Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1912-08-02

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nJl plenty of information M
N1N from the policeman, M i
O1AI ~ who is sure to be not
ChY far of, having in
1871 these days little 20 do
AAOV except to scrutinize III
strangers at railway III
stations and street corners. Although EXf -
often frigid and uncommunicative to M\
natives, the policeman is free enough INV
with strangers and his information is MN
apt to be reliable about the country INN
generally, for, he is never kept MA
long at any one place, his local knowl- >WM>NW
edge is extensive. 1t is true that he [ " ~
lis apt to be biased against the peas ~ M
antry. because. although a peasants wv
son himself, his training and employ 1N
ment have made the people hate him. { ~
for the common people have no use GO IN
for the "peeer" as the constabuary \ MN
are contemptuously called by them.
Imagine the policemen, the natural protectors
of life and property, being hated by the people!
That is the condition in Ireland yet and has been
$50 almost from the beginning. That does not
mean that the Irish do not want to have life and
property protected. 1t means that they have SO
lonSk seen the policeman identified with the pro-
ION OF particular kind of lfe to-wit the
landlords and bailif's, and a particular kind Of
property, to-wit the landlords property in land
that they overlook his other useful public serv-
ices. It is most unfortunate state of things
The policeman has been made the buffer between
the English Government and the Irish people, and
the efficient instrument of coercion of the latter
and between the two his lot has not been a happy
one When home rule becomes an ACCOMPLISHED
fact, the Royal Irish Constabulary will be dis
banded. 1t will no longer be necessary to keep
an English garrison" in Ireland.
The enlargement between the police and the
people is indeed remarkable. In the lawless dis
ricts of which there still too many the people
who could give information to the police will not
n thAro ic a doa1 Of picho
crime in those districts One of the worst coun-
ties in this respect is the county OF Glare, the
historic constituency that first elected OConnell
to Parliament Here the old wounds of the agra
rian war have never closed up. During my stay
l saw in one of the papers pastoral letter of
the Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe CIV
ing blood curdling description Of outrages which
continued to be committed with impunity against
life and property In Glare. I visited Ennis, the
capital Of the county. l was told that in one week
less than three shooting outrages had been
perpetrated on unoffending men. One of the vic
Tins ex-soldier, who was acting letter.
carrier, and who was shot In the highway in open
day. Although many people passed his wounded
body the road, not one would comfort or re-
ieve him till the police several hours after
wards These passers by doubtless felt that If
they gave any help to the victim they might meet
the same fate himself. So helpless has British
NV. become In the county OF Clare.
SCATTERING round the narrow streets fell in
with old man who did not object to converse
ton He proved to be an expoliceman. This
imam did not mince matters in detailing his views
snd experiences. "Clare was the most peaceable
county in Ireland" said he when Joined the
force but the cursed Land League came upon us.
land since then things have been different. Most
of the men you meet the road are Fenians
Ribbonmen and many of them are criminals"
II told him thought this too strong de-
scription of his countrymen. He, however, stuck
to his opinion and took me to an elevated spot at
the back of the Court House. from which he
pointed out the scenes of as many seventeen
assassinations, all more less successful, but
for which only one ever brought to
Justice
It is not alone the malcontents and the secret
society men that refuse to tell the police what
they know about outrages Even the relatives of
the injured persons are often known to adopt
similarly uncommunica.ive attitude. To give in
formation to the police is to be branded
"informer" which is the most offensive epithet in
the Irishman's vocabulary, being worse than that
of "hangman." The stigma descends from father
to son, while there is any of the family left to
endure it. My ex-policeman friend told me that
he himself had heard Clare mother, whose
was shot before her eyes, make the avowal that
she would rather see all her lying dead be-
side her than become hated "informer." She
brought the secret to the grave with her.
/ asked my friend for his opinion as to why the
force was so unpopular. He laid the blame un-
hestatingly upon the English Government The
Government have employed the police almost ex-
clushively at evictions and other such unpopular
tasks, when they might have employed the regu-
lar soldiers or the militia The result is that the