The Irish standard., 1902-12-13
Twenty-Five Innocent Men Set at Liberty
Through the Legal Skill of
Daniel O'Connell.
Famous Horseback Ride of Vim. Burke From
Cork City to Kerry Home of
the Irish Liberator.

The subjoincd account of the trial Of I
the Doneraile prisoners III 1920 and of |
their successful defense by Daniel
O'Connell, has been written for the
Irish Standard by Mr.. James Nitz-
gerald, of Lisballyhea, Charleville,
County Cork, Ireland, who says that
many Irishmen in Minnesota will lie
pleased to sec it published in this pa
per:
In the year 1929, the whole of Ire
land was alarmed at the reports Of IL
terrible conspiracy for murtlerous pur-
poses, said to exist in Donernile, Il
town in the northern part of Cork. The
neighboring gentry were nearly all
Protestant, and they had voted us one
man for the candidate who would OPP
pose Catholic Emancipation. Inc feel
ings Of the peasantry were therefore,
excited against some Of the landlords,
and many "Whiteboy" outragcs were
pcrpctratcd. At the Cork assizcs of
1920 man was tried and sentenced
TO be hanged for shooting at magis-
trate named Low, who was peculiarly
umfriendly to the people. This stirred
up popular anger; at fairs and markets
the disturbed state of the country was
apparent. At this time II man named
Patrick DAILY, commonly called 1.-The
Spy," swore infornlations of the OK
istencc of n murderous conspiracy
against nearly all the Protestant land
lords. The leaders of the conspiracy
were mentioned by ",rhc Spy" and
some Of them were most respectable
farmers-one, a very old man, named
Lcary. The greatest excitement fol-
lowed. The men named by 1.-The Spy"
were arrested; and instel1 of waitin.
for the assizcs, the government granted
special commission to try them.
Baron Pcnnefnther and Judge TOrrens
were nominated the judges for trying
the prisoners, and Mr.. Dohcrty, solic-
tor-general, was directed by the gov
ernment to conduct the prosecution.
On the 21st of October, 1920, the men
were put on trial in Cork. They were
without counsel, but the crown named
Mcssrs. i'ras. Mccarthy and David X.
Pigott, able lawyers, to defend the
prisoners. The jury w:ls exclusively
Protestant; and on the day Of the trial
the country people crowded the court
house-"nOt Il frieze coat was to be
seen" Lcary, Shine, Roche and Ma
grlth were the prisoners put on trial
Leary, 70 years old, was one of the
was tenant TO Mr.. Creagh, father Of
the high sheriff, whom it was sworn
he was resolved to murder. He was
paying f222 year rent for over twen-
ty years. and was greatly esteemed by
his landlord. The other men were of
lower position, and one had rather q
doubtful character. The solicitor-gcn-
cral made a long and impressive speech
when stating the case for the crown.
From his instructions he fully believed
in the guilt Of the accused. "Let us
today" he said, "if the county be tr.-
duced, rcfute the calumny, but II asso-
Citations exist whose members, bound
by oaths taken in blasphcmy and sup
ported by bloodshed, attempt to dom.
inccr over all that is respectable in the
land, you cannot be too speedy and
prompt in deciding whether you are
determined to bow down to the iron
tyranny of this vulgar despotism. or
whether your proud gentry and noble
ytDmanry will rally round each other
and support the laws which, if put
into strenuous and determined opera
tion, will be fully sufficient for the
most ample redress and repuration."
Several persons declared they would
convict the batch Of prisoners upon the
bare statement of the solicitor-gen-
| cral"
The witnesses for the prosecution
were David Shcellan, Patrick Nowlan,
Patrick DAILY, Thomas Murphy and
Owen DAILY. These men were all either
accomplices or spies, and they swore
"that Leary was the captain, the lead