The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-01-19
BRITISH DUNGEONS.
How Ireland's Political Prisoners Are
Treated by Tory Officials.

How Irelands Political Prisoners Are
Treated by Tory Officials.
A reporter had an interesting in.
terview with recent arrival in the city
from the County Wexford, Ireland, who
has felt the Inconvenience of sleeping
on plank bed and living on prison
fare for using in the course of Il public
speech quotation from Lord Byron S
dramatic poem of Gain"
1t will be something new to the gen
eral public to learn that the author of
"Childe Harold" and ''Don juan
wrote treason against the English gov
ernment. though there can be little
doubt but such catholic lover Of free
dom as 'the noblest of all Gordons''
would, if alive to-day. be as warm a
sympathizer with the Irish people as
his granddaughter and her husband,
Sir Wilfrid Blunt. Lady Blunt is the
daughter of Byron's only child, whom
he loved with passionate fondncss
which he has immortalized in the OPEN
ing line of one of the cantos of "Childe
Harold"
The treatment of John j. Heating,
the gentleman above referred to, is the
same as that accorded to all Ir;shmen
thrown into prison. The details of an
Irish patriots life in an English prison
in Ireland will be read with something
approaching to incredulity by the
American people.
81 was arrested" said Mr.. Keatin.,
'for using language which was as
serted to be a violation of the seventh
section of the Crimes act of 1882. The
language for which was arrested and
incarcerated as common criminal for
one month is simple quotation from
Byron referring to a notorious land
grabber and cruel exterminator in the
neighborhood of Davidstown. the place
where l made the speech l quoted
from Gain" the well-known curse:
May the grass wither from his feet.
The woods deny him shelter, the earth home,
The sun its light and heaveni its God.
"Of course l only used that quotation
in the peroration of my speech. l was
promptly arrested and tried at the petty
sessions at Enniscorthy, place famed
in the rebellion of 1898. The magis-
trates who tried me were two crown
officials-one r. R. Kennedy, the regu-
lar stipendiary of the place, and the
other Captain Keogh-who were inn
ported from Dundalk, in the North OF
Ireland, to assist at the mock trial.
Captain Keogh is brother of the infa-
nous Judge of the same name who
committed suicide some years ago. and
has borne the title of the Irish Jeffries. ,
81 dare say you would like to hear
my treatment in the Wexford jail For
the thirty-one days l was there 1 spent
twenty-five hours out of every twenty
four alone in my cell, which measured
fourteen feet by seven, and was lighted
by small iron-barred window about a
foot square. I had hard plank bed to
sleep upon, with thin blanket to cover
me. For food l got eight ounces of
black bread and a pint of water for
breakfast, half-pint of vegetable soup
at dinner. and eight ounces of black
bread and another pint of water for
supper This was all l got the first
week, and was by way of initiation into
the mystery Of living without nourish-
ment. The second week, and during
the remainder of my work, my daily
allowance of bread was reduced to six
ounces in the morning and in the even
ing with halt-pint of coffee without
sugar or milk. During my entire stay
in Jail never got a single atom of meat
or any thing else but what have told
you. need scarcely add that looked
like ghost when came out, but bad
as l was l was able to quote Byron
again and use stronger language than
he ever wrote against the English
tyranny in Ireland.
81 don't think told you that during
the two hours had freedom from my
cell each day was engaged breakin g
stone in the prison yard. When in the
cell had three pounds of oakum to
pick daily, so I had plenty to do. Every
prisoner sent up for a month gets ex-
actly the same treatment as / did, but
those whose terms are longer get little
more food. You can now imagine what
people get for telling the truth in Ire
land about the manner in which the
country is robbed by the landlords. and
crushed to tho earth by English of
ficials. San Francisco Examiner.