Morning journal and courier., 1883-03-20
News by Telegraph
 FROM ALL QUARTERS. PEARS RATHER THIN. That Alleged Assault on
 Lady Dixie. A STORY THAT READS LIKE FICTION. Irish Leaders Who View It
 With RidicuIe IAGERSOLL HAS HIS LITTLE JOKE. l But He Hits the Nail Never
 theRess.
THE OLD WORLD.
Tr0land.

1 Ireland
 The Assault on Lady Dixfe-Seared Of. 1 fcials and nn IneredulOus Public.
 l LONDON, March 19.-Follewing closely on
 the explosion at the local government build
 ings at Westminster, the attempt to murder
 Lady Florence Dixie at Windsor has reused public excitement to the highest pitch.
 These alleged Irish outrages are the absorb | ing topics of the hour, and the executive is
 taking active measures in the emergency The metropolitan force has been increased by over thousand men, and the detective force | has been doubled during the night. Although | the officials say that they have clues to the perpetrators of the Dixie outrage, no arrests
 have as yet been made. Lady Dixie is per- fectly rational in her talk but excited and
 seems to know very little about the attack
 That she had all unconscious struggle with the alleged assassins is not made clear | There is no evidence of any struggle having
 taken place and the slightness of Lady Dixie's injuries Is causing general distrust as to the entire truth of her story. There is now vague undercurrent of opinion that the af- fair is either exaggerated or that it is the re- suit of an over-wrought hysterical imagina- tion. That only few insi gnifcant outs on her hands and dress should be all there is to show, as the result of murderous attack by
 two disguised, infuriated Fenians, burning
 with desire to punish an enemy of the cause,
 is regarded as somewhat suspicious. Gossip says that the whole affair may not be uncon-
 nected with a featuring tour through the
 United States which it is said Lady Dixie has had under consideration for some time. It
 is understood that if Lady Dixie goes to the
 United States it will be arranged to have
 her closely follow Mir. Parnell in his proposed
 route.
 Irish Opinions Concerning the Attack.
 NEW YORK, March 19-A reporter of the
 U. P. A. this evening asked Mir. Patrick Egan, late treasurer of the Irish National land league, what he thought of the reported attack upon Lady Florence Dixie. MT. Egan said: "I am convinced that either the story is bogus one or that the poor lady is labor ing under an hallucination, and in this con- nection may mention that nearly all the members of her family are more or less crazy. Her attacks on the land league lead CTS have never caused any serious feeling against her in Ireland where she is regarded more with pity than with hostility. Certain I am that no Irishman would be guilty of a ruffians cowardly attack upon defenceless woman such as the one reported to have been made upon Lady Florence Dixie. Should the attack really have been made I would sup pose it tn be the result of fa4ailE--N~--rliea- tions or disputes. But the whole story on the face of it looks improbable. If two men armed as she describes attacked her, surely either herself or her dog would bear some marks of the knives and it is scarcely proba- ble that the two successive stabs would have been turned of by the steel of her corset as she states. There are scarcely any Irishmen living in the vicin- ity of Windsor where the attack was made, and again state in the most emphatic terms my belief that no Irishman could be found base enough to perpetrate such dastardly outrage"
 MT. P. J. Sheridan, whom the British gov ernment is now seeking to extradite, said in reply to question as to his opinion concern ing the reported outrage: Tiff such an attack as thakreported was made on Lady Florence Dixie it was done with the purpose of bring ing discredit on the Irish people at large and to assisting in framing public opinion for the prearranged slaughter of the men now on their trial in Dublin"
 s'Do you think that Lady Florence Dixie 1 has done anything to merit such treatment l at the hands of Irishmen ?" ''On the con- trary her mother long ago and deservedly | won the love and admiration of the Irish | people. The name of the Marchioness of | Queensbury is household word in Ireland. | The name of Lady Florence is less known, | but highly esteemed on her mothers account. | Beside the lady herself has always been re- | earded as a friend and weIl-wisher of the | Irish people,"
 s'Do you think her public letters on land l league matters could have brought about this | attack ?" stI do not. Irishnen could never | under any circumstances countenance such | an attack on any woman. I don't believe | there is an Irishman living who would raise his hand to strike much less to stab her. On | the contrary any Irishman worthy of the | name would risk his life to defend her under 1 such circumstances. I know I would. We | all regretted to see her place herself in the | false position she did relative to the land | league funds, but we grant at the same time 1 that either Lady Florence Dixie or anybody l else is perfectly justified in criticising pub lie movement and the actions of it's officers. l This is as much as Lady Florence Dixie has l done, and certainly her conduct in doing so | no Irishman would resent with dagger"
 Do you think the attack was made at | all ?' 1T am quite prepared to believe that 1 it was but do not believe it WAS the inten- | tion of her assailants to kill her. The hand l that raised that dagger only intended to cut l her clothes, but it also intended to cut and l bleed to death the men whose lives Carey is | swearing away in Dublin and likewise to dis l parage MT. Parnell and his friends. But the l trick is too transparent. Even Engishmen | will refuse to believe 1t, though section of the English press will no, doubt ask them | to-"