Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-04
PARNELi MISREPRESENTATION
He Admits the Telling of a Mild Po-
itical F'ib.
KISSED BY THE AUDIENCE
"rhe Statement Was Made to Mislead
the House; 1 Am Afraid 1t Did
Not, for the Bill Was
Passed."
Cool As an Iceberg.

LONDON, May 3.-During the cross. exam
nation of Parnell before the commits
sion he testified that he had often re-
proved William OBrien, editor of United
Ireland, for violent articles that appeared in
that paper. He had not publicly repudiated
the articles because he did not consider that
to be the way to effect the alterations he de-
sired in the tone of the articles. Par
nell said he considered O'Brien's
teachings to be in advance of his own. He
had never heard of Egans being associated
with 1.-THE Martyrs Fund.- for the benefit of
the families Of the Phoenix park murderers
He saw nothing criminal in the fund and
rather thought that it was right to assist the
innocent victims. He could not recollect de-
nouncing the outrages between 1873 and 1881.
He believed the outrages perpetrated to have
been the work of small secret societies.
The witness was then asked whether,
If secret societies adverse to the league
had existed, and if the vast majority of the
people had belonged to the league, there
would not have been ample evidence OBJ
taned to convict the perpetrators of the out
RACES. He parried the question, saying that
it might or might not have been the case.
Here occurred most remarkable incident
in the witness cross-examination: Attorney
General Webster quoted statement made
by Parnell, in the house of commons during
the debate on Forsters bill, in 1888, suspend
ing the writ of habeas corpus, to the effect
that secret societies had then ceased to exist
in Ireland.
''Did you believe that when you said it ~
asked the attorney-general
NO" replied Parnell. "At any rate, it
was grossly exaffgerated statement
There was q buzz of surprise throughout
tie court room at this response.
Did you, or did YOU not" continued the
attorney general, ''lntend to misstate the
fact when you made that statementin
~ have no doubt did, " was the reply.
Attorney ral-"Deliberatelyr
Parnell-"Yes, deliberately
AttorneyGeneral - "You deliberately
| made the statement knowing it to be un-
| trueln
Parnell-"Yes, or if not untrue, very ex-
| travagant and boastfui."
Attorney -General-'You have never since
| Withdrawn itln
The nonchalence with which the witness
| made these admissions, astonished the au-
| dience and elected Kisses.
| "Probably,n added Parnell, "the state
| ment was made to mislead the house. l am
| afraid it did not, for the bill was passed.
| My purpose was to exaggerate the effect the
| league had in reducing the number of secret
| societies. The league undoubtedly dimin-
ished the number Of secret societies, though
| it had not swept them away as / stated.n
Parnell was next ask a what had become
| of the land league book,. He explained that
some were brought to London and were be-
| fore the commission, The cash books and
! ledgers had disappeared, he did not know
| where. Neither was Treasurer Kenny,
| Egap, or any other of the league officials able
to tell what had become of them. The letter
| books and files of letters had also vanished
Presiding Justice Hannah here impressed
| upon the witness the fact that the court at
tached great Importance to the missing docu
ments, and Parnell promised to try to find
| them.