The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1894-12-13

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Of hammered iron secured by bar
locked with paddock. No person save
the keepers and legal oounselors was
permitted to see the Fenian prisoners,
hnd force Of metropolitan police pa
trolled the outside Of the Jail, while all
written communications passin9in and
out were sorutinized by the prison off.
oials Every article of food and clothing
brought in was also carefully examined
for fear that notes from outside con-
Sederates or tools to be used in escaping
might be concealed in an apparently in
nooent package. The three colleagues
captured with Stephens were placed in
cells in the same corridor with their
chief, and the party was allowed to at
tend mass in chapel adjoining their
corridor.
The prisoners bearing during brief
captivity was that Of high minded
martyr expecting extreme punishment.
When called upon to make defense
before the examining magistrate, he
handed up a protest in writing as fol-
lows:
"In making defense Of any kind
should be recognizing British law in
ireland. I repudiate the existence of
such law and despise and defy any pun
ishment it may infiot upon me-.
Stephens conduct and manners were
those Of q gentleman, and he impressed
all who saw him as the ablest of the
famed Fenians dead or living. His
stature was below medium, and bis
ample curling brown looks and flowing
auburn beard gave deep setting for a
pair Of small, restless eyes. With Inca
ments showing great intellectual and
moral power and habits of impatient
energy and sudden determination, he
was man to stand out in any assembly
as fitted for leadership in great enter
prises; but, strange to say, the Irish
people began seriously to question the
loyalty of the "head center" in oonse-
qnence Of his sudden and mysterious
iIdeH tifcation and arrest.
Another and deadlier blow was Civ
en- to their faith when he as mysterious
~ departed from Richmond bridewell
on the morning Of Nov. "a, just IS
days after his arrest. At 10 o'clock on
the evening of Nov. % the prison keep
ers on their last rounds saw the cell
door of the chief Fenian securely locked
and the keys placed in the hands Of the
governor, who had lodged them in his
Office in their proper place. The watch
mar that night was one Daniel Byrne,
and couple Of hours before daylight he
alarmed the various deputy officials
with the startling news that two tables
belonging to dining hall Of the prison
inclosure were standing one above the
other against the outer wall in way
to suggest that they had been used in
an escape. Strange to say, they bore no
marks Of feet, although the open pas
sages leading to them were muddy. On
rushing to Stephens corridor the gov
ernor found the door open, as was also
that of his cell, which was empty. A
new, bright key was found in the corri-
dor door, Byrne was accused Of aiding
the escape as Fenian sympathizer, but
the case ended in an acquittal for want
Of proof, and this fact further incensed
the great brotherhood at home and
abroad against their late "head CEN
ter" for he was deposed without q
hearing. Subsequently Byrne disappear
cd and turned up in America, where he
was able to prove his Fenian connec-
tions, and that he had in reality liber-
ated Stephens and turned him over to
friends. Himself and confederate,
armed to the teeth, had opened the cell
and corridor doors and led Stephens to
the wall, where ladder was run up on
the outside to receive him after he
mounted the tables.
Stephens remained in secret hiding in
Ireland for months and finally reached
New York, where he was coldly received
by the brotherhood and openly charged
with having betrayed the cause Of Ire
land for British gold, but he gave the
lie to that by returning to Paris and liv
ing for years in great poverty. At one
time the French government employed
him as an interpreter not knowing his
character until enlightened on the sub
ject by the indefatigable and ubiquitous
gentlemen of Scotland Yard. Then he
sunk into lower depths Of poverty and
obscurity. Various countries in Europe
at times offered asylum to this MAJ
zini Of Ireland,' and a couple OF years
ago the British government permitted
him to return to his native land, he
having reached threescore and ten, an
age unfit for treason" and stratagem.
GEORGE L. KILMER.
A cheerful disposition is not only a
personal blessing, but a public philan-
thropy in the effect it has on others.