Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-03-06

a. n fNT.xs
s a'i'u an explanation Of him ana 80"
ssa. aeai Of cross examination dre,, 80
49," ' ~ curious story AZ / had avs, ~. =,
1,' "n''n here give, divested OF ~. -.
,'s'ons from the point. and thu ,,h -.
told me. WIN which IL wa,
.o,.s Drieh, the original owner ~ III,
az ~ We mad seen, had two sons. pa,ricl
10 Trough No one knew whsnce he b,,,
80 Au come, or on what terms h.
80. Pufehased the land on which -
n,s modest dwelling; hut h.
sspar 70 nave been Stunned by tho ,,ao,'ie
~. ''e heighborhood, chiefly ON acconut :,
n, msng In such close proximity to a..
49, ',cfaush, place Of which many wild
sunus had been told, and which was tho o.
go spos CHOSEN by the priests wherein n
| s,,,, oeeween the froth and the water y
~, spir'ts exercised by them, Probable
.ne exceptions Of John OBrien and III
'on' .here was not a man In the county ,yho
| "ou'u nave ventured near Tough GaiIioob
| :. 'uo pool was called, after dusk. and H.
aner.y OF the owners Of the farm was mi.
sersaiiy ascribed to familiarity and friand
snip with the powers Of evil
40 add TO the bad reputation nj m. ,o.,
NY, young girl, betrayed and deserted hy
ner lover, had drowned herself in the lo,oI,
some years before the time of which + wit.
ana the lover himself, having with tardv
repentance joined eagerly In the efforts
made for the recovery OF the hndv
was himself drowned also in the SAM
SPOT and In the presence of many Of his neigh
oors, who were unable to rescua hin, al
VINO only succeeded in recovering the two
oorpses several days afterwards. There ,yoo
wise woman" living in little cabin IN tha
outskirts Of Athlone, who, when she heard , ~
s sno ocurience mumbled something in Irish
and then informed her awe strucE l;s,ano,
..A. sue had mad revelation, and had learned
:"s',, .ue poor was under spell, and would
ihiaiiibiy cause the death Of the enemy of
ny one VINO mad the courage to drown him.
seiI therein, repeating the name of the man
10 =. wouio doom a. the black water silenced
his lips forever
Onreh and his sons were more Stunned
'."ii over atter the event just related: but
"neh the OLD man died and it was found that
ne MAD ielt the whole OF his small possessions to
ms eldest son Patrick, aud that Turlough was
quite unprovided for, popular opinion yeered
rouho' ana set In strongly in favor of the
younger brother, all the dislike due to him
oeing added to the share OF Patrick, From
what Peter told me Of the latter man. I do
not think he deserved the opprobrium which
ieii upon him; he seems to have been kind
enough TO Turlough, giving him share of
ms mouse and OF the proceeds of the land.
tnougn declining, perhaps wisely enough, to
make Them over to him by legal document
turiougb said little, lived in apparent friend
snip with his brother, and bided his time. 1t
came earlier than he expected.
Patrick, like most Westmeath men at that
date, was thorough Fenian at heart and
managed to get greatly involved in the plots
which led to that most abortive ATTEMPT AT
a rebellion, in which the government appears
70 have known quite as much as the conspira.
tors themselves Of the secret councils of the
latter. As a natural consequence. Patrick
was wanted and equally as a matter
OF course, he was not to be found
by the police who invaded his domi
Gle. No one was there but Turlougb. who
was politeness itself, gave them glass of
whisky all round, and showed them with
some pride deed of gift from Patrick
which, i'll due legal form, made over to his
brother Turlough the formers interest in
the farm Clearly, nothing was to be done
and the disappointed police had nothing for
it but to return to barracks
In what part OF ireland Patrick Law hidden |
during the years that followed Peter could |
not tell me, but 1t was on a spring day in |
1870 that he came again, attended by certain |
friends of his as witnesses, to claim back the |
deed OF gift from his brother. The seven
days wonder had passed, Ireland was uuieter
than usual, and there was no more talk of |
prosecuting ex-Fenians. The farm had only
been made over to Turlough that he might
manage 1t till better times came and that
there might be no danger of confiscation.
What could be simpler than that the rightful
owner should now reclaim possassiona But
he had reckoned without his brother. Tur-
Tough sat unmoved by the passionate in
vective that was poured upon him, and
stolidy reiterated his assertion that he
had given Patrick full value for the
farm, and had no intention whatever of
giving it up. Words ran high, and doubt
less blows would have followed, had not
Turlough at last produced an American re-
volver from his pocket, and threatened to
shoot every man in the house-his house-if
they did not at once leave it. Against such
a practical argument there was nothing to be
urged, and the men left the hut, carrying
with them the frantic Patrick, mad with
rage and fired with a true Irish thirst for
Their road home lay by Tough Galliagh.
As they neared it Patrick broke away from
his friends, rushed across the quaking DEVILS
Scraugh, and plunged into the peaty water
with scream OF his brothers name, mingled
with ban. The party he had left stood still
moment in horror, and then hurried eau
,,-I ~ DIT I
he desperate man never rose again. Some
thought that he must actually have swum
lnder water till he was beneath the scraugh,
% as to render rescue impossible and make
ure of the anathema.
From that time forth no living man, could
lie avoid it, would approach Tough Gallias
" speak word to Turlough O'Brien. The
after was cut off from ali human companion
hip, and driven to subsist on the potatoes he
rev on his farm and the milk of a COW
which he kept there. Whether his terrible
'enance did him good or not, Peter could not
ay, but hoped it had done So A man
whose heart was wholly bad would have left
ne to perish in the scraugh.
No one had dared to attempt the finding of
he corpse of Patrick OBrien; but, almost
ally for years past Turlough had been seen
sorking with his graip here and there along
be margin of the Tough and in the DEVILS
craugh itself, so the probability was that he
,as endeav oring to find his brothers body
,hether hope of avoiding the ban pro-
ounced on the pool, or with the better OBJ
sct of giving Christian burial to the remains
( his victim, no one could say, though, of
curse, the peasantry inclined to the former
elief. No doubt / had met with my acct
ent in one OF tire holes he had dug in the
craugh, which had had time to cover itself ,