Patrick J. Whelan
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Patrick James Whelan (c. 1840 – February 11, 1869), a tailor and alleged Fenian sympathizer, was convicted of the assassination of Canadian journalist and politician Thomas D'Arcy McGee in 1868. Whelan was born in Galway, Ireland and came to Quebec City, spending two years there volunteering against Fenian raids. He then moved to Montreal and became a tailor. In 1867, he married Bridget Boyle and moved to Ottawa, working with a merchant tailor. He was found guilty of having assassinated Thomas D'Arcy McGee on April 7, 1868, and was subsequently hanged.
Decades after Whelan died on the gallows, his guilt was questioned, and many believe that he was falsely accused in order to be a sacrificial lamb for the murder. His case is dramatized in the Canadian play, Blood On The Moon. Alex Sinclair of the Canadian folk music group Tamarack wrote the song "The Hangman's Eyes" about Whelan.
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