Deposition of Elizabeth Price

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Elizabeth the wiffe of Captaine Rise Price late of the parrish and Countie of Armaghe sworne and examjned deposeth and sayth That since the present Rebellion began That is to saie about Alhollantyde 1641 This Deponents husband & shee at Turkharry in the Parrish and Countie aforesaid were deprived robbed or otherwise dispoiled of their goodes chattles and estate Consisting of Cowes yong beasts horses Corne hay sheepe plate Howshold stuffe Jewells ringes Ready monie & other goods & Chattells worth three thowsand nyne hundred and seven Pownds att Least By the grand and wicked Rebell <a> Sir Phelim ô Neile Knight from whom her said husband bought his Lands within the County of Armaghe worth 100 li. per annum & the said Sir Phelim forceibly repossessing the same taketh the proffitts thereof which her husband and shee are is sure to bee depriued of & Loose vntill a peace be established And the other parties Rebells that soe robbed and dispoyled them are theis that are hereafter named vizt Turlogh oge o Neile brother to the said Sir Phelim: Captain Booy and divers of the name & Sept of the ô Neiles & others whose names shee cannott now expresse their souldjers complicees or assistants amounting to a very great number, which said Rebells and others of their partakers and Confederates alsoe robbed all the Protestants in the Countrie thereabouts & Committed divers bloudie barbarous & divellish Cruelties vpon and against the persons of a multitude of Protestants thereabouts: And amongst other their Cruelties: They tooke & seised on her this deponent, and five of her Children: & above threescore more protestants at that tyme in the Church of Armagh and having stript them all of their clothes <A> cast them all into Prison; About a fortnight after the Rebells (especially the said Sir Phelim) proposed & offered to send some of them into England & to give them saffe conduct and free passes for that purposse: which o f f er being imbraced, then the Rebells
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declared that they would suffer the Children & those that they knew hadd noe meanes left, to goe: But as for those that they conceived had hidd or concealed any thing from them those they stayd, & in particular they staid there in prison with the said Sir Phelim, the Ladie Cawfeild & her Children the Lord Cawfeild, whom after they murthered, Mris Taylor & her sonn (whom they after hanged to death) & her this deponent Mr Robert Ditham, whome they after murthered and mangled to peeces and his wiffe; Peirce Newberry whom they alsoe afterwards murthered, Tho: Newberry & Henry Newberry L [ ] one Richard Stubbs, I Richard Warren whoe they alsoe murthered & mangled to peeces, Edmun d Richard Row & William Warren whom they hackt all to peeces and divers <B.1> others: But as to this deponents five children and about 40 more yong & poore prisoners those were sent away with passes from the said Sir Phelim together with about threescore & fifteene more protestants more from other places within the parrishes of Armagh & Loghgall: whoe were all promissed to be saffly convoyed & sent out to their frendes in England: Their Comander or Conductor for that purposse appointed being as hee quickly after proved to bee a most bloudy & cursed Rebell by name Captain Manus ô Cane & his souldjers: which said <b> Capt Manus ô Cane & his souldjers haveing brought or rather driven like sheepe or beasts to a Markett; those poore prisoners being about one hundred and fifteene to the bridge of Portadowne: The said Captain and Rebells then and there forced & threw all those prisoners (and amongst the rest the deponents five children by name Adam John Ann Mary and Joane Price off the bridge into the water and then and there dr instantly & most barbarously drowned the most of them: And those that could swym and come to the shore they either knockt them in the heads & soe after drowned them, or els shott them to death in the water And one of them sw that was a Scottish minister swyming about 3 myles below the bridge to or nere the lands of one Mr Blackett, they Rebells pursued soe farr
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farr That they then and there shott him to death And as for this deponent and many others that were stayd behinde divers tortures were vsed vnto them to make them to confesse their hidden monies & meanes, & many murthered (after <2> they had Confessed all their meanes left) And the deponent and the rest often affrighted with a block and a hatchett: which (to putt them in more feare) was alwaies left with them as the engins of their deaths: and the deponent for her owne part was thrice hanged vpp and to confesse moneys and after letten downe, & hadd the soales of her feete fryed and burned at the fyre, & was often scurged & whipt & shee & the re most of the rest of the prisoners soe pyned & hungar starued that some 8 of them