The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-09-29
RosEBURG OREGON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1888

0luuCeS Gogotnor, the court and Jurors,
galleries and dock were in a roar. How.
ever the law or the facts might turn out,
it was clear that the laugh was all on
Larry's side.
I'm this perilous conjuncture, amid
all the rapid alterations of his case
now the prospect of q triumphant return
to his home and friends, now the vision
abruptly dispelled and the execution
staring him in the face, Larry's coun-
tenance exhibited picture Of heroic.
immobility.
"Once, and only once, when the evi.
dence was in faH tide against him, some
signs of mortal trepidation overcast his
visage. The blood in his cheeks tool
fright and fed. A cold perspiration burst
from his brow. His lips became glazed
together. His sister, whose eyes were
riveted upon him as she clung to the dock
side, extended her arm and applied a
piece of orange to his mouth. He &C
cepted the relief without turning aside to
see by whose hands the relief had been
administered.
AT this crisis Of his courage home
thrust from O'Connell foored the witness
who had 30 disconnected his client. The
public buzzed their admiration, and Larry
was himself againl
''The case for the crown having closed,
O'Connell announced that he would call
no witnesses. Larry's friends pressed
hard to have at least one of the alibis
proved, but O'Connell was infexible,
and they reluctantly submitted. The case
went to the jury laden with hanging mat
ter but not without saving doubt.
1-1.1 III
vailed. The jury came out and the glo-
rious sound of Not Guiltyl' announced
to Larry Cronin that he had miraculous
" escaped the gallows. He bowed with
undissembled gratitude to the verdict.
He thanked the jury. He thanked
O'Connell, shook hands with the iailor,
sprung, at one bound over the dock, was
caught as he descended in the arms of
his friends, and hurried away in triumph
from the precincts of the court.
It will be remembered that Lover
makes Shamus mount the gallows, his
mother, if we rightly remember, stand
ing near him. She whispers something
in his ear, he springs from the scaffold,
is caught by his friends, and is off and
away before the jailer or any other OF
the authorities can say "Jack Robinson, -
much less proceed to lay hands on him
to bring him back. But to continue:
saw him few minutes after, as be
was paraded through the main street OF
the town to his barony. The sight was
enough to make one almost long to have
been on the point of being hanged. The
principal figure was Larry himself, ad
vancing with a firm and buoyant step,
and occasionally giving responsive
flourish Of his shillalah, which he had
already reassumed, to the cheorings and
congratulations amid which he moved
along. At his sides were his wife and
sister, each of whom held the collar o1
his coat tightly grasped, and, dragging
him to and fro, interrupted his progress
every moment, as they threw themselvei
upon him and gave vent to their feelings
in another and another convulsive hug
"a few yards in front of his mother
hustled along at strange sort of pace
between trot and canter, and every
now and then discovering that she hae
shot too far ahead, pirouetted round ant
stood in the center OF the street clap
| ping her withered hands, and shouting
out her ecstacy in native Irish, until th
group came up and again propelled he
| forward"
And that is the story of the celebrated
| Shamus O'Rrien in prose! In the tlo,
and beauty of words the poem may ex
| eel it, but in dramatic force and feeling
| the truth is not to be surpassed. A toucl
/ of humor, as in the above description
seems to be native to the Irish in relat
ing any narrative, no matter how tragic
Ireland's history teens to overfowln
with the deeds of her patriotic sons, bu
of her equally patriotic daughters tn
record is scant indeed.
Full of tears and smilesssswould be
book relating the lives of the mothers c
Irishmen. Like bright dew drops glis
ening on dying roses shines the devt
ton of the women of the Green Isle
their sons, husbands, fathers and brott
ers, in their dark hours of peril, and {
death. The last on the soafold-the La
at the grave is the mother of the patr
otic Irisbman. Whatever other woms
may desert him she is always there
his side to the bitter end.
/ No Irish woman's name figures in Il
long list of pensions bestowed by En-
land on informery. No rewards we
ever gained by Irish women for the b
trayal of men. Woman was always Il
first to shelter the hunted patriot, and
keep secret bis place of concealme
even when threatened with death herse
. Emmett was sheltered by woman,
: was Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Linkt
J arm in arm. slowly paced Mrs. Bond
the prison-vard with her husband, Oliv
J Bond, heavily mapacled-the coffin
i eight of all, and the dreadful apparat
ready.
There was but one vulnerable point
the cast-iron heart of Lord Castlereag
t It was that to him was denied the hapl
. ness of paternity.
s This was the only bitter drop in t
D cup brimmiug over with all else that W
9 good and coveted by other men. T
: force of the blow struck him by WON
| may be estimated when this remembers
0 The mother of Telling, a youth imp
9 Gated in the rebellion of 1898, vainly l
9 sought of Castlereagh the pardon of b
i son. Bathed in tears she turned aw
i from him, saying: "You can not CO
r prehend my feelings, my lord. I RENE
+ Der you have no childF
:, Previous to the outbreak of the I
:. bellion of '98 there was a noted prison
n Geneva, in the county of Wexford, il
a which the husband of one young won
and the betrothed of another we
l. thrown. The women were permitted
e visit the prisoners. Finally they
J. changed clothes, and the young N
j. escaped. AS they were only yeom.
j. and their women peasant girls, this q
d identical with the escape of that
r Lavalette in the dress of the counte
y his wife, was not Landed to the skies 9
t. handed down in history as wonder
ID instance of feminine heroism On