The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-01 00:00:00

THE FENIAN OUTRAGES.

On Christmas Day Mr. Superintendent Wrenn re-
eived information that a man at Dowlais, a large suburb
4 Merthyr Tydvil, had had the Fenian oath administered
o him. On proceeding to Dowlais he found the man who
lad taken the oath, whose name was William Casey, and
ifter some trouble he succeeded in persuading him to give
reformation about the organisation in Merthyr. Casey
hen gave information as to the person who administered
.he oath, whose name was Patrick Coffey, alias
qaggerty. The house of this man was searched,
nit he was out ; the house was then carefully
vatched until eleven o'clock that night, when the
founds of men's voices within were heard, and on going up
NE-. Wrenn saw about fifteen men inside, with Casey and
Doffey amongst them. Coffey was singing a seditious song,
the company joined in the chorus. After the eong had
)ten concluded, Coffey took a hammer, and, brandishing
t about his head, dared any policeman to attNek him, on
?ain of being brained on the spot. At that moment the
oolice burst into the room, and captured Coffey and
ra7asey, the others flying through the back door. Casey
`laving turned informer, the other prisoner, Coffey, was
brought before the stipendiary justice, Mr. Fowler, on
the following day, and e idence having been given to the
satisfaction of the magistrates, he was committed for
trial at the next assizes on the charge of administering an
inlawful oath to one of the Queen's subjects. After his
committal there was an unmistakeable expression of
Fenian feeling in the court, and such threats were uttered
against Casey that the magistrate deemed it necessary for
his safety to offer him the asylum of Cardiff gaol. which
he accepted. Since then the town (especially the Irish
quarter) has been in a state of excitement, and all sorts of
reports obtained belief for a time. During Monday night
eight Fenians were captured at Dowlais, and amongst
them were a head centre and two captains. Their
names are Patrict Doran, head centre of the Dowlais
district, or circle ; Thomas Reardon, captain ; William
Holland, captain ; Patrick Casey, Robert Barrett, John
Marral, Mark Farley, and Patrick Ryan. The prisoners
were arrested, some at their places in the Dowlais Iron-
works, and others at their houses, where they were found
in bed. On Tuesday morning the whole of the prisoners,
whose ages ranged from 24 to 30, and who were all appa-
rently men from the ironworks, were brought up before
Mr. J. C. Fowler, at the police-court, charged with
treason-felony. The chief constable, Colonel Lindsay,
was present, and Superintendent Wrenn prosecuted. The
prisoners were not defended by any attorney. They were
remanded until Monday next. Farley said it was a great
hardship to confine him—an innocent man—for a whole
week.—Mr. Fowler : If you are innocent it will no doubt
be a hardship ; but for the present I have nothing to do
but discharge my duty, and it has been sworn to that
evidence will be forthcoming to justify your remand. The
prisoners were then removed from the dock, and conveyed
by the next train to Cardiff gaol. As soon as the news
got abroad in the town great numbers of the tradesmen
and middle-class inhabitants repaired to the police-court,
and were sworn in as special constables.
At the Surrey Sessions - house, yesterday, an ex-
tremely numerous awl influential meeting of the magis-
trates of that county was held, and on the motion of the
Duke of Northumberland, seconded by the Hon. W.
Brodrick, a resolution was passed expressive of the indig_
nation of the court at the recent Fenian outrages, and of
its conviction that the most severe and active measures
are necessary to suppress a conspiracy which menaces the
very existence of society.
_ . _

No further light has been thrown upon the raid at Fota.
It now appears that the ladder in this as in many- other
towers is a permanent fixture, and was therefore down,
although the original intention was that such ladders
should be drawn up each evening. It is supposed that
the leader of the party on Thursday night was Captain
Mackay, an Irish-American, who was tried and acquitted
at the Irish Special Commission in 1865, and who after.
wards, as second in command, took part in the attack
on Ballyknockane Police-station in March last. The
extra military force has been recalled, and only five men
left in charge of the tower. On Friday night a gentleman
who was driving to Queenstown about midnight met two
men closely muffled, who came out of a field as he
approached and asked the way to Carington-hill. He
pointed out the road to them, and they proceeded in the
direction as rapidly as possible.
The story told recently by the captain of a vessel
paving seen boats pulling out from Cork Harbour to sea,
carrying water-casks and bread-bags, and of these boats
having been pursued by a man-of-war boat, is taken to be
mythical. On the night of the alleged occurrence there
was a furious gale blowing from the south-west, in the
teeth of which, and the sea it raised, laden boats such as
those of the supposed privateer could not live, and a man-
of-war launch or long-boat could not move.