Bodies Under The Tavern

The most disreputable member of the family has to be Sam Gray of Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland.  A symbol of the religious intolerance and bigotry that has often characterized the history of Ireland, Sam, constantly in trouble with the law, on multiple occasions was suspected or accused of murder. 

Relationship is through my children’s maternal grandfather Jim Hutchison whose maternal grandmother was a Gray, her father in turn being a brother of the notorious Sam. Although the relationship is obviously remote, every family deserves a scoundrel, distantly related or not, to be able to call its own.

Sam Gray (1782-1848) was a bigoted Protestant who for years subjected his town to what was essentially a reign of terror.  An ardent Catholic hating Orangeman, he spewed the venom of religious intolerance. The town’s High Constable as well as Tithe Proctor responsible for the local collection of tithes, he also ran local loan fund, surrounding himself with a gang of armed bullies to enforce collections.  It has been written that he was known to regularly carry two pistols on his person.  

York Hotel Owned By Sam Gray

He was also the proprietor of a tavern known as the York Hotel.  For decades the hotel was known for its double-sided sign with a portrait of Protestant hero William of Orange bearing the inscription “No Surrender”. Apart from maintaining in a tunnel beneath the tavern an underground cell in which to lodge intransigent opponents, local legend had it that the tunnel also contained the remains of murdered Catholics. 

Once assembling five thousand local Orangemen to confront a march in furtherance of Catholic emancipation, Sam sent word to the leader of the march that he would be killed if he dared enter Ballybay. The result was a discontinuance of the march.  For this perceived act of loyalty to the Crown, Sam was awarded the freedom of the City of Dublin, at the time ruled by England. 

In 1824 Sam Gray was charged along with his brother Henry for the murder of Bernard McMahon, an innocent bystander who had intervened to make peace between Gray and another man.  Gray told McMahon to mind his own business, knocked McMahon down, and kicked him to death.  At trial it was argued that the deceased’s broken vertebrae were on account of his having fallen against a stone. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary from five eyewitnesses, the jury was instructed to acquit by the presiding judge, himself a notorious bigot.

Such was Sam’s power that local sheriffs, bailiffs, and police were generally afraid to oppose his interests.  He so controlled local affairs that a pass was required from him to be allowed to travel through the town at night.  Seldom charged with offences of which he was suspected, on those occasions when he was charged, acquittal always seemed to be a foregone conclusion — Sam’s henchmen always willing, if needed, to give fabricated alibis or other evidence in his favour.  Apart from fabricated evidence, he often managed escape conviction by arranging to pack the jury with local Orangemen.

About 1833 when he was charged with murdering a farmer from whom he had been pressuring to pay a tithe that was owed, Sam was again acquitted.  Some years later in 1840 when charged with murdering Owen Duffy and wounding James Corrigan, both of whom had given evidence against him in a civil proceeding, Sam was again acquitted of murder and, following a successful appeal, the wounding charge as well.

Sam’s misdeeds were not limited to violence.  He also forged a will in his own handwriting in favour of one of his sons following the death of his patron, Moses Bradford, who financed the local loan fund.  It is written that, while Bradford’s true beneficiary was waiting for the funeral to take place, Sam showed up with the forged will along with an armed party.  After forcing his way into Bradford’s home and taking possession of it, he soon afterwards everything in it of value.  When, following a lengthy court case, it was determined that the forged will was in Sam’s own handwriting, he was ordered to vacate the residence he had seized. 

Sam’s downfall came about 1841 when men in high government circles, fed up with his manipulation of the judicial system, shamelessly decided to turn the tables by themselves packing the jury that was to try Gray on yet another wounding charge.  A conviction was finally obtained.  Sam went on to die in 1848 in relative obscurity, his funeral said to have been poorly attended.  He was described in his obituary as one “who had gained for himself an unenviable notoriety.” 

At least one of his sons at first seemed destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Son James, a law student at the time, ran afoul of the law after his father was charged with the previously mentioned Owen Murphy murder. In an effort to secure his father’s release on bail in that case, James had arranged for another to personate a doctor and forge a medical note arguing that his father’s health could not withstand the rigours of incarceration.   Convicted of subornation of perjury, his transportation to Australia and subsequent redemption there is covered in a separate story.

In 2007 correspondence Ballybay historian and author Peadar Murnane questioned whether or not Jim Hutchison’s great great grandfather James Gray was in fact a brother of the notorious Sam Gray.  He largely based this assertion on the fact that James’ son, Lucas had, during his lifetime, denied such a relationship. 

Against this argument is that Florinda Gray, James’ daughter, would have been in a better position to know as both the eldest child and someone sixteen years older than Lucas who was not born until after Sam’s death.  Apart from Florinda speaking of the relationship to her own children, Lucas Gray’s own grandson, during a 1981 conversation, additionally confirmed the connection that his grandfather had denied.   

Many families seek self aggrandizement when compiling family trees, often claiming tenuous connections to royalty or other important historical figures.  Our claim to fame is more modest.  We only claim connection to an intolerant despicable murderer, bully, and cheat.

                                                                                                                                 David Arntfield