Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-03-17
BRITISH DUNGEONS.
How Ireland's Political Prisoners Ar
Treated by Ory 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 public
speech quotation from Lord Byron's
dramatic poem of "Cain.
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
eminent. though there can be little
doubt but such q catholic lover of free
dom as 1.-THE noblest of all Gordons"
would if alive to-day, be rs 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 fondness
which he has immortalizcd 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 Ershmen
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. Heating,
'for using language which was as
serted to be . violation of The seventh
section of the Crimes act of 1892 The
language for which was arrested and
incarcerated rs common criminal for
one month is simple quotation from
Byron referring to notorious land
grabber and cruel exterminator in the
neighborhood of Davidstown. the place
where | made the speech. ! quoted
from "Cain" the well-known curse
May the grass wither from his feet,
| The woods deny him shelter, the earth home,
The sun its light and heavenits 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 1893 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 i'm
ported from Dundalk, in the North of
Ireland, to assist at the mock trial.
Captain Keogh is a brother of the infa-
nous Judge of the same name who
committed suicide some years ago, and
has borne the title of the Irish Jefries.
81 dare say you would like to hear
my treatment in the Wexford Jail. Fol
the thirty-one days was there 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. / had hard plank bed tc
sleep upon, with thin blanket to cover
me. For food | got eight ounces Of
black bread and pint of water fol-
breakfast, half-pint of vegetable SOUP
at dinner, and eight ounces Of BLACK
bread and another pint of water fol
supper. This was all got the frs
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 81,
ounces in the morning and in the even
ing with halt-pint of coffee withou
sugar or milk. During my entire stay
in jail 1 never got a single atom Of mea
or any thing else but what l have toll
you. need scarcely add that looked
like ghost when came out, but bat
as l was l was able to quote Byrol
again and use stronger language thai
he ever wrote against the Englisl
tyranny in Ireland
Il don't think told you that durin;
the two hours | had freedom from m,
cell each day was engaged breaking
stone in the prison yard. When in tn
cell l had three pounds of oakum t
pick daily, so had plenty to do. Ever,
prisoner sent up for month gets eX
actly the same treatment as | did, bu
those whose terms are longer get littl
more food. You can now imagine wha
people get for telling the truth in Ire
land about the manner in which til
country isrobbed by the landlords, an
crushed to the earth by English Of
ticials. San Francisco Examiner