who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists, maketh Oath, and saith;
That for many nights previous to the night of the 23d of May last,
this Examinant and his family were very much alarmed lest they should
be attacked by the Rebels commonly called United Irishmen; That
Examinant thought he and his family were in some degree secure, by
the arrival of detachments of the Ancient Britons and the North Cork
Militia; That however Examinant still continued to be alarmed, as his
house was a considerable distance from the Barracks; That Examinant
saith that he was awakened about the hour of one o'clock in the
forenoon, by the barking of a large dog he had, and some time after
he was alarmed by the firing of some shots; Examinant saith that on
looking out of his window, he perceived a great body of people armed
with Pikes and Fire Arms, between whom and the Soldiers in the
Barracks a constant firing was maintained; That as the balls passed by
this Examinant's house, and one of them close to his head, he withdrew
and let down the window; That soon after Examinant saw the Barracks on
fire and heard the Soldiers exclaim, "The house is on fire; we shall
be burnt up or suffocated, we can fight no longer"; That soon after
Examinant saw the roof of said Barracks fall in; Examinant saith that
the said Rebels (whose numbers had encreased so much as to fill the
streets of Prosperous and to cover the adjacent fields) on the falling
of the roof of said Barracks, gave many shouts which seemed to rend
the skies, and made this Examinant and his family thrill with horror;
That the said Rebels exclaimed "That the day was their own, and they
would there plant the Tree of Liberty". Examinant saith that the said
Rebels knocked at his door and desired to have it opened, expecting
to find there a party of Soldiers who had been billited there a short
time before, and Mr. Stamer, who had lodged therein when he went there
to receive his rents, as part of the town of Prosperous belonged to
the said Stamer; Examinant saith that the said Rebels approached his
house in a large body, six of which preceded the rest mounted on some
of the horses which they had taken that morning from the Ancient
Britons at Prosperous; That Examinant as soon as he came out of his
door was surrounded by a party of the said Rebels, who presented their
Pikes at him, and who he expected from the ferocity of their looks
would have instantly put him to death; that one of the said Rebels
held a musket at Examinant's breast with his finger on the trigger;
that another of the said Rebels who was a turf-cutter, held a drawn
sword over Examinant's head, and Examinant verily believes they would
have instantly put him to death, but a young man in the croud who
seemed to have some influence interposed, beat down the musket which
was presented at his breast and said he should not kill him; Examinant
saith that he knew many of the said Rebels to whom he and his family
had been very kind. That soon after the said Rebels went in quest of
the said Stamer, who lodged at some distance from the said town; that
having seized him the said Stamer, they led him through the street by
Examinant's house, surrounded by a number of Pike-men, while a low
fellow held a pistol at his head; Examinant saith that as he passed
by the Examinant's house, he the said Stamer cast a melancholy farewel
look at Examinant and his family, that soon after the said Rebels
massacred the said Stamer; Examinant saith that soon after he went
out with an intention of enquiring for his friend Mr. ---- an inhabitant
of Prosperous, and that before Examinant had gone far he was again
surrounded by the said Rebels, who he verily believes would have put
him to death, but for the interference of the person who had saved him
before; Examinant saith, he discovered soon after that Mr. Brewer, a
respectable manufacturer of said town, who had employed many of the
said Rebels, had been massacred by them, and that his body had been
mangled with savage barbarity; Examinant saith that they also
massacred a poor old man of the age of 70 years and upwards, who
served as Serjeant in his Majesty's forces, they having considered him
as an Orange-man; Examinant is convinced in his mind the only reason
why the said Rebels murdered the said Serjeant was his being a
protestant; Examinant saith that when the said Rebels had committed
the said barbarities, they exclaimed with savage joy "where are the
Heretics now? shew us the face of an Orange-man"; Examinant saith that
many women, who acting with the said Rebels, used expressions of that
