36: The DormitoryTommy Kelly’s death was entered in the principal’s log book as an accident. The death certificate from the local doctor said the same. Just another boy to add to the reformatory’s roll call of deaths. What did it matter if it were death by poorly aimed cricket ball, or by cholera or tuberculosis? It was the twelfth mortality already that year.
The day after Tommy died, when work was supposed to resume after the short Easter break, his fellow inmates were angry. While not popular – he was too much of a loner for that – Tommy had been respected by his peers, not least for his stoical attitude to the frequent punishments meted out to him, especially by Brother Charles. Rumours began to circulate that Mr Brennan had deliberately struck him down to eliminate the boys’ stronges
