Dartmouth has always been a port – and at times a rough and ready one. It has seen armies, navies and spies but in 1919 it had never seen a trial for murder in modern times.
That was until the tragic case of American Raymond Timmins, chief engineer aboard the Western Maid.
Mr Timmins had joined the Maid in Baltimore and had not enjoyed the 3,000-ton ship’s journey across the Atlantic. The crew was a rag tag of international merchant seamen, desperate for work in the depressed times following the end of the First World War. Onboard there were Russians, Mexicans, Italians, Scandinavians, Americans and Britons and by all accounts, they did not get on.
In that group of tough men were two Irishmen: Mike Flaherty and Joe Geary who took against the second engineer, Tony Kelly.
The three feuded throughout the crossing, with Kelly, a hard-as-nails 47-year-old American, docking the Irish pair four days pay for bad behaviour and laziness.
Although Timmins, the Officer in charge of the engine room, thought the issue was dealt with, Flaherty and Geary vowed to get even.
The two Irishmen started telling anyone who would listen that Kelly hated the British (because he had punished them, two ‘Britishers’) and was, therefore, Pro German. Kelly in his turn continued to punish them at every turn for laziness, insubordination and other minor misdemeanors.
The Irishmen complained that their quarters were dirty and claimed this was because Kelly was ‘anti’ people from Britain.
Timmins got involved when the Captain critcised the speed of the crossing and demanded he speed things up. By reading the crew the riot act, he incurred the wrath of both Kelly and the Irishmen.
By the time the Maid pulled into Dartmouth at the end of its crossing on June 10, the ship had a hothouse atmosphere and seemed ready to blow.
Flaherty and Geary, without permission, headed into town to get away and sample the town’s best pubs.
Kelly and Timmins went ashore a little later and spent their rare day off walking the hills, taking in the views, watching a show at the cinema and then sampling a little ale.
At the end of this day of relaxation, they lined up on the Embankment to wait for a boat back to the Western Maid.
At this point Flaherty and Geary bowled up – they were much the worse for drink and immediately started to shout abuse at Kelly. The older man was determined to fight but Timmins dragged him onto the next boat and ordered it to row back to the ship as fast as possible. The two Irishmen jumped into another boat, and followed, yelling obscenities.
By the time they reached the Western Maid, Timmins was in a state of anxiety that meant he wasn’t thinking straight – he went to the Captain and asked for the two Irishmen to be locked in the brig but was so agitated that he didn’t say why, so his request was denied.
In a panic, Timmins ran to his room and grabbed his own revolver (which had, in true American tradition, been given to him by his father when he was 11), and ran back to the saloon, where Kelly and the two Irishmen were facing off – Kelly knocked out Flaherty and turned to Geary who drew a knife.
The two men grappled and the knife dropped to the floor – Kelly staggered towards Timmins and grabbed his hand which was holding the gun. It went off. Kelly dropped to the floor.
Timmins turned to see Geary running away and shot him in the back.
The Captain had Timmins locked in his cabin and delivered the news to the shocked engineer an hour later that Kelly had died and had been killed by Timmins’ shot. Geary had been taken to the Cottage Hospital ashore to be treated for a bullet lodged in his lung.
The very next day Timmins stood trial in Dartmouth in what was the first murder trial in the town in the modern era and it caused a sensation.
He was remanded in custody for a week and when he finally appeared at the Guildhall it was packed. One of the lighter facts from this rather tragic case is the judge required most of what the American said be translated ‘into English’.
After hearing the evidence over a protracted eight hours, the judge decided to send him up to Exeter Assizes for a full trial by jury.
A jury eventually acquitted him of both charges, as most the witnesses had sailed on the Western Maid and Geary was still recovering in hospital.
First published By the Dart December 2015 Issue
