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See The Scullabogue Massacre article in Wikipedia
From the Taghmon Historical Society Journal #6 2005
Account of the massacre: In
the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion a great number of those involved on the
insurgent side , accused of crimes committed during the insurrection, were
arrested and brought to trial. At Scullabogue, near Carrigbyrne there were a
number of loyalist prisoners, mainly Protestant, but with some Catholics,
all held by the insurgents. These prisoners were rounded up in the first few
days of June and placed in Mr. Newton King's barn and house. After the
battle of New Ross, at which the insurgents were defeated, it is claimed
that word came that as a form of retaliation for loyalist atrocities that
day in New Ross, the prisoners at Scullabogue were to be slaughtered. Who
send this order has never been known. Its been asserted that the guard left
in charge was overcome and the insurgents took it upon themselves to set
fire to the barn with the prisoners inside. No one survived.
John Ellard, charged with aiding and abetting the
murder of loyalists at Scullabogue. John Ellard was one of those accused of
being involved in the Scullabogue massacre. The transcript of his trial can
be seen in Trinity College.
There is a list then of the people who were
questioned and one of them was a John Boles. The trial took place in 1800.
John Boles* sworn and questioned by the prisoner: Is a protestant and a private in Captain Knox's Yeoman Corps. Was a private at diff. times. Knows the prisoner and never saw him during the rebellion. Ellard. Did you, while in custody, hear rebels threaten my life? Boles. I did. I heard James Walsh, who was with a great body of rebels, say he would shoot your brother, whom he accused of being an Orangeman. Walsh was prevented from committing the murder by some of the party. He then said he suspected you of being an Orangeman, and if you did not join before the night, and come forward and fix the pikes, you should be served the same sauce as your brother. Ellard. Were you a Yeoman before the rebellion. Boles. I was not, I had nobody to help me at my farm, and could not spare the time.
* The Boles family lived at Camross, during part of the last century. Boles, like his neighbour John Brennan, of Castlehayestown, may have been a member of the Heathfield Cavalry.