Carroll, James

[ James Carroll, 1880, By Permission of Ray Fazakas, Unknown, Private Collection of Ray Fazakas  ]The Carroll family emigrated from Ireland to Canada, where James Carroll was born. As a young man, Carroll moved away from Lucan/Biddulph, but he returned in 1878 and lived with his uncle, James Maher. Carroll came to hate the Donnelly family. They fought over religion, politics and just about everything else. Carroll joined Father Connolly’s Peace Society and he was a leader of the Vigilance Committee that searched the Donnelly homestead for Thompson’s missing cow. Not long after, Carroll became a constable who promised to rid the community of the Donnellys. James Carroll was allegedly the ringleader of the mob responsible for killing the Donnellys and he was arrested for the crime. His first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was declared “not guilty” at his second trial.

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