The Irish standard., 1900-08-25
INTERESTING "REMINISCENCES
Of the Late Sir Charles Russell BY
One Who Knew Him.

the death of the English chief justice
The death of Sir Charles Russell
chief justice of England, has been her
aided throughout the world. The fact
that he was Irish and Catholic has
been widely commented upon.
1t seems strange to most people that
such thing should occur in England
where so many antipathies have al
ways existed to the race of Russells
whether considered on national or re
ligious grounds.
Was it greater liberality or an en-
larged sense of justice that made
Charles Russell-the Irish Catholic
lord chief justice of England?
No, indeed; it was rather the indom
table will and the great ability of the
man, coupled with the assistance OF
an exceptional liberal commoncr. But
l would rather tell of a meeting once
had with Sir Charles Russell than
philosophize on the liberality and jus,
tice Of the English government toward
their Irish neighbors.
was in New York city ready to sail
to Europe two days later with my
friend, Rev. Father Dunno, then of
this city, now bishop of Dallas, Tex,
and Rev. Father Thomas O'Gara OF
Wilmington, when l received tele>
gram from my friend. Mr.. Alexander
Sullivan, urging me at any inconyenl-
ence to meet the Hon. Patrick Egan,
who would arrive next evening by
limited express train at the New York
Central depot. The telegram gave no
idea of the purpose of the meeting
replied that would and did so.
Upon his arrival Mr.. Egan handed
me letter from Mr.. Sullivan, which
explained that Mr.. Egan had impor.
tant documents which would eXone-
rate Mr.. Parnell and demonstrate tha,
Pigott was a forger; that it was i'm.
portant the risk of sending them by
mail should not be taken; that it was
equally important that they be carried
by one who was not likely to be ar.
rested on some trumped up charge, as
many leading Irish-American laymen
might be, because if these documents
ever got into the hands of an English
detective they would be ''lost."
Mr.. Sullivan added that lie had
asked Mr.. Michael J. Dee, editor OF
the Detroit News. who had great on
pericnce in Investigating forgeries in
important litigation, in which his pa
per had been involved, to go with the
documents, but Mr.. Dee could not do
so. He, therefore, appealed to me to
give my time from the moment of
meeting Mr.. Egan. if necessary, until
1 got aboard the steamer, to mastering
the documents and their connection
with Pigotts charges, so that could
present them with full explanation
of their significance to Mr. Henry La.
bouchere, NJ. T., who was the person
Mr.. Egan had arranged to send them
to. MIR. Egan and L stayed up nearly
the whole night. He read the London
Times version of an alleged letter by
Parnell, or by himself. He gave me
its history and then handed to me the
original and genuine letter, which had
been altered by pigott. 1t was for
tunate for justice that Mr.. Egan never
trusted pigott. Always distrusting
him, he always kept IL copy Of every
letter that passed between them and
prevailed upon Mr.. l'arnell to have no
correspondence with Pisott. which did
not pass through his hands to be CO.
pied before being mailed.
You will ask, perhaps, why did they
correspond With him? What business
had they with the rcprohate? He was
publishing Il paper in Dublin purporl-
ing to he the organ OF the real. genuine
Nationalists, urging extreme and vio>
lent measures at II time when parnell
and his party We're trying to win Eng,
lish sympathy to the cause of Irish
home rule. The eEcmi, in England
and in the loyal lrIhlin papers.
were republishing and quoting Pigott's
views with a view to accusing Eng.
lish hatred. Yet pimGtt was not mo.
Tested by the government. a move,
ment was instituted to buy out his
paper, so as to suppress it. The CORE.
spondrnce largely concerned the pro.
posed purchase which was finally con.
s,,mmated. The letters preserved by
Mr. Egan, their orderly arrangement,
and Mr.. Sunivan's brief, with Mr..
Egan's statement Of details, enabled
me to undertake the mission. Pigott's
work was one of the most painstakins,
ingenious and devilish schemes ever
devised to destroy mems characters.
l!e traced over glass from the genuine
handwriting Of his intended victims
and reproduced their exact characters
without shade of variation from the
original. He had before him many
letters of each victim.
He copied the original accurately up
to certain place. Then he omitted
or interpolated sentences or words
which changed the meaning and made
the writer appear to say the exact op-
posite of what he had said. Where he
interpolated, he had in some one Of
the many letters before him each word
he wanted and traced it into the pa.