Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1912-07-26

~ plenty OF information M#$$$%
81 ! : !: !: =: !: :
on from the policeman, M$&S&$$%
C1hO III who is sure to be not Mh@ssSS$SSS$s
10 far Off having in M&%M%$@
@HJ these days little to do M%# MS%
| AJV except to scrutinize
strangers at railway MI@xS#
stations and street corners. Although AlI#2S2 $<%$
often frigid and uncommunicative to -
natives the policeman is free enough WNE
with strangers, and his information Is man,
apt to be reliable about the country WN
generally, for, he is never kept WSN
long at any one place his local knowl- oWSNM
edge is extensive. 1t is true that he W an
is apt to be biased against the peas ~ Ml
antry, because, although a PEASANTS W
son himself his training and employ ~~N
ment have made the people hate him, ~
for the common people have no use rGh MN
for the "peeler," the constabulary \ M~TN
are coptemptuousy 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 most unfortunate state of things
Ihe policeman has been made the buffer between
the English Government and the Irish people, and
the eHlclent instrument OF coercion of the latter
and between the two his lot has not been happy
When home rule becomes an Accomplished
fact the Royal Irish Constabuary will be dis
banded. 1t will no longer be necessary to keep
an English garrison" in Ireland.
The estrangement 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
do so. Hence, there is a good deal of unpublished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 OConnel
to Parliament Here the old wounds of the agra
rian war have never closed up. During my stay
] saw in one of the papers a 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. l 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
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 on the road not one would comfort
leve him till the police came several 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.
Saunterng round the narrow streets | fell in
with an old man who did not object to conversa-
tion. He proved TO be an expoliceman This
man ulu not mlnce matters IN detailing his views
and experiences. Glare the most peaceable
county in Ireland" said he when / 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 Fenians or
Ribbonmen, and many of them are criminals"
! told him thought this too strong a 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 or less successful, but
for which only one man brought to
justice.
1t Is not alone the malcontents and the secret
society 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 Jrishman'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 1t. My expoliceman friend told me that
he himself had heard Clare mother whose son
was shot before her eyes, make the avowal that
she would rather see all her sons lying dead be-
side her than become a hated "informer." She
brought the secret to the grave with her.
asked my friend for his opinion as to why the
force was 30 unpopular. He leid the blame un
hesitatngly upon the English Government The
Government have employed the police almost ex
clnshlyey at eyict!ons and other such unpopular
tasks. when they might have employed the regu
lar soldiers or the militia The result is that the