Deposition of Enoch Murphy, March 1880

ENOCH MURPHY. — I am one of the City Detectives; I have been employed in this case; I recollect going to McLaughlin’s house on the afternoon of Thursday, the 5th of February; I went to different places; I arrested Martin McLaughlin; […] I asked him if he had a rifle in the house or owned one; he said he had; […] I asked him when it was last shot out of by him; he said August or September; […] the bullet found at Donnelly’s corresponds with the bullet taken out of a cartridge taken out of the chamber of McLaughlin’s rifle, by the marks on the bullet and the weight; […] after taking the cartridges out of the rifle, I found the barrel as far as I know, clean, but smelt of powder: it appeared to have been recently cleaned; […]

Cross-examined by MR. MACMAHON. — […] one reason that I think it had been cleaned is that if it had lain since September or October, there would have been some dust in it, and there was no dust in it or around it […]