Arguments dogged the life of Thomas Byrne, 45. A Dublin council labourer, he argued and argued with his wife until on MARCH 27th, 1904, things escalated.

That Sunday afternoon he picked up a stool and hit her with it repeatedly until it broke. Mrs. Byrne died in a pool of blood.

As if Byrne hadn’t had enough of arguments, the jury at his Dublin Commission trial for murder then argued and argued and still couldn’t agree on anything. A month later, in August, 1904, Byrne was put on trial again before a new jury.

The arguments ended when he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was reprieved a couple of weeks later and released from prison just after the start of the First World War, having served 10 years.