Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-01
THE NEW TIPPERARY.
A Visit to the Irish Town That Sprung
Up Like a Mushroom
AS A MONUMENT TO HOME RULE.
The Old ALI Dreary and Deserted, the New
All Activity and Life.
EVICTIONS ON THE PONSONBI ESTATE
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE D1sPArcH.I

and the building of New Tipperary are b.
far the most picturesque incidents OF lanC
war which has not been picturesqu que as
whole. 1t was a strange thing for those big
Tpperary men to plan aud execute, and tt
what an intense conviction lies behind il
the greatness OF the sacri fee bears witness
They have some OF the blood of Cromwell's
1ronsides, these great square-shouldered
fellows. When the Protector and his Saints
went prospecting, they displayed capacity
for selecting the richest and most beautiful
spots, which said something for their
mundane qualities.
They call this strip of lovely land ''The
Golden Vein" because of its quality. 1t is
great dairy farming district, where the
red and white cattle are knee-deep in juicy
grass. In this spring it grows all one sheet
of white and gold over its greenness. Here
settled down some of the flowers of Noll's
troopers, and presently their sons and
daughters were not insensible to the sea-
blue eyes and the night-dark hair of the
Gael. So the races iDtermarried, and hence
the quality of fierce determiuation-the
darkness" as we other Irish call it-of
which the TIpperary man is capable side by
side with all his gaiety.
GREAT is TIPPERARY.
We name TIpperary 1.-THE Premier
County," and so well-won is its title that
none dispute it. Whenever there is any,
thing dsshing to be done it is Tipperarv
man will DO it. Magnificent Tlpperary,"
cried an English General when his men
swept under the teeth Of the enemy's guns.
It's little a Tipperaryman will thank you
for suggesting the Cromwellian drop in him.
He is Catholic and Irish to-day to the CORE
with thoroughness beyond that of the pure
Celt, who, indeed, was driven long ago to
the mountains and seashore of Connaught,
and is scarcely to be found except there.
Tpperary town, before its clearance, had
the reputation of being one of the most
prosperous inland towns in Ireland 1t is
in the heart OF 'The Golden Vein," with
the beautiful rugged line OF the Galtee
Mountains stretching to south of it. Tip
perary men were rack-rented. like the rest of
Ireland, but here in 1.-The Golden Vein" it
would not be easy to be poor, and they
throve despite high rents. Mr.. Smith Barry
has waxed lat on his regular payments and
his good tenants.
THE PoNSoNBY ESTATE.
Verv different things were on the Ponsonby
estate at Honghal, which has been the cause
OF war in Tipperary, for those Tipperary
men have stripped themselves OF home and
gear, not Tor their own sakes but
for thesake of their neighbors,
This is an epitome of the story. The Pom
Bonby estate has long been somewhat of a
nightmare to those who are troubled about
the oppression OF the poor In Ireland. The
tenants are mlserably poor and heavily
rack-rented. There had been long trouble
m he Of nh 1oe4
there came a prospect of settlement between
landlord and tenant. This moment was the
one chosen by Mr.. Smith Barry and his
landlord syndicate to step in. The plan of
campaign had to be fought somewhere, and
they selected the unhappy Ponsonby estate
to fight it on. They are fighting it still, the
eyictions going on every day, the tenants
living as they can, on the charity of the
nation, or how they will.
But Mr.. Smith Barry's chickens came
home to roost His Tipperary tenants sent
deputation of their number to him in
London, asking In a very respectful way
that he should withdraw from the syndicate.
he refused, and upon this in last June they
held a meeting at Tipperary, at which it
was resolved not to pay him rent without a
reduction OF % per cent, 10 of which was to
go to the Ponsonby tenants.
LEADERS OF THE FIGHT.
Then the fight began. Mr.. William
O'Brien set the ball rolling, and then being
snatched away by his usual lettre de cachet,
was obliged to leave things in the hands of
trusty lieutenants. There is q young man,
Mr. O'Brien Dalton, ruddy laced and blue |
eyed, wealthy merchant OF the town, of |
whom we used to hear in the old Land |
League days, as being the leader of popu- |
lar thought in Tipperary. He is a per- |
son of great consideration here, though, un-
like most Irishmen, he has never sought or
desired wider reputation. He looks some
thing Of soldier in his gray clothes, with
his alert lock and military carriage. His
coleader is Father Humphreys, a born en-
thusiast, tall and spare in his well-worn
cassock, with ace which might be flint to
the enemy, though under the sudden, bril-
liant smile 1t lights into rare beauty for a
friend.
These are the men to put their hands to
the plow and not look backward Father
Humphreys people are evicted tenants from
Lord Cloncurrv's Murroe estate; they have
lived those eight years back in Land
League hut of wood and iron, and in this
poor shelter his father died. This priest has
3 conviction which is a passion. There is
white heat under his coldness, and his face
looks the stern and deeply felt sense of re-
rola's heavy lids. He was a curate at CIon-
Okelty near Cashel in the old No Rent days,
and his parish was the one in Ireland in |
which there was no backsliding.
MOSTLY sMITH-BARRY's PROPERTY.
When it was seen that the evictions would
be wholesale, the building of New Tip
perary was resolved upon. In a map of
where Smith-Barry's property is
,olored yellow, the map seems all
that color, but here and there
are green patches showing the friend
" land which belongs to Mr.. Stat.
ford o'Brien, a kindly absentee landlord.
The sharpness of the line dividing the two
properties is a marked thing. The main
street has the shutters up on more than one
half the shops, and the remainder are await
ing Mr.. Arnold Power. the sheriff, and his
merry men. Staring eviction placards are
upon the shutters setting forth how the
shopkeeper has moved to such q number in
William O'Brien street. The word 'Evic-
ion" glares out in huge letters on the
heads of these, and underneath may be q
quotation:
'For on the cause must CO."
or some such line. There is hardly any one
n the streets. The ROYAL Irish Constabulary
ire very much in evidence, their peaked
1elmeB anu gray cOals, Win the belt and |
oayonet, making them look like an integral
part of Kaiser Wilhelm's forces. They are
he only sign that the town is in q state of
iege.
THE OLD AND NEW TOWNS.
Over yonder is Mr.. Smith-Barry's boy
otted town hall. 1t is ali quiet and drowsy
nd well in keeping with the watchman's
-oice at night, transporting one to the
,iddla aoee tsPast 1 o'elock % Won will
lear him cry at dead of night, and think
he strange cry horn coming nearer in your
reams, At the other end OF the town the