Kerry men protested their innocence right up until the moment they were executed

But in the present instance, a feeling of sympathy — and an exceedingly strong feeling too — existed amongst the bulk of the people in the county of Kerry for the two men adjudged guilty of the crime, and this feeling was engendered by the strong belief of their follow-countymen that they were innocent.

Outside the county, however, such a feeling did not exist to any great extent. The unfortunate man Thomas Browne was a farmer in comfortable circumstances, who some years ago had co-tenants in a holding of which his farm formed part; but Browne, who had amassed some money by his thrift and industry, became owner in fee of the holding, and by this means became landlord over his former co-tenants.

Outside the fact that some little jealousy might have been caused by his accession to proprietorial rights, not the shadow of a motive could be suggested for his being shot down in his own meadow in the afternoon of an October day, within sight of the dwelling wherein his wife and family shared with him for years the blessings of peace and contentment which are the fruits of honest and patient toil, blended with the disposition and loving tenderness of the uncomplaining toiler.

But Poff and Barrett did not seem to have any grudge against Thomas Browne, and Poff was not long in the district having only come to reside there after being evicted from his holding on the Ballyseedy estate in 1881, and he was arrested and kept in gaol for some time as a suspect under the Coercion Act.

The two men were cousins and on the day of the Browne murder they were twice seen on the road at Drumultin in the morning going to Scartiglin, and in the afternoon, a short distance from the place where the assassin's bullet sent the unfortunate man to his grave without a moment's preparation. On the 13th of October, Poff and Barrett were arrested and charged with the murder.

On the 5th of December they were removed to Cork for trial at the Munster Winter Assizes; some ten days later they were tried before a special jury of the city and county of Cork, when after a patient investigation (lasting two days), the jury disagreed, nine being for conviction and three for acquittal.

On the 21st of December they were again put on trial, and on the following day they were convicted and sentenced to death.

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Throughout both trials, Poll frequently asserted his innocence — and Barrett once or twice — the former exhibiting a nervous impulsiveness at various stages of the case, while Barrett was cool and collected in demeanor, but when the fatal words were pronounced which consigned them to a felon's doom, Barrett's demeanor changed and in impassioned and tremulous tones and with animated gesture, he declared his innocence before God and the court.

Poff did the same, but more vehemently, and on going down the steps of the dock he was understood to say that the conviction of him and his fellow prisoner would not stop the work in Castleisland.

Immediately afterwards the two condemned men shrieked piteously for some minutes, and those present in court on the occasion will not readily forget the melancholy wailings of the two unhappy men.

For the first few days after conviction, Poff was subject to fits of excitement, but he then became calm as his companion, and since their removal back to Tralee Gaol, on the 29th December, the conduct of the condemned men was very exemplary.

Father O'Riordan, chaplain, and Father Callaghan, were most assiduous in minding to the spiritual comfort of the unhappy men. The convicts themselves were untiring in receiving the ministrations of the clergy, spending many hours of the last days of their life in communing with their Creator.

Strong in their protestations of innocence, they believed that the efforts made by the influential people of Tralee and other towns in the county would result in the capital sentence being commuted, and they held hopes up to a few days ago that they would be spared the ignominy of death under the hands of the hangman.

But at length the formal reply of the Executive came that “the law must take its course," and all hope of clemency on this side of eternity was abandoned by the men whose days were numbered to a very narrow span indeed by the law which prohibits the taking away of life in cold blood.

The arrangements for the execution were not proceeded with until Friday, when some Dublin carpenters proceeded to construct the gallows, as no local men could be got to erect the hideous structure.

Marwood arrived from Galway on the Thursday night after executing the Lough Mask murderer, and accompanying him were the carpenters who erected the gallows under his superintendent.

It is thirty years since an execution took place within the walls of Tralee Gaol, the culprit on the occasion being a man named Sheehan, found guilty of murdering his master.

The condemned men were now placed in cells in the back part of the building, and as they were within earshot of the yard where the trap was erected they must have experienced some torture from hearing the sounds of the work men's implements nailing together the rude timbers of the dreaded apparatus of death.

