The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-07-08
Cruelty Sentenced for Life to
Penal Servitude.
BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN INNOCENT
Energies from Jail a Shadow of
His Former Self.

ASsAS>N ~ oHa@ COAoaSh jan, o!A OAaNt
to that effect having been sent from
Dublin Castle TO the governor. He was
sentenced to penal servitude for life on
charge of having attempted to murder
Denis ]. Field, one of the jurors by
whom Michael Walsh was found guilty
OF the murder of man named Lyden
in the West of Ireland.
Now, the released prisoner does not
want to talk of his experiences in prison
at least for the present. He is too
glad to be free. Worn and shattered as
he is, the poor man is so proud of his
newly-won liberty, so eager to look into
friendly face, SO childishly delighted
to hear friendly voice and feel the
grasp of friendly hand, that it would
be more than cruel to take him back in
thought to the memory of those sixteen
and half terrible years spent hopeless
ly and wearily in prisons North and
South, amidst scenes that would chill
the most ardent and bring despair to the
.brayest heart Some people thought to
turn pennies by exploiting the released
prisoner. Anyone with ordinary human
feelings in his heart would have respect
ed the privacy of a man who had
emerged from living death-who had
his first opportunity during we'll nigh
seventeen years of hearing other voices
than those of his jailers, or of friends
restrained by the perpetual presence of
the warders and the turnkeys. So those
who sought Joe Mullett last night were
disappointed, says the Dublin Evening
Telegraph. He slept peaceably at Low
er Bridge street, and the morning pa
pers sent him somewhere along the
coast.
In the forenoon the ex-convict de-
cided that one of his first duties as
perfectly free man-because his release
is unconditional-wa to thank in per-
son those who most strenuously and
increasingly worked for the release of
himself and his fellow-prisoners. Ac-
cordingly he drove to the office of the
Evening Telegraph, accompanied by
Mr.. James Mullett, P. L. G., and here,
in the presence of several we'll known
Dublin Nationalists, he expressed in the
most fervent manner his gratitude and
the gratitude of his companions for the
manner in which the staff of the Tele-
graph worked for amnesty in season
and out of season. Mr.. Mullett has
borne up wonderfully we'll, when the
horror and torture of sixteen years and
a half of confinement are considered.
He is pale and wan enough-pale with
the ghastly pallor described by Dumas
as characterizing Edmund Dantes when
he emerged from the Chateau DIFF to
reappear in the world as the Count OF
Monte Cristo. The weary imprisonment
has left ineffaceable marks. In outward
appearances Mr.. Mullett is slight and
fragile. He has not during his few
hours of liberty succeeded in getting
rid of the sadly plaintive expression of
features which was developed during all
the long years of hopelessness and daily
misery. But the keen blue eyes are as
bright as ever, and in conversation they
flash as defiantly as if their owner had
never heard warder's tramp at night
or only looked at the sunshine through
the bars OF the window OF CELL He is
an intellectual man. During his long
imprisonment he gained a knowledge of
Latin and French which can compare
very favorably with Professor Atkinson's
with the Irish tongue
and his heartfelt words OF gratitude to
the friends around him were as elo-
quent as they were simple and fervent.
OF course his experiences of prison Lie
during the past sixteen and half years
are not only interesting, but instructive
He has much to say and tell, but his
story need not yet be narrated. After
having suffered at the hands OF Our pho
tographer, Mr.. Mullett visited the print
ing room, where the compositors re-
ceived him with "knock-down," which
quite disconnected him for little time
1t need not be said that he was fervent
in his thanks for all the kindness shown
him. When leaving, after examining
everything with the eager interest OF a
man to whom the outside world had