May 13, 2012

A Woman Torn to Pieces by Starving Dogs

The skeleton of a woman was found, a few days ago, inside a fence, in the vicinity of Bantry, which has caused the greatest sensation amongst its inhabitants.  Strange to say, the face remained uninjured, whilst the bones of the limbs and body were literally bare of flesh, it having been torn and devoured by dogs.  What remained of the body was immediately recognised to be that of a woman named Sullivan, the wife of a comfortable farmer living in the neighbourhood, who generally attended Bantry market, and bought butter in small quantities.  The day before she was known to have bought about £10 worth, and when on her way home, it would appear she got over the fence for the purpose of getting on a more direct road not 100 yards off, when, from some accident, she was rendered so far helpless as not to be able to protect herself from the attack of starving dogs, with which the town and neighbourhood of Bantry are infested, and which are the greatest nuisance and terror to the inhabitants.  (Leeds Intelligencer, February 11th, 1854)

4 comments:

  1. The small quantities of butter are clearly vital to the victim's identification.

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  2. £10 worth of butter? Mid 1800s butter was around 1 shilling a pound meaning 200lb of butter!

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  3. That's a good point, Squire Neil... I'll double check the original article.

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  4. "What remained of the body was immediately recognised..."
    Well yes, as the only bit left was her face.

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