Galway In Time Gone By – A browse through the archives of the Connacht Tribune.

1913

The Galway Buffer

At Galway Petty Sessions, Constable O’Leary had John Melia and John McDonogh summoned for being drunk and disorderly in Mainguard-street on the 4th inst. Complainant said the two defendants were going to beat a little man. Melia was the worst of the two.

Chairman, Mr W. H. Hill, R.M.: Did the little man give a good account of himself?

Complainant: No, your worship, he was trying to get away from them (laughter).

Melia told the Bench that a man named Ward followed McDonogh and himself into a public house and demanded a drink from them. They refused to give him the drink, and the latter followed them on the street for the purpose of getting drink.

The Chairman said they had decided to fine McDonogh 2s. 6d. Addressing Melia, he said: “If you think yourself a Galway ‘buffer’, and a jolly good drinker, let me tell you that if you knock about long enough, you will get a man not half your size that will knock you into the middle of next summer (laughter). Defendant was fined 10s. and costs.

1938

Grim discovery

There is intense garda activity in Oranmore and the surrounding districts following the discovery of a portion of the body of an infant child at Blackweir, Oranmore. The grim discovery was made on Wednesday night by Luke Monaghan, while walking near the foreshore at Blackweir, concealed in a heap of straw near the back yard of his house.

The foreshore and neighbouring fields, some of which contain dense undergrowth, are being thoroughly searched, but as yet have failed to reveal any further clues to this mystery, which has shocked the whole of the West of Ireland.

An inquest opened on Thursday, and Dr Sean Tubridy said it was impossible to say whether the child was male or female.

He could not say if the severance was caused by an instrument, but he was inclined to the view that it was. The body was in an advanced stage of decomposition and, in witness’s opinion, was some weeks dead.

There was no means of ascertaining the age of the chid or the cause of death.

Heavy rain and storms

Winter arrived according to schedule in Connemara last week and the putting back of the clock seemed to have been the signal for a general onslaught by the elements.

There were heavy rains and storms on Saturday night, with consequent losses of hay and oat crops to farmers over a large area. Trees were felled across the road at Arbeare, Kilmilkin, Kylemore and on the Sky Road, Clifden.

The storm abated somewhat on Sunday, but it again gathered gale force on Monday and on Monday night, Connemara experienced one of the severest gales in many years. Towards midnight the wind rose to a speed of about ninety miles per hour and blew from the north-east.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.