The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-28

Richard, surnamed Strongbow, also Joined
him with the understanding that he should
marry Dermid's daughter and succeed to
the sovereignty of Leinster.
One morning in May some fishermen in
the bay of Bannon saw a strange fleet of
swift ships blowing the blue waters and
headed for O creek near by. On nearer APP
proach they were seen to be fllled with a
host of men clad in such armor as had
never before been seen on human form,
and word was sent inland that
Dermid had returned. King Rod
part of the island enforcing their claims,
founding lectorships at Armagh, partition
ing Meath, and occupying themselves with
such matters as kings in those unruly days
found to do, and day after day ships of
strange build came stealing INTO little Irish
coves and bays with troops of Dermid's
Norman hirelings. The darkest days Of
sorrow the land had ever known was COM
ing. Yet the gallant o'Conor paid no
heed, but looked calmly forward to long
succession of prosperous days.
One morning as the sky in the East grew
from grey to scarlet and gold the watch
men from the walls of Wexford looked out
over the valley and saw the whole country
glistened with shields and helmets. with
the Melted steel hauberks of knight and
squire and the spiked breastplates of war
horses. Carelessly Jung over the armor
of the encircling hosts were capes of silk
and satin, cloth of silver and gold emblaz-
oned with the arms of the wearer, and over
all bristled the points ofswords and lances.
Here and there were strange looking
machines-scorpions or huge cross-bows;
the balista which seemed to shower stones
to almost any distance; the catapult with
its deadly night of darts and arrows, the
war wolf" the battaring RAM besides
movable towers of all shapes and sizes.
All this nlled the Irish with wonder and
dismay. The battles they understood were
fought hand to hand with spear, lance and
battle-ax. This long-distance combat,
where men fought behind impregnable de-
lenses, and individual bravery and muscle
counted for little beside discipline and
strategy, was new thing, and the town of
Wexford, though bravely defended, soon
fell. The foot of the Norman was planted
to remain forever in a land which the wild
sea kings never could touch.
The news of the disaster soon reached
King Roderick, and in few days there
was grand muster of the Irish at the hill
of Tara, whence they marched to Dublin,
and there awaited the onslaught of the
Normans.
Dublin did not fall then, but a treaty
was made between Roderick and Dermid
which confessed to- the weakness of the
Irish, and paved the way for future VIC
tories for the Leinster king. Dermid
bound himself by secret agreement to
admit no more of the Normans. and the
upright OConor believed him.
Within two months after the signing of
this solemn agreement Dermid was well
coming to Ireland and to Wexford another
son of the fair Nesta, Maurice Fitzgerald.
Meantime he continued to write urging
Earl Richard to hasten to Ireland, accord
ing to the terms agreed upon at Bristol.
Richard was polite, and though anxious
to pluck the Irish plum was not willing to
displease his sovereign, Henry III. AS a
compromise he sent over force under his
Uncle Herve, which landed at Waterford
harbor. Here they were attacked by 5000
Irish, who, while chanting the songs of
their ancestors, rushed blindly on to the
battle. A sudden and deadly discharge
from the Welsh and Flemish cross-bows,
for which they were totally unprepared,
sent them scuttling back faster than they
had come, while $50, who had been made
prisoners, had their legs violently broken
and were then hurled into the sea.
This was Ireland's hrst taste of the re-
venge of the banished Dermid.
Trouble came thick and fast after that.
In the following winter Earl Richard left
his Pembroke castle, and marching
through North Wales, picked up the Hover
of the lighting men along his route. On
the eve of St. Bartholomew's day, with 200
armored knights and 1 oo0 infantry, he
landed safely. under the earthworks of
Dundonolf. and the doom of the ireland of
Brian and O'Conor was sounded.
The fair city of Waterford, though
bravely defended, soon fell, and the be-
siegers waded TO the walls of the city
through Irish blood.
Then, amid the ruins of the fallen CITY
and the scowling faces and muttered male
dictions of the grief-stricken defenders,
the ill-omened nuptials of Eva McMur-
rogh and Earl Richard were gaily cele-
brated and the iniquitous compact of three
years previous carried out.
In the midst of the marriage ceremonies,
word came that Asculph MacTorcall, the
Danish lord of Dublin, had invoked the
aid of Roderick OConor. The king and the
whole force of the invaders, marched on
the ancient capital. Doubly bitter was
Dermid by this time. King Roderick had
beheaded his son, given as a hostage, and
the city of Dublin had killed his father
and inferred his body with the carcass of a
dog. Treacherously, while the archbishop
was negotiating for peace, the Normans
entered the city and ruthlessly put the
citizens to death.
What came afterwards all the world
knows. The Normans grew into the coun-
try and in the wake of Earl Richard came
the feudal systems and the landlords.
In the kalends of the May following the
conquest at Dublin, Dermid died, as the
ancient chroniclers say, sat Fernamore,
without making a will, without penance
without the body of Christ and without
JUNCTION as his evil deeds deserved"
"sENCE LITTLE WESLEY WENT"