The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-10-13
SHE is A CENTENARIAN.
Recollections of French Invasion of Ire
land in 179S


land in 179S
The following account of the landing
in New York of an Old Irish woman is
most interesting:
The "iron gate which is Situated be-
tween the barge office and the ship news
office of 1.-THE UNITED Press papers, on the
Battery, is known as the Threshold of the
United Stateis and Thrcugh Its narrow
confines pass the gireat majority of the
immigrants wtho come to this country
in THE hope of beUterfng their condition.
Perthlaps no more interesting, and certain
iy no more ancient, character HAS passed
Through the iron gate for some time
than Mrs. Mary Cdffey, wIho landed yes
teciScy from the Cunard steamship Au-
rania, Mrs. Coffey says SHE was born
in County Kerry, Ireland, 1O4 years ago.
and In Ithat period has not before left
T1e lSm5ts of Kerry, or even got eyond
the neiglhborChIood of her own pigs and
chickens.
AS the old Irish woman sat upon a
strlngplece by THE barge office yester-
day and told her story, she presented
a strange picture. She is not much more
than four feet in height and her face
Is shriveled and drawn until 1t resem-
b1es what Mr.. Darwin called one of his
cousins. The ancient dalmes hearing,
eyesigLIt and walking abilities seemed
to be good buit as she sat munching an
apple she seemed Ito be ob.Hvious to ali
lround her. She knew not word OF
English, and the conversation THAT
the reporter had with lher was en-
tireiy Through THE medium of her daueh-
ter, Catherin Cbffey, who had gone over
to Kerry 10 bring her mother back to
N nd of
Potter Groden, the wei known E..is ISL
ai.l detective. Mrs. Coffey could speak
nothing but her native Irish, and In
this tongue she talked freely ITO Groden,
who is an adept in its use.
The old woman, after saying that she
was 104 years Old, decnred that she re-
memIbereh we'll the French invasion of
Ireland in 1898, when she was seven years
old, and easily recalled Ghe battle of Bal
lnamuck which occurred on September
s, 1898, between tine Irish rebels and the
French on one side and the English on
the other. Many of the men Of her family
took part in the memorable struggle.
In her gutteral language she told CT the
landing of the French General Humbert
and tine troops from the remnant OF
his feet, and their defeat by the English
which the aged Immigrant plainly de-
p0ored.
Her mind was much more clear in re-
gard to old occurrences than on Later hap
! penings In answer to Peter Groden'
questioning, she said that she mad had
elerl. children, four Of whom were now
living, and that her husband had been
dead fifty years. When last seen Mrs.
Coffey was climbing, unassigled, the ela-
valted railroad stairs, with an air of non
enhance that suggested rle idea that
Kerry was grbdironed with e.evated roads,
Several hundred immigrants a year ar
rive here from ireland who can speak
nothing but Irtsh but Mrs. Coffey Is
without doubt the oldest immigrant that
has ever been landed In THIS city. The
Irish language Is still the familiar tongue
Of many people in Kerry Connaught
Sligo, Mayo and Galway. The puresi
Irrzfl, according ITO Peter Groden, Is
spoken in Galway. but then Peter Is a
native Of Galway. A peculiar feature OF
Groden's Irish Is the fact that ne coud
speak nothing but Eng1izEl uDtE ne ar
rived in this country. and nov he pre-
fers Irish to Englsn. =