Morning journal and courier., 1889-02-20
THE eaRHELL COMPASSION.

l THE RAANELA COhU1SSkONs I Mcdonald is Cross.E1amfned- - MT Flanagan the Author of she News | paper Articles Pigott Supplied l Copies of Five ParnelI Letters ana Six Egan Letters.
 l LONDON, Feb. 19.-The court room wal l crowded to-day when the Parnell commission l resumed its sitting. Messrs. Henry La
 bouchere, John Morley, Right Hon. George Shaw-Lefevre and other prominent persons were present. MT. Mcdonald, manager of the Times, was the first witness called He was cross-examined by counsel for the Par nellites. He declined to say whether he res garded the letters of the 9th of January and the 18th of May as the only important ones among the first five which MT. Houston, sec- retary of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic union, handed to him. Presiding Justice Hannen sharply rebuked the witness for his refusal. Mr. Macdonald, in reply to further ques- tions, said the letters had to be taken as a whole, and that as whole they were com promising. Witness said he forgot whether, when he submitted the Egan letters to the expert, he also submitted other specimens of Egan's writing. He forgot what material he gave the expert to enable him to ascertain whether the letters were genuine. He was convinced that the Egan and Parnell letters were genuine before the first letters on Par- nellism and crime was published in the Times. He did not think that the body of the letter of January was in the writing of MT. Campbell, MT. Parnell's secretary. He had not noticed any similarity between that and the Egan letters. Witness paid Houstan e550 for the Parnell letter of the 18th of June and for Egan's letter to Carey. The total payments made to Houston amounted to e2, $50. The payments were made by MT. Walters checks drawn in favor of MT. Soames, the Times solicitor. Houston did not bring the envelopes with the letters. Witness did not ask about them, assuming that they had been destroyed. He particu- lerly avoided asking from what source the letters were obtained because Houston said he was bound to secrecy, which he asked the witness to respect.
 MT. Mcdonald said the Times statement that knives and firearms were kept in the league office in London was based upon in- formation supplied to the writer of the ar ticle in which the statement was made. He did not know directly who wrote the article, and he was not bound to tell if he did know. The editor of the Times was responsible for statements made in the paper, and therefore the counsel was not entitled to demand by force the names of contributors. At this point in the proceedings MT. Parnell, warmly clad in long cloak, though the weather was mild, entered the court room and took seat at the solicitors table,
 Mr. Mcdonald finally said that MT. Flan- nagan wrote the articles that appeared on March ' and March 10, 1887. He had forgot ten who wrote the others.
 MT. Parnell's alleged letter to Pigott was then produced.
 Presiding Justice Hannen asked whether it was admitted that the letter was genuine, and Sir Charles Russell replied, 'sOh, no.'
 oe tho r al a,,I Patriotic league, was then sworn. He testi- fled that he first knew Pigott in the autumn of 1885 in consequence of communication from Pigott regarding John Devoy. Witness inquired as to the Irish American orsaniza- tions and instructed Pigott to try to sub stantiate his statements regarding Parnel- lites and crime. The pamphlet entitled on Pigott's information regarding Devoy. Pigott supplied copies of five Parnell letters and six Egan letters. Witness not having sufficient money to send Pigott to America, saw Mir. Buckle, editor of the Times in 1856, but Buckle declined to take up the matter. Witness then borrrwed the necessary amount. Pigott had returned from America with sealed letter which he said he had obtained from Breslin and which contained instructions to a person in Paris to give up the letters on certain condition. Pigott went to Paris repeatedly before he obtained
 
 Buckle who advised him to see Macdonald. Witness asked Macdonald to test the genu- ineness of the letters and said that if they were used he expected to be reimbursed for his expenditures Up to the time of their publication he had not bargained for payment for the letters but he made it a condition that the Times alone should be responsible for their publication. Witness had nothing to do with the testing of the signatures and was completely ignorant of the process by which they were tested. Three weeks after witness had acquired the first batch of letters Pigott wrote that the sellers repented of their bargain and would return the money if the letters were returned. Witness declined to return the letters. Under cross-examina- tion Houston said he did not know of any thing that showed that Pigott was not a creditable man. He did know that Pigott was in pecuniary straits when he asked him to discover the documents. He told him that if the letters were forthcoming and were genuine they would be paid for. He be- lieved that Pigott was then earning fair competence at newspaper work. At this point the commission adjurned.