The yard in which the gallows was placed is at the extreme back of the gaol building and is known as the capstan mill yard. It was half filled with lumber today, and only a small space round the scaffold was clear of broken pieces of wood and other articles.

The scaffold was constructed on the old principle, being approached by some dozen wooden steps and as the enclosing wall of the yard was rather low, a pit was excavated beneath the drop, in order to prevent the strong cross-beam above being seen by any persons whose curiosity could prompt them to go into the fields at the back of the prisoner.

In the beam were two strong iron clamps from which the two ropes descended, and at the right hand side of the trapdoor in the centre was the switch for working the lever that made the trap, an apparently solid portion of the structure, but which unloosed caused the trapdoor to fly open downwards, with a death dealing bang for the unhappy men placed on it.

As in the recent executions in Ireland, it was expected that the representatives of the Press would be admitted to witness the sad spectacle; but despite urgent representations made to the Sub-sheriff (Mr Wm. Harnott) by the representatives of the Dublin, Cork, and local papers, that official remained obdurate, and would not allow ingress, as he said, to anyone but those whose official duties rendered their presence within the prison walls necessary. 

He and he alone had supreme control in this matter, and he exercised it to the fullest extent, though one fails to discover any cause for the exclusion of the only representatives the public have on such tragic and melancholy occasion.

The morning broke gloomily over the town of Tralee, the rain descending in torrents from three o' clock until seven, when it cleared away a little.

To those who were afflicted with wakefulness, the heavy beating of the rain on the house roofs and tiled flagging sounded ominously of the tragedy about to be enacted in the keep of Ballymullen, and the heavy measured tread of police as they paced the streets at an hour when all nature should be wrapped in slumber, tended to emphasize this unpleasant feeling.

At seven o'clock, the hurrying of feet at intervals in the direction of the gaol betokened that some of the townspeople were anxious to see what they could of the dreadful business. But this was very little - nothing in fact.

At a quarter to eight, about a hundred people in all, not a few of them being women and children scantily clad, stood shivering in driving rain outside the main entrance to the gaol, or in the fields which surrounded the building.

The high outside wall adjoining the outside wall prevented even a sight of the gaol from being observable and it was only those who ventured into the nearby field or rather were allowed to do so by the police on duty outside the walls, that could got a glimpse of the black flag - the symbol which proclaims to the outer world that the gallows has done its hideous work.

While the persons outside were waiting in anxious expectancy for the signal that all was over, let us take a glance at what was going forward inside. As before stated, the Pressmen had to remain without the walls, but even with the most rigid exclusion, such details of such ghastly scenes are certain to be forthcoming.

After a somewhat restless night, the condemned men arose — Barrett at six o'clock and Poff at quarter to seven. They were then visited by Frs O’Riordan and Callaghan, and conducted to the chapel, where mass was said. At quarter to eight they were taken to their cells where their arms were pinioned by Marwood.

At five minutes to eight, the sad procession to the scaffold, which was not many yards off, started. The procession was headed by Sub-sheriff Harnott and the governor of the gaol Mr Harris.

Then came the culprit Poff with Fr O’Riordan on one side and a warden on the other. The culprit Barrett walked next, Fr Callaghan being on one side and a warden on the other. Then came Dr Lalor and a number of wardens.

Marwood walked behind. It may be mentioned that he did not wear spectacles today when going through his ghastly work as he has been in the habit of doing of late.

The condemned men walked bravely all the way not acquiring the least assistance, but both shuddered visibly when they entered the yard of death and beheld the grim structure in one corner from which soon they were to be hurled in the prime of manhood and their life-thread rudely snapped in twain.

Poff mounted the steps rapidly, almost at a run, and Barrett followed at a slower pace so there was no faltering on the march to their fast-approaching doom. The responses to the Litany were given in firm tones.

Arrived on the scaffold, Marwood immediately proceeded to strap the legs of Poff and then of Barrett. When standing on the drop, both men repeated some words of the protestation of innocence.

The executioner then placed the white cap on Poff and performed the same operation on Barrett. The adjusting of the rope round the necks of the culprits was but a few seconds and then, the clergyman having been warned off a safe distance, Marwood touched the switch and the trapdoor flung downward and the next moment the lifeless bodies of the two men were dangling from the fatal ropes with their bodies in judgement before their Creator.

