He did not
return, but said to deponent, "How can a man work without food?--a man
that did not eat anything since yesterday morning." Deponent then
handed him a bit of bread. He took it in his hand and was putting it to
his mouth when it fell from him. He died in two or three hours after.
His pay was eight pence a day.
The Rev. Mr. Webb, incumbent of Caharagh, then volunteered a
statement--hear it, ye rich, who have not that mercy and compassion for
His poor, which the God of all so strictly requires at your hands,--"I
have been told by some on the road," said the Rev. gentleman, "that this
poor man has frequently divided amongst the labourers his own scanty
food."
There were two physicians at the inquest, of whom Dr. Donovan was one;
having made a _post-mortem_ examination, no disease was discovered that
could account for death. There was no food in the stomach or small
intestines, but a portion of raw, undigested cabbage. The physicians
said they had seen hundreds of dead bodies, but declared they had never
seen one so attenuated as that of M'Kennedy. The representative of the
Board of Works, when asked to explain why it was that a fortnight's
wages was due to M'Kennedy, said, that the money was sent to the wrong
pay-clerk.
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