The Irish standard., 1894-12-08

Caulfeld, d. L., DR.. Monks and the
present writer-and all, with the excep-
tion of the last, are now dead. Peals Of
the fine organ of st. Catheripe's church
as they swept through the graveyard
lent to our work additional solemnity.
The interest felt was quite unconnected
with any. sympathy arising from popular
politics. The romantic history Of EN-
met, the spotless purity of his life, which
his college friend, Moore, said formed a
prominent feature in his character, his
youth, talents, eloquence, disinterested
ness, untimely' and cruel end, the rank
he occupied in society and college, and
the passionate devotion which subsisted
between him and Sarah Curran, the ro-
nance with which in prose and verse his
name has been so long invested, all com
bined to enshroud his memory and relics
with high degree of interest.
Some went 90 far as to say that the
tress Of Sarah Curran's hair which the
Governor of Kilmainham declared EN-
met was plating on the morning Of his
execution would still be found resisting
the ravages of time, and it was expected
that his boots with tassels, as we'll as
other portions of his costume worn on
the same mournful occasion, would also
appear.
The sexton having failed to mark the
precise spot where he had found the
leaden coffin was obliged to trust solely
! to his impression as to its position, and,
after having opened the ground in three
places--the excavation resembling the
cutting of narrow land drain-without
finding the object of our search, the
work was adjourned to the following
day. The work was IN progress for some
/ time when an eminent surgeon joined
US. All seemed senguine of success ex'
cept myself, at whose expense the exca-
vation was prosecuted, but I had resolved
to leave no stone unturned, or rather no
clap of clay"to quote the phrase in Graya
Elegy-in trying to settle the question.
So sure of success. was the eminent sur
geon present that he vainly urged me, as
III helped to ply the spade, to have pho
lltographer in attendance, saying, "no
1doubt the heremetiaally' sealed state 81
the leaden coffin would lend to the pre-
servation OF the corpse in state of adj:
poscire, or waxy condition, which on OK
posnre to the air would immediately dis
solve. The height of Emmet was known
to have been five feet eight, and in aid to
Identification, tapes were ready to meas
ure the coffin. 1t was further expected
that marks of the axe at the base Of the
skull would appear.
The excitement attendant on the Fe
nian trials of 1866 was then at it's height
The back windows Of the houses in
Thomas court and adjoining lanes over
looked the churchyard, and the tedious
I progress of elimination then going on
could not possibly have escaped atten
tion. 1t was suggested that the inquiry
should be relinquished until some fu ure
time when the state Of the popular mino
should have been less infamed. That
the search did not extend third day
need not, I think, be much regretted by
those oversanguine of a sensational dis
covery.
Mr.. Hamilton, the sexton, said that
had the leaden coffin been found it woulC
then be easy to see whether it inclosed
the remains of decapitated rebel. Il
was usual, he said, to inter them in theil
-. clothes, and with the head placed be
tween their knees.
To account for the mysterious disap
pearance of the leaden coffin from the
position in which, according to the sex
toms belief, 1t lay, he expressed to me q
suspicion that during it's exposure in dig
ging Saul's grave dishonest assistant
stole the lead.
The statement that Emmett is buried
in ST. GATHERINGS seems at the first
glance to be invested with probability
This well-walled graveyard is situated
within few yards of the scaffold on
which he died, and it might have struck
those. interested in preserving the peace
Of Dublin that any parade of Emmet'a
remains through the streets at period
Of excitement should be deprecated. But
the Government, ! am we'll aware. had
no such fears. MIR. Hamilton erred in
stating that CLANCY was in the Yeomanry
\ in Emmet's time The Burial Register
of St. GATHERINGS records, under date
1858 Henry CLANCY, Coal Alley, aged
ga years. which would show him to
have been boy of IA in 1903. But pos
sibly I may be able to make more clear
the statement connecting yeoman with
Emmet's death and burial. Details
from frequent oral repetition and lapse
OF years and weakening memories, are
likely. to get mixed up. In "Ireland Be-
lfore the Union" PIP. g 8, I quote from
information given to me by Mr.. Flana-
] ~,o,, loovfob ~ 9t Worharo's who in the