The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-12

: bership of nearly SO, 900 in America anI
/ over 81, 900, 900 in the treasury to succor
it's members in sickness and TO hid the
! widows and orphans. The order con-
tinued to grow and prosper without
anything OF note occurring until 1876.
when an organization that existed i'm
Luzerue and Schuyl11il1 counties, Penn
syIvania, known as the Noble Ma
guires, came into bad repute owing to
| some murders being committed in the
! coal regions. and it was alleged tina.
they were committed by the members
of the MoIlie Maguires. Among those
arrested for the crimes We're a few who
were members Of the A. o. H.
In 1883 began the trouble which Gull
minated in the disruption of the order
and the creation of the two WINGS
known as the Ancient Order of Hiber
mans Benevolent Society of America
and the Ancient Order of Hiberuiaus'
Board of Erin. In 1884 the split oc-
CURED, and q few years later the dis
ruption of the order in Europe This
unhappy state of affairs continued i'm
the United States until 1897. when both
branches of the order. after consider
able conferences. formulated a plan Of
union and agreed upon Bishop BicFaul
as arbitrator. The result Of his wise
labors was the reunion of both factions
and the grand old order became once
again one powerful body Bishop No
/ Faul gave his decision on Dec. H. 1897,
and it was accepted by both wings
A Joint national convention TO ratffv
the decision Of Bishop NcFaul was held
in June, 1898, in TayIor's opera. house,
| Trenton. On the second day Of the ses-
sion permanent organization was eff
fected. The following officers were
chosen, and are, happily, still serving
the order: John T Heating of Chi
cago, national president; James E. Do
Ian of Syracuse, N. Y, national vice
president; James O'Sullivan of Phila-
delphia, national secretary; Patrick T.
Moran of Washington, national treas
urer. These gentlemen have performed
their duties most efficiently, and to the
great benefit of the order.
(The above article was condensed
for the Pilot from "A History Of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians," writ
ten by Thomas F. McGrath of Cleve-
land. o.
Peter Jordan, ex-county president OF
Plymouth county, Mass, in an address
delivered before the members of Di-
vision l Of Brockton, on Nov IS. 1899.
said that the order was first organ
| lied in 914 by King Brian, who enlist
ed the young men of the country under
the name Of the Order of Hibernians
| King Brian led them TO the field Of
Clontarf, where they successfully re-
/ pulsed the invading Danes. The Danes
at that period were making an effort
to overrun the island, to take away the
sovereign rights of the people, stamp
out their faith, and plant in its place
the banner Of paganism. For a time
after that but little is found in his
tory relative to the order. but later.
when the English government passed
a penal law making it treason for a
Catholic priest to celebrate the Holy
Sacrifice Of the Mass, and the priests
were compelled to exercise their func-
tons in caves in the mountains. the
order again came into prominent no.
tice. The young men Of the country
banded together under the same mama
for the protection of their priests.
The English government then passed
another penal law, making it treason
for any one to belong to the order.
Meetings were still held, however, in
caves and in the mountain fastnesss.
The law was soon so rigidly enforced
that many Of the younger generation
fed across the Atlantic and settled in
Maryland. Here. in the city Of Balti-
more, the first division of the order in
the United States was instituted in
183O.-The Pilot.