, shopp, & goodes: Hugh <b> Mc Mulmore ô Rely had for his share mr Pymans howse & shopp: Edmund mc Mulmore ô Rely brother to Hugh ô Relie had for his share Samuell Berrys howse shopp and goodes And the rest of the shopps (Being all very rich) howses and goodes were devided & shared amongst the rest of the gentry & common souldjers that were in the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Relys company: And <A> theis deponents further say That there remained in Belturbett aforesaid
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aforesaid (vpon promisse of saffty of liffe) betweene threescore & fowrscore persons of English protestants And afterwards that is to say in the month of ffebruary 1641 ffiftie eight of those protestants were carryed to the bridge of Belturbet: And then and there throwne off the bridge into that River & soe most Inhumanely & barbarously drowned, And such of them as did swimme or made any shift to save themselves were thrust into the River with long pikes and therewith held downe into the water vntill they were drowned, which merciles cruelty was done & Comitted <c> by Knogher oge ô Rely gent Gillisse oge ô Rely his vncle: ffarrell o Mulpatrick Hugh Reogh Mulpatrick Cormuck Mulpatrick Phillipp Mother Mulpatrick his brother Rory Togher all then dwelling nere Belturbett & others their confederates with whom the said Phillip mc Hugh o Rely seemed to bee highly displeased for the fact, but within a month or thereabouts afterwards received them into his company
They further say that at that [ ] another tyme those Rebells or some of there were hanged to death one gentleman named James Carr and another ty man called Timothy Dickison by the cruell Rebells Conogher oge ô Rely Gyles oge ô Rely of Deryderahan Cormuck ô Mulpatrick: Philip Mother ô Mulpatrick ffarell <d> ô Mulpatrick Hugh Reogh ô Mulpatrick & Rory ô Togher with many others whom they doe not now Remember And the said Joane Killin further saith That about Ester 1643 One Owen Mc Turlogh Brady a servant of Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely aforemamed Came to the said towne of Belturbet and then & there set fyre on the Church Castle & towne there & burned the sameAnd both the said Thomas Smith & Joane Killin further say That they afterwards heard the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely say That he gaue order for burning some part of the towne of Belturbet, but not of the whole towne: And this deponent Joane Killin further saith That she heard the said Conogher Oge ô Rely and the rest of the persons that committed the murthers & cruelties at Belturbet say That what they did was done by virtue of a warrant from Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely otherwise they would not haue taken vpon them the doeing of such thinges And the
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said Thomas Smith further saith: That becawse hee this deponent was by his trade a gunsmith & soe as they said a necessary man for their turne and service they therefore kept and restrained him amongst them and forced him to work for them in his trade from the begining of the Rebellion vntill: Dureing the Cessation of Armes was proclaimed
Dureing which tyme he observed all the passages aforemencioned And he further observed and very well knew that from and after the tyme of the Drowning of Beltur of the said protestants at Belturbett bridge There could not any fish be gotten in that River for -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
where formerly there had bin great plenty seene and caught at all tymes of the yeare

And he further both the deponents saith that in the time of his being amongst the Rebells at & nere Belturbet aforesaid, (after the drowning & murthereing of the English there many visions & strang apparitions were seene & fearfull scritches howleing & dyrefull cryes heard were (as many of the irish Rebell souldjers often tould the deponent) were were seuerall nights by them heard as they were h ar d watching both at the Castle and at the place where many of the drowned bodies were taken vpp out of the water of Belturbett, And those cryes and scriches much affrighted the souldjers soe as they durst not stand but run from their Centries and watches seuerall tymes into the towne out of the noise thereof: Those souldjers saying that those cryes as they thought were the cryes of the people that were drowned in that River against such as drowned them there
And he further saith That he heard the said Phillip mc Hugh ô Rely publiquely say That god would neuer giue a blessing to any thing that his cuntrimen then in action tooke in hand becawse of their murthers & cruelties: Saying alsoe that what the English hadd made & built, they hadd distroyd & spoild
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And the deponent Joane Killin further saith That after the drowning of the protestants aforesaid at Belturbett the irish Rebellious souldjers did often from tyme to tyme for a quarter of a yere together Complaine say and confidently affirme publiquely That they were many nights much troubled and afrighted with such direfull noice scritching and cryes as it were of Infants and women at the bridg where the drowning was that those souldjers were driven away with feare soe as they durst not watch nor keepe Centryes in the nights, but were faine to fly away into the towne out of the v noice thereof. & being reproved & struck becawse they run for feare from their watches, Many of them fled quite away saying that they neither would nor durst for those cryes come to watch any more att the said how se bridge
Thomas Smith Signum predictæ Johannæ Tillin
[mark]
Jur viijo febr 1643
Hen: Jones
Hen: Brereton

{Cavan}
Tho. Smith & Joane Killin
Jur viijo febr 1643
Intratur
G T
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[Copy at MS 832, fols 142v-144r]