Examination of John Mersey

fol. 192r

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The Information of John Merser of Gabragh in Kilnarlin in Com: Downe takin by Symon Richardson [ ]
Who saith that hee with his wife, & marry the wife of Richard Tomlinson were present when Brian Loshe Mc Maghann, with seuerall others of the Irish, did vpon the 2 4 day of march 1641 in a litle loagh Neere vnto Drumbate in the County of Monaghan, Drownde 25 men woemen & Children, & that hee h[ ] this examinant with his wife & 3 children should have bin drowned with them but that hee purchased their liues with a summe of money, of [ ] & that the next day ther was 25 men more drowned the next day in the said Lough but hee did not see it nor knowes the persons that did it, hee farther saith that ane Ardal{ } baddy McMaughanne did helpe to drive them to the lough, & keepe them together he e farther saith of and as this examinant is inforomed the said Brian Mc{ } d{oes } now liue at Castle Towne, but where Arde{l} liues hee knoweth not, & in wittnes hereof hee doth herevnto set his [hand] 3 4 Jan: 1652
Richard [mark] Mercer

<[ ]: 24. 1653.> And this Examinant Informant further informeth that Pattrick Bacho mcArdall <B> took h was one of the chiefe which did help to driue about fifty of the English togeather in a company which were in the towne of Ballirush in the County of Monaghan [ ] & did deliuer them all vnto the rest of the Irish company as aforesaid to be drowned but that some of them were released for mony which they giue as a ransome for their liues & others escaped in all to about the number of fifteen
Mary the wife of Rich: the said John mercer of the age of three & fifty yeares agreeth in all points with the infromacion of her said husband aforesaid & they both informe that there was Lambert Haddock & his wife & thre <C> children John Rason & Kestar Raason his brother Anne Garlick Widdow whoe had her husband kild before this drowning by the said Brian Roshe mc Maghan & others & her 3 children John Kitchens wife who was formerly kild himself by the Irish but by whome they know not & her 3 two children Anne Bennett & her two children Ellin Garlick & others whome they cannot remember these being all in the number of the twenty fiue that were drowned as aforesaid.
<Geo [Rawdon]>

fol. 192v

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<D> And the John Mercer the said Informant further informeth that there was one Ardle mcColl mcHugh mcMahon (who liued last Alholantide at[Ball e s ]woode in Com Louth) & Capt of with others came to his house & took his wife into an inner room in the said house to examine her for monies telling her also that if they could gett none they would hang her husband vpon which she gaue vnto him nineteen shilling & six pence & afterwards they went vnto the bed where this Examinant Informant then lay in being sick & two of the said company lifted him out of his bed by reason he could not rise himself because of his weakness & from thence they took him to a ladder in the said house where a Rope was tyed therevnto about his neck & a cloth drawne ouer his fface & his hands tyed behind his back but they were goeing imediatly to throw him of the said Ladder to hang him but that the wife of one Brian o Quin a Captaine then in the County of Monaghan whose name he knoweth not being then in the said company told vnto this informants wife that she would saue his life for that time & further saith which she did & further saith not

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Mercers Informacion