Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1912-08-02

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 towit. tho
landlords and bailifs, and a particular kind ~
property to-wit: the landlords property in land
that they overlook his other useful public serv
Ices 1t Is most unfortunate state of things
The policeman has been made the buffer between
tne English Government and the Irish people and
the efficient instrument OF coercion of the latfar
ana between the two his lot has not been happv
one. When home rule becomes an accompl,sbad
TACT the Royal Irish Constabulary will be dis
handed. 1t will longer be necessary To kean
an English garrison" in Ireland
Inc estrangement between the police and the
People is indeed remarkable. In the lawiess dis.
tricts OF which there still too many the people
who could give information to the police will not
dp so. Hence, there is good deal of unpublished
crime in those districts One of the worst conn.
ties IN this respect is the county of Clare the
historic constituency that first elected O,ConneII
I'd Parliament. Here the old wounds of the agra.
ran war have never closed up. During my stav
saw In one of the papers a pastoral letter of
the Most Rev. DIR. Fogarty, Bishop of Kilialoe Civ.
ing blood-curdng description of outrages which
continued to be committed with impunity against
life 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
perpetrated on unoffending men. One of the vic
tims was an 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-
lieye him till the police came hours after
wards. These passers by doubtless felt that IL
they gave any help to the victim they might meet
the same fate as himself. So helpless has British
law become in the county of Glare.
Sauntering round the narrow streets | fell In
with an old man who did not object to converse
ton. He proved to be expoliceman This
man did not mince matters in detailing his views
and experiences. Glare was the most peaceable
county in Ireland" said he, when I Joined the
force. but the cursed Land League came upon US.
and since then things have been different. Most
of the men you meet on the road are Fenians
Ribhonmen, and many of them criminals"
| told him l thought this was too strong a de-
scription OF his countrymen. He. however. stuck
to his opinion. and took me to elevated spot at
the back of the Court House. from which he
pointed out the scenes of as many seventeen
assaasinations, all more or less successful. but
for which only brought to
Justice.
1t 10 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 often known to adopt
similarly uncommunicative attitude. To give In
formation to the police Is TO be branded
'informer," which is the most offensive epthet 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 that
he himself had heard a Clare mother. whose
was shot before her eyes, make the avowal that
she would rather all her sons 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 unpopular. He laid the blame
hesitatngly upon the English Government The
Government have employed the police almost ex.
clushlvely at evictions and other such unpopular
tasks. when they might have employed the regu-
lar soldiers or the militia The result is that the