nature, as often and as loud as the men, and that some old women who
were amongst them seemed to brighten on the occasion, and to shew as
much fervent joy as the youngest amongst them; That some of the said
women kissed and congratulated their fathers, their husbands, or their
brothers, on the victory they had gained, and exclaimed "Dublin and
Naas have been taken and are in possession of our friends; down with
the Heretics, and down with the Orange-men." Examinant saith that many
of the wretches who had been actors in that bloody scene, had come
into the town of Prosperous the preceding day, and in presence of
Capt. Swayne, of the--Cork Militia, whom with a party of his Regiment
that morning, viz. the 24th of May, they had massacred, and also in
the presence of their Parish Priest of the name of Higgins, and
declared their contrition for their past errors, and gave the
strongest assurance of their loyalty, for the future--that many of
the said Rebels surrendered their Pikes to the said Swayne, and as
such surrender was considered as a test of their repentance, and as
necessary to entitle them to written protections, numbers of them
lamented that they could not obtain such protections, as they never
saw nor had a Pike, and that many of them declared they would sell
their Cow to purchase a Pike if they knew where it could be bought;
Examinant saith that notwithstanding these declarations many of the
said Rebels appeared in the ranks well armed with Pikes; Examinant
saith he is convinced in his mind that the said Rebels would have
plundered and burnt all the other loyal houses of Prosperous, and
would have murdered the remaining Protestant inhabitants thereof,
but that a party of the Ancient Britons and the Cork Militia, being
a part of the detachment they had murdered that morning, unexpectedly
approached the town, and that the said Rebels on their appearance,
fled towards the bogs and morasses; Examinant saith he could not
refrain from shedding tears at seeing such scenes of savage barbarity,
and that a servant who continued faithful to him desired him not to
shew any sign of concern, lest he might draw on him the anger and
vengeance of the Rebels.
(_A true Copy._)
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.
At the breaking out of the late unfortunate Rebellion it was my
intention to _note_ every occurrence of any _moment_, and at some
future day to arrange and publish the same.--SOME Materials for such
a Work I have collected, others I still wait for----Such an Historic
RECORD may be found acceptable; when ready it shall be announced to
the Public.
The present Publication, now offered to the IRISH NATION, while it
enumerates the dangers which awaited every loyal Man, must
demonstrate to the deluded Creatures (aiding and abetting) the
certain Impossibility of succeeding in any similar attempt.
To those persons who kindly supplied the Letters, &c. for the
foregoing pages, I feel particularly indebted, and beg they will
accept my grateful thanks. As I intend continuing an account of the
other Engagements down to the French Invasion and their defeat at
Ballinamuck, Gentlemen who have been in the different Battles which
are not yet come to hand, are invited to forward an account of them
as soon as possible previous to the completion of the SECOND PART
of this NARRATIVE.
With respect,
I am the Reader's
Obliged Servant,
_No. 91, Bride-street_, } JOHN JONES.
_June 5th, 1799_. }
Transcriber's Note
Inconsistencies and variations in punctuation, spelling, hyphenation,
capitalization and grammar have been preserved to match the text of
the original document published in 1799.
Because the original plate for Page 25 made only a partial impression,
some words along the left side of the page were cut off and were thus
determined from context.
Letter XI is listed as an entry in the Table of Contents. However,
the original text does not contain any document titled "Letter XI."
Four page numbers in the Table of Contents have been changed in this
ebook to accurately reflect the location of material in the text.
The following additional typographical corrections have been made
in this ebook:
Page ix: Added missing letter 'i' (sufferings)
Page 13: Removed duplicate word 'the' (six of the Corps)
Page 15: Changed Adout to About (About 300 of the Rebel Cavalry)
Page 28: Added missing letter 'f' (a steady friend)
Page 52: Removed duplicate prefix 'in-' (invulnerable commander)
Page 84: Removed duplicate word 'to' (to be their fixed purpose)
Page 89: Added missing letter 'b' (whose numbers had encreased)