The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-02-04
The Worst Oh His Kind.

On a magnificent estate in the rich
est part OF Ireland, surrounded by an
immense retinue of servants and sus-
tanned to the last by every comfort
money 'could produce. there just died
an aged marquis. He had lived be-
yond the ordinary span of life allotted
to human beings-tO the age when a
good man shows the most marked
saintliness OF his character; when a
stateman'S mistakes are forgotten and
his services mf,gnifed into wonderful
deeds-when a useful citizen becomes
1.-THE Grand Olo Man" and is revered
by friends and foes alike.
The Marquis Of Sligo had arrived at
this age, but at none of these honors
of age. Not a tear vas shed by any
of those thousands of tenants and re-
tanners. None wished or dared to al
Jude to his virtues, for he never had
any; execrated and deSpiSed in life, he
went to a dishonored grave. The
memories he has left behind are men,
cries of extortion and cruel wrong, of
reckless vice and extravaganza. Of
merciless dealings with the poor, and
of all the worst traits eyer attributed
to the IIish landlord class.
The Marquis of Sligo owned an es-
tate of lis, 900 acres in the beautiful
County Mayo. 1t was all inherited
from his father, and the legitimate
income OF the estate and other proper
ties was s15, 900 year. From the
first year of bis heritage he spent
more than this princely income. For
his estate he cared nothing, for his
tenants he cared less than nothing,
but the nothing, but the money they
furnished was necessary to his career
of vicious recklessness- So be ordered
his agent to increase the rents: and
again and again the prices of the mis-
cradle little holdings went up until
they were the most exorbitaDt in all
Ireland-and that is saying much.
The .'crowbar brigade" of ruffians
in the pay Of Lord Sligo evicted the
entire population of villages and pull
led down the houses. Then followed
terrible famine. want and disease.
The ''hunger sickness" swooped down
on County Mayo like a plague, and of
Sligo'S tenants alone several thousands
persisted. Thousands died because
they were unable to furnish their lord
with money for his dissipation and
folly. He vas responsible for the
health and welfare OF all these swarms
of women and helpless babes-he took
all they had on earth and left them to
starve while he ate, drank and was
merry with this blood-money.
All this was il 1917 and the miSer-
able years that followed. Many of
the old tenants fled tn America and
new mes finally took their place.
These, too, felt the heavy hand Of the
rapaclous landlord until 1878, when
the marquis married a French lady Of
great wealth. He was sixty years old,
but he spent more money than ever.
But he stayed on the Continet and
used his wife's money, and the oppres-
sed ~tenantry got a little rest.
The Marquis of Sligo was the worst
of his race-perhaps he is the last.
For with the new laws just passed, no
great Irish landlord will ever again
dare to do the things he did. The
new century has dawned brightly for
Ireland-the land which for seven
centuries has been oppressed by such
men as the monster who has just
died. A history OF his life reads like
that Of one of the c.uelest tyrants Of
medieval history, and he will long be
remembered as they we're. and reviled
as a type Of a rule that has passed
away forever.-Indianapolis Journal.