The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-11-17 00:00:00

THE FENIAN TRIALS IN AMERICA.

The prisoner finst tried, Colonel John Blom Lynch,
described himself as an American citizen, and told a
reporter that he was • county Galway man, and emi-
grated to America in 1849. Among the witnesses was
the son of a Canadian farmer, whose horses the
Fenians had seized; he deposed that he went to their
camp and asked to see General O'Neil; the men told
him that the General was busy, but he might see
Colonel Lynch, and he did so ; the pliaoner, who wore
a sword, referred him to the adjutant. The main
defence was that the prisoner was in the perform-
ance of hie duty as a reporter. Some of the other
Fenian prisoners were called as witnesses for the de
fence, and Paid that they heard he was reporter for the
Courier, a Louisville paper, and they sent him shout
with aiook and pencil. While the jury were out, he
told • New York reporter that he came over with
the Fenian, by the direction of Aiijutant-General
M'Dermot, of the Fenian Brotherhood of -Louisville, to
report the incidents of the campaign. A witness
for the defence stated that he knew the prisoner well
in Louisville, and that he represented himself as •
reporter. No person from any newspaper establish-
meat was called, but the prisoner's counsel stated that
the witneeses who were wanted had been engaged in
this affair," and would be hanged if they came. The
Canadian Government had been asked to Rive them •
cafe conduct, but the application could not be enter-
tained. The prisoner alleged that he was s
combatant, and attending solely as a reporter. RiA
counsel urged the precedent of such cases an Gari-
baldi's irregular warfare, and asked whether a reporter
accompanying him would have been hanged if taken
prieonen The Chief Juatice in passing sentence,
said
The evidence brought before the Court is perfectly clear
and conclusive that you were not In Canada as a reporter
on the occstion charged in the Indictment, but that you
were In some kind of command. What that was does not
distinctly appear; but even though you were there only all
a reporter, you ought to have known that no war had been
proclaimed; that those with whom you were men were
making as atrocious, mimosa inroad ow a peace-
fill suunlrt, mid Itoks under Mi strunmslanoss you were

there to report the ravages of those men In order- that-they--
might glut and glory over the BLitt .. . Was It ler then
muroer for you to come herein the dead of night to ravage
our country and slay our peoplo If yon were thete as a
report.? even you were not gulltle.e. Your object was to
encourage them to come, not to keep them away.

The prisoner next tried was the Rev. John M'Mahon,
• Roman Catholic pnest, about forty years of age. It
wan proved that he was with the Fenians at Fort
Erie, and that when they went on the march they
left their valises behind, when he ordered them to
take up their valises and said, "The boy. may want
them, for we dont know how long we might be in
Canada." They picked up the valises. He accom-
panied the Fenians on the march, and was aeon treat-
ing them and drinking with them. When taken pri-
soner he stated that he had come for the parpoiss of
burying the dead. A. witness stated that he saw the
prisoner in the gaol, and that he then said he dressed
the wounds of the Fenian.. The prisoner alleged in
his defence that he was on his way to Montreal; he
heard that the Fenian. had crowed, and he crossed
by the ferry, and when he came up with them they
insisted on his remaining an their chaplain. He said
some of the witnesses had made false statement&
The Chief Juuoice told the jury that the prisoner's
conduct, an proved, was not that of a man forced to
accompany the persona engaged in this atrocious
undertaking; he was not advising them to go home,
but to take care of themselves.
As regards his character as a priest, the uneducated Irish
are a very superstitions race, and they think if they receive
aboolntion afier making a good confession they are saved
If you find that the prisoner was there to receive their con-
fession, then he aided those room It was his duty an •
clergyman to lay informatiou before the anthoriUes that
those men intended to commit an overt an against Her
Majesty's Government.