The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-05-08

thing at the same time; there was no
plan, while hour after hour the guns
belched their steady fire. Four hundred
were killed. They seemed not to know
fear, but fell on the gunners, impallng
them at the same instant they them
selves fell. In Kildare the time had
brought a man. William Aylmer devel-
oped genius "The Geraldine" was the
cry. With lightning swiftness he moved
up and down the great Curragh, coun-
marching, cutting OFF supplies, al
most all the time in sight,
but maneuvering with amazing swift
ness. Engagement after engagement
took place, until the base of his opera
lions were confined to the Curragh.
It was on the hill of Knock Alvin that
the surrender took place. A few days
later, May 20, a second band surrender
ed, and was slaughtered while Civ
ing up their arms. In Ulster, az
ter the assault of Antrim, the leader,
Henry Joy McCracken, was captured,
and he died on the scaffold.
From Kildare to Antrim the rebellion
was at an end. The outbreak was
premature In the fomenting of the re-
ligious strife the mark was overshot in
Wexford. The scene was suddenly
shifted to the southeast corner of Ire
Cork Orangemen. The patriots were
routed in Ulster, where they were
numerous and bold, and were reused to
action in Wexford, where they were few
and timid. So peaceful was Wexford
that there were only 500 troops in the
county, that was so miles long and had
100000 inhabitants. Somebody blunder-
ed Wexford was not even Celtic: lord
Edward Fitzgerald did not count on it
for assistance to the cause. But Wex-
ford was the stage upon which the last
and most thrilling scene was to be
enacted In the light of events there
the others are well-nigh forgotten. The
people were of Saxon, Flemish and
Cambrian descent An O. or Mac was
rarely heard of, and the people spoke
the dialect of Spenser and Chaucer. In
April Lord Kingsborough arrived with
the North Cork Orangemen and harried
a peaceful people to madness. Torture
was used. A Protestant dared not ex-
press sympathy with the insurgents.
Transportations, torture and flames
were resorted to. The schoolmasters
were suspects, the blacksmiths locked
up. The magistrates called for the sur
render of arms. Some obeyed and were
massacred at Ferns.
On the Goth of May the house and
chapel of Father John Murphy were
burned, although he had forbidden his
parishioners to join the United Irish
men. He retired to thicket to pray
and to watch the house of God go up
in flames. To him there in his extrem-
ity refugees fled with news of the he
trayal at Ferns and the massacres at
Carmen and Dunlavin in Wicklow.
While they watched the flames of their
chapel rise they knelt in the thicket and
prayed. When the prayer was over,
Father Murphy was man of God, with
a call to kill. With small band he
waylaid the Camolin yeomanry, return
ing from a marauding expedition, and
killed every one of them. They then
took Camolin castle. The pitchforks and
pixies and scythes were more than a
match for the sabres and artillery.
They secured arms at Camolin castle,
and the next day 5000 were marching
behind Father Murphy's cross raised
aloft for holy war. There were only
300 guns for the army, the rest fighting
with native weapons forged by black
smiths. They fought on the hill of Oul-
art and they broke the heavy horse at
New Ross with their pixies. At Ferns
they had 5000 men, but only 600 with
guns. Here Father Murphy turned q
drove of cattle against infantry, driving
the maddened beasts with pitchforks.
diers to fee.
In England Fox was frantic. He
begged that the hand of Cancellation be
held out to Ireland before it was too
late. Ten thousand Englishmen had
fallen, and there were rumors of Wolfe
Tone, who had not yet been captured,
that was disquieting. If the French
feet had come into Wexford harbor
while Father Murphy was defending
Vinegar hill, what would have been the
outcome? AS it was, 10000 troops were
in Ireland. force greater than the one
at Waterloo. From Wexford to Ennis
corthy is but 10 miles. Almost above
the town is Vinegar hill. A beautiful,
low, rounded mountain, Vinegar hill
commands the entire country south
ward to Wexford, north to the noun
tains Of Wicklow. On that memorable
day, June 20, three weeks after the
Il prayer in the thfcket, 10000 insurgents,
With 50. 900 helpless women and old men
ssn children, we're naassed on the hill
81 ~ 4, ltish iegu-