The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-10-06
THE RELEASED PENIANS.
Arrival CT Gordon ard Melody In the
Steamer Mosel.
TEEIR PRISON LIFE ABROAD.
sTNPATEIZERs EECEIVE TEKk oS BOARD
GJ-ERSEES1 TESSEL
E.y Yer ws:.. Mszs.5 ss,, y.

rived early yesterday morning. were Ed
ward O'Meagher Condor AID Patrick Mel
ooy, tie two Ferisrs VITO were recently
released They went OIL board the yesse
az Southampton, ard Eooo became favor
ties with tie passengers Acd crew. Their
igporaoce OF tie GeImsr put ,hem TO some
;ncor veniecce, bat ttey naIsgeo 20 sc.
aloog -ith few phrases they picked up.
"teo :tey were net upon the deck of tue
Nose! y World reporter, Il Q1arantiue
ttey were IL tie bes. OF tpirits. Both
wore green neckties. CoLdon las sol :
dieI!y bearing, is of spare build, With a
clear cot face ard JET black hair. II con-
versation Condor lie pleasant and to every
ore lie gives smile acd a stake of tie
hand whose teartlpess there ie no mistak Z
ing 70, some time after the shake. He
spesks with . G7ick n:terarce bat With 70
acceat. Me!scy .s liz e1ac: size in build,
bot q features he is younger locking. He
hsk a red mous:ache, bat tls hair is entirely
white, and this bets out his rcsy complex
ion. He is bu; thirty i've years of age,
and on tie trial was contemptuous!y
alluded 20 as ";he red beaded Ilishmaa.n
The prison life sooo caused his hair to
turn white. Like Condou, lie is spaTe,
and has a p;acted .ook, which was probs
bly, caused by the prison life.
GOIug 10 tLeir Ioou Cf tie main saloon,
Gordon and Melody said they were de-
lighted TO have an opportunity Of speaking
freely. II hardly kuos what 70 cay;
feel so e!ated," said Coadon. 1--WE lave
had SLOW, bat towards the last very
pleasant voyage indeed, sfter oar twelve
yeaTs 0. eEtOrced Ei.epce, and nobody can
appreciate tie pleasure OF a voyage ike
this LoOTe tLan We who have been lying II
prison. forced 20 associate with tie lowest
claEs Of Ell gi!st cyimiua ua.E-anC that for 10
crime whatever ou OFT part; fox vheu
oue man is punished FOX q crime If is ur-
reasonable tat aaotte, man should be
convicted aUd pcusL.d fo- the came
ofense. To te.. yoa tie truth am mighty
glad 20 get kCne. YoC see-!et ne tell
you low i. was. Wien tie writ of habeas
corpus y a. sCEPeuded IN Ire and after oar
Ill scccesses tAeTe, cCz-E years ago, it
was oQr ssfrst pot.cy 20 leave tie country.
We we're al kuowL, aud any old woman
complaint. Well, We went 20 Mancheeter,
a wtoie company Of Us, where We were
living Qulety enough until the police
arrested Key AID Deasy. They were
walEicg a.oug when the police grabbed
them beair &, ee.z!ng the pockets il which
their ceTolTe!s lay, and lugged them Off to
prisou OIL a false charge aboo, robbiug
some Old Clothes slop. 1t was sone time
before We foCEd ont what was going on,
and then we resolved on rescue. When
the prison van with the men in IL was
going 6owc tue road ebont ten of us made
an attack upon il. There were FIVE or six
coAstsbles npon II, bat they soon gave in,
and there were eight or ten detectives OIL
another ysa cloee behind. Well, the long
az d z:r.E. 0t il .z rtat tue priEouers were
released and got away, AID Sergeant Brett
wac k.I.ed ia the Gcr!mmage. 1t was az
acc!deEt, believe, bat l was not guilty
of It. EJ% ever, some of the mel escaped,
l am glad 20 say, but Mike Brennan aod
got separated, ard day or two after wac
arrested II MaL chester. Well, there was
q sort Of tTia., but i. was really court
marEksi. There were twenty seven or
twenty eight nagstra;es Oh the berch,
auG We were brought 10 IN couples hand
cUfed together. Mr.. Jones, of our coun-
eel, opposed tAi= sort OF treatment, aid
deM2. ded Kat We tc placed at the bar
w!;A tie .egai preEuDptiou that we were
inLoce - uea Until we were proved guilty,
and TIA. sc should not be treated as ieiuEs
until We were shown TO be such. TIE
Fifty first Reg! was in Manchester at
the time, bot there were good many
lrishmen IL IL, and they were sent down
to AlderEhot for other regiments TO come
up We were tried by special commis-
sion, and ack burn, one OF the most IN
scrupuloua men that ever eat Oh a bench,
wac sent down TO DO the dirty work. There
were lots of witnesses, most OF them paid.
They were men who had been in the van,
aud they were promised pardon If they
would swear as they were told. Twenty
seven OF us were tried for the came Cffense,
| and they kept on proving that every body
fired the came shot. Ten swore that did
| it, and as many more that Allen did it, and
so on uLti five Of us were sentenced to be
hanged on Saturday, May 3. Some of the
poor deviis were sentenced to prison for
| life, bat was glad that escaped that. On
the Friday before the Saturday word came
that l was respited. The Q1een's N messen-
ger came and told me that Her Majesty
was grac!ously pleased to remove the death
sentence. There had been a Cabinet
| meeting on tie case, aad Of the twelve
Ministers six were in favor and ak oppos-
ed. Charles Francis Adams was urged to
do something, but he was in doubt whether
our Cfence was a non political one or not.
He put the question to the authorities al d
| they could hot answer. You zee l was an
American citizen all the time. l wac saved
from the gallows, bit had an awful pris,
on experience. l was in MiIlbank prison
nine years and then was put in Portland
Prison. At first l was on the road gang
breaking stone, but the labor was too hard
and the danger of escape was too great, 60