The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-05-03
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

lIASHINGT0NNEusLfTTER'
ATLANTA, Ca, May S-Beyond the
outskirts OF the city where the Forti-
fled Hills look down upon the Chatta:
hoochee, magic city has risen, a city
Of tents and wagon tops. 1t might be
an army encampment were 1t not that
The tents are tatteted and battered
and Of many colors, and filled to over.
flowing with laughing children. The
canvas topped wagons and the dogs,
the ponies staked out under hun:
dred trees, gives the magic city the
appearance Of one OF the caravans OF
the plains. That guess is nearest
right. 1t is the Atlanta camp Of the.
clan O'Hara, its nearest approach, to
a home"
The clan has been gathering for
week, and on strange mission. 1t is
its annual home coming to bury Its
dead. And there are many this year,
an even dozen children and their eld-
ers hadng passed sine lastSApril to
the list canS ground. Some died on
f9heIfoad ina tar.off states some of'the
babes in their mothers arms meneath
the battered canvas Of the family wag-
on. And eaeh, as s6oh as the pFest
from, the peqrest EpwH had sped ithe
deHartedS soui, 5@asSseht home tot sAS
;slanta 10 %ais in a cemetery vault thss
coming of the clan. 4
ypsiesa" N6i Neither old Them.
as O'Hara nor any Of his kinsmen will
accept the classification bestowed Inn
partially upon all who live upon the
high road and sleep at the Inn Of the
Silver Moon. They. are Irish sall,
sturdy, Observation-Disclosures RBef sthess spoEth
/ 9Irdi tid adSls aeirsSiys aIs as4rlsl
asttAejnselyes. Ghss nay have bealllI
uefnNndeF the stars and stripe the
$6urfer IA the elan 5,btt thssloEth
.Irelahds bFogues6s their fathers etinss
.HheirslFish saints Sss d go
(, TheSclafl 0'Hara has been gathering
III Atlanta for It's burial of the dead
for twenty years and more. Once 1t
was but family Of Irish horse trad.
to their tongue and they still swear by
ers whose head died near the growing
town and who was laid to rest In
Oakland cemetery. When the first
death was followed by another, he too
was laid in the O'Hara lot. Then a
woman of the clan followed her hus'
band, and child or two was added to
the little group under oakland's sod.
Then the 0Haras bought a3larger
lot a half.acre. OF ground, and ayowed
that never q member Of the clan
should rest separated from his rel.
lows, The 0'Haars are half a thou
sand now, men, women and children,
and never a one Is TOO far away when
spring transforms the Southern woods
to green to turn his caravan toward
Georgia and trade his way back to the
only reunion the clan recognizes.
Promptly at noon the other day the
clan OHara, 500 strong, wendell Its
way from the camp near the river to
the Church OF the Immaculate Concep'
ton. They did not ride the horses OF
the camp nor drive the buggtes so
plentiful among them. They rode IN
carriages, for which every undertaken
and liveryman was drawn upon, and
they gave little appearance OF being
the Bohemian strolers that they are.
Suits OF sober black and gowns OF
finest silk were there, with here and
there shawl woven in Ireland and
worth It's weight in silver.
Jeweled crucifiXes and rosaries OF
rare value were worn by the women,
and upbn many a mans finger 81 Town
d diamond worth his earnings Tor
year They are not poor, these
o'Haras, as the bankers Of the South
will tell you. Though they are home
less. they own land In large tractsf
though they sleep in tents, more than
one Atlanta building is leased from,
the captain Of the clan. Their TWO
decades OF horse trading have been
profitable ones.
The services at the old Church Of
the Immaculate Conception were as
impressive as half score OF priests
and acolytes could make them, a SOL
emn requiem for the dead and a pray
er for the living, The old church,
founded by Irish Catholics and SUI
their fayorlte house Of worship here
has always been the scene Of the
O'aara funerals.
The names OF the twelve who nave
died during the past year were reclte,a
and masses said for the souls oil eaeh.
They we're Baby Michael, who diea
At Madlsonyille, KY, on May ~; Brla.
get Sherlock, whose end came IN AT:
iIanta last May; Patrick Mcnamara
Who passed away at Montgomery, Ala
IN September; Thomas Carroll, wno
breathed his last on the road While
lie camp was pitched in South GeoFj
,sIa. James o'Hara, killed under q
train near Savannah two days before
Christmas, and six others. all young Y ,l!s
Or old memhers 3ofs the clan anu lall
,,c1ually honoted ut the end. \
"a khi Nfln0HNHl