djed and layd a weeke vnburied & this deponent and others that survived were forced to eate grasse & weeds & when they wanted liberty to goe out & gather the ir extrea m e hungar inforced them to burst open the window in their prison chamber & there to scrape & rake vpp weedes mosse or anything that they could possibly eate from the walls: And in that or the like or worse distresse they Contynued vntill and were tossed & halled from place to place in most miserable manner for 14 or 15 months together: their allowance of vyands beinge only a quart of oate meale amongst six for 3 dayes: & not half water enoughe Inasmuch as at length they hadd as she is verely perswaded beene inforced to have feed and eaten of such of them as hadd after dyed: Had not the great God almighty <3.> putt some end to those great calamitous miseries by the landing of Owin Roe ô Neile out of Spaine or from some other part beyond the sea: whoe being arryved there, & Informed of their miserable torments & sufferings, and what multitudes of protestants the said Sir Phelim & his Confederats hadd murthered & putt to death by the sword, hanging, drowneing famishing Burning & other cruell and barbarous deaths: Did not only inlarge
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and sett at Libertie her this deponent and those other prisoners that survived & were there with her And t he n sent them all with a saff Convoy to du or nere dundalk. But upon the sight of this deponent and other s prisoners miserablie almost starved and in this deponents presence & hearing exceedingly reprooued the said Sir Phelim ô Neile And the his other partakers for theire odious and Merciles cruelties: Inasmuch as hee plainly tould them in this deponents hearing: that they ought to suffer & indure the like torments & deaths that they hadd forced & putt vpon the protestants: And after some bitter words hadd passed concerning the same betwixt him and the said Sir Phelim hee the said Owin ô Neile in part of Revenge & Detestation of their odious actions, burned some of the Rebells howses at Kunard and sayd hee would Joyne with the English army to burne the rest. <4.> And this deponent further sayth: That as before that shee this deponent & the wiffe of Newberry; the wiffe of one Prescott Ann Stubbs, Suzan Stubbs, and about Elizabeth this deponents sole surviveing child and about 40 more her fellow prisoners were C omeing came being women whose husbands were murthered & slaine C ame with their co mein Convoy from Charlemont to towards Dundalk, the said Owin Roe ô Neile suffered them all to goe vpp & downe the Cuntry at their pleasures: And they hearing of divers apparitions & visions that were ordinarily seene neere the port a downe bridg since the drowning of her children And the rest of the Protestants there: and <c> they being confidently tould that the said Owin ô Neile & his troops were resolued to bee at Portadowne bridg to informe themselues concerning those apparitions shee this deponent and her child & those other parties her companions & child att the same tyme came to Portadowne bridge aforesaid which was about Candlemas last & there then and there mett the said Owin Roe ô Neile & his troope: And being all together at the waterside there, nere the said bridge about twylight in the evening then and there vpon a sudden there appeared vnto them a vision or spiritt assumeing the shape of a woman waste highe vpright in the water naked with elevated
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& closed handes, her haire disheivelled very white, her eyes seeming to twinckle in her head, and her skinn as white as snowe which spiritt or vision seeming to stand straight vpright in the water divulged and often repeated the word Revenge Revenge Revenge &c Whereat this deponent and the rest being putt into a strange amazement and fright, walked a little from the place, And then presently the said Owne Roe ô Neille sent a Romish preist and a friere to speake vnto it Wherevpon they asked questions both in English and Latin, but it answererd them nothing; Within a few daies after the said Owen Roe ô Neille sent his drummer to the English Army for a protestant minister, Whoe comeing vnto him, and being by him desired of to inquire of that vision, or spiritt what it would haue, the same minister went one evening to the vsuall place on the waterside, Where at the like time of the Evening the same or like spiritt or vision appeared in the like posture and shape as formerly it had done: And the same minister saying In the name of the father, the sonne and the holy ghost what wouldest thou have, or for what standest thou there: It answered Revenge, Revenge, very many times iterating the word Revenge, thereat the same minister went to prayer privately and after they all departed, and left the same vision or spiritt standing and crying out as before, But after that night of six weekes together it neither appeared nor cried any more But after th