The
book is a collection of 21 gripping and mysterious murder cases
committed on the Island over the last 150 years, from the brutal
slaying of a spinster in one dark night on a lonely track near
Ramsey to the infamous "Golden Egg Murder" in central Douglas.
Keith's book does not cover any murders after 1982 to minimise any
distress and heartache to these more recent victim's
families.
Now
and then we see, hear or read the sad news of a parent who has
killed, or attempted to kill all of his or her family before
committing suicide. There may have been marital or financial
problems which have driven the person to commit such an awful act,
but in other cases there may be no apparent reason. Such an event
is not a new phenomenon and the case you are about to read occurred
in an isolated cottage in 1868.
James Killey was
33 years old and worked at the Foxdale Mines as a miner's labourer.
In addition to this job, he also farmed approximately nine acres of
land. He had been married for seven years and his wife's name was
Esther. They lived in a tiny, isolated thatched cottage at Doarlish
Ard, which was an area about half a mile to the west of Foxdale.
They moved there six months after their marriage and the couple had
five children, all girls. The oldest was Selina Agnes, aged seven
years, then there was Emily, Anna Louisa, Elizabeth Esther (known
as Esther) and the youngest, Madeline, aged three months. His wife
was later to say that James was a good father to his children,
worked hard and was paid relatively well and indeed had recently
employed his brother-in-law, Archibald Shimmin, as a labourer.
James rarely drank alcohol and seemed to spend his money carefully.
The family lived relatively comfortably. All seemed to be well in
his life until March 1868.
During that month
James Killey had one day gone to a public house in nearby Glen Maye
after receiving his pay. He returned home on thatday about nine
o'clock at night. He did not appear to be altogether sober. He
stated that when at Glen Maye he had been speaking of people whom
he ought not to have spoken about, but he hardly knew what he had
been talking about. She then went on to say that from enquiries I
have since made I have ascertained that he had not been speaking of
the persons or of the things he told me of. From that day James
Killey changed. According to his wife he had always been a cheerful
man, but now he appeared to be depressed and would not answer when
spoken to. His wife had asked him on several occasions what was the
matter but she never received a proper answer from him. Although he
continued to work, over the next few weeks his behaviour continued
to be strange and it is clear that his wife was very worried about
him.
On
Wednesday, 1st of April 1868 he came home from work and told his
wife "There is no use stopping here as there is nothing to be got".
He also said he would prepare for America. He informed her that
they were about to be turned out of the farm and the captain of the
mines where he worked had received a letter saying that James was
not to work there any more. His wife made subsequent enquiries
again showed that none of this was true. Two days later, when James
returned from work, he told his wife, who was cutting potatoes,
"You are not to cut much as the potatoes are not going to get leave
to grow, as when they come up the blossoms will be pulled". He was
also reported as having said, "My cows may be burnt in the cow
house, my sheep will be killed on the mountains and the house
burned over our heads".
He
went to work the following morning despite his wife's advice that
he should stay at home and rest. On the Thursday evening, James was
very restless and his wife felt he was brooding over the strange
things he had said the previous day. She asked him if he felt any
better but he said he did not. His wife later reported that he did
not sleep at all that night. On Friday, 3 April he rose early at
7.00 a.m. and later that morning took three of his children to see
the corpse of a little nephew who was to be buried in the
afternoon. The body was lying in the house of James Killey's mother
at Ballanass, about half a mile from the Killey home. James had
taken the day off work as he intended to go to the funeral and he
showed his children the little child's body before returning home
shortly afterwards. His wife spoke to him but he did not appear to
hear her or take any notice of what she was saying. At around 11.30
a.m. he told her it was time to attend the funeral, though it was
not actually due to take place until 2.00 p.m. As she was later to
relate at the inquest "I was obliged to push him and shout to him
to get a reply from him, but when he did speak he gave an
intelligible answer". She went on to describe another strange event
during that day, saying, "I sent my two eldest children to the
village. He [James] was out at the time and, meeting them [the
children], would not let them go and brought them back again. It
was a very unusual thing for him to do and I asked him his reason
for doing so". Was he sick or what? He replied that he was not very
well but he did not feel very bad. His wife was quite concerned
about his behaviour and when he wandered off into the fields she
sent her brother, Archibald Shimmin, to keep an eye on
him.
When James later
returned to the house, Shimmin went off to work in the field.
