The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-20

In all the exciting election contests
from 1870 to $780, especially wherever
there was any danger of defeat for the
| national candidate, John Daily was in
!, the thick of the fray, and, by his earn
est eloquence, and his great influence
with the youthful leaders in every Sec
ton, he more than once turned posi-
bic defeat into certain victory. The
election Of that gallant and uncompro-
missing rebel, John Mitchell, for Tippe-
rary county in 1875, was initiated and
mainly managed by John Daily, and he
was the chief marshal of the memora-
BILE procession that escorted poor Nit
chel, then within a few days of his last
reward, from Limerick Junction to
Tipperary town, on his arrival from
this country.
In the famous election of O'Connor
Power for county of Mayo, as we'll as in
the Charles J. O'Donovan Rosa and
Charles ]. Hickman for the premier
county, he was also a prominent factor.
If not the moving spirit, and, during
the OConnell centenary and other
stirring events Of that period, he was
also a potential factor in unfolding and
disseminating true Irish national senti-
ment.
Mr.. DAILY came to the United States
for the second time about $780, and, re-
turning again to Ireland in 1882, he
was present, grieved mourner, at the
obseQuies of his friend and co-worker,
the gentle, but unflinching patriot,
Charles J. Kickham, and was appro-
priately selected by the Irish National
lists to deliver the Grafton at the grave
in Mullinahone, where the mortal re-
mains of the sweet poet and pure pa
triot were laid to rest under the shadow
of his well-beloved "Shevenamon"
But the English government knew
T0l, TNA1x N.,,,4 Ill
with him there was no thought or pos
sibility of compromise, and, being par
ticularly fearful of the dangerous
American" ideas, which it conceived
he had imbibed while in this country,
1t bounced upon him, soon af-
ter his return, and, on a
charge of high treason, he was
convicted by an English jury, and
was sentenced to penal servitude for
life; and, although Chief Constable
Firndale, of Birmingham, soon after
Days conviction, made an affidavit
that he was satisfied Of Days inno-
cence Of the charge alleged against
him, the English home secretary, ap-
parently well satisfied that so rebel
lious a spirit had been Gagged, refused
to interfere.
Mr.. DAILY, after serving thirteen
years, was released on parole from
L d
six or seven other Irish political pris-
oners. Soon after their release, two
of the released died, while two others,
DR.. Gallagher, Of Philadelphia, and
Thomas Murphy, of Boston-were,
within a few weeks after their arrival
in this country, placed in insane asy-
lums, their minds, as well as their
bodies, being hopelessly shattered, as
the result Of the inhuman tortures
inflicted upon them In prison.
The evident hope of the English gov
eminent has not, however, been full
filled in the case of Mr. DAILY. A physi-
cal wreck when released, he has already
regained considerable Of his old-time
strength and vigor, and his indomita-
BILE spirit is, thank God, as defiant and
uncomfortable as ever. He still be-
lieves in the future of Ireland He
predicts separation from England and
an Independent Irish republic before
many years.
He is delighted at the spirit and ad-
vanced intelligence Of the youth of to-
day in Ireland, but he deplores the
spirit of faction which prevails among
the Irish leaders, and has refused to
associate himself with any branch of
the parliamentary party, while siren
uously counseling them to unite and
harmonic.