The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-01 00:00:00

Highway Robbery and Attempted Murder
near Dublin.

On Tuesday night, as a man named Joseph Cummins
and his son were bringing home to Garristown their
empty carts, after delivering two loads of hay in Dublin,
a man came up, seized the bridle of his first horse, and
called upon Cummins to deliver up his money. The de-
mand met a refusal, whereupon the man took a revolver
from his breast and fired at Cummins, the shot taking
effect in the left eye. Cummins then jumped off the cart,
and as he approached received another shot in the left
thigh, within an inch of the femoral artery. Cummins
closed with him and seized him by the collar, whilst his
son, a fine intelligent boy of about 15 years of age, laid
vigorously about his head with the butt end of a whip, in-
flicting severe punishment, under the effects of which the
ruffian fell to the ground. During the struggle a third shot
was fired from the revolver, which grazed one of the
fingers of the assailant's left hand, and passed harmlessly
over the shoulder of young Cummins. The elder Cum-
mins, who is a powerful man, although suffering from the
wounds in the eye and thigh, succeeded in keeping the
man down whilst his son ran to the nearest police-station
for assistance. On arriving at Finglass Constabulary Bar-
racks he reported the occurrence—whereupon Constable
O'Neill, with Sub-Constables Vaughan, Kelly, and Willis,
at once proceeded to the spot, Constable O'Neill pressing
into his service a hackney car which he found driving
along the road. When the party reached the place indi-
cated they found Cummins still keeping the man beneath
him, but in such an exhausted state that only for their
timely arrival he would unquestionably have been obliged
to release his hold. The prisoner was very seriously in-
jured about the head and face. There was a large wound
on the top of the head and other wounds. A portion of
the head was also beaten to softness. The right ear, the
eyes, and the forehead, presented a shocking spectacle.
On being questioned he stated that he was a native of
Spiddal, in the county of Galway, but had been brought
to America, when an infant, and that he had resided
there ever since. He had lived in the Confederate
States, he said, and was understood to add that he had
served in the Confederate army.
Constable James Kane, of the Clondalkin constabulary,
had a report made to him by a cardriver, named Edward
Sherlock, badge No. 1,469, to the effect that between 8 and
9 o'clock on the night of Sunday last, a man, whom he did
not know, employed him at Sackville-street to drive him
to Dolphin's-barn. On arriving here, he desired him to
drive along the Cruralin-road. This he did for about a
mile, when the man ordered him to stop. He got off the
car, and retired to the side of the road. On returning, the
carman saw him put his hand to his breast, and take out a
pistol. The pistol he put to Sherlock's face, and com-
manded him to deliver up his money. On Sherlock refus-
ing to do so he, still holding the postol to his face proceeded
to search his pockets, but could only find 6d. He then
forced Sherlock from the car, told him to stand back, and
drove off in the direction of Dublin. The car and horse
were found next morning at Donnybrook by the police, who
put them into livery. On hearing of the arrest of O'Flynn
at Finglass, constable Kane procured the attendance of
Sherlock, who fully identified him as the man who had
robbed him. The other case was that of Thomas M'Kenna,
badge 2,172, who was hired at Dominick-street, by a man
whom he to-day identified as O'Flynn, and desired to drive
to Blanchards-town. On the road he attempted to plunder
him, but, very fortunately, was not successful.
The unfortunate man Cummins, who is in extreme
poverty, and has a family to support, was visited this morn-
ing by Dr. Tuffnell, who was humanely sent for by Capt.
Lindsay, and by Dr. Fleming, whom Mr. Fennelly called
in. The report is not favourable. It is Tiestionable
whether the balls can be extracted, and neither gentleman
will apparently pledge himself to the poor man's ultimate
recovery. Early in the afternoon he was removed to the
Richmond Hospital, where he at present lies.
Captain George H. Lindsay, J.P., D.L., held an inquiry
into the circumstances of the outrage, on Wednesday, at
the Glasnevin Police Barracks.

The prisoner, who seemed extremely weak, and was ac-
commodated with a seat, was committed for trial at the
next assizes.

British Archaeological Association.

NEWCASTLE, Wednesday.

