The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09
INSCRIPTION ON THE TABLET ERECTED ON THE OUTSIDE OF
 OLIVER BONDS HOUSE.

ULlVER 6U
 treated by Squire Browne, his host To-
 morrow this incident and others will be | recalled to the minds of many thou
 sands of men from Kildare and all the adjacent counties, and the recollection
 will not serve to breed loyalty to Brit | ish rule in the multitude.
 In addition to the demonstration in
 Kildare there will be a demonstration
 in Dublin on the occasion of unveiling
 a tablet which has been erected on the outside of Oliver Bonds house, on 1 Lower Bridge street. Oliver Bond was l an eminent Woolen draper of Dublin
 and kindly, though shrewd, man who,
 being a Protestant of English extrac-
 tion, might have attained to the most 1 influential, social and political po- sition If only he had taken
 the side of the English, tyrants of his country He joined the
 United Irishmen, and he was tried for
 high treason on the 24th of July, 179S
 Three days before the brothers Sheares l had been sentenced to death for the l same offense and hanged; the second
 day before, John McCaner had experi- enced the same terrible fate; Thomas
 Byrne, the very day before, had been tried and sentenced. The principal | witness against all was the infamous 1 informer, Thomas Reynolds, of Kilkea l Castle, in the county of Kildare. He 1 had been a silk mercer in Dublin and | joined the United Irishmen at an early period in their career In 1797 he was society for Kildare, and soon afterward he became one of the trusted delegates of the society from that county. He dedicated himself to a career of crime and treachery. He stole jewels and silks belonging to his mother and ap
 toH nTOPp66G He sWindled a servant out of sum of 9170. He was accused by his brother in-law, under circumstances of the strongest suspicion, of having poisoned robbing her of S300. He then turned his attention to earning money from the English Government by betraying
 his fellow men, into whose political condolences he had wormed himself. He had been benefited by Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and he sold him. He not only took all the United Irish oaths but then swore that he was loyal" and sought to get one Felix Rourke hanged for his own treason. His latest act of infamy was to give evidence against his fellow merchant, Oliver Bond.
 The trial of Bond was, however, fa-
 nous for more than the appearance of Reynolds, the informer, In the witness box. It was famous, also, for the mag nifcent and courageous speech of the great lawyer and orator, John Philpot Curran, for the defense. The court
 was crowded with armed military and yeomen who, drunk with power and liquor frequently interrupted Curran with their shouts and threats, and the clashing of their swords and carbtnes. In spite of such demonstration. which called forth but the pretense of an eff fort from the Judges to put them down. Curran persevered and held up Reynolds to the scorn of mankind while vindicating the patriotism of his
 client But the jury had been duly packed" and Bonds sentence to death may be said to have been pronounced the moment after he had been ar raigned He was not however, hanged. It was said at the time that he died in prison of apoplexy, but there Is much evidence to show that he was murdered. The memorial now erected to him con- sists of a tablet, telling in the Irish language and In the English of his ar
 rest in the house on Bridge street. It
 may be added here that on the morn ing after Bonds death (the insurrec-
 tion being suppressed), negotiations were opened between the United Irish
 men then in custody and the Govern ment for a treaty the terms of which
 were that the prisoners would tell the
 real state of affairs on the insurgent side without duplicating individuals and that the Government on their side should take no more lives England, as usual, broke the compact. One man was hanged, and-what the patriots thought worse of-the indemnity act which was passed described the United
 Irish leaders as confessing guilt and craving pardon, neither of which they did; and, finally. instead of being al lowed to go at once abroad, the pris- oners were kept in jail for a year in Dublin and then thrust into Fort George, from which they were not re- leased till the peace of Amiens in 1902
 All this is another story, the telling of which tomorrow will not, it may easily be imagined, tend to make loyal citizens of the people of Dublin.
 But the commemoration of the men of '9S and of their sacrifices Is not the only thing of the kind which Is now engaging the attention of Irish Nation alists The Parnen anniversary is ap- preaching. and, as usual, the most ex- tensfve preparations are being made for 1t by the political followers of the late Irish leader. Parnell died on the 9th of October, 1891 and that day has now come to be known as Ivy day, from the fact that the ivy leaf has come to be worn on the anniversary of that day in honor of Parnell, as the primrose Is
 worn in England on the Beaconsfeld or Disraelian anniversary. But the public demonstration in honor of Par nell does not take place then, but al- ways on the following Sunday, when special trains are run from all parts of the country for the purpose of bring ing Parnellites to Dublin, there to join in the annual pilgrimage to Parnell's grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. Hitherto every successive year from 1891 has witnessed that annual pilgrimage, and generally speaking it has been won derfuI sight. This year 1t promises to |. aTlra SnHPfqNlQ inc usual preparations are being made for it. and from the indications to hand 1t is plain that on Sunday. the 10th of October, the response will take the shape of, in all probability, larger crowd than usual. Besides the annual