14 OCTOBER

1904 Three men appeared at the Sligo Petty Sessions following a violent incident at the Sligo workhouse. One of the inmates, named Rooney, had made a brutal assault on a feeble man called Rooney, throwing him on a bed, pulling out half his beard, and nearly choking him. Mulhall had retaliated by stabbing Rooney in the head with a bread knife. Two other able-bodied inmates named Farrell and McTernan refused to interfere, and Rooney was finally overpowered by workhouse officials. In Rooney's defence, it was said that he had refused to eat his soup at dinner, as it was made from water in a tank which a number of rats had been drowned, and Mulhall had mocked him. The magistrates sentenced Farrell and McTernan to seven days' imprisonment with hard labour. For his assault on Mulhall, Rooney also received seven days.