The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-01-31
SARAH CURRAN.
The Grave of tie Broken Hearted
Daughter Of Erin.

resting place of Sarah Curran, the
bethrothed of Robert Emmett, appears
in an exchange:
The editor of the Leader has sent
me Il paper written by Mr.. O'Sullivan,
of Newmarket, Co. Cork, in which the
latter criticises a sketch called "a
Nameless Grave" which wrote and
which appeared on the 18th Of Novem
Der last. Mr.. O'Sullivan says:
I'm the article "A Nameless Crave
Miss McAIanus undertakes to dspel
the idea that the grave in the grounds
at Rathfarnham is not the last resting
place of Sarah Curran. In this she
is quite correct, but when she proceeds
to speculate Oh it's exact locale she
becomes befogged, calumnious and
uncharitable. She suggests the idea
in distant land. This is false.
have undertaken the task of it's refuta-
ton, as were it to go uncontradicted
now, perhaps generation hence the
question would become as entangled as
the authorship Of The Letters of
Junius,' or even the Shakcspeare-Bac
on controversy of our own day. very
much regret you laid your columns
open so lightly to the dissemination
Of such foul libel as that Sarah Cur
ran committed suicide; it is the very
first time such foul lllslnll;ltlon uls
been as much as whispered"
Now, what 1 wrote was: "Yestcr-
day visited Il grave at Ratllfurnham
which is popularity supposed to be that
of Sarah Curran. Encircltd by horse
chestnut trees, elms, beech. ash, and
some glErled and twisted hawthornS.
it lies mt the end of Il field not far
from two disllscd uuElrries. The story
runs that after Emmet's execution she
flung herself from Il window in the
Priory, til" house i'm which tlc.l Cur
grave in unconsccratcd ground. This
tale. has brought many pilgrims to tie
spot, though it does not appear to have
any foundation in fact Sarah Curran
is said. on good authority. to have
married an officer, and to have died
in England. Mcorcs lines are fami!-
lar to us all:-'Shc is far from the
land where her young hero sleeps
Nevertheless, the grave holds its place
i'm the popular imagination as that of
the woman whom Emmett loved"
fences contain the speculations which
are ''bcfogged, calumnious. and I'M
charitable" Further on wrote: "But,
after all, it is not Sarah Curran's body
that lies beneath the stone. II the
tragedy of her life occurred here,
death found her in another land.
Whose grave then is it? In Philips
Biography it is said to be that OF
Curran's youngest daughter, Gertrude,
who died at the age of twelve, and
who, by her fathers wish, was buried
near the Priory. Popular tradition
asserts that Curran had two daughters
with the same Christian names, the
names being reversed. Thus, EN-
NETS love was Sarah Gertrude, and
her sister Gertrude Sarah. When the
former committed suicide it was, there
fore, easy to confuse the identity of
the two sisters, and hide the fact of
the suicide Like other popular tales,
|
identity of the sleeper i'm the grave is
uncertain"
Il statement which thought true, but
am referring to the popular belief.
spent two months last autumn at the
priory, and heard this story while
there. l repeated it as an idle rumor,
not one in which had any belief. Mr.
O'Sullivan gives some interesting de-
tails about Sarah Currans grave in
his paper.
Her husband" he writes, had her
body embalmcd ION her death in Italy,.
conveyed to Ireland and laid here in
the Newmarket graveyard in North
west Duhallow, in the Curr1n lamily
grave. There arc men still alive in
Newmarket who have been speaking
to people who We're at her funeral, 1t
. arrived on the outskirts Of the town
just as the shades Of evening were
, falling, and before the gray, was anal
ly closed in, Il lantern had to be pro
, cured at the house Of Michael Bren-
nan, Il blacksmith, whose place was
, just beside the graveyard. A monu-
ment i'll the shape Of a Celtic cross Of
Irish granite, erected some thirty years
since, stands at the head Of the grave.
| The breastplate was thrown up by the
) grave-diggers ut the lnterment Of
1 james Curran, granddaughter to John
!. Philpot Curran. 1t was handed round,
). and the inscription read by several. Ii
: was made of silver. This was about
: the year 1857
Mr.. O'Sullivan proceeds to say that
: two residents in Newmarket, whose