Kerry men protested their innocence right up until the moment they were executed

An edited report of the execution of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett from the Cork Examiner on January 24, 1883 — 140 years later they received their official pardon from President Michael D Higgins for the conviction of a murder they did not commit

President Michael D Higgins signs warrant of Pardon for Sylvester Poff and James Barrett at a ceremony held in Áras an Uachtaráin. Picture: Maxwells

The last act of the sad tragedy which occurred near Castleisland on the 3rd of October last, when Thomas Browne was shot down close to his own house, was enacted within the wall of Tralee prison this morning.

At a few minutes past eight o'olock, the gallows claimed its latest victims. Sylvester Poff and James Barrett wended their way to the scaffold, but they did not fail to avail of the few opportunities left to them in their short sad journey to protest their innocence of the crime for which they were about to suffer.