· McCarre11, escaped. The prisoners Were tried for m:Jrdrr at Lifford on the llth of December 1760 and McN2g:hten's deportment and spirited defcricc won him unanimou~ ·syimpathy .from the people of the Lifford, Str;i bane district. Before being sentenced to death 1~JcNaghtcn implored the judges to spa_re Dunlop whom he dcstcTibcd .as "a poor simple fe1lc1w, his tenant, and n-ot guilty of any crime." It wais a fruitlE.is.s plea and botih were sentenced to be taken to the scene of their crime and hanged. So great was Mcl\iaghten's popularity that no carpenter ·could be found to erect a 1gallows and Miss Knox'.s uncle and his friends had to provide one. The l~mith 1who was supposed, by law to knO\ck foe handcuffs friom the condemn12J mrn only did so .when com1pelled and a hangman had to be brought from as far away tas the County Cavtan. 'On the gallows M1cNaghten 'conducted himself with much dignity and .c:om'age ;tmd even assisted in settling the rope about his neck while at the ·same time declaring tt11t the an'eicipati'on of death was worse than the roality. The rope snapped under the weight of his body and he was flung to the ground uninjured. The cwwds roared in triumph ·Ll nd urged him to esciape by making way for him in all directions. Ir:istead he calmly reassended the ladder with the remarks that no one 1would ever have to point at him or speak of him as "half-r.Jar-.ged McNagh'ten." The rope did its deadly work the second time then 1served Dunlop likewise. Their bodies now lie in one igrave behind the Church of Strabane. (Based :on U.J.A. Vol. 8 (1860) and "Ireland Sixty Years Ago." THE.WYBRANT OLPHERT COLLECTION ,AT BALL.YCONNELL HOUSE This 1collection of Ifiish antiquities ·was formed in the early nineteenth century from finds made at the Sandhi11 Settlcmc!1L; around Ballynas!s bay. It included upw~1 rds of fifty beautifulJv decor1ated bronze pins c:nd broches some of which can be seen in the excellent drawings of them which iwere publisht:d in the U.J.A. July 1859 Vol. 4. In addition to flint, chert, and bronze objects the settlemeDts yielded a number of coins of very diveflse rperiods. One IOf them was a token coin which bore the inscription ''Joh;i Elvin at ye Ferry," a boat surmounted by the date 1657, 1and on the other side the initials ·'J.E." and ''·of London Derrie." A writer in the above mentioned U.J.A. sugg€1sted that Elvin, an Alderma!1 of Derry Oorporation, 1was ol1so the }€1asee or then owner of the ferry which was the only approach to the city from the east side down to the year 1790 "1wher. the pre.sent wooden bridge 1was erected." I:n:cidently 1-.he Olphert1s were a Dutch fa1mily which came to County Donegal. through County Derry, in the early seventeenth f'Pntury : "Crant of Naturalisation to W:ybrnnt OlfeJifo~-:.on ~ncl .John Ollfertson of Holland fur a fine of 13//J: Irish." 324.
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