On this day in 1847 word filtered across Ireland and elsewhere of the murder of Major Denis Mahon of Strokestown House in county Roscommon the previous evening. Occuring in the midst of Black 47, the worst year of the Irish Famine, the murder of Mahon was a sensation and was widely reported on. He became the first landlord to be murdered during the Famine as startving and impoverised teants decided to take the law into their own hands.

Mahon was a substantial landowner in Roscommon and had been responsible for both assisted emigration and clearances in 1847. It was the latter which was said to have sealed his fate.

As one newspaper reported at the time:

At an early hour on Wednesday, Major Denis Mahon of Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, was cruelly murdered near his residence. He had been returning from a meeting of Roscommon Poor Law Guardions, when at a place called Caraward Hill, he was fired upon and killed instantly by conncealed assassins.  About two years ago he succeeded to the property of the late Lord Hartland. There is more than three years rent due on the property, amounting to £30,000. Lately Major Mahon served notice to quit on a number of defaulters and in return received threatening notices. Last week the County Sheriff and a sufficient police force visited the district to enforce the ejectments. A number of miserable hovels and cabins inhabited by these people were burned to the ground. There are ten persons in custody for the murder.