When Cordal’s, John Twiss was arrested on April 25th. 1894, within days of the brutal murder, at Glenlara, of farm caretaker James Donovan, he explained to officers that he and his sister Jane were financially dependent on the tolls of a local Kerry fair. The fair, he informed them, was imminent, and he asked if…
As the descendants of John Twiss and the Michael O’Donohoe Memorial Heritage Project await the outcome of the application for the Presidential Pardon of John Twiss, project manager Janet Murphy reflects on the other victim in this affair, the murdered James Donovan, widower and father of two. The Ardmona, Cordal born, John Twiss was hanged…
‘Has justice been done? Well, a day shall come, When a different judge shall try …’ Ballahantouragh, a townland in Kerry, lies near the village of Scartaglen, a few miles outside Castleisland. By Janet Murphy* John Twiss of Cordal, Castleisland, hanged in 1895 for the murder, in 1894, of James Donovan, was descended from a…
Life is littered with irony. Mix in present day events with those of history and you find yourself literally tip-toeing through the tulips in earnest. Today, Sunday, February 9th marks the 125th anniversary of the hanging of John Twiss on a conviction which has been found to be fundamentally unsound and undermined to this day.…
When President Michael D. Higgins signed the posthumous pardon for Myles Joyce – or Maolra Seoighe as gaeilge – in early April 2018 it was the first case of its kind from before the foundation of the state to be so examined and signed off. Maamtrasna Murders Joyce was who was one of three Connemara…
Historians, students of local history and innocent bystanders may be interested to know that the Michael O’Donohoe Memorial Heritage Project Committee will hold an open and free exhibition at the function room in the Crown Hotel tonight, Friday, October 18th at 8pm. John Twiss Campaign While the event will focus on the ongoing, but rapidly…
A long stride in the on-going application for a Presidential Pardon of John Twiss was taken in Dublin last week when documentation about the case was formally handed to Niall Colgan at the Department of Justice & Equality in St Stephen’s Green. Systematic Procedure Discussed Making the journey to Dublin by train was Johnnie Roche,…
A email from the London based Chalkboard TV – the company which made the March 2018 broadcast documentary on the hanging of John Twiss – has confirmed that the 2019 series, Murder, Mystery and My Family is now being run on BBC One. The company has also confirmed that the second look at the John…
At a meeting of the Michael O’Donohoe Memorial Historical Committee earlier this year, and in consultation with the relatives of the men involved, it was decided to apply for a full pardon for the blatant miscarriages of justice which resulted in the hangings of the three men. The now infamous hangings of cousins, Poff and…
A email from Lorna Hartnett from Chalkboard TV – the company which made the documentary on the hanging of John Twiss – confirms that the series, Murder, Mystery and My Family is now being run on BBC One. Ms. Hartnett, who discovered the ‘John Twiss story’ on the Michael O’Donohoe Memorial Heritage Project almost 12…
