TO mark the donation by the BBC of a print of The Playboy of the Western World to the Irish Film Archive, there was a special screening at the IFC on January 7th. The film was shot in Co Kerry in 1962, with Siobhan McKenna as Pegeen Mike and Gary Raymond as Christy Mahon, and produced by Lord Killanin.
According to the American scholar, Prof Robin Skelton, Synge heard the story of a man who killed his father with a spade from Pat Dirane, the shanachie of Innishmaan. The folklore was inspired by a real life tragedy, the manslaughter of Patrick Maley by his son William Maley on January 28th, 1873, at Calla, in the remote police sub district of Errismore, Co Galway. The historical connection lay hidden in official records for 100 years, until a chance discovery revealed the authentic source of the plot.
On the departure of the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1922, the barracks at Errismore was taken over as a presbytery. In 1972, Father John Fitzgerald was searching his attic for dampness. Among the rafters, he found a collection of 19th century police publications overlooked in the destruction of records on disbandment of the RIC.
As curator of the Garda Museum, I was invited to inspect the hoard, which included the Police Gazette or Hue and Cry for the period 1850 to 1890. Published twice weekly by the Inspector General of the RIC, Hue and Cry is mainly a record of routine police activities and in that respect valuable evidence of the status of the RIC as an ordinary police force.
With the consent of Father Fitzgerald, the papers were presented to the National Library. Acknowledging the gift the director, Alf MacLochlainn, described Hue and Cry as a working document, giving invaluable insights also into political developments from the official point of view, and reducing momentous events to a series of precise and accurately dated crimes.
The Wanted Man
Sorting the papers, my attention was drawn to the issue of Hue and Cry for March 28th 1873. In the margin, some idle constable had sketched a man spilling the contents of a plate inside, I read a wanted notice for William Maley, who was sought for the manslaughter of his father, Patrick Maley, in the barony of Ballinahinch, parish of Ballindoon.
He was described as 38 years of age, five feet seven in height, with noticeably large feet, grey eyes, long face and a hooked and drooped nose. He had a red beard; when last seen he was wearing an old black hat, grey Connemara frieze coat and a red shirt. Nine years a sailor, including service in the American Navy, he had a sailor like appearance, and was thought to be making his way to a seaport.
The Galway Express reported the "Awful Murder of a Father by His Own Son
We have received the following account of a tragic and unfortunate occurrence in Connemara . . . A quiet and elderly farmer named Patrick Maley residing at Calla, seven miles from Clifden, was informed that his married son William was preparing a little paddock for early potatoes.
In the fury of the moment, the son raised his spade and struck the father who fell insensible ... When informed the police were coming to arrest him, he walked away slowly lest the police would notice him .... Some believe he drowned himself."
The coroner's inquest returned a verdict of manslaughter. It was reported that the fugitive was hiding in mountain ravines, or in fishing boats off the Connemara coast. There was information that William Maley was on Deer Island, described as "wild and almost inaccessible." The police were "indefatigable in their search, day and night."
A reward of £20 was offered for his arrest. A request later in the investigation for an increase in the reward was turned down (National Archives CSORP 8241/1873).
Did Synge Know?
It is not clear if Synge was aware of the William Maley case. The unpunished crime was 30 years old when he arrived on the islands. According to the actor, Eamonn Keane, who closely studied the drama and played the part of Christy Mahon, the culprit made his way to Aranmore, where the inhabitants hid him in a hole in the ground until it was safe for him to make his way to America.
There is a further entry in the correspondence registers in the National Archives, giving a clue to extradition proceedings begun in 1877 (CSORP 16715/ 1877). But it seems that the culprit may have made good his escape, condemned to end his days wandering "all the great territories of the world":
Christy Mahon bemoans his fugitive life, running "like a vagabond straying through the unions with the dust of August making mudstains in the gullet of my throat; or the winds of March blowing on me till I'd take an oath I felt them making whistles of my ribs within".
Young Bride
In the play, the father survives the blow of his son's spade. Maley had a year old bride who may have followed him to his hiding place; unless Synge captured an authentic voice in Pegeen Mike's cry from the heart: "Oh, my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World."