The evening times., 1897-01-18
He Was a Patriot of '9S, Leader of
a Band dZoff Brave Fellows and
Was Beheaded.

|
of Dublin paper, the Nation, thrilling
story, in which a relative and namesake
of President-elect Mckinley figures as a
brave and gallant Irish patriot of '9S,
who as the leader of a band of heroic fol
lowers was captured, hanged, beheaded.
and his head impaled on spkein the city
square for public view, while dogs Tapped
the blood that oozed from it to tue pave
ment
IN the little graveyard of Derrykeighen
among the fair hills of Antrim, on the north
east coast of Ireland, is a moss-grown,
| iyy-wreathed monument. Long ago 1t was
erected there by the hands or sturdy Pres
byterian patriots, who wished to honor
the memory OF one who had passed from
among them, sacrificed to the cause he
and they loved
The body of their comrade, few trou-
bled months before, had daDgled from a
gallows In the public square in Coieraine.
That comrade was William Mckinley of
Dervock
Mckinley was splendid specimen ofIrish
manhood. lie had heart in which the
blood boiled when he thought OF the wrongs
from which his country suffered and the in
justice which his countrymen were forced
to endure. And So when Theohald Wolfe
Tone and Henry JOY McCracken and George
Munro and Thomas Russell called on tile
men OF ireland TO rescue their motherland
from slavery, he was the first to respond.
Dervock was pretty village then, asnow.
Not far TO the north are the headlands OF
Antrim, and the sough OF the sea as it rolls
over the columns of the CauSeway, and
into the caves, may be heard in its single
street when the night is silent.
In the valley below the town, by the
banks OF the Bush, night after night, be-
fore the out utbreak OF '9S the young farmers
OF the neighborhood, led by Mckinley,
their captain, learned to WELD the pike
right soldierly,'' and prepared to take a
part in the coTning struggle, which they
fondly hoped would bring to Ireland the
blessings OF liberty, which their k1th and
kin had won for the new land beyond the
western ocean.
The wiShed-for day at length arrived,
and the United Irishnen were called to the
field To do battle with England's redcoats.
Mckinley and his men went south, past
Ballymena, until they joined McCracken's
forces They we're with him at the battle
OF Antrim, when victory for time blessed
among the last to seek safety in flight,
when, accident, working for the British,
turned the tide to defeat and disaster.
Mckinley yentured back to DeryOck, be-
lieving himself safe among his old neigh
bors, who would he sure to BATTLE the hunt
ing parties of yeomanry. 1t was a fatal
step The price for Il rebel was tempting.
At Dervock lived a family named Smith
sr~as
the community, and were known to have
been engaged in shady transactions. No
man would think for a moment of taking
one of these Smiths into the United men:
and the head of the house, Chestnut Smith,
always made profession of his loyalty to
the Crown
McKinley's hiding place was kept close
secret, and, except to the most trusted, il
was given outthathe had escaped TO Amer
ica.
The yeomen frequently searched the
houses in DerVUck and all round it, and
every nook in which they thought a man
could be concealed, but he Y had this trouble
for nothing.
Four weeks passed, and McKinleys house
was blackcned ruin, and his family had
TO depend on Deighbors for shelter.
The visits of the relocated marauders to
Dervock had grown less frequent, and Nc
Kinley and his friends began to think he
could come out Of hiding and make an eff
fort to get out of tile country.
They were reckoning, however, without
Chestnut Smith. Before they could put
their plans in execution Smith happened to
call in the house in which Mckinley was
concealed, and an indiscretion on the part
of one of the inmates aroused his suspicion.
Not many min utes later he was on his way
to Colerainc, with word for the captain of
the Yeos.' That afternoon a strong force
OF soldiers took possession of Dervock, ana
Mckinley was captured.
The redcoats set fire to the house in
which he was concealed, and he was
obliged to surrender. In those days in Ire
land there was little delay or ceremony
about the trial of a patriot
Mckinley was marched to Coleraine
where before sundown he was tried by drum
head court-martial and sentenced TO be
hanged.
That night he was swung off cart, and
when the soldiers tired of jabting his body
with their bayonets, his head was cut off
and fixed on spike at the Town Hall.
Two of McKinley's uncles, James and
william, had come to this country several
years before, having been driven from
their homes for their opposition to Eng
lish misrule, and from one of them has de-
scended the William Mckinley who today
has the highest honor within the gift of
the people.
The descendants of the infoTmer Smith |
live at Dervock' even now. few years
ago one of his family, also a Chestnut
Smith, acted as secretary of the Unionist |
party in Belfast at the time of the visits |
of Chamberlain and the Marquis of Hart
ington, now the Duke of Devonshire, to
that city Then he distinguished himself
by engaging in "a daring scheme to de-
fraud Insurance companies. When the
frauds were discovered he endeavured to |
escape, but was arrested on board a ship
at Moville. u
He reached tiis, tender at Derry City, but
deeming delays dangerous hired an out
side car and drove thirteen miles TO the
packet station. There he had himself
rowed to the ship. But his haste proved
his ruin. The detective at Moville, who |
happened to be on board, became sus-
picious, and took him ashore under ar
rest.
Almond Pudding.
iuf, c,,fc at