"Ennis 16 March . . . Perfect quiet and tranquillity reigns in this neighbourhood. An active magistrate, who frequently accompanies the Police in their perambulations, declares that he never knew this part of the County to be in a state of greater tranquillity."

Perhaps it was the magistrate himself who was in a "state of greater tranquillity" because he obviously failed to spot this incident, reported on the very next page.

"Ennis March 16 . . . An outrage of a most cruel nature was committed on Monday night in the neighbourhood of Newgrove, upon the property of a tenant under Mr Molony, by some inhuman wretches, who pulled the wool off five sheep, and opened one of the best ewes on the land, and laid the lamb alongside its dam. No part of the ewe which they killed was taken away; this circumstance shows, that the object of those wretches, was solely the destruction of this man's property. We sincerely hope the monsters who could be guilty of such an outrage will be discovered; they are a disgrace to civilised society."