When the Walsh family was evicted from a farmhouse in Letterfrack, County Galway, the new tenants, Martin Lyden and his father John, reckoned without Republican vengeance. On April 24th, 1881, a group of armed men went to the farmhouse, took the Lydens outside and shot them. The old man died instantly; the son died a month later.
Police immediately suspected Walsh, and found the murder weapon at his new home. He was hanged on Friday, September 22nd, 1882, at Galway Prison.