Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-07-25

~ plenty of information Mx%%
~ from the policeman, MSsa&
AI II who is sure to be noe MES@S%S%$$
~ far off, having in M&@ ..%}$sSs
NV these days little to do MN%SSS zsS
| A " except to scrutiniZe MI II: As S&s&
strangers at railway ~
stations and street corners. Although
often frigld and communicative to Nh
natives the policeman is free enough W& S
with strangers, and his information Is WV&
apt to be reliable about the country NM r.
generally for. he is never kept NM
long at any one place his local knowl. ~W>~W
edge is extensive 1t Is true that he " kM
is apt to be biased against the peas ~ NJ
anry, because. although a peasants Nv
son himself, his training and employ. ~ g
ment have made the people hate him. ~
for the common people have no use cn ~
for the "peeler," the constabulary y NV
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
SO 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
long seen the policeman identified with the pro.
lection OF particular kind of life to-wit: the
landlords and bailifs, and a particular kind of
property, to-wit; the landlords property In land
that they overlook his other useful public serv-
ices. 1t is a most unfortunate state of things
The policeman has been made the buffer between
the English Government and the Irish people and
the emclent 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
Inc arrangement between the police and the
people Is indeed remarkable. In the lawless dis
ulcts OF which there are still too many the people
VINO could give information to the police will not
40 so Hence, there is good deal of unpublished
crime IN those districts. One of the worst coun-
ties in this respect is the county of Clare the
historic constituency that first elected O'Conne
TO Farliament. Here the old wounds of the agra
ran war have never closed up. During my stay
sa" IN one of the papers a pastoral letter of
the Most Rev. DR.. Fogarty, Bishop of Kllaloe CIV
ing blood-curdling description OF outrages which
continued to be committed with impunlty against
lie and property in Clare | visited Ennis, the
capital OF the county. | was told that in one week
no less than three shooting outrages had been
pefpetrated on unoffending men One of the vic.
inns was an exsoder, who was acting letter
carrier and who was shot In the highway in open
uay' Although many people passed his wounded
uouE on the road, not one would comfort
''e'e MN I'LL the police came several hours after
wards These passers by doubtless felt that If
,Hey gave any help to the victim they might meet
tAe same fate himself. So helpless has British
Id" become in the county of Glare.
Sauntering round the narrow streets fell In
WIN an old man who did not object to converse
Noa' lie proved to be eX-policeman. This
mat aid not mince matters in detailing his views
anu experiences. Glare was the most Deaceable
county In Ireland" said he, when l Joined the
Io'ee' but the cursed Land League came upon us,
anu since then things have been different. Most
VI ,Ae men you meet on the road are Fenians
H'ooohmen, and many of them are criminals"
loId MIN | thought this was too strong a de-
9''iplon OF his countrymen. He however, stuck
W MS opinion, and took me to an elevated spot at
vi" BACK OF the Court House from which he
lon'ed out the scenes of as many as seventeen
"'Sasslhauons, all more less successful but
o' winch only one man ever brought to
Justice
IL is not alone the indictments and the secret
eo'ely men that refuse to tell the police what
|"e! know about outrages Even the relatives of
We injured persons often known to adopt a
similarly uncommuncative attitude To give in
ao'maton to the police is to be branded as an
'"iuI Iner, which Is the most offensive epithet in
o.e lrlshmans vocabulary, being worse than that
VI hahgman" The stigma descends from father
W son. while there is any of the family left to
"uule H. My expoliceman friend told me that
ne n'inself had heard Glare mother, whose son
%aS shot before her eyes, make the avowal that
sue would rather all her sons lying dead be-
a liue ler than become hated "nformer." She
usnt eae secret to the grave with her.
asked my friend for his opinion as to why the
49, was so unpopular. He laid the blame un-
C,sita''hgiy upon the English Government. The
,hnent have employed the police almost ex-
''ety at evictions and other such unpopular
Ia Mneh they might have employed the regu-
S0lu'ers or the militia The resuSs is that the