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

SIS Q companion under threat o. revealing
everything. Meanwhile. Father MccAbe
proved equal % the occasion. for before
O Re;aly's Whereabouts could be discovered
be had procured the services Of Captain
Clifford os the Gazelle for the rescue o. ths
fugitive. AT the appointed time the ship
sailed out OF Perth. passed s,sag the coast
and picked O Reilly and Bowman up The
Hsssne Gsx-xsss OF April. Issa. contained 4
notice OF the escaped convict. John d
o'Reilly, and described hiu as IAN Irish
man Of healthy appearance. feet. y.
inches high. black hair. brown eyes. eva
visagc and dark complexion"
Dispatches were sent around the world
10 the ships of the British navy TO scour
the sea and capture the runaway convsci
dead or alive. Meanwhile be STOOD Gu the
deck over which fioassi the stars and
stripes. and his gallant rescuer babe him
be ~ ease for he would guarantee that the
union jack would never more hatter over
him. For seven months he wandered IN
the Garelic over Southern seas. he landed
~ various islands and learned those
legends OF the sailors which he afterwards
vove into into his immortal songs O;
Southern Seas Once only did he run
serious risk OF recapsnre. English marines
boarded the whaler when she put in 90
water at the island OF Roderlque. They no
sooner touched the deck than they seized
Bowman and took him on shore o'Reiliy
nj the time was standing beside the cap
tain bat Bowman's viilianoas look be-
trayed him. Bowman. once on shore,
endesyored TO make good terms for HIM
self by revealing all and the marines
returned TO the whaleF before dusk. This
time. o'Reiliy. to avoid the complications
that might follow. consented 20 hide under
the captains berth while the sailors. who
loved him dearly. threw his hat and a
grinding stone over the ships side and
shouted, "Man overheard r Careful search
failed 10 discover him and the British
commander sent q cahlegram 10 London
announcing the fact that the oonyics
O'Relily had been drowned while attempt
ing 70 escape from the officers OF the law.
This news mitieated the rigorous pursuit
and Captain Clifford transferred him 10 q
ship bound to Liverpool whence he hoped
10 reach America. The captain had also
leaned him $50 and with that the fugitive
succeeded IN reaching Liverpool. hiding
there .or q week and then taking passage
on q steamer bound for Philadelphia.
From there be went 70 Boston where he
arrived at the close OF 1851 He was then
in his twenty SIKH year. and ike Horatio,
without any revenue save his good spirits.
But great thoughts were surging in his
brain and he burned for an opportunity 10
give them birth. His powers of observa-
ton were keen and in his convicts cell he
had thought out the great social problem
of the age.
Little Boston dreamed when he arrived
there. poor and unknown. q fugitive frors
so-called justice, that he Was fated TO be-
come the most famous singer that she had
as yet claimed - her own. Little did he
himself think of the wonderfully brilliant
career that awaited him in America.
His first acquaintance there was p. A.
Collins. Collins was ten = young man oil
26. handsome and eloquent, the soul oi
generosity, and by far the ablest man oi
his race in New England. He. too. was an
exile from the unhappy land that had
given them both birth. and 10 him o. Reilly
was . brother and a martyr. Between
these two men there sprang up a friend
ship As tender. Ms passionate aud as fond
as ever poet or dramatist painted. They
are still each Others glass, as closely linked
together as ever. when both have become
famous--one rs great lawyer. orator and
statesman. the other as the foremost oil
living poets.
O'Reilly first became connected with the
Pilot. and subsequently became cditor-in-
chief and part owner Of II. The Riaf is a
sectional paper. being devoted specially to
catering for the Irish element In America.
but the purest Of American principle
breathes through it. Its editor, while In
tenseIy jealous for the well-being OF the
people from whom he sprung, has put be-
fore him the ennobiing and elevation oil
his own race as the great object OF his lie.
But in his political philosophy, or in his
conception OF Americanism there is no class,
no race, no creed. Thefreedman of Louisiana
is ~ much an American in his eyess a is a
defendant of the Pilgrims. The Caiabrian
or the Hungarian peasant. when once
enrolled q citizen of the United States
in O'Reilly's view shelters a sovereign be-
meath his hat In his first novel. Moon.
dyne." we get an insight 10 the genius and
spirit OF the great editor. II Is = picture OF
suffering heroism. OF villainy and OF
human sorrow which moves the very fbres
OF our heart In the whole range OF
modern literature there Is nothing like il
except the Les Miserables" OF Victor
Hugo. The ierse, lucid and logical mind
of the master Is everywhere apparent. and
throughout IL all there breathes the great
n "A. A.. AZ
best instincts OF human nature, that thereby
he might help 70 cure the evils he 50
pathetically describes
And all through his poctical works We
see the same spirit-hatred Of injustice, Of
tyranny, OF social cant-snd sympathy for
the miseries OF the poor and sorrowing are
apparent in every line OF his inspiring
verse And this Is expressed IN q language
so strong and yet nervous. 30 pathetic and
yet so free from affectation that IL goes
straight TO the heart Again the rugged
strength of his diction. the intense psthos.
and the splendid imagery in which he
clothes lofty ideals are evidences OF extra
ordinary poetical endovmen;s.
Life in o convict prison Is not the place
20 cultivate the poetic muse. yet IL Is 20
those days OF prison torturs that We owe
some OF 0'Reiliy's best themes and
sweetest song. II was that that made him
the poet Of mankind. He. himself. would
have as heiieve this when be writes:
have left tbs higher CLEANS ~ skies and Gov.
ers unheede9 OF forgot.
II mar se 10. bar booking rack. II Essras when ]
Was wsth them behss4 them rot
In songs OF Southern seas" the kin
dred strain Of Keats and Shelley mag be
detected through several Of bis rosms.
The lines