"Dead or alive, I'll take you," said the policeman, as he drew his
revolver from his pocket.
"I have but one life, to lose, and if it goes, so be it," replied Mackay
drawing a weapon of the same kind.
In another instant there was a clash as of striking steel, and a
discharge of one of the weapons.
"Good God! I'm shot!" exclaimed Constable Casey from, the end of the
room, and he fell upon the floor.
Captain Mackay's revolver had gone off in the struggle, and the ball had
struck the constable in the leg, inflicting on him a serious wound.
By this time several parties of police had arrived in the street and
stationed themselves so as to prevent the formation of a crowd and deter
the people from any attempt at rescue. A reinforcement having turned
into the house in which the struggle was going on, Captain Mackay and
others who had been in his company were made prisoners, and marched off
in custody.
Some days afterwards, the wounded constable, who had refused to submit
to amputation of the wounded limb, died in hospital.
On the 10th of March, 1868, at the Cork Assizes, Judge O'Hagan
presiding, Captain Mackay was put on his trial for murder. The evidence
established a probability that the discharge of the prisoner's revolver
was not intended or effected by him, but was a consequence of its having
been struck by the revolver of the policeman who was struggling with
him.
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