The ruins of the Priory Church of Lindisfarne, or Holy
Island, possess from their historical associations an interest
which attaches to no other ecelesiasticsl remains in the north
of England. Here was the oldest monastic church in Nor-
thumberland, founded in the first half of the seventh cen-
tury, by St. Aidan, a monk of lona. Earlier in the century,
when Edward was King of Northumbria, and had agreed
that his wife Ethelburga, should enjoy the free exercise of
her religion, Paulinus was sent there from Kent, and was
consecrated missionary bishop in 625. His arguments and
the influence of Ethelburga induced the King to abolish
the Pagan worship and undergo baptism at York, which
then became the seat of a bishopric. When Aidan was
I invited to Northumbria Christianity had become almost
extinct there, but his piety and zeal made converts far and
wide, and Bade says that in seven days he baptised 15,000
' persons. He built a rude church at Lindisfarne and estab-
lished a Benedictine monastery. His successor, Finan,
upheld the celebrity of the new church, and baptised there
Penda, King of Mercia, and Segbert, King of East Anglia,
who sought for and obtained missionary priests from
Lindisfarne to spread the Christian faith throughout
their dominions. But the prime glory of the island
was St. Cuthbert, who was first prior, then withdrew
to a hermitage on the neighbouring Fame Island, and at
the request of King Egfrid became in 685 Bishop of Lindis-
farne. The see was then endowed with the whole city of
Carlisle and other land, and as St. Cuthbert enjoyed the
repute of performing miracles, even raising the dead and
turning water into wine, the monastery became celebrated
all the country through. Worn out at last, the saint again
retired to Fame, where he died and was buried in the stone
coffin given him by the Abbot Tuber, wrapped in the sheet
presented to him by Virca, Abbess of Tynemonth ; and 12
years afterwards his body, which had been placed near the
high altar near Lindisfarne, was found unchanged, as
though he was still asleep. In proof of his popularity, it is
said that 40 churches in the north of England were dedi-
cated to him; and Guthred and Alfred granted inviolable
sanctuary to any place wherein St. Cuthbert's bones might
rest, giving also to his successors the sovereign power of
the Crown in respect of the land held by them. It was thus
that, when the see of Lindisfarne became merged in that of
Durham, the Bishops ruled there as Princes Palatine.
Egfritb, who was Bishop of Lindisfarne at the end of the
seventh century, wrote here the well-known " Durham
Book," now preserved in the British Museum—a
Latin translation of the Gospels, which is splendidly
"illuminated by Bilfrid, the hermit, and interlined with
Saxon by Aldred, the priest..' There is a record of at least
one Saxon King who became a monk here. In 793 the
Danes landed and pillaged the cathedral, and upon a second
visit they destroyed it, the monks flying from the island
with the bones of St. Cuthbert and of other saints. In 1093
a Priory Church was erected upon the rains. Here, remote
from the turmoil and the cares which beset those monastic
communities which enjoyed greater power and more central
situation, the monks gave themselves over to works of piety
and benevolence, and in the reign of Henry 11. their com-
munity was known as " The School of Saints." An inte-
resting series of "Account Rolls" of Lindisfarne remains at
Durham, from which, says Mr. Gibson, " we may read the
story of the house from year to year, and see the monks at
their employments—at one time dispensing a yearly income
equal to £2,000 in our money, and at another, by the failure
of crops, reduced to the low ebb of £32. They maintained
a great sea fishery, and sold to their brethren at Durham
porpoises and other fish, then esteemed as delicacies for
episcopal feasts. They protected and never presumed to
destroy those eider-ducks, of which Fame had ever been
the abode—a bird about which they cherished the harm-
less superstition that it had been miraculously preserved
since the days of St. Cuthbert." Even the Scotch ma-
rauders respected the sanctity of this retreat, and fore-
bore to molest the monks who dwelt there. But at the
dissolution of the monasteries the Priory Church, like the
cathedral which had preceded it, fell into decay, and the
ruins crumbled above those of the Saxon foundation.
It was to inspect these remains that the archreolog:sts
set out on Tuesday morning, and on arriving at Belford
station, on the North-Eastern line, were taken in carriages
across the sand "links" which skirt the Northumbrian
coast opposite Holy Island. At low tide there is a ford
which may be waded, but it is hardly necessary
to say that the party, which numbered several ladies,
preferred the ferryboats, for which they furnished re-
munerative empl&yment. Arrived at the ruins, Mr.
Edward Roberts pointed out their most noticeable fea-
tures. He said that the plan of the church remained
much the same as when it was originally built, the main
renovations
change having been made at the east end,where the apsidal
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o rectangularawith
choir.
which are recognisable by the most inexperienced eye, but
enough exists intact to show that the arrangement was
cruciform, the nave only having aisles, and the eastern
end of both choir and aisles were with semicircular apses,
a plan purely basilican, and probably like no other in Eng-
land of which we have any remains. There appears to
have been a gallery for women rather than the ordinary
triforium on either side, and no clerestory. These galleries,
from some slight remnants at the ends, were pointed to as
probably being simply arcaded, in the manner of the early
basilicas. The whole building was of nearly one date,
and showed fewer marks than usual of the gradual con-
struction from east to west ; the date was about 1090 to
1100. The rich west doorway was probably an after-
thought, and comparison was made between it and the
arcade of five arches over it, the centre opening being
wider than the others, and having (though undoubtedly
Norman like the rest) an almost Saxon appearance. The
choir extended as far as the west pillars of the intersec-
tion, and was very small. This portion had undergone the
greatest alterations, the east window and two side windows
having boen inserted more than a century later, as were
also an aumbry and piscina. There were no stone sedilla.
The indications of the varying levels of the groining of the
vault show that the high altar stood just to the west of the
higher level, and beyond, eastward, would be the Lady
Chapel. The side apses would have shrines, one being that