at night , of six weekes together , it neither appear ed nor cried any more , that either this deponent or any of the rest (that came thither vpon purpose severall times) could heare or observe yet after six weekes ended it appeared againe and cried as before Soe as the Irish that formerly were frighted away with it, and which were comen againe to dwell in the English howses thereabouts In hope it would neuer appeare nor crye more, were then soe againe affrighted that they ran quite away and forsooke the place the lyke, or the same spiritt or vision since that time appearing and crying out Revenge all and euery night vntill this deponent and her child and late fellow prisoners came away with their convoy to Dundalk: And further saith that the first visions or apparitions after
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after the protestants drowned, were in shewe a great number of heads in the water which cried all with a lowd voice Revenge, Revenge &c, as this deponent hath been credibly told by the Rebells themselves, (whoe alsoe tould this deponent that those apparitions were English Divells) & as is most comonly beleeved and reported by most of the Irish Inhabitants thereabouts: And the Rebells discharging some shott at those heades, flashes of fire thereat suddenly appeared on the water, as she was alsoe credibly tould, And that quickly afterwards that shape or spiritt <B.> in the likenes of a woman appeared, And cried all and euery night begining about twylight as aforesaid: And this deponent <5.> further saith that in or during the time that this deponent was soe kept a prisoner shee observed and welknew that the said <d>Captain Manus ô Cane and his wicked and bloody souldiers fetched from Armaghe one Crispe Simmons gentleman and three other singing men of that church, and one Mr Hatton a schoolemaster and his wife Mr Robinson minister Mr Spring, and done mc Griffin a minister (whose wife and three yong children were starved to death with hunger and cold, and nere threescore more protestants out of a place where they had formerly imprisoned them and forceibly carried them, in her view & (as she was informed by the Common report of the Rebells, and by the report of the schoolemasters wife whoe went with them and returned to this deponent) into the Church of Blackwater, and there somtymes brought their necks to the block, threatening to cutt their heades with a hatchett to make them confesse mony at other tymes hanging them vp, and at length letting them (half dead) downe againe, at other tymes mangling slashing and cutting them in the Church, And whenas by this barbarous cruelty and other torments, they had exacted from them their full confessions of money and gotten it all from them, Then that is to say on or about the 17th of November 1641 those barbarous Rebells locked and made all those protestants (saveinge the schoolemaisters wiffe) fast in the said Church, And that done <A:> setting a strong guard about the Church sett it in fyre and together with that Church burned to death all those protestants, Whose cries (being exceeding lowd & fearfull the Rebells

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the Rebells (in scornfull manner would delight much to imitate & bragg of to others, And a great number of other protestants especially women and children whom the Rebells could take they pricked and stabbed with their pitchforks skeanes & swords and would slash mangle and cutt them in their heades breasts faces Armes hands and other parts of their bodies, but not kill them outright, but leave them wallowing in their bloods to languish, pine and starve to death, And whenas those soe mangled people desired them to kill them out of their paine, they would deny it but somtymes (after a day or twoe) they would dash theire braines out with stones, or by some other cruell way kill them out, which they accounted done as a great favour, Of which shee hath bin in many particulers an ey witnesse, And whenas at Length, the said Manus ô Cane and his souldiers were reproved by Sir Phelim ô Neille (as this deponent was credibly informed by divers both Rebells and protestants) for soe mangleing and suffering them to Languish, and for suffering the poore womens children to ly alive sucking their mortally wounded & somtymes dead mothers breasts <e> and not killinge them outright then the said Manus ô Cane and his barbarous souldiers would suddenly murther such protestants as they could after fynd, and putt caste and conceale their murthered bodies in pitts loghes holes boggs and other obscure places as this deponent was credibly informed that herself sawe twoe women soe drowned in a well, And further saith that the Rebells <A:> did burne in severall howses within the parrishes of Armaghe Kilmore and Loghgall a great number of protestants at severall times not long after the begining of the Rebellion And drowned great numbers of protestants at seuerall times not long after the begining of the rebellion, And drowned great numbers of protestants at Blackwater at seuerall tymes as they could seize on and take them, And at severall other tymes drowned others at Portadowne aforesaid, and in divers loughes holes wells bogholes and other places within the County of Armaghe aforesaid Neither spareing English Scottish age nor sex, unles specially rescowed, or els by gods providence taken out of their murtherous <6.> hands, And this deponent further saith That she heard the said Sir Phelim

