The Irish standard., 1906-07-28
In His Dublin Office the Prelininaries Took
]. Place For the Formation Of the
Land League.
MIR. Egan is Notable Example Of the Men
Who Have Rendered Valuable Ser
vices to Two Countries.

the committee for defense. 1t was tho
governments custom to pack juries
and hand down verdicts made to or,7er;
but in this case Mr.. Egan undertook to
pack the jury, and did it so succ ass
fully that there We're ten for acquitta!,
and lest, on re-trial, there mig:;. be
twelve for acquittal, the government
suspended the habeas corpus act.
THE MOVE TO PARIS.
Then Mr.. F1gan, being custodian Of
the Leagues funds. removed to Paris
(virtually political exile) safely
guarding the moneys of the irish Home
Rule party, which he deposited with
the banking house of Monroe &, Co.. d.
recting from Paris the operations of
the movement at home. In the two
years that he stayed in Paris he hand
led a million and quarter dollars OF
Land League funds; and when, in
1882. he insisted upon being relieved Of
that trust he turned over 20 the au-
diting committee appointed by Parnen
the sum of $4,000 pounds sterling OF
money in hand. The auditing COM
mittee consisted of John Dillon, Mat
thew Harris and the Rev. Father Shee-
hy.
Then Mr.. Egan returned to Dublin
but late in that year the Government
began making arrests and Mr.. Egan,
feeling that he could best serve the
cause by declining to accept such mar
tyrdom. sailed for the United States,
and after looking the country over set
tied at Lincoln Neb., where he resumed
the grain business, conducting eleva-
tors along the line Of the Burlington &
Missouri railroad, disposing of all his
grain and milling business in Dublin.
On this side of the Atlantic he was
not to lose his identification with the
Irish cause: for he was sent a delegate
to the Irish League convention in Bos-
ton in 1884, and was elected it's National
President, which office he held for
two years. during which time he caused
to be raised and forwarded to Irelanu
s35O,OO0.
Probably the year 1888 was the mos.
eventful in Patrick Egans career, for
various reasons. First, it was in that
year that the world famed Times-Par-
nell case came up, involving the forged
letter transaction of Pigott, which,
by the way, Mr.. EgaA ciinched when
he discovered the adroir manner in
which Pigott accomplished his cleve..
forgeries by selecting words from varl-
GUS letters and combining them in q
| whole. whereby he made to depic:
seeming disgrace on the part of bott.
Parnell and Egan. But Egans pene-
| tration of Pigott's scheme so con-
| founded Pigott that he went to Henry
Labouchere, of London Truth, ana
| member of Parliament, and confessed
| in the presence Of George Augustus
| Sala. the journalist. and on the foi-
| lowing day Lord Charles Russell anc
Sir George Lewis read his confession
| in open court. Warrants we're issued
| for Pigotts arrest, but the London
! Times supplied him with money to get
as far as Madrid where he was caught
| and where he blew out his brains,
whereupon Parnell sued the London
Times for libel obtaining verdict OF
5000 pounds and all costs, together
with profuse published apologies and
the most remarkable and skillful plot
Of forgery ever known to history was
exposed-and by Mr.. Egan, here in
America. by his own snrewd discern
ment of how Pigott was snatching a
word here and there from separate let
ters and patching them together by
| tracing them on tissue paper.
After such publicity you'd hardly
have expected that Mr.. Egan would
have been the recipient, the year fol-
lowing of Presidential recognition by
the ministry to Chilli but he was, and
that in itself was splendid vindica-
tion of his character in America as
could possibly have come to him. And
strange as it may seem, Mr.. Egan
had not been much Of politician out
in Nebraska; but he was close friend
and great admirer of Mr.. Blaine, and
President Harrison gave him his choice