New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-21
A WEIRD SUPERSTITION THAT HE AND
THE BOER GENERAL DE
WET ARE ONE
SOME CHARACTERISTIC OF THE GREAT
IRISH LEADER THAT LEND CREDI
RILTrY TO THE TALE-sIMILAR
BELIEFS ABOUT OTHER
PUBLIC MEN.

VI all the extraordinary stories that have
Iouho their way into print in connection with
The South African war. there is none that at
hrSt sight appears more extravagant than that
widely circulated in the Continental newspapers
of the Old World according to which C,hor,a.
stewart Parnell. the celebrated Irish leader and
statesman, is not only alive and in good health
out mas actually been fighting for several
months in the Boer ranks against the English
lhoeeu' some even go so far to insist that
the elusive General de Wet the most succeesf,I
OF all the Transvaa leaders is no other than the
virtual creator of the Home Rule party who is
generally believed to have been carried IN his
grave nine years ago. Nor is this belief confined
to the Continental press 1t is prevalent among
the peasantry in various parts of Ireland where
the people appear to be convinced that Parneu
realizing that his existence after the scandaJ
of the OShea divorce would constitute a
source of weakness to the cause of his beloved
country, resolved to disappear either forever
Vi a' Ieast until such time as Ireland had OBJ
tanned her own and the fact that he was still
alive could no longer affect her destinies in
Jurlousiy 1t is asserted that the coffin purport-
ing to contain his body holds nothing but q
mere lay figure, or sand, and that having shaved
OFF his beard, he without any difficulty whatso
ever made his escape in the guise of priest
To those who feel disposed to scoff at this
strange story it may be pointed out that Par
nell career and character were so utterly un-
IKE those or the average English speaking
statesman and politician, that he was so thor
ouehIy unconventional and original in all that
ne ala and said that he was just the kind OF
man to adopt some such peculiar method OF
Withdrawing from public life, either from
motives Of patriotism so intense as to border on
qulxotism or because he had become tired of
Ia 9fTna ant 10 1iok
PARNELL IN 1884
1t was in the spring of 1884 that first made
the personal acquaintance of the great Irish
leader and for several months l saw him
frequently at the House of Commons The
Cabinet of the day far from being a united
one nor was the majority in the House of Com
mons large. Certain negotiations were in prog
ress between some members of the Ministry
VINO believed at that time that the Irish prob
lem might possibly be solved by means of a
compromise, redOundjng to the honor of all
pdI'es concerned carried a number of mes
sages between these Ministers and Mr. ParneU
communications that were as credftable TO the
one as TO the other. For they prompted
on the side of the Ministers by an honest de-
sire to solve in an equitable manner one of the
most difficult problems that ever confronted the
English Crown, and if Parnen was unable to
meet them half way as they had hoped II ,vas
solely because he believed that he could not
do so without doing injustice to those who
had intrusted their destinies to his keeping
These negotiations however progressed sufi-
cIently far to result in the entire Irish party.
under the direction of Parnen, casting its vote
at a critical moment in favor of a Government
that had among its members the statesman who
though long dead still lives in the hate of the
Irish people under the name of ''Buckshot Eos
ter 1t was on the subject of some Egyptian
question, and the manner in which the Irish
party came to the support of the Cabinet was
so unexpected that it was nine davs' wonder
der
While | was sitting and talking with ParneU
his followers would frequently come to him
either to report or for instructions, and it was
impossible not 10 be struck by the extraordinary
hauteur with which he treated all of them
with the exception of Justin Mccarthy. The lat
ter he seemed to regard a social and intel
lectual equal whose advice was worthy of CON
sideration AS far | could see he would toll
crate nothing of the kind the part of the
other Nationalist. whose subservience to him
was as great as that accorded to political bosses
by their followers in some great American cities
He was peremptory in the extreme An aristo-
crat in appearance and bearing and slammed
with the hall mark of a graduate of one of the
great English universities there a certain