Paddy Dalton of the IRA was shot dead by Free State forces in Donohill on this day in 1922.
Dalton, from Shrough, was killed while trying to get away during a confrontation with Free State soldiers at Dwyer’s Public House at Donohill Cross. He was 25 years when he died.
He was active in the republican movement since 1917 and held a number of important posts. He was in charge of Clonmel when the British military handed over the barracks in January 1922. He led the Republican defence of Tipp Town and was responsible for the consequent destruction of material assets before the town was taken by the Free State forces.
Dalton had led an IRA ambush on Free State soldiers near Woodrooffe outside Clonmel just three weeks before his death. Dalton’s IRA column of perhaps 100 men ambushed a single vehicle carrying an officer and twelve soldiers. Land mines and machine guns were deployed and three National Army soldiers were killed before the rest surrendered.
Very well known, widely connected and hugely popular, his funeral to St Michael’s cemetery in Tipperary was attended by thousands of mourners.
Sources:
“County Tipperary 1921-1923 – a history in 60 documents”, Denis G. Marnane & Mary Guinan Darmody, pg 24.
https://www.ucc.ie/.../civil-war-fatalities-tipperary/
Mary Doheny, branded the “Carrick witch,” became infamous in 1864 for a fraud steeped in superstition. Arriving in Carrick-on-Suir in 1863 with her blind husband, she posed as a fairy doctor—a folk healer who claimed to cure ailments caused by supernatural forces. Initially trusted for her herbal remedies, Doheny exploited grief and credulity to orchestrate one of Ireland’s strangest scams.
Her main victims, Constable Joseph Reeves of the Royal Irish Constabulary and his wife Mary, had endured repeated family tragedies. After Doheny treated their sick child, she convinced them she could resurrect the dead. Soon, Reeves swore he saw his father-in-law and deceased child “alive” at midnight meetings in remote ruins. These encounters took place at eerie sites such as Knockroe passage tomb, Ballydine moat, and Duggan’s waste house near the railway bridge—locations chosen to heighten the supernatural illusion. Mrs.Reeves testified: “My father died three years ago and was buried in Carrick-on-Suir, but he is now living in Carrick-on-Suir! … I sent him food regularly, and upon one occasion I sent my father my chemise to serve as a shirt for him!”
Doheny reinforced the illusion with forged letters—written by accomplices—purporting to come from deceased benefactors like Captain James Power, promising land and gold. She even produced a gold ring as “proof.” Under her spell, the Reeves family sent food, clothing, and tobacco for their“resurrected” kin, plunging into debt. When eggs and potatoes were returned as unsuitable, they returned with fresh supplies. Reeves himself wrote letters in red ink to the “other world” and received replies in black.
The scam unravelled when police discovered the letters andgoods in Doheny’s home. Yet Reeves clung to belief, declaring in court: “Nevermind, Mary, no matter what they say, I believe what you told me and what I have seen.” The magistrates were astounded: “It is marvellous that in this enlightened age a scene such as we are describing could be found to occur in a court of justice.”
Despite sensational testimony and Ellen Walsh’s admission of forging letters for Doheny, the Reeves and others defended her. Convicted of fraud, Doheny received 12 months’ hard labour in Clonmel Gaol, later extended to two years. Her story—mixing grief, gullibility, and cunning—reveals how deeply superstition lingered in 1800s Ireland.
Sources:
Finn Dwyer, The Irish History Podcast - ‘The 'witch' Mary Doheny and a 19th century supernatural scam’ video on YouTube. Retrieved at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfaVsGsICA8
https://explorecarrickonsuir.com/history/
The Freeman’s Journal, 9 September 1864, p4.
Roscommon Herald, 29 October 1864, p2.
