Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-03-07
A DRAMATIC ENDING.


it.
A DRAMATIC ENDING.
The most dramatic and picturesque fig
ure in the world to-day is CHARLES STEW
ART PARNELL, the Irish leader. Accus
ed by the London Times of completely
in the assassination of Lord Cayendish
Hord Lieutenant of Ireland) and his Pri-
vate Secretary, and after that powerful
newspaper had month after month thun-
dered its anathemas at him, and dared
him to sue for libel, Mr.. Parnell request
ed an investigation at the hands of Par
lament, of which he is member. A
Commission was constituted, and the
work of investigation began. This was
three months ago, and daily Except Sun
days. it has pursued its inquiries. 1t was
a fight Of the most powerful newspaper
in the world, backed by immense wealth
and by all the power of the British gov
eminent, against one man. Mr.. Parnell
beggared himself, and his old mother "a
resident of New Jersey mortgaged her
home to raise means to aid in his defense.
The Times relied upon letters claimed
to have been written by Mr.. Parnell and
Mr.. Patrick Egan, now resident of Lin
coin, Nebraska, which established their
knowledge of and completely in the as
sassinations. Parnen and his counsel
and friends were wholly at sea. They
surmised, investigated clues, but all in
vain. They knew the letters were for
geries, but they were so adrOit, the pen
manship so clever, and the phraseology
so like Parnell and Egan, that it was clear
the crime had been committed by some
one having access to the correspondence
of both. The skill of the best English
solicitors and the genius of the best de-
tectives failed to throw any light upon
the forger, and Mr.. Parnell and his coun-
sci and friends were greatly dishearten-
ed. But Patrick Egan had not been idle,
although greatly perplexed by the clever
ness of the forgeries, fac Similes of which
he had seen in the Times. The penman-
ship was remarkably good, and express
sions and odd abbreviatiOns peculiar to
him were in the text. He considered
several persons whom ParnelPS friends
had suggested as the possible forger, but
concluded none of them could have had
letters from him which could have made
the spurious connections possible. He
recalled Richard Piggott, who at one
time edited newspaper at Dublin, but
he had been so long politically dead and
covered with accumulated shame that
Mr.. Egan dismissed him. Examining
the forged letters, he discovered that one
was avowedly written at a certain ad-
dress in Paris which he had given to no
one else than Piggott. This was the key.
Mr.. Egan had methodically kept letters
and answers to them. Comparing them
with the forgeries, he discovered he had
the forger. He submitted all to experts,
who detected characteristic peculiarities,
which were confirmed under microscope
Mr.. Egan submitted all these to Alexan-
der Sullivan, of Chicago, lawyer, and
together they prepared brief which was
to confound the conspiracy. Then the
question was its safe transmission to Mr..
ParneI. Mr.. Sullivan recalled the fact
that patriotic young priest was then in
New York, on his way to England
Patrick Ford, of the Irish WOi Id, was
communicated with by telegraph, the
priest held, and Mr.. Egan hurried to New
York with his precious package, which
was delivered to Henry Labouchere, at
London. Then follows the appearance
of Piggott at Labouchere'S office, asking
an interview, the refusal, except it occur
in the presence of a third person, the call
ing in of George Augustus Sala, the con-
fession and flight of Piggott, the failure
of the Times case, and the vindication
of Parnell and Egan.
The end of this is not yet. Mr.. Glad
stone will now crowd the cause of Home
Rule to the front, and vote of want of
confidence in the Cabinet by the Com
mons and the end of bloody coercion is
only a matter of very short time.