In 1874 there was a place called the Deer Lick about two miles south of Ellsworth. It was so called because of a small spring in the area that always supplied water, even in times of drought. The property was owned by Robert Nichols, who freely let people take water from the spring and allowed men to deepen the spring every year, so that more water would be available. Custom was that the men who dug the place deeper had first right to the water, and before 1874, no dispute arose over the water that could not be settled amicably.
A poor Irish family lived on a nearby farm, with two sons named John and Patrick Roach. Another farmer living nearby was Calvin Dunlap. He was a "wealthy" man, with a son named Byron, and a hired hand named Theodore Wilcox. In the summer of 1874 the Roach brothers drilled down through the ground to bring more water into the spring, and, as was the custom, they claimed the right to draw water before anyone else every day.
On the morning of October 11, 1874 John Roach went to the deer lick with a barrel, where he intended to draw water for his hogs. His brother was following behind with the cattle, so that the cattle might drink there. Byron Dunlap and Theodore Wilcox also came to the deer lick and intended to draw water, when John challenged them. He let them know that there was not enough water for all to share and that he claimed the right to the water because of his work there.
The result was a fracas in which both John and Patrick Roach were attacked by the Byron and Theodore. Patrick and Byron grappled, and Patrick was lying on the ground insensible when John managed to overpower Theodore. John turned to fight Byron, who had a club. John's claim was that as Byron attempted to club him, he defended himself with his knife, cutting Byron, who then apparently stopped fighting him.
John then went for assistance for his brother, who was badly wounded. It was while he was getting the doctor that he learned that Byron Dunlap was dead. He was arrested immediately, and charged with manslaughter.
The Pantagraph's description of John as he waited for trial in those early days is interesting: "He is a very common looking Irishman, of the working class, low browed and shaggy haired. He weighs not over one hundred and thirty five or forty; is low in stature and awkward in motion and in no way gives evidence of the pluck or physical power that we should expect to find in one who coped so successfully with two men both his superior in weight and muscle. He has not a bad countenance, although one can see in it neither trace of refinement nor evidence of much intelligence." The Pantagraph described his accent as an "unpleasant brogue." (Personally, I find the Irish brogue one of the most delightful accents, but there is no accounting for taste, I suppose.)
John and Patrick both stood trial in December of 1874, and to their surprise, they were convicted. John received a surprisingly heavy sentence of twenty years and Patrick just one year, for abetting his brother. Thirty witnesses had been brought to discredit the testimony of Wilcox, who was known to be a very unreliable man in the county. Among the Roaches' legal team was H A Ewing, and an appeal to the Supreme Court was made. Nearly a year later the Supreme court ruled that the instructions by the judge were unfairly prejudicial to the defendants and a new trial was ordered. (The two brothers remained in jail during the appeal.) The savvy legal team representing the Roach brothers used many delaying tactics, dragging out the proceedings until the fall of 1877, when the unreliable Theodore Wilcox, who had always been something of a rolling stone left town again, depriving the state's attorney of his only witness. The state's attorney was then forced to strike the case and the Roach brothers walked free.
A few years later John Roach married a young Irish servant woman named Mary Murphy, which was the starting point of this tale. On February 14, 1881 Patrick Roach of Arrowsmith married Mary Gehagan of West Township in Bloomington. Neither of these couples could be traced.