The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-02 00:00:00

The Cork Examiner gives the following particulars of the
late attack upon the residence of the Rev. Mr. Leslie,
and his gallant defence :—" Between nine and ten o'clock
on Thursday night Mr. Leslie's family were disturbed
by the tramp of a number of men hurriedly approaching
the house, followed by a loud knocking at the front
door. Mr. Leslie went himself to the door to ascertain
the cause of it. On his asking who the persons outside
were, he was answered ' Police.' He then asked what
they wanted. A voice, seemingly that of a person in
authority, replied that they had with them a wounded
man whom they brought to Mr. Leslie to receive the rites
of the Church, as he appeared to be in a dying state.
Suspecting a stratagem, Mr. Leslie went to one of the
upper windows to reconnoitre the party before opening the
door. The night being dark, he could not distinguish the
features or the dress of the men, but he saw enough to con-
vince him that they were not a party of police. The rev.
gentleman acted with vigour and presence of mind. He
immediately called up his servant men, of whom there were,
we believe, three in the house, and bid them procure fire.
arms. He at the same time gave orders to the female
domestics to ring an alarm bell, which had been erectod
on the roof of the house, in anticipation of some such
exigency as that which had occurred. The Rev. Mr.
Leslie had acquainted the constables at the neighbouring
police stations of his having the bell on the premises, and
had concerted with them that its sound was to be a signal
of danger. Oa hearing the bell the men outside the
house knew that their stratagem had failed, and their
leader threatened that if the door of the house were
not opened to them they would force it in. He then
that all they wql,te(i wo.‘.l,gms,..Kulthatiladruittal
they would m blest no one. The Rev. Mr. Leslie,
who bad armed himself with a rifle, going to one of the
upper windows, declared that he would allow no one to
enter the house, and warned the intruders that the police
w ire coming to his assistance. An attempt was then made
to force open the door, the men-pressing their shoulders
against the panels. Seeing that the door was too strong to
be forced, some of the party began firing at it with their
revolvers, while others went to the window to ascertain
whether admittance was to be gained in that way. The
Rev. Mr. Leslie then fired a shot at some of the men
within range. This drew the fire of the whole party
upon the window, and several bullets flew through the
glass, passing heartlessly through the room. Mr. Leslie
reloaded, and again fired at his assailants, but could not
see whether his shot took effect. While the fusilade was
going on the alarm bell was kept loudly clanging to draw
succour to the little garrison. The discharge of revolvers
was kept up for some time, until the assailants had satis-
fied themselves that they could neither terrify the occu-
pants of the house into a surrender nor force an entrance.
None of the people in the house had been injured by the
fusilade, and it is not supposed that the shots discharged
from the house took effect, as Mr. Leslie's object was
rather to terrify than to strike his assailants. In a short
time after the party had retired the police arrived. A
close search of the ground and neighbourhood was made
but no discovery of importance was made, and no arrests
were effected. An inspection of the exterior of.the house
revealed numerous traces of the attack."