The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-07-05
A FENIAN CONSPIRATOR.
Biographical Sketch OF
John O'Leary.

Although the last, Mr.. John O'Leary
is certainly not the least Of the men
who made the Fenian movement His
part all through has been essentially
one Of thought rather than of action,
and no man has done more to cast
the glamor of idealism around the con-
spiracy. For this he has been criti-
ciZed from time to time rs ''unprac-
tical,' and so it must be confessed he
ever has been, and remains to the
present day, if eXpcdicncy alone is to
be regarded as the standard by which
political action is to be adjusted.
John OLeary unqucstionhhly would
not hesitate at any period of his career
to sacrifice the prospects of gaining Il
move on the political chessbaard il TIE
means by which such advantage were
to be gained did not appear t. h:r-
monizc with that ''law above the
laws" which has over regulated his pa
litical conduct. His lofty creed that
the cause of Ireland is a s;rrcl one
which can only be injured and never
advanced in the slightest degree by
immoral methods of any kind, has been
held and set forth unfalteringly by him
through long life of unceasing devo-
ton to Ireland's cause. Like the friend
of his life, Luby, Mr.. O'Leary is n
man of very high attainments, his ac-
uuaintance with the great literature
of the world being very extensive.
John OI.cary was born of highly
respectable family in the town of Tip
pcrnry. in 1880. where his family was
possessed of property, which he in the
course of time inherited. His educl-
ton was received at Carlow, Trinity
and Queens College, Galway. where
he began those studies for the medical
profession which were interrupted by
his work fer Ireland. His first interest
in Irish affairs was aroused by his
reading Davis essays during cOnval-
cscrncc after a fever in 1916. In this
year he also made the acquaintance
of James Stephens, who was then on
gagged on some civil engineering work
in Tipperary. and the two had many
walks and talks together in the even
ings after Stephens work was finished
for the day. Their talk was M silly of
literature in those youthful days, and
/ neither had the remotest notion ut the
time of entering into a conspiracy of
any kind--Joln O'Lc;ny certainly had
not. and if Stephens harbored such Il
thought he never gave it uttcrancc in
those evening strols with one who
was afterwards to be so intimately
identified with him in the biggest and
most dangerous conspiracy against
English rule of the nineteenth century.
John O'Leary's first plunge into
revolutionary affairs was taken short
ly after the arrests of the rs leaders,
when he and some other bold spirits
attempted to carry Il plan of rescue
into action, with the only result that
he and some of his associates We're
captured" by the police ana lodged in
Clonmcl Jail for few weeks when
they We're released upon some friends
going security for their good behavior
in the future. This was John O'Leary's
first experience Of prison life, and it
certainly had no deterrent effect upon
him, for we hear of him shortly after
wards forming an oathbound society
which had for its object the freeing
of Ireland from English rule. This So
ciety afterwards merged into that
which Finton Labor had started in
Dublin, and in which Luby, Joseph
Brennan, Philip Grey and some other
earnest men were involved. AS men
toned in the account of Luby, it came
to nothing, and need not be further
referred to. After the failure of this
affair John O'Leary took no part in
politics for some years, pursuing his
studies in Dublin, Galway and Lon