Patrick James Whelan ( – 11 February 1869) was an Irish-born tailor and suspected Fenian supporter who was executed after the assassination of Irish journalist and politician Thomas D'Arcy McGee in 1868. He maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. Questions about his guilt continue to be voiced, as his trial was "marred" by political interference, dubious legal procedures, allegations of bribing witnesses and easily discredited testimony.
Life
Whelan was born in County Galway, a younger son of William Whelan and Mary Sullivan of Galway. He became apprenticed to a tailor at the age of 14. Meanwhile, his brother John was alleged to have committed arson against a Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght. Whelan then led a "wandering life" travelling around England, before moving to Canada in approximately 1865. In Quebec City he worked as a tailor. There he joined the Volunteer Cavalry to defend the Province against the Fenian raids; however, some of his actions led to a military review on suspicions his sympathies lay instead with Irish republicanism. He was arrested, but eventually released without court martial proceedings.
He is believed to have moved between Buffalo, New York and Hamilton, Ontario and finally Montreal, Quebec for a year before marrying Bridget Boyle in 1867. Boyle, who was thirty years older than Whelan, was an upper-class woman and later the couple settled down with Whelan working as a merchant tailor in Ottawa. On 31 December 1867, two men including one identifying himself as "Smith, of the Grand Trunk" went to the home of McGee where they were welcomed into the library of the house by McGee's brother. One of the visitors, commonly believed to be Whelan, told McGee that he had come to warn the family that renegades were plotting to burn down the house at 4 am the following morning. He was thanked for the information, which seemed credible given the animosity against McGee, and given a note to take to the police station relating the known information about the alleged arson attempt and requesting two officers be sent to the house for protection. However, Whelan did not deliver the note to police until 4:45 am the following morning, after the supposed arsonist had failed to arrive. On 17 March 1868, Whelan acted as the Assistant Marshal of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Ottawa.
Killing of Thomas D'Arcy McGee
McGee was returning to his boarding house on Sparks Street in the early morning hours of 7 April 1868. Smoking a cigar and fumbling with his key in the lock, he was greeted as the owner Mary Ann Trotter opened the door for him. At that moment, a muzzle flash erupted, and as a .32 calibre bullet tore through McGee's neck and through his jaw, knocking his dentures out, the politician fell back into the street.
By the next nightfall, more than 40 Canadians, predominantly Irish immigrants suspected of Fenian allegiance, had been arrested; most prominent of these was Patrick Buckley, who served as the stable hand to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, and who gave police the name of Whelan.
Whelan, who had just left the house of Richard Quinn where he had mentioned that his boss Mr. Eagleson had been arrested for the murder, was found in a tavern belonging to Michael Starr at 9:30 pm. He was searched. A Sgt. Davis produced from Whelan's front right pocket a .32 Smith & Wesson pistol, serial #50847, with all six rounds still loaded. The other officers present took from his pocket a box of cartridges, some papers, the Irish American newspaper from a month earlier, a green silk badge of the Toronto Hibernian Benevolent Society, a membership card for the St. Patrick's Benevolence Society, a photograph of a lady, a ticket from the St. Patrick's Literary Society, two tickets the shamrock Quadrille Club inviting Whelan and a lady friend. By 9 April, the 28-year-old Whelan was considered the prime suspect and charged with the murder.
Trial and execution
Whelan found himself in a "bizarre" 8-day trial. The Prime Minister, a personal friend of McGee's, had received permission to sit beside judge William Buell Richards while hearing evidence. Ironically, Whelan was defended by Protestant Orangeman John Hillyard Cameron, while the prosecutor was Irish-Catholic James O'Reilly. The jurors at the trial were William Purdy, Matthew Heron, William Morgan, William Gamble, Thomas Weatherley, John Fecles, Benjamin Hodgins, John Wilson, Samuell Conn, Robert McDaniel, Robert W. Brown and George Cavanagh.