Deposition of Nicholas Simpson

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<10> when I was releeved & Came to the Armye who quartered neare Armaghe, I & my Companye went into the Towne, but there was not a Roofe on Churche or house to Cover vs, all was burnt, & lookinge into some houses wee fownd dyvers dead bodyes burnt in the Chymnyes, & the stones in the streete were all bloudye and like the floor of a butchers slaughter house synce the daye of the murdringe the Inhabitants which was three weekes before.
The men & woemen did not onelye Commytt these Cruell murders, but by their example, & no doubt by their encouragement, their very ffrye or children of 12 or 13 yeares of age with skeanes would stabb & kyll poore woemen & children they mett in the ffeilds, naye the very spawne of 6 or 7 yeares of age that Could not vse a skeane had daggers made of lasts with which they woulde followe the Brytishe in the streetes pushinge att them with those lasts & Cryinge bodagh sasanaghe, & none durst speake a worde or reproove them for feare of murdringe
<11 L> Sir Philomye o Neale scoffinge as itt were att or lawes, whose execucion had brought his great estate to nothinge, which I thinke was the onelye Cause hee entred into this Rebellion, & not religion would often tymes aske mee, where were nowe our Statute staples, our execucions, & our [ ] potestations hee Cared not a farte for them all, nor for our Pursevants & Serieants att Armes, & they had a proverbe amongst them in every ones mouthe, The horse had bene a longe tyme on the topp of the Ryder, but nowe God bee thanked the Ryder was gotten on the topp of the horse agayne.
<12> They hangd Mr Richard Blayneye in the orchard of the Castle of Monaghan & refused him to have a Mynester Come to him, but scornefullye offred him a Preist, & beeing dead they Cast him into a bogge scarce Covering his Corps, & the ladye Blayney Causinge him to bee Coffined Could not obtayne so much favour of the ffryers & Preists as to burye him in the Churchyarde, but was enforced to bury him in the said orchard, & they that Coffyned him were threatened to bee hangd, & when I next mett with Sir <M> Philomy o Neale hee asked mee what was become of my fellowe knight of the Shyre of the Countie of Monaghan, to which I making no answere, hee tould mee hee had sent a warrant to hange him, & said itt was done by very good advise, & Turloghe oge tould mee my name was in that warrant alsoe to bee executed, but hee procured mee to bee strucke out, They also att that tyme hanged another gent one Luke warde att Monaghan, & flunge his bodye into a ditche, & would not suffer his wife to take him out & burye him

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Turloghe oge often tymes perswaded mee to staye with him att Masse in hes owne house, I answered him, that hee pretended religion was the Cause of this generall insurreccion, because they would not bee enforced to Churche, & desired him that hee would not enforce mee to Masse, for I <N> was resolved to dye in the Religion I had bene bredd, whereat hee tould mee hee would not enforce mee, but because hee lovd mee, & for my soules health hee perswaded mee, but when hee sawe hee Could not prevayle with mee he wisht mee before Sir William Brownloe (then Captive with mee) to shifte for my selfe, & that hee Could no longer protect mee, I demanded the reason of the suddayne alteracion, hee answered mee that hee was perswaded that itt was a mortall & vnpardonable synne to protect heretiques & this I heard (by him one that was neare him) was the ffryers & his mothers perswasion, & afterwards I was alwayes in feare of murdringe.
wee had every sundaye sermons in Armagh, & every month at the farthest Comunyons, they ledd out the Curate Mr Griffyn to bee drowned, Sir William Brownloe & I entreated for him, & Sir Philomy tould vs that was our Chaplayne, wee prevayled for him att that tyme, but when Armaghe was burnt, hee & all his p [ ] familye were murdred with two or three other Mynisters,
My sonne beeing a Mynister, & lately Come out of an extreame fytt of the gowte was Carryed to the Gaole, & sent with many others to bee drowned & not beeing able to goe, Manus o Cane that archdevyll & executioner of all the Brytishe thereabouts beate him with a Cudgell that hee was <O> like to murder him, by the meanes of Mr henry o Neale I gott him recalld, but hee was stript of his Clothes, & all the rest was Drowned,
Mr Henry o neale entertayned a gent one Bromloe Tayler to followe him & going with him towards Charlemonte on Maye Eve 1642, beeing vnwillinge that Sir Philomye should see him in his Companye turned him backe to Armaghe, who going to a ffarme his father had was apprehended by some of Turloghe oges Companye, & Carryed to him to Loghgall, who sent him to Charlemonte to Sir Philomys, & Mr Henry o neale returninge that night without him, his mother made great mone for her sonne, att last they heard that hee was with Turloghe oge, & sent vnto him for him, hee tould them hee was sent to Charlemonte, but hee would send after him & so itt seemes hee dyd, for the next morninge beeing sundaye by fower of the Clock hee was hangd att Charlemont.

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<P> They Rebells pistolled many men as they walked in the streetes of Armaghe for every Rogue would kill any man vppon any former grudge betweene them, one pistolled a Smyth in the Towne, in the sight of his wyfe & sonne & a tro o per & dyvers other Englishe, whereof when I Complayned to Turlogh oge, & tould him itt was Contrary to his promise of protectinge the Brytishe and Contrary to his owne proclamacion hee had publiquely made in the towne, hee Called a Counsell, but neyther wyfe nor sonne nor any other that sawe the murders Comytted & knewe the murderers durst Come in & give any evydence agaynst them, if they had, they had bene sure bee murdred, themselves, & so not onely they but many other murderers in that towne escaped vnpunished
Jur vt supra

8 Nicholas Sympson
Esquire
Com: Monaghan
Jurat April 6to 1643.zx
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