The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-09-29
SHAMUS O'BRIEN.

Samuel Lover wrote poem which he
called .'Shamum Obrien." It became
famous, and even now is so great IA
vorite with the masses that hardly q
patriotic commemoration of Irish events
takes place without some body being
down on the programme to recite the
trying adventures of O'Brien, seldom is
there mixed class of entertainment Of
fered at a theater that the versifed
Shamus does not appear as regularly as
the thrilling circumstances of "Sheri-
dams Ride, are retold by the crack elo-
cutionist of the company. Yet, strange
to say, there was Shamus O'Brien; at
least no one ever came 80 near the moose
as he is represented by Lover to have
done. Had he been so near the hempen
cord as all that. they would have swung
him off whether or no. Men in the 1898
period never mounted tthe gallows and
descended from it alive, unless it might
be IN some rare case of survival after
hanging. The writer has taken pains to
trace back through the vanished ages
the story on which ''Shamus O'Brien"
was founded, and has at length hunted
up the events on which Lover proba,
bly, based his beautiful and Touching
poem. Here they are, very much con-
densed. from trial which took place in
the memorable and, to the American, de-
testable reign of George III.
Larry Cronan was stout, hardy Irish
boy, who, although he was but twenty.
five years of age, was already husband
and the father of five blooming babes,
for they were little more, when Larry
got into that trouble which came so near
ending all his trouble in this world. He
was in good condition of life, was what
they called a fve-pound free holder, and
paid his rent punctually. He loved his
neighbor, and seldom missed mass, a
| fair or wake, and was altogether one of
the best behaved and most thriving boys
in all Ireland. But,in an unlucky hour,
he was arrested and indicted at the Sum.
mer Assizes of his native county 'for
that he, on certain night and at a Ger
tain place, feloniously and burglariously
entered certain dwelling house in
search OF arms" &C., and stood capitally
indicted under the Ellenborough act. A
writer of the day says: "I was present
at his trial, and still retain vivid recol-
lection of the fortitude and address with
which he made his stand against the law
and yet there were objects around hin
quite sufficient to unnerve the bodies
heart-a wife, q sister, and an agec
mother. for such found to be the three
females who clung to the side-bars of th'
dock and awaited in silent agony thu
issue of his fate. But the prisoner, un
dismayed, appeared almost unconscious
of their presence. Every faculty of hi
soul was on the alert to prove to hi
friends and the country at large that b.
was not man to be hanged without
struggle. He had used the precautior
to come down that morning in his bes
attire, for he knew that with an Irisl
jury the next best thing to genera
good character is respectable suit o
clothes.
'It struck me that this new silk hand
kerchief almost betokened innocence, TO
who could have gone to the unnecessar
expense if he apprehended that it's plac
was so soon to be supplied by the rope
His countenance bore no marks OF hi
previous imprisonment. He was as fres
, and healthy and his eyes as bright as
he had been all the time out on bail.
"When his case was called on, instea
, of shrinking under the general buzz tha
. his appearance excited, or turning pal
at the plurality of crime of which he ws
arraigned, he manfully looked danger
|. the face. and put in action every resoure
within his reach to avert it, having dl
patched messenger to bring O'Conne
from the other court, and beckoned
: his attorney to approach the dock sid
: and keep within whispering distant
8 while the jury were swearing and man
g tested no ordinary powers
!, physiognomy in putting by every iurt
: that had anything of dead, dull, ham
q dog look. He had even the sagacit
q though against the opinion of his alto
n ney, to strike off one country gentlems
+ from his own barony who owed him
i balance of e3.
9 1.-THE trial went on after the usual fas
g ions of trials of the kind. Abundan
G OF hard swearing on the direct, retra
It tions and contradictions on the eros
o examinations. The defense was ma
d terpiece. Several times the rope seem,
f irrevecably entw1ned around poor LIS
It rvs neck-as many times the dexteri
l. of O'Connell united the Gordian kne
d From some of the witnesses he extract
d that they were unworthy of credit, beil
70 notorious knaves or process server
n Others he inveigled into metaphysic
= puzzle touching the prisoners identity
D. others he stunned by repeated bio
\