Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-06

! OuoroO Inc Ia1nGeSG Sl0lJ0f from Cl0
bitter east wind, the people were sitting
huddled together, or lying on their
poor beds to keep themselves warm,
waiting for the demolition of their
cabins; women weeping bitterly, chill
dren shivering, and men with folded
arms, set teeth and blanched faces, men
poor, Ignorant, homeless, yet exercising
a self-control wonderful and touching.
The lane leading to the village was alse
lined on each side by the unfortunate
people; and as the bailiffs came with
picks to begin their work, the women
greeted them with terrible cry.
The men were silent, calmly, grandly
silent. They could have easily beaten
off the intruders-they could have
chased them into the sea, or dashed
their brains out against the rocks, but
what would it avail; others would come
and take their places, for Cloonabeg
was doomed. The men looked passive
~ on as thoy saw their homes leveled to
the earth, as they saw cabin after cabin
fall in.
| Opposite their door, Denis Conner
and his wife and daughter sat waiting
for the end before starting for Galway.
In vain they entreated Judy Merrick to
accompany them; she would not leave
her cabin. Grim and resoluue she sat
on her bed, and declared solemnly that
out she would not go. And her grand
son, Willie? Poor Willie, he was in
Galway jail on charge of attempted
murder. Mr.. Hays, the agent. had been
fred at, and without any hesitation he
accused Willie Merrick, and the bailiff
swore he heard the young man threaten
him; SO he was committed to stand his
trial at the spring assizes.
| When the men came to Mrs. Mer-
rick's house, and still found her inside,
they paused in dismay, but the head
bailiff's order came sharp and decisive,
$50 on ]" and shower of dust and
stones about poor Judy's ears, showed
that they were going on without any
mistake. Then Denis Conner rushed
in, and Selling the woman in his arms,
carried her out just as the roof gave way;
but lie might as we'll have left her in
her dearly loved cabin, for Judy Mer-
rick was dead ! The first desecrating
blow struck to the root which had so
long sheltered her and still her heart
for ever.
All through that dreary winter Cay
the people sat shivering by the wayside,
mourning over their ruined, desolate
/ homes, and at night some few of them
were sheltered in barns and out-houses,
while others lay under the hedges or on
the fallen cabins. The next morning
vans came and took the very old and
sick to the workhouse, and those who
1,-o,. n 1,lo 1,,or1- ,r,o,t b,tl,
er and thither "a search of employment.
All this time his honor the landlord
was enjoying his honeymoon on the
shores of Lake Leman, and knew no
more about the fearful scene enacted in
Cloonaberg than his somewhile tenants
knew about his locality. The agent
thought the little village in the way;
the common would, he fancied, make G
valuable piece of pasture land; and SO
he wrote to his master and said the
houses were only dilapitated dens; de-
clared the tenants never did, or could
or would pay any rent; and thai the
best thing for all parties was to pull the
cabins down, as the peope would then
emigrate to America. And so Mr..
Hayes evicted the people, and RACED
their homes to the earth ! Such things
have been common, and are still not un-
known in the west of Ireland.
Months passed, and Willie Merrick
still lay In Jail awaiting his trial. At the
assizes, there was not shadow of proof
against him, and enc of the galnekeep-
ers on all adjoining estate confessed that
it was he fred the shot which wounded
the agent.
So Merrick was acquitted, and few
kind-hearted people subscribed money
enough to pay his passage to America.
"You'1 come out to me, Oona, dar
ling, won't you % he said, holding his
promised wife in his arms as he said
goodbye. "You aren't ashamed of me,
are you -
"No, Willie; but I'll not follow you
to America Oona said sadly. ssI'm
going longer journey. Oh, Willie,
Willie, my heart is broken. You'll new
er look on the face of Oona Conner
again! Goodbye, and may Heaven
forever bless you"
Willie was pushed into the train
which was to take him to Cork, and
Coma fell fainting into her fathers
arms.
Three months after there was quiet
funeral in the old graveyard of Cloone-
beg, an old man and an old woman the
only mourners.
Oona Connor was dead, and her last
wish had been to sleep beside her
brothers and sisters in the little country
graveyard she had played in as child.
There she sleeps, with no cross at her
head or stone at her feet; but her grave
is well known, and the memory of the
events which caused her death green.
No one in the west of Ireland has for
gotten the Clconabeg cvicti On.
The Wheat Deficiency in Great Britain.
A cable. dispatch gives summary,
which is only partly Ineligible, Of a
letter On the wheat crop from the well
known authority. Mr.. James Card.
! The points Of Mr.. Cards letter Isl that