The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-08
ALO0N KEEPER NOW RULES AN
 IRISH MANOR
Michael O'COnnOr's Ambition to Own the Town of
 Leitrim is Achieved
1000 FOLKS HIS TENANTS
Some Years Ago He Bought the ViI- lage, Now He Has the Manor
 House.

New York, May S-When Michael J. ty years ago he had one ambition, Leitrim, in the county of Leitrim, Ireland, and to get possession of Drumhierney House and the domain of the La Touche family, which had lorded it over the village of Leitrim and the neighboring country since the Seven years ago O'Connor, who has a saloon at Seventy seventh street and Broadway, and two more in other parts of the city, bought the village and recently he got control of the Drumhierney demesne at public auc- tion. Now he owns 425 acres of Irish land. part of which is on the banks of the River Shannon, and he is hap py.
 OConnor does not intend to leave this couAtry and live on his Irish es- tate It is good enough for him here, months every year with his family on his own land, where he can fish and hunt and not care about game wardens. There are trout streams, the River Shannon and pheasants and grouse, but more than anything else dustries of his native town that the villagers may prosper.
 O'Connor is about s7 years old. His features are clean cut if tr1fle sharp, and he has the blue eyes of the Celt. He remembers that his grand father years ago attempted to build a castle in Leitrim that would rival the glories of Drumhierney house, but the La Touches were more powerful and wealthy and they put such ob- stacles in the way of Grandfather O'Connor that the proposed O'Connor castle never got above the founda- tions.
 Ever that the sentimental Irish of the nelghborhood called it "O'Con- nor's folly" Young O'Connor in his school days had other boys tell him how foolish his ancestor had been to attempt to dwarf the eminence of the La Touche, whose ancestors had been refugees from France, and the pride of the youthful O'Connor was hurt. He knew that Roderic O'Connor, the last King of Ireland and Prince of Breffney, had made his last stamping ground at Leitrim, and was there any reason not to believe that an O'Con- nor of Leitrim must be a descendant of the Irish King. The Broadway sa- loon keeper will not insist that he is a descendant of King O'Connor, but he will make feeble protests to your notion that he must be.
 Coming to this country, O'Connor
 
 years. Then he went into the sa- loon business. Of course anybody who can pay $40,000 for an Irish estate has prospered. Whenever he got cash he put it aside so that when the time came when he could step in and buy have to rustic for ready money.
 Meanwhile he could not resist play ing politics a bit. About ten years ago he was chairman of the Oneida Democratic Club, which made a fight on the leadership of Thomas F. Mo district. O'Connor was a Tammany
 man-he still is-but you must have shindig and O'Connor led the forces against McAvoy. The latter won
 but it was a close shave flo for him him. .. of Leitrim. He didn't have to % abroad to do this. All the negotia- tions were carried on in Dublin, a | lawyer acting for OConnor. Having got the village he waited for the time when he could buy Drumhierney 1 House. In December Francis La In March one of the O'Connor's rela- tives-he has sister and a brother living in Leitrim-cabled to him thai Drumhierney House would be sold al | auction. Two days later he sailed or 1 the Olympic.
 | with a brass band and parade One of their own had come from the gold soiled land of America to buy Drumhierney House. The posters des' cribing the auction of Drumhierney 1 estate will tell you that the mansion reception rooms, with game in the woods and trout in the streams. There were no bidders against O'COnnor and he got the property.
 At once he wired to the White Star Line folks that he wanted a state | room on the Titanic He was tolo that there wasn't one left, so he came | on the Mauretania of the Cunard line Before he got here he had heard o1 what had happened to the Titanic and | he knew he had had anoter piece o1
 luck.
 nor yesterday, speaking of his estate l Across the shannon is the famous | Battle Bridge leading to County Ros- common The town of Carrick on the l Shannon is about two miles away
 You may remember Tom Moore's
 ballad, The Valley Lay smiling. Be.
 country when he wrote that.
 q want to see my native home ! prosper. Fifty years ago the brick yard which furnished employment fol the men was shut down. I intend tt start it up again. It will be a goot investment too. For instance, the vii lage of Leitrim pays me an income of percent on my investment. Shal l I be a harsh landlord? I shall not The Irish come to this country be
 cause there is nothing for them to dt | at home. There are about 1000 per
 sons in the village of Leitrim ant
 they are my tenants"
 O'Connor, who has a wife and twt 1 children, is for home rule. He is z | Nationalist, but he does not believe | in Parliamentary methods. | "I believe in the methods wficl | were employed by this country tc I win freedom,'' he said.
 'sYou are a radical, like Roosevelt
 some one suggested.