The Holly chieftain., 1909-02-12
An IRISH CONSPIRACY.
How an Ulster Reporter oupsd Len.
den Correspondent.

Now an Ulster Reporter oupsd q Lon.
den Correspondent.
A correspondent sends US an
amusing instance, for the truth Of
which he vouches. '1t was the
time of the plan of campaign lie
writes, "and the English Tory pa
pers we're doing their best to prove
that Ireland was in condition that
would make an armed insurrecsion
at any moment not at all surpris-
ing. One of the leading London
papers sent over its picked corre-
spondent, man with a splendid
ignorance Of everything Irish and a
splendid willingness to believe am
thing OF sensational nature he
could hear. Among the places he
visited was little town in Ulster
that was about as quiet spot as he
could have singled out anywhere
between the north pole and The
Rock of Gibraltar. He had the re-
porter of the local weekly paper
into the hotel with him, and over
the whisky he set himself to eN-
tract from that rather unscr;ru-
lous person the truth about ire
land
SIS il trne,' he asked. lower NJ
his voice for question Of so grave
an import. that the peasants are
being 1rille! every night in the n-c
Of arms The local man could
have burst out laughing, but he
contented himself with quict
twinkle and admitted soleinnlv that
the state OF the country was set
ting desperate. The truth seeker
then said l.. was determined TO get
at the bottom of things and Won
dered if there was any possibility
of his being witness OF one of
these midnight drillings. The To-
cal man after pondering for n mo-
ment thought it might be man
aged, though it would involve some
danger, but he was sure the other
didn't mind that.
''It wa pouring weather the
next night. and the great CORE
spondent was taken away from the
fire in the hotel and given ii walk
of mile or SO along a dark, mud
dy, deep rutted road. Then he had
to scramble through a gap in
hedge and over a wall into field
and walk ON tiptoe toward the side
Of the field. Here he had to get
down into the ditch and move along
on his hands and knees through the
nettles and brambles that he dared
not even curse for fear the rebels
would hear him. At the end Of the
field, however, drenched, dirtied,
stung, pricked, he had his exceed
ing great reward. Knceling in sew
eral inches of water, with his chest
pressed against bank of wet
earth, he was able to peep through
q hole at the bottom of the hedge
at certain dim figures in the next
field. They were being walked up
and down, and now and then the
word Halt" or some other word of
command was sternly spoken in an
undertone and, vigorously obeyed.
"It was too dark to see very
clearly, but it was clear the conspir-
ators were armed with something
long, either pixies or rifles, which
they raised into the air every now
and then. The local man admitted
that this was only one Of many
fields where such things were night
" practiced. The visitor crawled
back to his bad, sore and sneezing.
but happy, and probably he tells his
friends to the present day of how
be saw Irish rebels at their wicked
midnight work. OF course the
tconspirators' were only few Of
the boys Of the place, whom the To-
aal correspondent had put up TO
the joke, and the rifles and pixies
were nothing worse than few sim-
pie sticks cut from hedge
London Mail.