1920 Nov 1. WS 1652, Malachay Quinn's wife Eileen was shot outside Gort. British Military Court found that she was shot by ADRIC. Two lorries of ADRIC were passing through Kiltartan. She was sitting in front of her farmhouse when she was shot. The ADRIC defence was that they always fire rifles when passing through inhabited areas, to deter ambushes. The verdict of the military inquiry is announced this morning as follows:— The court has considered the evidence and the medical evidence are of opinion that Mrs Eileen Quinn, of Corker, Gort in the county of Galway, met her death due to shock and haemorrhage by a bullet wound in the groin fired by some occupant of a police car proceeding along the Gort—Ardrahan road on the 1st November, 1920. They are of the opinion that the shot was one of the shots fired as a precautionary measure and in view of the facts record a verdict of death by misadventure.
Galway Observer of 6 Nov 1920 reported . Mrs. Ellen Quinn, (24), who was shot on Monday evening while sitting on the lawn, in front of her farmhouse at Kiltartan near Gort, bled to death the same night. She leaves three children, the eldest of whom is not yet four years old. Rev Father Considine, C.C., Gort, wired Mr Arthur Griffith, T. D., on Wednesday — Woman within two months of childbirth, holding child nine months old in her arms, shot by Galway police here on Monday evening. Died few hours afterwards. Have wired Greenwood. At the time of the shooting Mr Quinn, who is a farmer, was in Gort. Another messenger going to Ardrahan for Dr Foley was, it is reported, wounded by a bullet. Uniformed men passed into Gort subsequently firing shots. When the lorry passed the house where the dying woman lay the terror—stricken occupants fled by the back way.
A witness deposed — I am a motor car driver. I remember the 1st November. I was driving the car that came to Gort on duty. There was another car with us. We left Gort about 2.30 returning to Galway. I was driving the lead car. Along the road leaving Gort there was a lot of traffic. I had more than once to slow down to pass the cars. I did not leave the driving seat at any time. I fired no shot. I heard shots fired from the car I was driving. We got to Galway about 4 o'clock. I did not see a woman shot, nor hear of a woman being shot on the road, until I got to Galway. I did not notice a woman on the wall between Gort and Ardrahan. He was not cross—examined.
The next witness deposed — On Monday last I was one of an escort that came to Gort on duty in a motor car. We left Gort about 2 o'clock. There were two cars. I was in the leading car. The roads were congested. I don't know if it was a fair day or not.
Another witness — "I fired my rifle twice on the road to Galway, but did not fire between Gort and five miles from it. There were shots fired from my lorry in the town when we were leaving."
Two other witnesses deposed they were in the lorry, and that no shots were fired in Gort. Lady Gregory, a high profile landowner, was told that an officer with a dark countenance and a Scottish accent took it all into his hands, and the President of the Court seemed afraid of him. The description could be AP Nichol , OC of D Coy
The British Government on 8th March, 1921, made an ex gratia grant of £300 to Mr. Malachy Quinn.