r at low prices. Some gave the
proceeds to the owners, but others did not. They were evidently not
thieves, and at least a portion of them seem to have been even
respectable, yet they were punished with much severity, several having
been whipped, and one transported for seven years. Some days after the
riot the Lord Mayor issued a proclamation giving permission to "foreign
bakers and others" to bake bread in Dublin; he also sent to all the
churchwardens of the city to furnish him with information of any persons
who had concealed corn on their premises; he denounced "forestallers,"
who met in the suburbs the people coming in with provisions, in order to
buy them up before they reached the market; thus in a great measure
justifying the rioters who were whipped and transported. The bakers
began to bake household bread, which for some time they had ceased to
do, and prices fell.[25]

Throughout the country there were numerous gangs of robbers, most of
them undoubtedly having sprung into existence through sheer starvation;
some, probably taking advantage of the Famine, pursued with more profit
and boldness a course of life to which they had been previously
addicted. The most noted of these was "the Kellymount gang." Their
head-quarters seem to have been Coolcullen Wood, about seven miles from
Kilkenny, but they extended their operations into the King and Queen's
Counties, and even to Galway. They were so formidable that a strong
military force had to be sent against them. This gang committed no
murders, disdained to take anything but money, horses, and sheep;
sometimes divided their plunder with the starving people; and had in the
outset pledged their honour not to rob any of the gentlemen of the
County Kilkenny. They were dispersed, after giving much trouble to the
military; many were taken prisoners, tried by a Special Commission, and
of course hanged; for, while the Government did nothing to alleviate the
horrors of the Famine, it put the law in force with a bloody severity.
The number of persons condemned to death at the Spring Assizes of 1741
was really appalling. There was a sort of small food riot at
Carrick-on-Suir, where a boat laden with oats was about sailing for
Waterford, when the starving people assembled to prevent the food they
so much needed from being taken away. Their conduct was clearly illegal,
but they were at death's door with hunger, and ought to have been
treated with some consideration and patience.