Pat O'Donnell

DESCRIPTION: Pat O'Donnell, "a deathly foe to traitors," sails from Ireland for Capetown on the Melrose. The informer James Kerry is also on board. Pat kills Kerry in a gunfight and is convicted of murder, though he claims self defence.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion)
KEYWORDS: emigration homicide trial Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the _Melrose Castle_ sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast)
(Source for The Phoenix Park murders: primarily Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion, pp. 62, 63, 281-286)
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 42, "Pat O'Donnell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 86, "Patrick O'Donnell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vikár/Panagapka-SongsNorthWoodsSungByOJAbbott 33, "Pat O'Donnell" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 44A, "Pat O Donnell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion 86, "Patrick O'Donnell" (1 text)
Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday 54, pp. 150-151,176, "Pat O'Donnell" (1 text, 1 tune)
OCroinin/Cronin-TheSongsOfElizabethCronin 117, "Pat O'Donnell" (1 text)
ST LLab042 (Partial)
Roud #2794
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "Patrick O'Donnell" (on MRMHare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES [50 words]: Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion p. 62: "The Phoenix Park murders and their judicial sequels struck the popular imagination and were a gold-mine for ballad-writers: some thirty songs were issued on this subject, which was the last great cause to be so extensively commented upon in broadside ballads." - BS
Last updated in version 5.1
File: LLab042

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