The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-11
THRILLING TALE OF RESCUE
OFIRISH PoLI1ICAL PRISONERS ON
 THE WEST AUSTRALIAN COAST,

| A RciHeihpr"hce or Heroic adventure anu | Narrow Escape-A Critical Moment 1 A Memory of the Late Catalpa Jim of
 New Haven.
 | There were number of political pris- oners left beind in Fremantle, the Brit ish penal settlement in western Aus tralia, when John Boyle O'Reilly escap- ed and he did much to bring about their | subsequent freedom. He arrived in Philadelphia fugitive on November 2S, 1869, and soon thereafter entered upon the highway of literary and world- ly prosperity. He married, and his wife
 bore him two children. With these hostages to fortune he did what few men would have done; unshrinkingly entered into an undertaking to bring about the release from the Australian penal settlement of his one-time fellow companions, victims of British misrue and despotism. When OReilly was in his thirty-second year-that was seven years after his escape from Australia the Clan-na-Gael an Irish secret society credited with rather violent impulses, determined to bring about the rescue of the Irish political prisoners who were | confined in western Australia O'Reilly was not member of the clan, but was implicitly trusted by it's leaders To him came John. Devoy, the one-t time successful organizer of treason in the British army. and John Breslin, the | rescuer from Richmond prison of James l StanhppS fhn fn I- pf ha lamentable Fenian insurrection. The plan proposed involved the purchase of l a ship, manning her with hardy Irish patriots, sailing to western Australia and rescuing the life prisoners from
 their captivity. An estimate of the cost of this undertaking involved an outlay of at least $2O,O00, a voyage of 3000O miles and a prospect of legalized throt-
 ting in hangmans moose. It is a marvellous fact that nearly 5000 men of
 the Clan-na-Gael were taken into the confidence of these extravagant plot ters in order that the necessary money
 might be raised, and yet not one of them betrayed the secret; although, sad to say, the history of Irish politics and
 Irish adventure is marred with the slimy trail of the informer. O'Reilly
 upon being consulted suggested more
 feasible plan; the purchase of whaI- ing vessel. sending her ostensibly on a
 whaling cruise, and thus averting the suspicion which would naturally attach to ship of any other description cruis- ing in western Australian waters.
 The entire story of this remarkable adventure Is too long to tell now. Suf- flee it to say that Breslin and Thomas
 Desmond of San Francisco-both of whom are alive to-day. Breslin being in New York-arriyed in Fremantle in | November, 1875. In the meantime the l bark Catalpa, purchased by the Clan- na-Gael had sailed from New Bedford, April 25, 1S75 It was commanded by a l typical Nantucket mariner, Captain | Anthony, who was cool as an Arctic l breeze; brave as an American sailor.
 His first officer Smith, was an Ameri- I can of Scotch patronage; only one Irishman was among the crew, which was purposely composed of Malays, | Kanakas and Portuguese negroes, with | one or two whtese In this way the ship in every respect presented the ap- pearance of genuine whaler, The Ca talpa cruised for year, capturing one whale in the North Atlantic for which S11,000 were realized, and on March 1, 1S76 arrived in Bunbury, western Aus
 tralia. The method whereby communi- I cations were had with the prisoners is too long tale but by ,matchless craft
 the six imprisoned patriots, James Dar- l ragh, Martin Hogan Michael Harring-
 ton, Thomas Cassett, Robert Cranston and James Wilson--one being left be- hind because he was a traitor--were secreted in a whaleboat belonging to the
 Catalpa, which stood some distance
 from shore It was only then that their
 real troubles began. Thesstory of what
 followed has been we'll told by John
 Boyle O'Reillys literary executor, in
 part as follows:
 Il In the meantime the wind and sea
 had arisen, the boats course was dead
 to windward and the Catalpa invisible
 below the horizon. Presently the wind
 changed little and the crew hoisted
 small sail They soon sighted the
 ship and were fast overhauling her
 when a squall struck them, carrying
 away their mast and sail. They pulled
 wearily ahead for two hours longer,
 then set the jib on an oar. The heavily
 laden boat continually shipped seas , over the stern, Keeping the men engaged
 in bailing her out. So they worked all through the stormy night, hungry, tired
 and soaking wet. At daylight they sighted the ship again and tried to sig
 nal her, but in vain. Fortunately for themselves, as it proved, their little boat was not visible in the waste, of
 waters, for the government steamer
 Georgette came presently out of Ere mantle harbor, steering straight for the Catalpa The men in the boat took 1r the small jib which they had hoisted and again resumed their work at the oars, The Georgette was seen to go out . to the Catalpa, barley while with her then steam in toward the shore, making
 complete circuit around the boat with
 out perceiving it. Another enemy was also in sight the coast-guard boat which went out toward the Catalpa as
 the Georgette came back from her, thus intending to head off the fugltives wher! ever they might be. The men in the whale boat again hoisted their little sail and made for the ship, which at last l sighted and bore down toward them = As it did so the coast-guard boat also 9 discovered the boat and made sail 1T f the hope of intercepting it. So close was the race that the Catalpa, reach l ing the boat first, did not wait for the g passengers to swarm up the sides bu . lowering the falls, grappled it fore ane r,h