Sleepwalking tragedy for young local girl

1859 - 150 Years Ago - The Westmeath Independent reported in early 1909 that a little girl named Maryanne Curry, aged about 11 years old, daughter of the corporation lamplighter... fell through an opening in a loft in which she was sleeping. Falling to the ground floor underneath, she received injuries to her brain. The paper reported she had sleepwalked. A local doctor, Dr Hetherington was in attendance but held "slight hopes for her recovery". Fourteen-year-old thief to be "well whipped" Thomas Murray, who gave his age at 14 years, was brought up in custody at Athlone Petty Sessions and charged with having stolen a piece of lead from a carpenters' shop at the new station-house on the Athlone and Tullamore Railway. The lead was the property of the contractor, John Bagnall. George Thomas, a watchman on the railway, said that he saw the prisoner and two other boys in the carpenter's shop near a roll of lead and when he went to see what they were doing, they all ran away. He followed the prisoner, who was not so smart as his companions, and on overtaking him he threw away the piece of lead. The prisoner told the court that it was another boy named Costello who cut the lead and that he was innocent of the charge and had never been in court before. The court sentenced him to a month's imprisonment and hard labour and to be well whipped before his discharge. 1909 - 100 Years Ago Almost regrets the abolition of whipping The Westmeath Independent, in an editorial comment piece, in an edition of August 1909 said: "This is one of the cases that almost makes us regret whipping has been abolished." The paper was commenting on evidence heard at Athlone District Court where a man in his early 20s from the Irishtown area was jailed for neglecting his wife and children. "Anything more brutal or more callous - murder would be a relief in comparison - than a ruffian permitting a young wife and baby children to starve under his eyes simply because he had a chronic objection to work cannot be paralleled," the paper remarked. The court had heard the defendant had two children, one 18 months old and the other six months old. The family lived in Irishtown, in a house which had practically no furniture. The residents slept on straw and an inspector for the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children, who brought the prosecution, found one of the children being fed with sugared water from a bottle, due to the absence of any other food in the house. The court was told the defendant had been offered full-time employment but had turned it down. He was living off his parents. "He is good for neither King nor country and the sooner he goes to jail the better," remarked the chairman of the magistrates. The defendant was sentenced to six months in jail with hard labour. 1959 - 50 Years Ago Belgian returns to scene of Athlone childhood A joyful reunion was making the headlines of the Westmeath Independent five decades ago as Belgian Jean Van-Enis returned to Athlone, where he spent much of his youth to spend two weeks holidays with his old nurse Mrs Margaret McKinley. Mr Van-Enis first came to Athlone back in 1935 as a two-month-old baby with his parents Mr Gilbert and Mrs Flora Van-Enis, who were associated with the early stages of Athlone Cotton Factory. The pair acted as worker instructors in the training of Irish operatives. "The exigencies of their duties obliged them to seek nursing attention for their son, and Mrs McKinley gave him great care in her home. A great bond of mutual affection grew between Mrs McKinley and the child in the ensuing years. Mrs McKinley loved him as one of her own flesh, whilst the child in turn reciprocated her feelings with the warmth of a son," The Westmeath Independent reported. The boy lived in Athlone until 1939, when on the outbreak of the war his father was recalled for service in Belgium and the family left the town. Interestingly, Mrs McKinley left Athlone shortly afterwards for war work in England but never forgot her old charge and in the subsequent years always managed to keep in touch. The paper recalled when Belgium was overrun by invading German forces, the Van-Enis family, like thousands of others were taken away to a labour camp however, despite the difficulties the Athlone woman was able to contact the family through the Red Cross. The Belgian family were later freed by the Allies. In the intervening years Mrs McKinley herself returned to Athlone and contact with the Van-Enis was further maintained. "There was a joyful reunion between Mrs McKinley and her old charge, who had grown from a golden-haired baby boy to a handsome auburn-haired young man, when he arrived at her home with his cousin, a young officer in the Belgian Army, for a fortnight's holiday towards the end of July," the Westmeath Independent in August 1959 relayed. During their stay, the paper reported that the Belgian duo grew to love Athlone and the Irish way of life, attending dances, the pictures and trips on the Shannon steamer during their holidays. "Mr Van-Enis grew to love Athlone so much that he could not understand why anyone would want to live elsewhere. He and his cousin were loud in their appreciation of the food here, and felt it was worth living in this country for that alone," the Westmeath Independent article concluded.