The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-03-02

Old commander. Sir Harry vane's MEM
ory u revered by millions while the men
taat execrseo him a. . regscide are uni
versaiiy Condemned. Robert Bruce swors
seaisy TO Edward L.. who IL bold enough
70 say that he Was criminal when be I'M
furied the standard OF revolt. and at Ban
nockourn wor the independence of his
country. Had William Tel pierced the
tyrant Gesaer 70 the heart he would have
been - much enc OF the world's heroes IS
ne Is now The mistaken patriotism Of
Brntns, and the killing by him Of the noble
Cesar. does not denrive him Of his proud
pre-eminence in the worlds history. and
the sentiment OF the world Is an echo OF
that OF Mark Antony when he says OF
Brutus:
This was the nebiest Roman Of them al:
Al he ecnsrirssors save only he
DID What they did In envy OF gTea; Cesar:
he only In general honest fhoaSnt
And common good 10 ALL made one OF them.
His hte Vas gentle. and the elements
50 mixed In hsr thar Nature might stand M
And say TO al the world. This was Q man.
Technically. o Reilly committed treason
just rs did the alustrious men whose names
! have quoted. l have 10 hesitation in adj
hitting, too, but that from q high ethical
standpoint o Reilly 5 course could not be
approved; but look at his youth, his un-
happy country. the circumstances under
which this generous soul VAS raised. and
then condemn him il you will Of course,
his treason was discovered, and he was
dragged before Colonel Baker
"D-n you, o Reilly" roared the infuri-
ated colonel. "you have ruined my regi.
ment"
A court-martial was Immediately sum-
moned. and in June. 1865. John BOYLE
o'Eelliy was found guilty of high treason
and sentenced 10 be shot For days he lay
in prison awaiting the fatal hour He was
but y and deemed himself bat another of
that long line OF martyrs who died in the
sacred cause OF liberty. While awaiting
death one of his gaolers supplied him with
pencil and paper. on which he wrote =
wonderful little poem on The Old school
Clock" He gave it 10 the gaoser. who did
not take the trouble to read il but gave it
to somebody else. The poem got into
print. was universally liked, bnt the author
remained undiscovered TIL after has ESCAPE
from prison. o'Reiiiy, who himself had
forgotten the incident, was asked IL he
could tell who was the author OF the IN
known poem.
o'Reilly's youth pleaded strongly on his
behalf, and the government commuted the
sentence of death into one of penal seryi-
tude for life. Ii is = curious fact that the
colonel OF his regiment was afterwards
sentenced to two years penal servitude.
Was degraded from his rank, and on his re-
lease from prison took refuge in Turkey,
where Is Baker Pasha he achieved high
command and great distinction. The
queen was frequently asked 70 restore him
his military honors, but his crime was too
great. and she allowed him TO die in dis
grace The next sixteen months of
O'Reilly's life we're spent in Dartmoor
penitentiary. He was dressed in the garb
of . convict was often linked in the cham
gang with the vilest scum and outcasts OF
society. Thieves, garotters. cut-throats
and swindlers were around him. worked in
the same trenches, ate the same fare. and
breathed the same foul atmosphere. Time
and again the goalers tried to break his
proud spirit by snbjecting him to nameless
insults and the most brutal treatment
They failed. and then sent him from prison
70 prison. Often he walked close by West
minister palace, chained to fellow -convicfs.
and tells today how with the rest he was
feared and Knocked at by swells that never
conceived q noble thought or lived q noble
day.
The government, toward the end of 1867,
saw that something should be done TO re-
lieve the condition of Ireland, and As
measure of mercy commuted 0'ReiIiy's
life sentence into one Of twenty years in
the penal colony OF Australia. He was
shipped on the Hangomint, and for three
months was cooped up in q floating torture
house that would have furnished material
to Dante for his Inferno"
With some other conviets he planned the
seizure OF the ship, but another political
prisoner through fear of the villainous
crowd that would thus escape, threatened
to reveal all and he had to submit He was
landed in Perth twenty-three years ago
labeled and numbered for twenty years Of
hateful, terrible slavery, in country where
the broiling sun bakes the very earth and
almost boils the blood in ones veins.
Around him were wretches that had, II Is
true, the semblence of men, but men whom
vice and crime and the absence of the soft
ening influence of home and the ever pres
emit cast-iron gaoler had degraded below
the level of the beast His splendid consti-
tuition and his powerful physique enabled
him to bear the frightul labor imposed
upon the convicts. but his gaolers grew
fearful of the ceaseiess gayety OF tho man.
He vas to them . mystery. SO they hired
him out 10 . tieket-of-leave-man,w whose duty
l, was TO work him like beast OF burthen.
A year had passed when it was intimated
to O'ReilIy that an American whaier was
lying of the Australian coast and that he
would find skif at certain point upon
the shore which would enable him 70 reach
it. II was death 10 help convict 70 es-
cape, but Father McCabe. of Perth, was
ready to risk his life to free 0'RsiIiy, and
he paid the captain OF the whaier $50 10
pick O'Rsiiiy up. Delighted at the tidings
O'Reiliy watched bis chance and escaped
10 the shore where he found the skin and
pushed of from the hated land. Once more
he was on the rolling hillows of the main
and his soaring spirit revcled In unexpected
liberty. He pulled on and on for be be-
held a haven In that ship in the offsng. she
was sailing gaily Ger the waters and once
upon her deck he knew that freedom vas
his. Behind him Lar the scorching sun
and burning sands OF Australia and the So
ciety Of the hlasphemous wretches with
whom. If recaptured. be would again be
chained: before lay bis haven OF rest, the
bark that would bear him TO that glorious
land on whose soil 30 many OF bis country
men had focnd protection. fame and pros
r%rify. Suddenly be realized tsat the ship
was bearing Away and not approaching
him. He exhausted hIs strength IN pull
ing toward hsr. and then stood up in the