New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-20
MAKING WAR ON WOMEN.

with her Judgment. she Is roousC ai'" VIZ
orous Lady Gay Spanker who has gone hunting
for adventures in Patagonia and Zuluiahd anu
done a great work of mercy in Ireland, ana
shown herself to he possessed OF grlt' seil-pos-
session ard good sense. Her account OF inc
despicable assault made upon her In the "inu-
sor woods is to be accepted as the statement oI
a singulaIly cool, courageous ana splriteu
woman. She was waylaid and attacked In
broad da ylight by two ruians disguised III
women's clothes and armed with daggers.
Knowing how faithfully she has lab"red in be-
half of the peasantry in the West of Ireland and
how generously she has contributed to the re-
lief funds, in famine years, she il 10th to be-
leve that those cowardly miscreants were Irish
men.
There is nothing inherently improbable in the
supposltion that such agltators as nave
lately been bringing 80 much discredit on the
honored name of Irisllmen might make war on
women as we'll as on British officials, conscl-
entous jurymen, courageous judges and debt
paving tenants. In the campaign OF crime and
lawlessness by which the Land League move
ment has been Systematically sustained, there
has been no discrimination In favor of the gen.
x.
tackled and butchered. On March IL, n year
ago, a body of nloonli ghters, armed and dis
gused, broke into farmers house at Brosna,
In Kerry, and after shooting him and leaving
him apparently lifeess on the floor, rushed
into the room where his wife and daughter were
sleeping and dragged them out of bed. His
wife received guDshot wound in the knee,
and was repeatedly dubbed on the head with
rifle. His daughter while attempting to defend
her mother was knocked down by blow from
the stock of n gun. On March II n game
keepers son was murdered by three men on the
highrOad near ClOnbur, and his mother while
seeking to protect him was seriously wounded.
On the Same night three ladies returning to
their homes from an evening party near Bally-
mote were fired upon 10y men concealed in
ditch and one OF them was severely wounded.
On April 2, as three ladies were driving home
from church, with Westmeath landlord, they
were fred upon at close range and one of them
was killed outright. On August 10, not only
John Joyce and his two little sons, but his aged
mother, his wife and his daughters were butch
cred in their cabin by band of midnight ma
RAIDERS in one of the most secluded quarters of
County Galway. Every one of these crimes
was dstnctively agrarian, and was committed
in the interest of the Land movement. The
moonghters" and despcradOes organized 10y
secret agents for the general purpose OF pro-
noting terrorism and lawlessDoss have consid-
cred women as fair game, and have wartonly
assaulted and barbarOusly murdered them
There is, therefore, as we have SAID, nothing
inherently improbable in the superstition that
Lady Florence Dixie was assaulted by murder
Gus miscreants who assumed to be making war
for Oud Ireland"
Let us turn now to the direct probabilities OF
the case. A fortnight before she vas attacked
Lady Florence Dixie had renewed her demand
to the trustees of the Land League for an ex-
PLANTATION OF their accounts, and had made the
explicit charge that a large sum contributed
solely for the relief OF distress in Ireland had
been cruelty withheld and diverted to other
purposes. Taking five general funds "a basis
of calculation, she charged that there was a
deficit of over 100000 between the amount
audited and the aggregate subscriptions which
had been acknowledged from time to time in
the Land League press. This exposure OF the
heartlessness Of Mr.. Parnell and his associates
in referring constantly TO the distress in tho
West OF Ireland, when the funds contributed
for the relief of tho destitute peasantry had
been deliberately and systematically applied to
political and possibly to criminal objects, re-
manned unanswered. The trustees were silent !;
Patrick Egan sneaked out of the country; Mr..
Parnel was sullen. What can be more natural
than tho supp0siton that these two craven
rufiians in petticoats answered her charges in
their own cowardly way Tho honesty of Land
I 10, lao oil fl,a
honor Of the Irish agitators was to.be indicated
II Mr.. Parnell and Mr.. Egan were infrm of
purpose, give tho petticOat assassns the dag
gers
Lady Florence Dixie was not assassinated.
Possibly the murderers were frightened by the
noise of a cart or driven off by the dog. 1t may
be that they did not intend to murder her, but
only to scratch the palms of her hands, tear
holes in her dress with their daggcrs. and cram
her mouth with clay. 1t may be that they re-
cOilcd at the last moment from plungng their
knives into the PROSTATE form before them-the
helpless woman who had helped so many UNI
happy women and children in Ireland.
Whether her dclverance was due to her dog,
to her cOrsets or to the cOwardly hearts of her
assailants, or whether it was u matter of pre-
vlous calculation in London or Dublin, implies
little. 1t was GROWING outrage n stones
throw from the Queens palace designed, like
the dynamite plot close by Westminster Abbey
aud St. Stephens, to exasperate Englishmen and
to let them know that such lrishmcn as now usurp
the control of affairs in the unhappy island were
utterly ungoyernabe and never would he any
thing else so long as Engishmcn ruled in
Dublin Castle. The war OH women was to be
fought out in England ms well rs in Ireland
The armies were to meet on the plains of Wind
sor-two assassins draped in petticOats and
wells and their native CRIME, and over against
them one brave Scotch woman and her dog !;
and there was to he one more victory for the
ever faithful isle
4 DEMOCRATLC GERRYMANDER