NORTHAMPTON — St. Patrick’s Day is stereotyped as a debaucherous day-drinking festival, but leading up to this weekend’s festivities in Holyoke, more than 50 people gathered on Tuesday for a sober and somber moment to honor Northampton’s first Irishmen who were wrongly executed 221 years ago.
In 1806, Irish Catholic immigrants Dominic Daley and James Halligan were wrongly convicted of an 1805 murder in Wilbraham and hanged in Northampton. It wasn’t until 1984 that their names were exonerated, and their memory has been honored annually at a stone memorial on Hospital Hill just down the street from where the two were executed.
The execution has also been immortalized in print and opera. A 2004 novel about Daley and Halligan, “The Garden of Martyrs” by Michael White, was later adapted into an opera in 2019 with the same title.
Their memorial, a towering stone that stands in a small open field on Prince Street, inspired those gathered to contemplate the progress the Irish made assimilating to America while highlighting the continued challenges immigrants face when entering the United States.
“It’s important to recognize this for what it is, and that is that the injustice that happened back 221 years ago could happen today, when we let prejudice and racism and other things interrupt with our justice system,” Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said.
Sullivan was just one of several law enforcement officials in attendance, including Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane and retired judge Michael Ryan.
Ryan told those gathered that the executions were referenced for years and used as a scare tactic to ward off Irish immigrants.
“The non-Irish in Northampton used to say to all Irish newcomers, ‘that’s where we hung the first two Irishmen to come to Northampton,'” said Ryan, who added that the Irish were one of many groups to undergo hardships in America.
“We started commemorating in this fashion so that we could remember how we were treated when we were immigrants. We were only the first big group that came,” he said. “The Italians came after us. The Polish came after. Everybody went through their hardships and their difficult times. America was not welcoming to immigrants then, and many of us — except for the Native Americans — we’re all immigrants. We descended from immigrants. Most of us suffered some hardship or some discrimination.”
Given the hardships, Sullivan closed the commemoration by reading Daley and Halligan’s last words: “We blame no one. We forgive everyone.”
Sullivan said the two offered “an example of grace and forgiveness that we should all take to heart.”
Peter McQuillan was among those in attendance. Born and raised in Northampton, McQuillan attends the memorial service almost every year.
“I think it’s really important to recognize all that immigrants in America face today,” he said. “It’s an important time for Irish Americans to recognize their part in the story, and sticking up for people who are going through what Irish people encountered.”
Kathleen Joss of Easthampton said she came out to honor her Irish heritage.
“I’m here because I’m Irish and I can sing the national anthem in Irish,” she said.
Following the commemoration, attendees retreated from the cold and wind and headed to the Florence Civic Center for lunch, where Irish stew and corned beef were on the menu.