72 - The Missing Postman: Larry Griffin

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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True Crime, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2020

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Christmas Day, 1929, postman Larry Griffen went to work in the small village of Stradbally, Co Waterford. As he called into homes with the post, he was thanked with tips and a few drinks. That night, Larry never made it home. His bike was found abandoned in the middle of the road. A conspiracy of silence kept the truth of what happened to Larry Griffin from his family, and still does to this day. ******** Thanks to our sponsors for today’s episode: Try the casual mobile puzzle game Best Fiends today! Find it on the Apple App store and Google Play! Sign up for professional online counselling at betterhelp.com/mensre and get 10% off your first month! Get 15% off high quality wireless earbuds at buyraycon.com/mens ******** Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! Donate today to get access to bonus and ad-free episodes! Check out the Mens Rea Merch Store! ******** Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ******** Sources: Fachtna Ó'Drisceoil, The Missing Postman: What Really Happened to Larry Griffin? (Cork: Mercer Press, 2011) Find it here “A Missing Postman” in The Belfast News-Letter (28 December 1929) p. 5. “Sensational developments in postman's case” in The Waterford Standard (8 February 1930) p. 1. “The Waterford mystery: ten people again brought before district justice” in The Evening Herald (14 February 1930) p. 1, 4. “Further developments in missing postman case” in The Waterford Standard (15 February 1930) p. 1, 4, 5. “Still no trace: search for the Waterford postman” in The Evening Herald (20 February 1930) p. 1. “The Waterford mystery: ten accused people again before district justice” in The Evening Herald (21 February 1930) p. 1, 3. “Police on new clue” in The Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal (1 March 1930) p. 5. “Feverish anxiety: guards search for body in Waterford” in The Evening Herald (5 March 1930) p. 10. “Alleged threats: Echo of the Waterford Mystery Case” in The Evening Herald (2 May 1930) p. 5. “Five libel actions: court sequel to missing Waterford postman case” in The Evening Herald (14 July 1930) p. 1. “Case for defence: libel action against cork newspaper” in The Evening Herald (17 July 1930) p. 1, 5. “The Stradbally libel actions: £1,740 damages awarded against Waterford newspaper” , The Waterford Standard (19 July 1930) p. 6-8. “Story of threats: Waterford postman mystery recalled” in The Evening Herald (2 December 1930) p 4. “Body not found: Co. Waterford Mystery deepens” in The Evening Herald (30 January 1930) p. 6. “Waterford Mystery: Bad weather holds up search of mine” in The Evening Herald (1 February 1930) p. 1 . “The missing postman: New Phase of Stradbally Mystery” in The Evening Herald (9 May 1930) p. 5. “Missing postman: Bishop's reference to 'awful affair'” in The Evening Herald (14 June 1930) p. 5. “Search in mine: further efforts to clear up Stradbally Mystery” in The Evening Herald (17 June 1930) p.1. CSÍ – The Missing Postman RTÉ One, broadcast 5 October 2009.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sarah, where's the car? It's gone. It's not gone. It's with
0:03.2	Fixer. Since you never got round to fixing it, I took care of it.
0:06.4	Fixeder? Fixeder's great. They pick up your car, drive it to the
0:09.4	garage, handle the maintenance, then drive it straight back to you. Sounds
0:12.1	expensive?
0:12.6	Don't worry they negotiate their prices with their partner garages and the car
0:15.8	pickup service is included so since that's all handled how about you take a look at
0:19.3	that leaky tap or do you need me to fix that too? For easy car maintenance head to fixter.co. We'll pick up your car and take care of all the rest.
0:27.6	Fixer and you're back on track. You're listening to the mens rea podcast and this is the story of Larry Griffin. Oh, Lawrence Griffin, better known as Larry, was the local postman in Kilmack Thomas and Strad
1:16.4	Bally County Waterford, a rural seaside area on Ireland's southern coast.
1:22.1	He was from a large family from Barrack Street, Waterford City and was born in 1881.
1:28.7	Larry had served in the British Army in both India and in France during World War I before being injured and
1:35.0	discharged. When he returned home he started working at the post office as an
1:39.7	employee of the Royal Mail. When Irish semi-independence came,
1:45.0	his employment was transferred to the new Department of Post's and Telegraphs.
1:50.0	Larry lived in an Ireland where British postage stamps were over-printed with Irish.
1:56.4	By 1929 he was 48 years old, had married another Waterford native named Mary, and together they had three surviving adult children.
2:07.4	There were around 700 people who lived in and around Strad Bally at the time,
2:12.0	though this number may have been higher around holidays
2:15.1	as grown-up children returned home to visit their parents and so on.
2:19.4	According to the book by Fachna O'Driscoll, The Missing Postman, On Christmas Day 1929 Larry Griffin called his
2:26.3	neighbor's house the McGrath and handed in two little presents for their baby
	...

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