The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-04-25
miscellaneous.
THE LORD OF LEITRIM.
The Reason Why His Tenants Assassinated Him
The MurderOus Work Of the Molly Maguires-
Irish Landlords Killed During Forty Years.


Irish Landlords Killed During Forty Years.
William Sidney Clements, Earl Of Lett
rim, Viscount Leitrim and Baron Lett
rim of Manor Hamilton, in the Peerage
of Ireland; Baron Clements of Kilmac-
renan, County Donegal, in that of the
United Kingdom Lieut-Colonel in the
Army, was born in 1906, and succeeded
his father as third Earl December 3lst,
1854. The family Of the late Earl settled
in Ireland some time in the reign Of
James l., aud Robert Clements Esq, was
created the first Baron Leitrim, and ele-
waited to the Peerage of Ireland Oct. IL,
1888, and ten years later was advanced
TO the Viscountry of Leitrim, with title
of Earl. He married, May l9, 1865, the
daughter of the Earl of Massareene, who
died May 30, 1910, and the assassinated
Earl was the second son of the second
Earl. who died in 1914. He was motor
ious throughout his life as stern and
exacting landlord on his estates of Lough
Rynn, in Leitrim, and Killadoon, in Kill
dare. It is told of him that his favorite
phrase in dismissing any appeal made to
him was to bid the applicant "go to hell
or to America" His nephew, who sue
ceeded him, is the son Of his brother, the
Hon. and Rev. Francis Clements, clergy
man of the English Church, vicar of
Norton, in England. The Earl was well
known as landlord whose ideas of the
rights of property prompted him to ex'
tend the powers given him by the law to
the utmost limit, and who was, there
fore, extremely unpopular with his ten
antry, and with the small farmer class
generally.
FOR OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
He had been consolidating farms, eviCt-
ing tenants, and turning his lands into
immense grass farms. During that time
he had, perhaps, received more threat
ening letters than any landlord or agent
in Ireland, and on more than one ocCa-
sion he is supposed to have narrowly es-
Caped with his life from armed parties
lying in wait for him. He owned i'm
mense tracts of land in the counties of
Donegal, Leitrim and Derry, as well as a
small estate in Kildare, and probably
eyiCted more tenants in his lifetime than
any man in Ireland. 1t is said that, un-
like other landlords, he was quite impair
tial as to the religion of his tenants, and
hundreds of sturdy Presbyterian farmers
now settled in Ohio, Indiana and llli-
nois, as we'll as Catholics, were forced to
give up their homes in Donegal and en-
igrate. The popular press in Ireland
have for years held him up to public obi
UNI as the worst of the DISCRIMINATING"
landlords, and he frequently figured in
the low Courts as party in aggravated
disputes about land. On more than one
occasion, also, he appeared at the local
"Petty Sessions" in cases which aroused
considerable indignation, and gained
him great deal of newspaper notoriety.
Many of his tenantry live on the rocky
coast of the Atlantic, where the soil is
very poor, and they exc out a miserable
existence, partly by fishing partly by
gathering kelp on the seashore, which is
sold for manufacturing purposes. The
right to gather this kelp has been exer.
Cised from time immemorial by the ten
antry, but some years ago Lord Leitrim
and few other landlords claimed the
~kelp as the property of the landlord, and
in cases where he found them gathering
it, had them arrested for theft. The ir-
ritation caused by these petty prosecu-
tions was very deep, and extended over
many parts of Ireland not Immediately
affected by the litigation. His father
had been a mild landlord and a very
popular man, and great expectations were
formed of the son when, in 1854, he sue
ceeded to the title and estates. The fam
lily seats are Lough Rynn, Dromod, ,Coun- |
tv Donegal, and Killadoon, Celbridge, |
County Kildare. The family originally |
obtained from James I. large tracts of
Confscated land, and the Earl who has
Just been murdered added largely to his
estates by purchase. He was unmarried
There is intense indignation among the
people of Donegal county over the out
rage, and measures are being taken to
discover the perpetrators. The district
is loyal, and has never been affected by
coercive laws. Agrarian troubles in Ire
land began with
THE ASSASSINATION OF LORD NoRBURY,
An Irish peer, on New Years day, 1889,
while walking in the shrubbery of his
own house. A reward of $4,000, with an
annuity for life of$500, failed to find any
clue to him; and as the murdered man was
on good terms with his Catholic neigh
bors and tenants, and did not concern
himself about politics, the cause of his
taking-of has ever remained a mystery. |
This crime, however, was historic. 1t
fred the passions of the panic-stricken
landlords, and brought about the famous
meeting of the Magistrates of Kings
county whereat the phrase in the letter
of Under Secretary Thomas Drummond,
refusing an increase of police for Upper
ary, Property has it's duties, as we'll as
its rights" was exalted into a proverb. |
These murders have been more or less
frequent ever since. At times bands of
"Mollie Maguires" were formed, and, en-
Couraged by the sentiment ofthe masses,
rendered the lives oflarge and cruel land"
lords as unsafe as their namesakes have |
made the coal bosses of Pennsylvania. |
Numbers of peasants were hanged, and |
as many as 400 prisoners have at one
time awaited trial in the Jail at Clonmel
and other cities in the county of Upper.
arY. Lords, Earls, and gentlemen innu-
merable have been hacked, battered, as
sassinated or manned, and of late years |
the dangerous business of handling ten
ants has been intrusted to q set of pluCky |
hirelings called stewards. These gentle
men have uniformly served their mast
ers well, and in consequence,
GooDLY LIST OF MURDERED STEWARDS
graces the pages of Irish history. The
sentiment against evicting landlords be-
came so strong that the priests discussed |
their outrages from the altar. Here is
an instance of what religious support |
did. October oath, Father McDermott,
of Strokestown, said "There is Major |
Molon obuapk from ,,ny, all tb;a ,ry;,,tor