Hangman William Marwood was the target for a mob of more than 1,000 angry Irishmen when he arrived at Limerick railway station to hang two killers. The locals were convinced that Sylvester Poff and James Barrett were innocent of killing Thomas Browne, shot dead in broad daylight on his farm at Dromoulton near Castleisland, County Kerry, in October 1882.

The principal prosecution witness, an old lady, said she saw the two men enter Browne’s field, argue heatedly with him, and then shoot him. The prosecution claimed that the motive was a dispute over land, which Poff and Barrett wanted to acquire for the Republican movement.

The two men were hanged at Tralee Prison on Tuesday, January 23rd, 1883. Carpenters were brought from Dublin under police protection to build the scaffold, and Marwood was given an armed escort back to the station.