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o Neille, and divers other Rebells say that by the said Sir Phelim was great ô Neill and Erle of Tirone and they that did not call him soe should loose their heads And that thence forth there neuer should be any English King of Ireland any more. Howbeit some others of the Rebells privately muttered and said amongst themselues that the Lord Maguire (if he had taken Dublin showld haue <7. C.> bin King of Ireland, And further sayth that she this deponent was present, when she heard the said Owen Roe ô Neill aske the Rebells how many protestants they had drowned at the bridg of Portadowne aforesaid they answered fowre hundred, And he asked further how many they had drowned at Blackwater, They answered they had drowned soe many there at 5 or 6 seuerall tymes that they could not tell their numbers, And confessed that they had drowned others in divers loughes pitts boggs holes & places, and at soe many severall tymes that they Knew not nor could guesse at their numbers <D.> And saith further that it was comonly reported by the Rebells themselues, that they tooke an Englishwoman nere the bridge of Portadowne (by name, the wife of Arnold Taylor; when she was great with child, And that they ripped vp her bellie soe that the child fell out of her wombe, And then they threw both the mother and the child into the water, And this deponent further saith that whenas divers of the English were about to be murthered, and desired the Rebells vpon their knees first to admitt them to make their prayers to God, The Rebells have often in her the deponents hearing in Irish words answered and said Cuir do anim in diouall, which in English is Give or bequeath thy soule to the Divell, And at other tymes would say to the protestants (vpon their knees, begging with teares, that they might pray before their deaths) Why should yow pray for your soule is with the Divell already, And therevpon and with those words in their mowthes would slaughter and put them to death, And shee often heard the Common sort of Rebells say, that when they had distroyed all the English in Ireland they would goe with an Army into England and destroy the English there, And the deponent hath still observed the Irish Rebellious women more fierce and more

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more feirce and Cruell then the men: and their Children (to theire powers) exceeding both: Insoemuch as shee hath seene the Rebells children kill both English men and children women: And sajth That one <E> Thomas Mason an English protestant of Loghgall: being extreamely beaten & wounded but not Killd by the Rebells was carried from the place (where hee was left lying, by th his wiffe & his Kinswoman a little way: ffor revendg of which the Rebells most cruelly hact slasht and wounded them: & that done dragged the said Mas{on} into a hole & then and there threw earth rubbish and stone upon him: soe as they half buried him: or soe kept him in the earth with that waight vpon him that as the said Masons wiffe tould the deponent, hee cried out & languished about 2 or three daies in the ground before he died soe as his owne wiffe to putt him out of paine & rather then to heare him cry still scraped and pulld the earth & rubbish off his face & tyed her handcarsher over his mowth and soe s to pped there with stopped his breath: soe as hee djed And further sajth the said Owen ô Neile gave vnto this deponent & severall others the better sort of people that came along with her when they hadd a Convoy xviij d. a peece in mony: & a peck of oatmeale to euery twoe of them: & some mony and meale to all the rest; But afterwards when this deponent and the rest mett with the Scottch army vnder the Comand of Comander Lasley the yonger those Scotts forceibly robbed and dispojled them of all the mony and Meale they had left & badd them goe to the Rebells & fetch more And it is comonly reported by many English that the say some vizt about three score English that escaped from the Rebells & fled to the Scotts for succour at the Newry: were turned away by the Rebells Scotts without releeff and after mett with towards Dundalk & murthered by the Rebells
Signum predicte Elizabeth
Price [mark]
Jur xxvjo Junii 1643
Joh Watson: John Sterne
Will: Aldrich
Hen: Brereton.
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Mris Elizabeth Price
Jur 26o Junij 1643
Intr hand w
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