The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-09
GREAT LOVE
STORIES
of HISTORY
ROBERT EMMETT AND
SARAH CURRAN
BY Albert Payson Terhune
Copyright. by the Au,Aor.l

MY love, Sarah. l hoped to be
prop around which your affections
might have chung and which would
never have been shaken. But a rude
blast has snapped it and they have
fallen over grave"
Thus, in 1903, wrote Robert Emmett,
from his prison cell. The letter was
cut short by the arrival OF the guard
that was to conduct him to the scat
fold. His last words and thoughts
were for Sarah Curran, the lovely girl
who shared with Ireland the devotion
Of his great heart. A biographer tells
in the following lines how utterly the
young patriots affection was recipro-
Gated by Miss Curran:
She loved him with the disinter-
ested fervor of woman's first and
early love. When every worldly max.
i'm arrayed itself against him. when
blasted in fortune and disgrace and
danger darkened around his name, she
loved him the more ardently for his
very sufferings."
Robert Emmett was an Irishman of
excellent family. From boyhood he
showed every promise of a brilliant
future. At Trinity college. Dublin.
, where he was a
- fellow-student and
chum of the poet.
Tom Moore, he distinguished himself
by veritable genius for oratory. He
also became enthusiastic over the
United lrishmen' movement and an
earnest worker for his oppressed coun-
try's freedom. On account of his ar
dent patriotism he was expelled from
college in 1898. Thence the 2O-year.
old lad went to the continent Of Eu-
rope, where he remained for two
years. Returning then secretly to Ire
land, he threw himself heart and soul
into the plan for a general Irish revo-
tuition. On July 20, 1903, he and his
colleagues attempted to seize the ar
senal and castle Of Dublin. The SOL
diers Of the garrison beat back their
assailants and the uprising failed.
Emmett escaped to the Wicklow
mountains, where he bided his time
until he could cross safely to France
Finally his arrangements for flight
were completed. But before turning
his back forever on his native land
he resolved to run the terrible risk Of
capture by seeking last interview
with Miss Curran. His friends ad-
vised against such a rash act. But
love was stronger than prudence. The
chance for safe escape passed and
Emmett was arrested. He was tried
for high treason and condemned to
death. At his trial he spoke so elo-
quently in protest against Ireland's
wrongs that the English Judge himself
was moved to tears.
Emmett wrote to Miss Curran. and.
according to the story. offered jailer
his watch and all his money to deliver
the letter. Through secret family in
tluence the unhappy girl is said to
have secured leave to visit Emmett in
his cell the day before his execution.
She is also said to have sat in a car
riage outside the prison when Emmett
came forth to be hanged. and to have
kissed her hand in farewell to the gal
liant youth.
After her lovers death Miss Curran
found her sorrow still further deep
ened by her fathers attitude toward
her. Furious at her devotion to the
ran made life so hard for Sarah that
she was obliged to leave the shelter
Of his house. Homeless, loveless, she
fell into melancholy from which
nothing could arouse her.
Her sufferings excited the pity of
Capt. Sturgeon. an army officer. Stur-
geon asked her to be his wife. She
replied that her heart Was dead ON
Surgeons assurance that he begged
only the right to protect and comfort
her, she consented
. to marry him.
Sturgeon took her
to Sicily, hoping the mild southern eli
mate might restore her shattered
health. But the trouble lay too deep
for human care to tighten it,
Two years later Sarah died-liter-
ally of broken heart. BY her ear
lier wish her body was brought back
to Ireland for burial. Her fate forms
the theme of one of Moore's most
beautiful poems.
Emmet's body rests in an unmarked
grave. For he commanded that no
epitaph be carven above his head un-
til Ireland should be free. Yet thou
sands OF pilgrims have gone to gaze
on the nameless tomb. Almost the
first of these visitors was a slight
dark-haired girl who, two days after
Emmet's execution. slipped away. by
stealth. from the jealous guardianship
of her father and went. under cover Of
night, to weep beside the last resting