Cursed! Blood of the Donnellys: A Novel Based on a True Story
Keith Ross Leckie
This is a story of vigilante justice meted out when the law failed to protect citizens from feuding neighbours.
The massacre took place in 1880 and was written about in books I read published in 1954 and again in 1962. This latest account is four years old. Obviously none of the principals are still around to argue the facts.
People were killed here but when it comes to warfare truth is in the eye of the beholder and depends on who is telling the tale.
At the one third point in the novel the couple are on the run at sea in a tramp freighter having burned their bridges behind them.
After squatting on another's property the Donnellys enjoy 7 good years save for the death of young Vinnie in a stump clearing tragedy and Johannah produces 7 sons. With 2 months before the end of the 7-year term the owner shows up to claim the land the Donnelly's have worked so hard to clear and improve and the troubles begin at the half-way point in the book.
And the neighbours choose sides. The Protestants an obvious choice but Johannah's friendhip with a Protestant Doctor a bone of contention. Pity the poor old County Sheriff.
Little love lost here and only vigilante justice. Young John O'Connor gets to spit on the grave of the last member of the Peace Society.
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