Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-15
A Fatal Row.

| NEW IORh, Jan. sat q late nOur
this afternoon, several men rushed
out Of No. y Chambers street, in
which building is located the office of
| ODonovan Rosa al4d the United
Irishmen. In few seconds man
covered with blood tottered down the
stairs to the hail way and sank on the
front stoop, while his blood covered
the sidewalk in a stream. The most
intense excitement Immediately en-
sued, and crowds fecked to the scene.
Several officers rushed up, and seeing
q few men making towards Chambers
street and the city hall, followed them.
One OF them, a tall man, was captured
and brought back to where the dying
man was lying. lis this the man
who stabbed YONG" asked the officer
Yes, that is the man." said the
bleeding man, "but. by heavens, if I
ana going to die I'll die game, and
there will be two of u.s." With that,
and before the bystanders could
realize his intention, he drew a re-
volver and fired two shots in quick
succession at the man standing before
him. One of the balls took effect In
the thigh of his would-be murderer.
This still further increased the excite
ment, and the neighborhood became
| Tiled with all sorts of rumors
The man who was stabbed proved
to be Captain Thomas J. Phelan, of
Kansas City, ageed 49, and his assail-
ant, whom he says sta bbed him, gave
his name as Richard Short, SCI Tenth
avenue.
An ambulance was summoned, and
Phelan was taken to the Chambers
street hospital IN a dying condition.
He is stabbed in the neck and breast
and several other places. There were
rumors that he gave away some Of
the secrets of the Fenian organization.
A printer named Schmidt, who has
composing room on the same floor
next to ODonovan Rossa's Office said:
Il was standing at my work, when
suddenly | heard q noise in Rossa's
| office, with the upsetting of table.
| followed by loud angry words, and
| curses. This continued for some
seconds, when something heavy was
thrown against the wall. a man
cried out something that sounded like
help. but L am not sure whether that
was the word or not. Then the door
was banged open and four men ran
down stairs, each trying to push the
other oat of his way. The bloed was
trickling down the face of the last
man. They were half way down
| stairs when the man with the blood
trlckllng down his face got the lead
of the others. then ran and opened
the Windows of our office which looks
out on Chambers street. Then saw
the man with blood on his face fall on
the sidewalk, put his hand to his bip
pocket, pull out a revolver and fire at
one OF the three men; which one I
cannot tell, as I did not get a good
look at him. | think, however, he
must have been shot, because he pulled
up his coat, placed his hand to his
back, and stumbled forward as If he
was going to fall on his face. A
caught him by the shoulder and
arrested him. 4 great crowd of peo-
pie gathered around the man lying Ola
the sidewalk, and several fremen
came running down the street and did
something for him in the way of
dashing water In his face and giving
him whiskey.
did you see O'Donovan Rosa
among the four men?" Schmidt was
asked. Il can't say that I did" The
| police claim to have a letter from
Rosa to the wounded man, telling
him to come on to New York to his
office; that he had important business
| for him to attend to- Pbelsn was
asked by fireman Cattrel if he wanted
a minister or priest. ''No, he replied,
Il don't want anybody. I don't
believe III any religion. I am q
| follower IF Bob Ingersoll."
News of the stabbing and shooting
spread rapidly, and inquiries were
made on all sides as to who PheIan
and Short were. Pbelan appeared to
be known TO many men. He was
identified with several Irish revolu-
tionary societies.
Rosa was condemned by number
of his conpatriots for giving publica-
ton in his paper this week to an
interview published in the Kansas City
Journal, which purported to have
been had with Phelan, giving de-
tailed account of tue operations of the
dynamiters in England. Threats were
made against Rossa's life, and it is
said his immediate friends had deter
mined to form bodyguard to protect
him. Short, it was stated, came to
this country with the man who In the
summer of 1862 shot at i'm McDer-
mott ia Capt. Ryas's bar-room in
Chana bers street. He is said to to be
native of Cork where he was one of
the principal leaders against the gov
ernment directed by O'Donovan
Rosa.
Phelan was suspected of being one
OF the origlnators of the skirmishing
fund and was at one time suspected
of being famous. No one was men
toned by the informer Carey in his
evidence. He has been an Irish
nationalist all his life and has always
been prominent in the Irish revolu
tionary movement. Short is said to
be one of the Irishmen driven to this
country by the treachery of Jim Nc.