The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-23
IT READS LIKE FICTION.
A Story the Characters of Which are
Very Well Known To-day.
From The Scranton 7rotth.


About twenty years ago the British gov
eminent discovered that a bright, intelli-
gent Irish lad who had joined the Eighth
Hussars was endeavoring to make certain
members of that regiment disloyaI to the
queen. Indeed, he had succeeded so far as
to induce several of the Hussars to throw
Off their allegiance to the crown and swear
fealty to the cause of Ireland, with the ex-
plicit understanding that they would fight
for Irish independence as soon as the time
was ripe to strike the blow. The youth who
had undertaken the dangerous mission of
making reyolutionists Of the queens soldiers
had been a student of history and gloried in
the career of George Washington and The
other American patriots who shook off the
British yoke, and he felt that the only hope
of bringing prosperity back to Ireland lay
in making that unhappy country free.
The English authorities did not appreciate
his efforts, however, because they were not
employed in the interests of "the mother
country" and he was tried for treason and
sentenced to death. His extreme youth,
his talents, and his noble qualities all
pleaded against his execution, and so, after
long time, the death sentence was COM
muted to Punishment for twenty years in
the wilds of Australia. In those DAYS such
a sentence was regarded as worse than
death, and when the young soldier went
friends and admirers in England and Ire
land, for they thought they would never see
him again. Even at that time his writings
had won recognition and made him popu-
lar, and when he went away it seemed to
the readers Of his poems as il they had lost
a dear personal friend. The British aristo-
Gratis, Lionel Sackville West among the
number, viewed the matter in a different
light, and felt that another Of England's
enemies had been disposed of forever. But
the young exile, after q weird experience
among the Australian wilds, where free
dom whispered hope even to the banished,
made his escape at the risk of his life in an
open boat, was picked up by an American
whaler, and brought safely to the shores of
America. Here his talents won speedy
recognition among the brightest, and the
young man who was sentenced to death by
England for his love of country was hailed
in cultured Boston as poet, patriot and
author.
A few days ago the British minister at
Washington, Lord Sackville, undertook to
advise q naturalized citizen as to how he
should vote In an American election
to promote the welfare of the mother
country and the young man who had been
condemned to death by that same "motner
country" over twenty years ago called on
the President of the United States and
urged the dismissal OF England's diplomatic
REPRESENTATIVE lUboTltTtUCB IN
American affairs. The President listened
and became convinced, and Great Britain's
lordly minister was bounced.
Our readers would doubtless like to know
the name of the young man who was con-
demned to death by England about twenty
golden years ago. and who now wears
Lord Sackville's scalp in his belt. Well,
his name is John Boyle O'Reilly and he
live in Boston town, within a st 1ne's throw
OF the Bunker Hill monume :.