School: Scoil na mBráthar, Cathair na Mart
- Location:
- Westport, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: An Br. C. J. Ó Haoláin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0138, Page 161
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- A Westport Man Hurries to Welcome Humbert 1798
The day after Humbert’s victory at “The Races of Castlebar,” prominent leaders flocked to him from all over Co. Mayo. From Westport came John Gibbons, agent to Lord Altamont [?]. This man was secretly a [treasurer…] of the United Irish Organization in Mayo, […also] director of the Pike factories in Mayo. He had two sons Edmond and John known afterwards as “Johnny the Outlaw.” His brother Thomas accompanied him to Castlebar. The agent John Gibbons of Westport was afterwards transported to Germany.His son Johnny and a priest named Fr. Prendergast [?] were hunted outlaws among the bogs of Castlebar.Denis Browne, brother of Lord Altamont of Westport was the terrorist of his time. He was known as “Soap the Rope.” The story common here around Westport is that being present as Sheriff one day at the hangings in Castlebar and the rope not doing its work quickly enough, he gave orders to have it soaped. John Gibbons or Johnny the Outlaw was captured near Letterfrack but managed to escape. He was aided by the MacLoughlin's of that place who paid dearly for doing so. One of the McLaughlin’s is said to have been transported for life. He was betrayed by the Burkes taken and hanged at the top of Peter St. Westport. From the scaffold tradition says, he cursed Mayo where he was betrayed and praised Connemara, among whose mountains he found shelter. Denis Browne left no stone unturned trying to apprehend Gibbons.(continues on next page)
