Irish Deaf Archives: CATHERINE DOYLE

Catherine Doyle

Note: this video is in Irish Sign Language. But as Amara does not offer the option to indicate Irish Sign Language as the original language of the video, it is indicated as American Sign Language, the closest approximation available.

[Alvean Jones] The Irish Independent newspaper, of 29 August 1905,

Which fell on a Tuesday, made reference to an incident which occurred one Sunday.

A Deaf woman (described as 'Deaf and Dumb”), whose name was Catherine Doyle, lived at St Mary's in Cabra.

(Photograph of St Mary's in Cabra)

(Map of Ireland)

Catherine looked up and saw a man walk on the wall with a sack on his back.

She got a fright and clapped loudly to get the attention of the caretaker.

He looked up and took chase. He tried running after the burglar.

The problem was that the burglar, Patrick Byrne, was simply too fast and sped off into the distance.

He was too fast for the caretaker, who gave up.

The burglar ran in the direction of the Phoenix Park.

(Photo of Phoenix Park)

In the Phoenix Park, Patrick bumped into Constable D117.

The constable asked him what he was doing.

Hemming and hawing, Patrick claimed that a man with a dog that was chasing him,

and that was why he was running with fear.

The constable, suspicious, examined the bag that Patrick Byrne was carrying.

Seeing that it contained various items of clothing from St Mary's, Cabra,

he knew that the man was up to no good

At the North Police Court, the deaf woman gave her testimony under oath, as a witness.

In her testimony she revealed she saw the accused drop a pair of boots while running away.

The Judge, Mr Mahony, after deliberation, issued his verdict:

Mr Byrne was to