The Cooper’s Wife Is Missing (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Joan Hoff
- First Published: 2000
- Type of Work: History
- Time of Work: 1895
- Setting: County Tipperary, Ireland
- Principal Characters: Bridget Boland Cleary, Michael Cleary, Patrick Boland, Johanna Kennedy Burke, Mary Kennedy, John Dunne, Father Cornelius Ryan, Thomas William Croke, Dr. William Crean, Alfred J. Wansbrough, Denis Gane, William Simpson
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Changelings or cuckoos, Murder or homicide, Nineteenth century, Exorcism, Trials, Catholics or Catholic Church, Ireland or Irish people, Fairies
- Locales: Ireland
In County Tipperary, in the early morning of March 16, 1895, the young seamstress Bridget Cleary, ill with bronchitis or influenza, was burned to death in her fireplace by family members after undergoing a “fairy trial” that might well be characterized as three days of torture. Her husband, Michael, a cooper by trade, told a local Catholic priest, Father Cornelius Ryan, that Bridget had “gone with the fairies” while he was asleep. Father Ryan in turn reported to authorities that the cooper’s wife was missing, without adding that Michael Cleary had also admitted burning her....
[The entire page is 1881 words long]
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