The Irish standard., 1903-06-27
At Eighty Years of Age He Rules Over One
Of Largest and Most Troublesome
Parishes in State.
Beloved by People of Patterson, He Has Been
Urged by Them to Become Can
didate for Mayor.

The following incidents and recollec-
tions in connection with the life and
work of Father McNulty the saloon
raiding priest of Patterson, N. j.,
appeared in last Sundays issue of the
New York Tribune:
A long, lean man, with white hair,
clad in clerical black, wearing the
three-cornered cap of priest, swung
down Main street yesterday. He
passed boy toddling with four years
dignity.
"Bless you, my little man." he said
stopping to pat the youngsters head.
So gently was it done that the child
was overpleased, and, running to his
mother, who was gossiping on near
by stoop, he asked:
"Who was him patting me?"
"That, my child, was the dean," said
the mother, and she looked pleased.
eyes, that was Dean McNulty."
'What did he pat me for?" was the
next question.
because he likes all good little
boys and keeps their fathers from
drinking" said the mother. The boy
ran away satisfied, and if he meets
the dean on the street tomorrow he
will doubtless run to him for another
blessing.
1t was in some such way as this
that most of the children who grew
into manhood and womanhood in
Paterson came to meet the venerable
dean of st. Johns Roman Catholic
church. This is one of the reasons
why so many people love him. He has
married. baptized and buried one-third
of the people in his part of the Silk
City, and he has been instrumental in
keeping it straight, though, with it's
mixed population of Irish and German
of the laboring classes, it is by no
means the most easily ruled.
On last Thursday evening, when
Dean McNulty was making raid on
the saloon of Oscar Alger, in Main st.,
opposite the courthouse, for the pur-
pose of driving women out of the back
rooms, he was knocked down by the
saloonkeeper. The news spread
through the district, and an angry mob
of friends of the faithful old priest
clamored for revenge. Many Of them
rushed out of the neighboring saloons,
and it would have gone hard with AL
ger if the police had not arrived to
protect him. AS it is, he will surely
be heavily fined, and doubtless his
business will suffer for long time.
In all the years Dean McNulty has
been fighting intemperance, only one
other saloonkeeper has dared to strike
him. He was kept prisoner in his
saloon for several days, fearing vio-
lence if he went on the street. Besides,
he paid fine Of $500 and was practi-
cally driven out Of the city.
With almost fourscore years upon
his shoulders, they refuse to stoop to
time, and he mas the Strengtn OF mOSt
men of half his years. Half his life
he has spent in Paterson, fighting sin
in every form, making friends that he
might help them, building churches
1. schools and hospitals, spending time
and thought on civic affairs, and pre-
siding over one of the largest and
most troublesome parishes in New
Jersey. In short, he has done the
work of two men and failed in moth
jnge
AS an Irish lad he nearly starved tc
death in Ballyshannon during the ter
rible famine years which devastated
the Emerald Isle. He came to Ameri
ca in 1850, and after eight years Of
study was ordained in st. Patrick's
Cathedral, Newark. At once he was
chosen vice-president of Seton Hal
College, which was then located al
Madison. In 1863 he came to Paterson
and from the first he was factor OF
the side of law and order. In the
minds of the present generation his
power dates, perhaps from a certain
Pfingster Monday, twenty-five or more
years ago.
aF