The Irish standard., 1902-11-29
The Police Follow the Correspondent in
His Peregrinatons, But He
Is Not Molested
Witnessed a Typical Eviction Of an Old
Man, His Aged Wife and His
Invalid Daughter.

The following letter from Mr.. Guy
Cramer, the youthful representative
of the Chicago Tribune in Ireland, is
written from Castlerea, County of
Mayo, on Nov. %:
Lord De Freyne's estate is near here
The United Irish League Is backing
the tenants in their refusal to pay
rent. The landlords have formed u
trust to back De Frcyne, and insist
that he shall evict all tenants who
do not pay rent. Many have already
been evicted from their farms, and
also Ousted from the homes they had
built with their own hands into the
roadway by the police. Their suffer
ing neighbors have taken them in and
are sharing their scant store Of food.
The League gives money only to two
classes of people-the poor and the des-
titute
But all are poor, or on the verge Of
extreme poverty. The people are loyal
to each other. The poor support the
destitute, who deserve Il better fate.
The De Frcyne estate comprises 55-,
600 acres, and is leased to nearly 1000
tenants. The good lands are used for
grazing cattle and sheep. No people
are permitted to live there. The ma
jority of the tenants are herded on
one, two, and fOur-acre tracts Oh the
edge of the bogs. This bad land-foi
it is bad--has been reclaimed from the
bog by years of labor by fathers,
mothers, and grandfnthers, who car
rcd gravel and good soil for miles in
sacks on their backs in order to make
few acres OH which to grow Il few
bushels of potatoes and oats.
If the present holder is delinquent
in his rent he is evictcd and heavy
court costs, amounting in some cases
to 5000, are assessed against him.
The landlord takes everything. The
tenant is given no compensation for
improvements lie has made with his
own hands, and, in fact, loses all.
There are 800 huts on the De Freyne
estate In these huts sometimes fami.
lies of twelve live in one room. Mud
is everywhere. The damp from the
bOgs is constant. In the summer the
land is flooded and in winter covered
with ice.
Children and even women go bare
footed in windy and frosty weather.
They sleep on rude hunks or on the
cold floor, sometimes with covering,
more often with none. Pigs, chickens,
geese, and sometimes a COW live un.
der the same roof with the family.
This cannot be helped. The tenant
cannot be blamed for making the best
Of the most miserable condition ever
forced upon civilized people.
Near the DE Freyne estate the gov
ernment has bought 10000 acres OF
land under the congested districts act
On this land it is building modern
houses. 1t allows the tenant to buy
enlarged holdings, repaying the pur
chase price in yearly installments Of s.
or less for each $5 rental paid the land
lord under the old system.
The De Freyne tenants, seeing tl'
bettered condition of their neighbor
are naturally dissatisfied, and have
asked the same reduction in rents ant
chance to increase their miserable
holdings. Their petitions have beer
denied and they have raised the cry
"pay no rent" Many have alread!
been evictcd, and notices have beer
posted for the eviction Of more thar
hundred others in two weeks unless
they pay. The tenants are determined
to resist, and the landlords insist tina
De Freyne shall evict the non-payers
, If he does not they assert there will
be general rent reduction all owe
western Ireland.
; The same conditions prevail on tn
Murphy estate. The tenants ther
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