The Apparitions and Miracles at Knock; also, the Official Depositions of the Eye-witnesses

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CHAPTER VII.
MANIFESTATIONS ON 6TH OF JANUARY AND 9TH OF
FEBRUARY.
Lights of a supernatural kind were beheld on the night of
the 5th, or rather on the morning of the sixth, the feast of
the Epiphany, January 6th, 1 880. They were seen by several,
and especially by the police, who live convenient to the little
church. Those guardians of peace wentjout at 12 o'clock
at night on patrol through the country to see that all was
quiet, and came as far as Knock church, where they heard
the hum of prayer arising from those who, at that midnight
hour, had been assembled there in the hope of seeing the
Apparition. The testimony of these sensible men, who took
every precaution not to be deceived, who looked around the
church and school, and hill and vale, mound and mearing,
and saw no light, or reflection of light anywhere, but these
extraordinary stars and globes of flame on the church gable
before them, ought not readily to be discredited. The names
of these servants of the Government are Collins and Fraher,
one a native of Galway, the other of Tipperary.
Another remarkable Apparition appeared on the morning
of the 1 oth of February. It was seen by several, especially
by three young men from Claremorris, namely, John P.
MacCloskey, Simon Conway, and Thomas MacGeoghegan,
and by Martin Hession of Tuam, an intelligent assistant at
Mrs. Murphy's establishment.
Young MacCloskey and the other two gave their spoken
evidence in the presence of Joseph Bennett, Esq., special