The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-19

green and fadrswith EeaVen,s bIue span
ming 1t. And yet the road was just as fair
o century ago when the blue eyed Irish
girl fed for her life.
Her brother and her1oger were with her,
and close behind came the English san-
querors. She heard the tramp of .f6eir
horses and their changing swords, and ter
ror lent wings to her feet. She baunded
over a hedge at the side Of the roae m1p to
q rocky spot where the cavalry could not
come and where she was concealed from
view. But her companions had not been
SO feet of foot, and they were. oyertaken
by their pursuers. Painting and breath
less in her place of concealment, she Heard
the death cry of her lover. Immediately
she ran back to the road and retraced her
footsteps. The unermed man had been
struck in the neck by a. sword and had
fallen ~lifeless at the feet OF his slayer. The
brother for a few moments, with his bare
hands, parried the sword thrusts of the
soldier who was endeavoring to strike him
down. His hands were wounded and
bleeding, and he could defend himself no
longer. AS the sword was poised TO give
kim the fatal blow there was a Wild cry,
"Spare my ~brotheri'' and a white hand
and arm were interpesed before the de-
scending blade. For an instant the SOL
dier who held the sword paused and gazed
into the pleading eyes; then the blade fell,
and the fair hand of Bessie Grey was lying
on the green earth, and the red blood was
sdaining the shamrocks to a crimson hue.
But ere she had time to feel the pain Of it
another soldier placed a pistol against her
brow and sent a bullet into her brain.
She fell on the sod by the side of the two
she loved and from whom her soul had
been parted but a moment.
No stone marks the spot where Bessie
Grey sleeps, but it is known to all the
countryside, and on pleasant days the
youths and maidens wander along the
Lisburn road and tell the tragic story of
the grave in the vale of Ballycreen.
Shame on the cruel, ruthless band
Who hunted down to death their prey,
And palsy strike the murderous hand
That slew the lovely Bessie Grey.
The sword which the Irish heroine car
ried On that eyentful day is still in exist
ence. 1t had been a gift to her from her
lover. When fleeing from the battlefield
and from the pursuing soldiers, she hid
the sword in the thatched roof of a cottage
she was passing, thinking when safety
was assured she would return for the
treasure. The farmer who owned the cot
tage found it, but in those times to &C.
knowledge the possession of a weapon that
had belonged to Il of the insurgents
might mean death to the owner, SO he
concealed it. Forty-one years later two
peddlers travelling that way beguiled it
from the farmers wife with the gift OF a
bright shawl. The peddlers knew the
value of the sword and FASTENED on their
way to dispose of it to their employer, a
Mr.. Lindsay. Before they reached him,
however, they were overtaken by the an
CRY farmer, who had learned of his wife's
weakness. and who Indignantly demanded
the return of the weapon. But mans
vanity proved equal to the woman's, and
the farmer was silenced with a pair of new
boots and a couple of glasses Of grog.
The peddlers then disposed of 1T to Mr..
Lindsay, and it has remained in his family
to the present day.