Inside the cottage his wife asked him what was wrong but he said
that he wished he was dead and added that he would "have to see
them all gone first". He then went outside to the well, which stood
in the corner of the garden about six yards from the front door of
the cottage. It was about 20 ft deep and the water at the bottom
was about 8 ft deep and pulled up in a bucket on a rope. James
toyed idly with the bucket for a time while his children played
nearby. He returned to the house and apparently destroyed some
valuable papers, which caused his wife to become even more worried
about him. Her concern increased when he went to where he kept his
tools and also the place where he kept his razor. As she was to say
later, "I then got frightened as I had never seen him do such a
thing and I sent Emily for my brother to tell him to come down".
James had once more gone out into the yard where his children were
playing. She subsequently recalled that she had just taken the
youngest child out of the cradle when she heard a scream from one
of her other girls, "Dadda! Dadda!" and she had then rushed out of
the cottage.
Earlier there had
been three children playing in the yard but now she saw that two
were missing. James had the third one and was about to throw her
into the well. His wife ran towards him but he let the child fall
into the well and then turned on her and told her that they "were
all going together". He then grabbed the baby from his wife and the
pair fought over the child. After a struggle he managed to get the
baby from his wife's arms and then threw the child down the well.
Esther pulled herself away from him and ran off down the road.
Emily, who had been sent to look for her uncle, had just arrived
back in the yard as her mother ran out screaming. Her father also
picked her up and threw her into the well before jumping in
himself. Archibald Shimmin arrived shortly after with another man
called Philip Corkill. He was later to describe how he looked into
the well, but could not see anything. He had then gone down in the
bucket and had grabbed a child and pulled her up, but had dropped
her as he got to the top and had to go down again. This child, he
said, was Emily, who had been the last to go into the well, and she
was unhurt. He had then brought up Anna Louisa, who was dead and
then little Esther who was unhurt. He had gone down again and
brought up the baby, Madeline, who was also dead. The bodies of the
eldest child, Selina Agnes, and of James Killey, had sunk to the
bottom of the well and they were brought up later after being
dragged out with a boat hook. The four bodies; James, Anna Louisa,
Madeline and Selina Agnes were taken to the house and laid side by
side on a bed.
The
inquest took place in the Cottage at Doarlish Ard the following day
at 2.00 p.m., before the High Bailiff of Douglas, Samuel Harris,
and an 11-man jury was sworn in. A report in the Manx Sun included
the following description of the scene outside the cottage... "An
air of solemn, sombre and oppressive silence hangs over the spot;
not a policeman or other officer of the law is to be seen. No
gaping crowds have yet penetrated thither to satisfy that craving
for the horrible which is inherent in human nature. At the door of
the cottage stands a little girl some five years old who gazes
about her with a timid, half-frightened air, as well she may, poor
child, having been one of those rescued from such imminent peril of
death". The report describes the scene inside the cottage [There]
sits a woman, whose frame is convulsed with the agony of grief,
while at a little distance from her are two fine little girls, one
about five, the other about two years of age. We turn into a room
on the left and there, stretched on the humble bed covered with
white counterpane, which is rivalled in colour by the faces of the
dead, are four bodies; a father and his three daughters. The father
is a man of some three and thirty years, a handsome man. Beside him
is his infant daughter Madeline; next is the eldest daughter
Selina, nearly seven years of age, and last Louisa, about four
years of age. Hard indeed would be a heart unmoved by so touching a
spectacle.
The
Coroner said he would hold an inquest first on the three children
and then on the father. The first inquest was into the deaths of
Selina Agnes, aged nearly seven years, Anna Louisa, aged about four
years, and Madeline, aged about three months. Esther Killey, the
wife of the dead man, was the first witness to be called. She
explained how they had come to live in Doarlish Ard and dcscribed
her husband as always having been a cheerful man until the last
four or five weeks of his life. She spoke of his trip to Glen Maye
and his steady deterioration following this. She later explained
the awful events of the previous day and how she had become
extremely worried about his behaviour, sending her daughter, Emily,
to look for her brother. A report in. the Mona's Herald gives an
indication of the harrowing details revealed at the inquest. "At
one point, while giving her evidence, Mrs Killey was so overcome
with emotion that she could not proceed for a length of time.
Indeed, everyone present was visibly and deeply affected and you
could see the eyes of the strong, stalwart men suffused with tears,
none being more visibly affected than the worthy Coroner
himself".
