Galway In Days Gone By

1913

Salthill improvement

Sir,

While awaiting the much-needed improvements in Salthill which all hope may be able to be carried out as a result of the forthcoming Bazaar, there are a few matters which are well worth the consideration of those who are interested in the welfare of Galway and Salthill.

1. Is there no watering cart in Galway to keep down the clouds of dust which are not only disagreeable but dangerous to the health?

2. Is there any reason why the summer, when visitors come in, should be selected to make a beautiful walk such as Grattan Road a receptacle for refuse. If a path or grass promenade is contemplated, surely this is the time to have it finished, not commenced.

3. Can only three seats be provided for the Grattan Road.

4. Can nothing be done to keep some women who have lost all sense of decency from going on to the very rock on which the men are actually dressing and undressing.

5. Is there no law prohibiting mixed bathing. During the past few days many people have been horrified to see a man and woman bathing together on the strand below Blackrock, whilst to make matters worse the man wore no costume of any description. This is a state of things which I am sure the people of Galway who have always a high standard of morality will not tolerate.

A Citizen.

Tuam mystery

A young girl aged twenty, who resided with her parents at Gortbeg, Tuam, left her home on Wednesday morning to wash some clothes in a neighbouring stream. Sometime later she was discovered lying in the water, which did not completely cover her body. Life was then extinct, and it is presumed that she fell into the water, overtaken by a fit.

1938

Cut tail off horse

He cut the tail off his neighbour’s horse because he thought it would improve the animal’s appearance, was the defence offered on behalf of a Kiltormer man at Eyrecourt Court, when he was charged with maliciously damaging a young horse, the property of his neighbour.

Supt. Dunphy said the defendant was capable of doing anything when he had drink taken. At the time of the offence, he was not on good, or friendly terms with his neighbour.

The owner of the horse said the animal was worth £20, but having had its tail cut, its value had decreased by £5. It was a young horse and it would now be difficult to sell it. He could not understand why it was done.

The defendant said he thought the animal would “look nicer” if the tail was cut. He admitted he cut the hair from the animal’s tail. He did not want to be sworn, he added.

The Justice, Mr. Cahill, said he was glad the defendant was not sworn, because his defence was very thin, and a novel one, from a person who was not, at the time of the offence, on good terms with the animal’s owner.

“You were near prison the last time you were here in court, and you were nearer still, today,” said Mr. Cahill, “and you have a poor chance if you are here a third time. I hope this will be a lesson to you.” He imposed a fine of 10s 6d; 40s compensation, and 8s expenses.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune