'Families carry shame through generations’ - Woman's justice for Galway men sentenced to death by hanging

From her home in Pennsylvania, Erin Flynn has carried out extensive research into the case of her ancestor Michael Flynn of Middle Cloghbrack, one of the three men hanged for the murders.

“My family always spoke of our Irish history and folklore,” Erin says.

“I knew I had Flynns on my nanna and grandfather’s side. We never heard about my nanna’s great-grandfather. They were ashamed. Families carry shame and it is important they are not forgotten.”

On January 3, 1882, Joseph Huddy – who had worked as a bailiff and land agent for the Guinness family for more than 30 years – set out with his 17-year-old grandson, John, to serve eviction notices in the Clonbur and Cornamona area.

The pair were serving notices on twelve tenants of Lord Ardilaun, Arthur Guinness, who were withholding rent at a time of bitter conflict over land, rents and evictions across the west.

Their route brought them through Cloghbrack. The Huddys never returned.

A search was launched and their bodies were subsequently recovered from the waters of Lough Mask.

Less than a year later, Michael Flynn, Thomas Higgins and Patrick Higgins were before the courts charged with their murders.

Both Michael Flynn and Thomas Higgins were hanged at Galway Gaol on January 17, 1883, while Patrick Higgins (Long) had been executed two days earlier.

All three went to their deaths protesting their innocence.

Now, 143 years later, Michael’s third great-granddaughter Erin is seeking an independent examination of the evidence that sent them to the gallows.

“It is not just about my family,” she says.

“It started with them, but it turned into a lot more. I don’t want them to be silenced again.

“This case must be independently reviewed. They knew this wasn’t right 140 years ago. They were talking about it even then.”

What began with Ancestry.com led Erin into trial records, parliamentary debates, genealogical records and other historical documents.

“I am a single mother doing this all on my own,” she says.

“I started researching and I went deep into it. It is mind-blowing.

“It took a lot of detective work but I have been around unions and policy all of my life. The evidence is there. I feel sad but determined.”

Her research also uncovered the story of the family Michael Flynn left behind.

After his execution, his wife Bridget Higgins Flynn was left with seven children and emigrated with them to Pennsylvania in 1887, according to genealogical records assembled by the family.

In June, Erin wrote to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan seeking an independent expert examination of the convictions with a view to posthumous presidential pardons if they were found to be unsafe.

At the centre of the prosecution case was Matthias Kerrigan.

The Royal Irish Constabulary traced the Huddys’ movements to Kerrigan’s home, where signs of a struggle, bloodstains and a bullet mark were found.

He and his 16-year-old son were taken into custody.

In her submission to the Department of Justice, Erin describes him as “the original prime suspect” and points out that he owed between two-and-a-half and three years’ rent.

The eviction notice Huddy was carrying that morning was directed at Kerrigan himself.

“The Crown’s only eyewitnesses were the family of Matthias Kerrigan - the original prime suspect,” Erin wrote.

“Kerrigan was arrested the night of the murders, which occurred in his own yard, and was detained for nine months without charge.”

He subsequently turned informer and named the three accused.

Meanwhile, Michael Flynn maintained that he was at the funeral of Joe Joyce, four miles away, when the murders took place.

Erin also points to what she says was a significant conflict between Kerrigan’s account and the medical evidence.

Kerrigan testified that Patrick Higgins struck Joseph Huddy with a stone.

But the doctor who examined Huddy’s body told the court he could see no wound that could have been caused by such a blow.

Her submission raises other concerns, including changing witness accounts and the selection of jurors at the trials.

The proceedings attracted controversy at the time, with prominent Irish MP Charles Stewart Parnell raising allegations in Parliament about the selection of jurors in the Lough Mask prosecutions.

“Taken together, they describe convictions resting on the testimony of a compromised approver and his dependents, contradicted by the medical evidence, undermined by the Crown’s own witnesses, and returned by juries selected to convict, in trials suffused with political prejudice,” Erin wrote.

For Erin, those questions are not proof that the men were innocent, but reasons why the evidence should be independently examined.

“I do not ask the Department to declare these men innocent,” she wrote.

“I ask only that the convictions be examined by an independent expert.”

There is precedent for the State independently examining convictions from the same period and subsequently granting posthumous pardons.

In 2018, Myles Joyce, who was hanged following the Maamtrasna murders in 1882, received a posthumous presidential pardon after an independent expert review concluded his conviction was unsafe.

A similar process led to posthumous pardons in 2024 for Sylvester Poff and James Barrett, who were hanged in Tralee Gaol in January 1883 - just six days after Michael Flynn’s execution.

Michael Flynn’s final words from the dock, according to Erin’s submission, were that he was “as innocent as the child unborn” and that he hoped Ireland was listening.

“I respectfully ask that Ireland listen now.”