The government posted notices from 1674 onwards for the capture, dead or alive, of Redmond O’Hanlon. He waylaid a simple lad who was on his way to town to bring home a large sum of money for his master. The lad knew that Redmond was awaiting his return on the road.
In town he obtained a most vicious horse and collected his money, including forty shillings that he had cashed in halfpennies: these he divided between two leather pouches he slung over the horse’s back. When Redmond appeared he demanded the money he knew the lad had. The horse began to kick and bite. The outlaw threatened to shoot if the lad did not cooperate. The boy threw the pouches into a nearby sheuch and told Redmond to fetch them himself. What with the obvious weight and jangle, he thought it was a small fortune in coin. He dismounted and waded in after it.
At once the lad dismounted too and remounted O’Hanlon’s fine mare. Then he rode away with the great bulk of his money intact. There is no recorded tale of any vengeance wreaked on the clever lad!
… Death of Redmond …