The San Francisco call., 1909-07-27
Four Hours of Attack

This astounding scene continued un-
til after IL o'clock. For more than
four hours the authorities had been
battering at the house, and still had
not captured 1t. The pick and crowbar
men had been relieved again and again.
men who were called off to rest, there
We're always others ready to take their
places.
At last the ceaseless battering at
the wall began to tell. A big stone
was pried loose. then another and an
other and black gap showed in the
structure. The constables, under a
whitening attack from above, tore at
the stones furiously. The gap widened
and was carried downward toward the
ground. Inspector Ball summoned four
men. They lined up, armed with rifles.
and fixed their bayonets. The inspector
drew his sword and marched toward
the house. The attackers fell back,
and through the breach marched the
commander and his squad. There was
no resistance. With the opening of
the breach the defenders quit. They
had done their best and their worst.
The rest was Jail.
Richard Walsh and his IA com
panions-neighbors from the Castle
island district and men from Tralee-
were placed under arrest and sent,
handcuffed, to Castle island, where that
afternoon they were remanded for
trial
The house, battered within and with
! out looked as though it had been the
center of a furious battle, as, indeed,
| it had. In the center of the dwell
ing, placed as far as possible from
the scenes of strife. lay Mrs. Walsh, not
| dangerously i'll, but TOO weak to be
removed Inspector Ball gave orders
| that she should not be disturbed.
] Women neghbors came to tend her,
while a bailiff remained IN charge of
| the premises in the name of the vindi-
Gated law.
! All along the road to the jail the
| Is prisoners were chcered by the coun-
| try folk. Whatever may have been
| the strict merits of the case, they were
| regarded as fighters for a principle
Most of them were released under $3.50
personal bail, with two sureties of
| $125 each. That evening a public
| meeting was held, Walsh and some of
his fellow defendants Deing present
Murphy, in a stormy speech, declared
the people protested against the use
of the police as members of the crow
bar brigade.
II believe Dick Walsh and his brave
companions" he said, ARE fighting the
battle of all the tenants in Kerry, in
the effort he is making to obtain JUS
| tice. Public opinion is stronger than
| the government. and public opinion is
with him. He has suffered, and may
| suffer more. but the fight made today
| by him and his friends has sounded
the death kneH of forcible evictions
| in this county"
NJ. j. Flavin, another member of
parliament. was even more emphatic
| mfr M1rrnhU and a ar-c
| here as law makers. out we are ready
and willing to break an unjust law
| when that is necessary in defense oil
| liberty
The ruined homestead on the day
after the fight was a sadly instructive
scene. The roof was torn and battered
every window broken, and a great
| gaping hole in the end wall. The door
yard was a sea of trampled mud, and
all about lay the SCARED trunks OF
trees. those still piled around the house
being smeared with tar and lime In
side lay the old mother of the evicted
| tenant feeble in health, but obdurate
| as her son.
Whose was the fault? Upon whom
/ lies the blame for the awful waste and
misery and the harvest of hate thai
| must be garnered from such a SOW
ing? Upon the merits of the individual
case the courts viii decide. But sure
ly one may condemn a system in which
such barbarities survive, and surely
one may rejoice that in all likelihood
there will never be such another scene
once so familiar, in this island.
The next letter in this series B,
Hugh Sutherland mill be published +
! The Call next Thursday morning.I