They fell out of the view of those present but their deaths must have been instantaneous. When the bodies had remained suspended for an hour, they were taken down and placed in two coffins and placed at the foot of the scaffold where they were viewed by the jury.

Presidential pardon: Innocence was clear then as it is now

“The people of Kerry remember,” said President Michael D Higgins.

And memory is something that goes back a long time. Especially when it’s the memory of a great wrong.

Acknowledging that great wrong in Áras an Uachtaráin last week, the President said now was the time when he could “at least set the record straight” in the cases of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett.

Poff and Barrett were cousins who were near the wrong place at the wrong time. And they were hanged for it.

Last week, they got their official pardon over 140 years after they were executed for the murder of Thomas Browne.

Incredible work by local historians in recent years, in particular the Castleisland District Heritage Group, revived interest in this case again and raised hopes that a rare pardon could be issued.

A subsequent government-commissioned review by UCD academic Niamh Howlin determined their convictions were unsafe, culminating in the pardons for Poff and Barrett.

Looking back over sources from the time reveal an incredible tale, not least in the pages of the Cork Examiner where a reporter recounted their last hours, recalling their last words and the grim process whereby they were hanged.

On October 3 1882, Thomas Browne was shot several times in the back on the farm he lived and worked on in Dromultan, south of Castleisland. It later emerged there was a convoluted process involving the land that Browne hoped to take full ownership of which may well have been a motive for murder.

Poff and Barrett had no such motive. But they did happen to have been in the area at the time. And were seen there on the day of the murder.

It was a time of turmoil in rural Ireland during the Land War, pitching tenant farmers against landlords, with tumult seen widely in Kerry and in Castleisland, in particular.

In the wake of such a brutal murder, something had to be done. Poff and Barrett were the unlucky men the crime was pinned on.

They didn’t look like the men one eyewitness reported seeing that day. But a neighbour said she saw them. But her story kept changing. Despite being an unreliable witness, her evidence helped convict them.

Poff and Barrett were tried twice before special juries in Cork for the murder of Browne after the jury in the first trial failed to reach agreement on a verdict. The second trial saw them convicted and sentenced to death. There were pleas for clemency at the time.

In a rather angry letter to the Kerry Evening Post on January 13 imploring the Tralee Town Commissioners to stop meddling in the case and focus on lighting and cleaning “this dingy and filthy town”, the quotes of chair Patrick Hayes were recalled.

“I may further state that we would not be here today in our corporate capacity to petition his excellency the lord lieutenant to commute the sentence of Poff and Barrett did we not, in common with the people of this town and also in common with the people of the country districts surrounding this town, believe that they are innocent of the crime of which they have been found guilty upon circumstantial evidence,” Mr Hayes said.

In the aftermath of their executions, the Examiner reported on a row between the coroner and the governor over letting press into the inquests. It also described how Castleisland was “thrown into a state of mourning” as all shops were closed as the chapel hall “pealed forth the death knell of the executed men at midday”.

The Cork Examiner finished by outlining a message in a prayer book written by James Barrett to his sister.

Dear sister, do not grieve for me, as I am dying innocent of the crime and hope to be with God where I will pray for all. Goodbye, your innocent brother, James.

Both men went to their deaths clear in their innocence. It took over 140 years, but the Irish State now acknowledges it too.

Dr Howlin concluded the men were convicted on the basis of evidence that was “both circumstantial and weak”.

Today, there’s no chance of a conviction based on the evidence that had been gathered. But even then, she found the convictions were “inconsistent with the legal standards of the period”.

She recommended to the Government that a pardon be granted and, for only the fourth and fifth time, a posthumous pardon has been granted in the history of the Irish State. Family members were there for the pardon last week, expressing happiness but also regret that it took so long to happen.

“While we at this remove cannot undo what happened, we do have the power to acknowledge that what happened to Sylvester Poff and James Barrett was a great wrong,” said President Higgins on Wednesday.

“I am pleased to be able to formally grant a Presidential Pardon to each of the men today, and to at least set the record straight. I hope that my doing so will bring a sense of closure to their families following almost 142 years.”