Accusations of Cattle Driving in Westmeath

The Summer Assizes began in Mullingar today. The Right Hon. Mr Justice Ross presided over the Crown Court, and informed the jury of local gentlemen that while the number of cases before them was small, he could not congratulate them on the state of their county.

Two cases of cattle driving would be heard, and Justice Ross informed the jury that these were indicative of the poor state of Westmeath society, indeed of all Ireland. He stated that cattle driving was ‘a crime to be abhorred because it indicated a premeditated, cold-blooded conspiracy to deprive a man of his own property. Guarding the property of the King’s subjects was as important as guarding their lives’.