The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-08-11
HE SLEEPS WELL NOW.
Sad End Of John Boyle o'ReillY,
the Irish Poet.
FATAL OVERDOSE or cHLoRAL.
He Sought B lief From Insomnia BY
Taking an Opiate.
His Sick wife. whom n. Had Been
His Sick Wife. Whom He Had Been
Nursing. Finds Him Dying ON the
FIoor-Romantic Liss OF the Famous
Singer. Patriot and Athlete.

Floor-Romantic LILO OF the Famous
Singer. Patriot and Athlete.
BOSTON, Aug. 1o-John Boyle O'Reflly, the
poet and editor OF the Boston Pilot, died this
afternoon. Death Is supposed to have been
caused by an overdose of chloroiorm, taken for
insomnia
o'Reiily had hcen suffering for several DAYS
from insomnia During the past week he had
slept but little. Lest night his wife was i'll, and
he called DR.. Lifchfesd TO attend her. The doc
tor went to the house and prescribed for her,
leaving bottle Of medicine. At O'Clock this
morning O'Reilly again called the doctor, and
ssid that part Of the medicine left for Mrs.
O'Reilly had been spilled. The doctor then
gave him single cose TO take to her. As he left
the doctors. O'Reily said he felt extremely
tired, and II Mrs. O,Reilly went to sleep he
would take little something himself to see IL
he could not get few hours sleep.
At o'clock Mrs. Reilly awoke and found
her husband missing. she went down stairs
and found him lying on The floor in an un
conscious condition Adcctor Yves Immediately
called. but 0'Reilly expired In short time. Il
is thought he must have taken dose of choral
to make him sleep. and took an overdose Mrs
o'Reilly and her four daughters are nearly pros-
trated with grief.
John Boyle o'Reilly visited Washington last
March, and lectured in Seattle on the evening
OF the l6'h. Soma time previous the Posr-IN-
TELLIGENcER published a biographical sketch
OF the poet, from the pen OF his friend and ad-
m rer, P. A. o'Farrell. Following are extracts
from the article:
Dumas in his widest flights of fancy never
conceived anything so romantic as the story of
0'Reilly's life. Still in the very prime of life,
nj t&wktxxx
handsome. fascinating poet would make an
ideal Monte Cristo for another ideal Dumas
The dark light of those strange, lustrous eyes,
and the tones of that rich, meIodious voice
draw to 0'Reilly the hearts of men.
John Boyle ORielly was born in June, 1874,
on the banks of the Boyne, in Ireland Born
in q country as lovely as poets dream, beside
river whose shores were li..ed with monu-
menss of lreland's glories, wreck and ruin, in
his childhood o'Reilly breathed an atmosphere
charged with overwhelming hatred for the
oppress0rs Of their native land.
ssIt was from his father, in his own home that
0'Reilly imbibed taste for literature. His
father, however. had not the means to promote
his intellectual bent and young o. Reilly had to
embrace the trade of . type-setrer to procure Z
livelihood and to obtsin means of self-improve-
ment Having worked in the composing room
OF the Drogheda Argus. he secured work
In the Irish Times Office, Of Dublin.
whence he went to E5gland. During this
time hc had improved his literary
knowledge considerably. and he soon obtained
work as q reporter. He was not yet 20 when
events occurred that made him live life time
in few years. The American civil war had
just concluded and over 100000 veteran Irish
soldiers were thinking of some means by which
TO transport themselves to ireland and at one
stroke break the chain that held their BIRTH
land in slavery. The young men of Ireland,
almost to q man, were banded together in prep
aration for some great final struggle for liberty,
and O'ReilIy shared in their enthusiastic hopes
A sudden impulse seized him, he would don the
uniform of the English soldier and learn in the
ranks the art of war. that he might afterwards
use it against the beredi ary enemy of his race.
He joined the Tenth Huzzsrs commanded by
Colonel Baker, and in q few months he became
the hero and Idol of one of the crack cavalry
regiments of Great Britain. But the gay, light
hearted, facinating young trooper was at the
same time dark couspirstor, and he soon en-
rolled every Irishman in the regiment as en-
thusiastic Feniaus
martial was summoned, aud in June. 1866, John
Boyle o Reilly was foung guilty OF high treason
and sentenced to be shot. For days he lay IN
prison awaiting the fatal hour. He was but q.
and deemed himself but another OF that long
list OF martyrs who died in the sacred cause of
liberty
.so'Reilly's youth pleaded strongly on his be-
hall, and the government committed the sen.
ience OF death into one of penal servitude 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 release from prison took refuge
in Turkey, where rs Baker Pasha he achieved
high command and great distinction. The
queen was frequently asked to restore him
his military honors, but his crime was too
great, and che allowed him to die in disgrace
The next sixteen m Dnths OF OReiily's life were
spent in Dartmoor penitentiary. He was
dressed in the garb of convict was often
linked in the chnln-gang with the vilest scum
and cutcasts of soci ty. Thieves, garotters.
cut-throals and swindlers were around him
worked in the same trenches, ate the anne fare.
and breath 4 the same foul atmosphere. Time
and again tn gnalers tried to break his proud
spirit by subjecting him to nameless insul and
the most brutal treatment They fsilsd, aud
then sent him from pr s,n to prison. Often he
walked close by Westminister palace. chained
to fellow-convicts aud tells today how WI b
the rest he was jeered and mocked at by swels
that never conceived q noble thought or lived :
noble day.
.sIhe government. toward the end OF 1867. saw
that something should be done to relieve the
condition OF Ireland. and a measure of mercy
commuted O'Reilly'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 floating tor
ture house that woul1 have furnished material
to Dante for his Inferno
with some other convicts he planned the
seizure OF the ship, but another political pris-
oner, through lear 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
a country where the broiling sun baxes the
very earth and almost hois the blood in ones
veins Around him were wretches that had IL il
true. the senlblance OF men, but men whom
vice and crime and the absence of the softening
iron gaoler had degraded below the level of the
beast. His splendid constitution and his uav.
erfnl physique enabled him to bear the fright
sui labor imposed upon the convf rs. but his
gaolers grew fearful of the ceaseless raietv of
the man lie was to them a myeiery, 90 they
hired him out to a tieket-ol-leave man, whose
duty il was to work him like beast of burtheu.
A year h ID passed when il was iutimased 90
O'Re!liy that an American whsler was lying of
the Australian coast and that he would find q
sksff at certain point upon the shore which
would enable him 70 reach ik /. was
death 10 help Q convict 10 escape. baf
Father MeCabe. OF Perth. was resdy
10 risk his life 10 Tree OR lilly, and
lie paid the captain of the whaler $50 to pick
o,Rs!gly ar Delighted q, the tidings o. Reilly
watched his chance and escaped 10 the shore,
where be iouud tie skiff and pushed off from
The hated land. Once more he was on the rolf
inr hiilows OF the main and his soaring spirit
rcveled in unexpected liberty. He puiled on
and on for he beheld q haven in that ship in
the ofing. she was sailisg gaily DER the waters
and once upon her deck be knew that freedom
was his. Behind aim lay the scorehing snr
and burning sands OF Australia and the