Published: Wednesday, 8th September, 2010 3:51pm

Pages from the Past

1860

Another tragic river accident

In mid-September 1860, an inquest was held in Athlone on the body of a man named John Clancy, who was drowned in the Shannon.

The deceased was employed as engineer to one of the steam tug-boats of the Grand Canal Company.

He left Shannon Harbour in the morning, having on board the boat Mr. Dillon (the master), a fireman, and a Mr Carroll and his son - a boy of about eight years of age - as passengers.

"When within sight of Athlone, the boy accidentally fell overboard and the deceased - who was a good swimmer - plunged in to his rescue, and succeeded in bringing him to the surface, where he supported him for some time.

"From some unaccountable cause, before the steamer could be got about, he relaxed his hold of the child - which was picked by the fireman - and sunk to the bottom.

"Unfortunately the steamer was unprovided with either boat or ropes, and it was obliged to proceed to Athlone. Mr. Dillon, however, lost no time procuring boats and hooks, with which he returned to the scene of the accident, where he discovered the body of the deceased in shallow water. A cramp, or the sudden transition from the engine room into the water, most probably deprived him of the power of swimming.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death by drowning; but attached much blame to the Canal Company for leaving those boats without bulwarks or a small-boat, to render assistance on such occasions."

100 Years Ago

Verge of famine in Athlone

The dramatic headlines in the Westmeath Independent in 1910 screamed "Verge of Famine", "Heavy Shannon Floods", "Cropgs Generally Submerged!" Meadows Under Five Feet of Water", "Hay Swept Away"

The editorial carried a similar tale of woe.

"A ruined harvest! It is pitiable information to communicate but nothing short of a miracle can avert it."

The paper also depicted the following gruesome scene. "The effects of the heavy rainfall in the end of last week coming so soon after the previous downpour, having brought many parts of the country to the verge of famine and not for some months not come, will it be possible to gauge the full extent of the damage done, or the loss sustained by the agricultural population.

"In Athlone some idea may be gained of the destructive character of the floods by a glance down the river. The narrow silvery streak which marked the course of the Shannon, between green fields has disappeared. The callows on which the hay crop had just been saved have been blotted out and for miles, there is a wide lake, the surface broken only by the tops of the hay cocks, reared at much expense and labour by the small landholders of the district.

The paper said the river level blow the Athlone Weir had risen by almost four feet overnight. On Saturday, a determined effort was made to get some of the hay off the flooded area and on Sunday, men were to be seen all day long wading waist deep in the water getting the hay to higher land. By Monday morning, however, this work had to be abandoned in most places. The paper added that similar nightmare scenes were to be seen in other areas of the country. In fact, there was still great destruction done in the western part of Connaught in North Mayo bridges were washed away and thousands of tonnes of hay were washed into the Atlantic.

1960

Tenth Athlone Show draws 1,300 entries

The Westmeath Independent reported on the tenth Athlone Show held on Thursday, September 8, in Pairc Chiarain.

An unusually fine day proved a mixed blessing for Athlone Show on Thursday, for whilst it made conditions very pleasant for those who attended, yet many farmers remained at home to engage in very important harvest work.

Whilst receipts dropped as a result the committee were pleased with the support accorded to the Show, having regard to the very difficult season for the farming community.

Total entries at 1,300 were on the same level as last year. No cattle exhibits come from West of the Shannon because of the new Bovine T.V control regulations.

Mr E.H. Childers, TD, Minister for Transport and Power, who was the guest of the committee, at a dinner in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, congratulated them on the very excellent exhibition he had seen that day.

Among the winners listed in the paper was Patrick Kealy, Cloncroff, Horseleap, who won the Powerscourt Cup for the best pedigree Hereford bull and the Kilcleagh Cup for the best pedigree Herefor heifer.

The Coffey Cup for the best pen of Galway-Roscommon sheep was won by Frank Kelly, Maymount, Rosemount, Moate.

Councillors fast-track business to get to fields

The Westmeath Independent reported in the same issue that councillors sped through a meeting in order to get back to work on the fields.

"The best harvest day so far this year," commented farmer members of Westmeath Co. Council at a session of that body in Mullingar, on Monday, as they pressed for a speedy ending of the meeting so that they could take to the fields.

The council agreed to deal with urgent matters only on the 45-item agenda and then adjourned the remainder of the business to the next ordinary meeting at the end of the month.

"As the meeting broke up after being in session fora a few hours, Mr T. McAuliffe NT, protested saying it was a disgrace to be taking ratepayers money by way of expenses and then only coming in for a few hours."

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