Archibald Shimmin
then described how he had been summoned by his sister, and had then
gone down the well several times to bring out all the girls,
including those who were dead. He said he had gone down twice to
try and retrieve the bodies of James and his eldest daughter but
had been unsuccessful. A friend of James Killey, John Skiller, gave
his evidence. He said he had worked with James for about five years
and did not notice anything wrong with him until the preceding two
or three days. He thought James seemed rather depressed and was not
speaking very much, and said he had also told Skiller he had lost
his appetite. Philip Corkill had been talking to Archibald Shimmin
at the moment when Esther came running up to them, screaming that
the children were in the well. He confirmed Shimmin's evidence was
correct and added an interesting detail. He described how, as the
bodies were being brought out of the well, a "strange man" who was
passing at the time, rolled one of the girls on a "tub" (the
witness was almost certainly referring to a barrel) at the same
time putting his finger in her mouth. The report in the Mona's
Herald describes how he then "rolled the child backwards and
forwards and thus restored her". Corkill told the jury that he did
not know the man and had not seen him "before or since". It would
appear from Corkill's description that the stranger saved the life
of one of the two surviving girls.
Dr
Percy Ring then gave details of his examination of the bodies. All
three of the girls had died from drowning, he said. The doctor also
mentioned that he had been told James had been bitten by a dog
about four years earlier, but he did not feel this was relevant to
the events of the previous day. James Killey's mother then gave
evidence. She stated that she had noticed her son was "low in
spirits" when he had been to her house over the previous few weeks.
She said that he would sometimes sit with his head in his hands and
added that there was "no man in the parish more fond of his
children as my son was" and described how he would often have one
or two of them on his knee.
The
Coroner then summarised details of the case for the jury. He
praised the actions of Archibald Shimmin for saving the lives of
two of the girls. It was clear he said that "the unfortunate man
had committed the act when he was in a state of temporary
insanity". The jury at once returned a verdict to the effect that
the three children had come to their deaths by drowning, in
consequence of being thrown into a well at Doarlish Ard, in the
parish of Patrick, by their father, James Killey. They also found
that at the time he committed the said act, James Killey was in a
state of temporary insanity.
The
inquest on the body of James Killey was then held. The only witness
examined this time was Dr Ring. His opinion was that he had also
drowned. The Coroner said, "What possible motive could the deceased
have for deliberately destroying himself and his children, if it
were not that he was insane and not accountable for his actions?
Here was a man in the prime of life, in a comfortable home,
surrounded by his children of whom he was extremely fond, throws
those children one after the other into the well and then springs
in himself. Could they put any other explanation upon his conduct,
except that when he so acted he was not in a rational state of
mind?". The jury returned their verdict. They found that, "The said
James Killey did come by his death by drowning, after first
throwing his five children into a well, at Doarlish Ard in the
parish of Patrick on Friday, 3 April 1868; that the said James
Killey at the time he committed the said act was in a state of
temporary insanity". The spokesman for the jury said that they
wished to express their approval of the conduct of Shimmin. They
said he had bravely gone down the well on several occasions,
risking his own life, to save the lives of two of the girls. They
also expressed their deep sympathy to James Killey's
widow.
The
funeral took place the following day, the Sunday afternoon, a
description of which appeared in the Mona's Herald on Wednesday, 8
April. "Early in the day, a rumour gained currency that the
interment would take place at two o'clock; and at that hour, the
weather being fine, the roads in all directions for miles around
were thronged with people to witness the mournful scene. The
bodies, however, did not arrive at the church until four o'clock,
and in the meantime people were left to occupy themselves as best
they could. Judging from the expressions of opinion we overheard,
the unfortunate deceased James Killey had but few sympathisers and
it is doubtful whether, if his case had been left to the decision
of the crowd, he would have been allowed Christian burial. They
were also anything but pleased at the finding of the jury. The
bodies were conveyed in a cart and nçver before was there so
melancholy a load in this Island. The first taken out was that of
the father, which was borne into the church by his neighbour and
fellow-workmen. Then followed that of the eldest girl, which was
carried by four youths, the two younger children being carried by
little girls. The bodies were all interred in a double grave, the
father being first placed in it and the children by his side. At
the time the service at the grave was going on, it is estimated
that there could not have been fewer than from two thousand to
three thousand persons present and there was scarcely a dry eye to
be seen. Indeed callous must have been the heart which could have
witnessed such a mournful spectacle and still remain unmoved. It
seems clear that the terrible tragedy of the Killey family had
touched the hearts of many people on the Isle of Man.