In the aftermath of the Phoenix Park assassinations Coercion was again introduced in Ireland, a provision of which, Section 16 allowed for what became known as the Star Chamber inquiry, allowing the state summon a suspect for interrogation under oath, and without legal representation, each witness compelled to give evidence in any subsequent trial facing imprisonment if he refused to do so. The Coercion Act allowed for internment without trial and the suspension of Habeus Corpus. Under it over 900 Land League members were imprisoned, including thier leader, Parnell.

The Invincibles' leader James Carey, Michael Kavanagh and Joe Hanlon agreed to testify against the others. Joe Brady, Michael Fagan, Thomas Caffrey, Dan Curley and Tim Kelly were convicted of the murder. [6] They were hanged in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin between 14 May and 4 June 1883. Others were sentenced to serve long prison terms. Mass roundups of suspected Fenian ‘terrorists’ followed. One, James Carey, told his interrogators that the Invincibles had been formed in the fall of 1881 to ‘make history’ and to establish a grouping within the Fenian network to assassinate government administrators in Ireland. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Pigott, Richard". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.Forster vigorously championed and applied coercion in Ireland, which was administered by his permanent Undersecretary, Thomas Henry Burke. Once put into operation, some nine hundred members of the Land league were arrested and interned in various prisons across Ireland, culminating in the arrest of Charles Stewart Parnell in October 1881 and his imprisonment in Kilmainham Gaol Dublin. the Land League was a movement of tenant farmers led by Irish nationalists. It was seen as a challenge to British rule in Ireland Taken to Kilmainham Gaol, they were extensively interrogated by John Mallon and Adye Curran, who would ‘turn’ several into informers, including Kavanagh (who had driven four Invincibles from the Phoenix Park after the assassination), Joseph Smith and most importantly, James Carey.

The case was successfully prosecuted by the Attorney General, Solicitor General James Murphy QC (later Mr Justice Murphy), and Peter O’Brien, before Justice William O’Brien. [8] [9] Invincibles' leader James Carey, Michael Kavanagh and Joe Hanlon agreed to testify against the others. Joe Brady, Michael Fagan, Thomas Caffrey, Dan Curley and Tim Kelly were convicted of the murders, [10] and were hanged by William Marwood in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin between 14 May and 9 June 1883. Others, convicted as accessories to the crime, were sentenced to serve long prison terms. Fitzharris was acquitted of murder but retried as an accessory and convicted. [10] Corfe, Tom (1968). The Phoenix Park Murders: Conflict, Compromise and Tragedy in Ireland, 1879–1882. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-34002-624-3.In March 1887, The Times printed letters purportedly from Parnell claiming sympathy with the murderers and that his public denunciation of them was insincere. It emerged that the letters were forgeries written by journalist Richard Pigott, [13] and Parnell was personally vindicated by the Parnell Commission in 1888–89. [14] Memorial [ edit ] Memorial Cross One can be quite certain that Joseph Biggar, Parnell's plain-spoken ally in obstructionism, did not meet emissaries from America to discuss the formation of a murder society There has never been a movement more misunderstood than and as controversial as the Invincibles in Irish history. The approach certainly yields benefits, but it comes at a price, principally in crowding out the analysis of historians. This is a problem chiefly in relation to the treatment of the fraught issue of physical force movements in late 19th-century Ireland, especially in their relation to the Land League and Parnell, which has been the subject of meticulous scholarly analysis for decades. Broadly Kavanagh gets this right but is not always sure-footed: one can, for example, be quite certain that Joseph Biggar, Parnell’s plain-spoken ally in obstructionism, did not meet emissaries from America to discuss the formation of a murder society in London in October 1881, as a source informed Insp John Mallon, and Kavanagh appears to accept. If I had a thousand lives to lose, I would rather lose them sooner then bring to my grave the name of informer’, Daniel Curley.