The Times
London, Middlesex, England

January 23, 1817

IRELAND

On Saturday the 11th instant, at six o'clock in the evening, the house of the Rev. Mr. Serjeant, Curate of the parish of Castlerahan, and an active Magistrate of the county of Cavan, was entered by a party of ten persons, who tied the servants, and collected all the property worth carrying away; after which they deliberately boiled the tea-kettle, and passed the evening in drinking tea and punch, waiting the arrival of Mr. Serjeant. On Mr. S. returning he heard a noise, and on asking "who is there?" two men immediately fired on him, which he attempted to return, but his pistol missed fire. Fortunately the arms of the robbers were so injudiciously loaded, that five slugs which hit him in the body, and perforated his two coats, waistcoat, and shirt, did him very little injury. On Mr. S. falling the fellows supposed he was killed, and immediately joined their party in the dwelling-house, and carried off all the clothes, house-linen, and 30[some unit of money] in money. This same party then proceeded about three miles to the deer-park of Lord Farnham, and entered so quietly through the thresh [?] of the house of Robert Blorrow [?], permanent sergeant of the 1st Ballyjamesduff corps of yeomanry, as to be at his bedside before he was apprized of their being in the house. He then seized a firelock [?] which was near his bed, and knocked down two of the party, and his wife gallantly tumbled another, when he received a shot which broke his left arm near the wrist, and the same moment it was broken above the elbow by a blow with a firelock; he also received a shot in the other arm that quite disabled him. Both he and his wife were then so dreadfully beaten as to be left for dead, when the villains proceeded to plunder the house, and decamped, after having robbed him of better than 80[some unit of money] in gold, besides much other property.

Submitted by: County Cavan Newspaper Transcription Project