The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-12-23

John J. Phelan was one of the l,60U
observation-disclosures who participated in
held to commemorate the ~thirty-first
anniversary of the Manchester martyrs.
Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, three men
whose names have been placed on the
roll of Ireland's heroes. This fact in
itself would seem of no extraordinary
interest, but when it is added that Phe-
Ian was one of the men who planned
and carried out the rescue Of the fenian
prisoners which led to the execution Of
the three heroes, that he himself escap-
ed a similar fate through American in
tervention, and that his identity was
never before publicly disclosed in this
connection, the matter takes on a
greater significance.
Mr.. Phelan has been a resident Of
Chicago for more than twenty-six years
and is at present a liquor dealer at
1859 State street. When seen at his
place Of business he expressed regret
that his identity as a leader in the
Manchester affair had been given to the
public. 1t vas not done. he declared,
with his consent or upon his authority.
He was fearful that he might be look
ed up as a seeker after notoriety by al
lowing his name to figure as that Of a
hero in the Manchester tragedy at this
late day. After some reluctance, he
said:
1.-THE story is all true enough. OF
course the part I played in the fenian
rescue in 1867, the imprisonment I suf-
fered for it. and the narrow escape
from gallows upon which Allen, Larkin
and O'Brien gave up their lives has
friends, and some Of these, 1 suppose,
decided hat everybody interested
should be taken into our confidence.
IN THE NAVY AT II.
Il cannot attempt to give anything
more than a synopsis. 1t is not easy to
recall everything at a moments notice
after a lapse of thirty-one years. But
if I should take the time to furnish all
the details of the story it would fill an
entire newspaper. To get at the case
rightly I must go back of the event in
question. During the last eleven months
of the civil war in this country I was a
sailor in the United States navy. I en-
listed in New York at the age of II as
an ordinary seaman with the position
of fireman in view. I was first assign
ed to the school ship North Carolina
in the Brooklyn navy yard, thence to
the Vanderbilt, and later to the Poto-
mac, which was part Of Admiral Far
ragut's eastern blockading fleet. After
the war I returned to New York.
'In 1867, under the leadership of COL
onel Kelley, Captain Dacey and a GER
tain Chicago engineer-one of the ablest
in Illinois| became a party of eighteen
or twenty volunteers who decided to
go to England to assist in organizing
the fenian movement. Kelley and Da-
cey were both New York Irishmen who
had served in the war, but at this mo-
ment I cannot recall their regiments. I
first met Captain Dacey in Buffalo, and
after proceeding together to a point in
Canada we separated and Travelled on
alone. It was deemed best we should
not be seen too much together. I had
been a fireman on the Potomac. and
was not in the habit of wearing silk
hats. I had made several trips to Eng
land and there was danger that nv
70 90 roirht hn tn v,111 1---
How we got to England in our sew
eral way as members of the party re-
ferred to and how we came together
again in Manchester are details 1 can
not attempt to enter upon here. john
ny Nolan's public house, in Nixon
street, London road. Manchester, was
the meeting place or headquarters OF
the fenian brotherhood, and there all
plans were laid toward the organization
of the movement.
HIS COMPANIONS ARRESTED.
Moreover, it is Of course a matter of.
history how Colonel Kelley and Captain
Dacey fell under the suspicion of the
British authorities and were placed un-
der arrest and thrown into Jail. They
were confined in Bellevue prison, six
miles from Manchester. AS the whole
proceeding comes back in m now,
they were brought up for trial and re-
and some time after without a
hearing. At last Scotland Yard detec-
t1ves succeeded in trumping up a case
OF conspiracy against the two men.
Then they were tried and convicted,
There were of course wholesale arrests
at h time and many were unde sur