The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-02-21

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goodness of his heart, attended al
eviction on the estate of Lord de
Freyne, so as to assist any tenants
who needed his help. Afterwards, as
he could not learn where the next
eviction would take place, and as he
wanted to be present, he followed
the agent and bailiffs in his cart.
While they drove along the country
roads the agent was preceded and
followed by a dozen policemen on
bicycles, the district inspector and a
subordinate riding in a cart
At a certain point in the road Mr..
Fitzgibbon, finding that the police were
blocking his path purposely, drove past
the inspector taking the wrong side of
| the road because he was forced to. and
so he got among the bicycles.
There was almost a collision. The
Jealous Reilly leaped from his wheel
and seized the horses Bride Mr.. Fitz-
gibbon struck the animal with his whip
and urged it forward, but when the in
spector called out to him to stop he
did so. The official charged him with
trying to run down the policeman. Mr.
Fitzgibbon declared he had no such in
tention and the explanation was APP
parently accepted. Later he was ar
rested, charged with Obstructing and
assaulting the police in the discharge
of their duties.
Conducting his own defense, MI
Fitzgibbon had all the witnesses ex-
Guided from the court room except the
one under examination. 1t was well he
did so. Reilly sWore the defendant
struck at him with the whip and all the
policemen agreed that the assault and
obstruction took place.
But in important details the stories
varied grotesquely. The browning
point was reached when the policeman
riding with the inspector admitted that
his superior had ordered him to turn
! their horses and block the road against
the civilian There the witness fatty
contradicted the inspector and proved
that the obstruction was a police Of
Tense. l wish there were space here
for Mr.. Fitzgibbons summing up in
his own behalf. 1t was worthy of a
kings counsel. [ must give one para
graph, if only to show how country
storekeeper in Ireland can defend his
liberties in a hostile court:
Now, your WOrships, what have
these proceedings unfolded? To any
impartial mind it is evident that a de-
liberate and unlawful conspiracy has
! been formed to deprive me of my lib
erty. ] am one of the kings subjects,
and you have no evidence to show why
an attack should be made upon me
more than upon any other man, even
yourselves upon the bench, to deprive
me of what I value as highly as any
other man. l do not intend to delay
you at any length in prefacing my
summary of the evidence, but | do say
| it is a sad state of things in this I'M
fortunate country of ours when the
men who should be the examples of
law and order. of honor and upright
ness. can come into this court and tell
the tales YOU have listened to, not one
of which corrobOrated the others.
Respect for the law! In any we'll
governed country the aim of every cit
| izen, and more particularly those in
charge of the peace, should be to adj
minister the law Justly And if you
want to gain respect for the law you
must administer it in such fashion that
the poorest peasant in his cottage will
| feel that he has it's protection just as
much as the lord in his castle.
What has this case shown? 1t has
been actually nothing more than al
! inquiry into the conduct of the police
and their methods of dealing with po-
! litical opponents. / am certainly recog-
nized as a political opponent of the
present government. but that is no rea-
| son why unfair means should be resort
ed to in order to remove me-
The charges were dismissed" said
| Mr.. Fitzgibbon. But l suppose they
| will get me again some time. You saw
| this afternoon how l am logged by the
! police. There is one on guard in front
| of my place of business all the time.
hcannot go on The street or drive into
the country without having a uniform
at my heels. They have followed us tc
mass on Sunday morning.
But 1 said, how can you tall
calmly of a system which may drive
| you into prison at any timer
! The face of John FitzgibbOn was
gravely thoughtful for moment. Their
! he said:
II value my liberty as much as any
many Perhaps more than others, be
| cause I have suffered, and my wife anc
children have suffered. But l will no
abate one lawful act or word to save
myself from prosecution. if that act OF
word can serve the people I fight for
Some of must endure, that all may
! some day be free"