The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-05-15
English Author I s<& Ills
American A. O.>H,

shock of tangled black hair, and
coloured purple stole round his neck,
so that he seemed to be a priest pre-
siding over some diabolical ritual"
Then follows a description of the
other officials and members of the
Order present.
among the older men
were mary whose features showed
the tigerish, lawless souls within,
but looking at the rank and file it was
difficult to believe that these eager
and open-faced young fellows were
in very truth dangerous gang of
murderers, whose minds had suffered
such a complete moral perversion
that they took horrible pride in
their proficiency at the business, and
looked with the deepest respect at
the man who had the reputation for
making what they called clean job
To their contorted natures it had be-
come spirited and chivalrous thing
to volunteer for service against some
man who had never injured them, and
whom, in many cases, they had never
seen in their lives. The crime COM
mitted, they quarrelled as to who had
actually struck the fatal blow, and
amused each other and the company
by describing the cries and contor-
tions of the murdered man."
Their follows a long-drawn-out ac-
count of the ceremony of enrolling
the aspirant to membership of the
Order, the ritual of initiation being
we'll worthy of blood-curdling penny
dreadful. Members of the A. o. H.
may smile, perhaps, in reading the
grotesque burlesque which is out
lined, but there cannot be any doubt
that the intention of the writer is to
convey the impression that it CORE
sponds to the ceremonies prevailing
in the Ancient Order Of Hibernians.
To make this perfectly obvious the
story is illustrated by picture show
ing McMurdo just after undergoing
the ordeal of brandishing his right
arm, and the mark with which he is
branded is a harp within circle.
Surely the implication is clear
enough?
The ceremony of initiation over
drinks are set out, and the Lodge pro.
ooodc IN h,,cipocc 1,hSoh oopc;ets of
various schemes of blackmail and in
timidation with a view to replenish-
ing the funds of the order.
But it is hardly necessary to quote
further from this trashy effort to viii.
fly, distort, and misrepresent the A.
o. H. Sufficient, perhaps, has been
quoted to show that Conan Doyle is
using his pen to assail the character
of some of the best elements of the
Irish i'm America. Conan never. en-
barks on such an enterprise without
a purpose. What that purpose is we
may learn later
In view of this rather remarkable
attack on the order in America II
may, perhaps, be both opportune and
instructive, as well as possessing his
toric interest to readers 'of this jour
nal, whether members of the A. o. H
or not, to give a brief outline of the
history and aims of the order, and we
shall see thereby that there is az
much relation between these vile
products of Conan Doyle's pen ant
the American A. o. H. as there il
between some tribe of cannibals ant
the natives of Ballyvourney.
The roots of the Ancient Order o
Hibernians stretch far back and deel
down into remote Irish history. 1T
records form guiding hand to thos'
who would know how Ireland has
stood and struggled for the last thre'
hundred years.
It has been a safeguard to thos'
who covered under the oppressiv,
hand of alien rule and its man,
agents, a wall of strength to thos
!, who combatted and sought to destro
such tyranny, and champion of tn
Catholic Church and its minister
} against both the long protracted az
, ony of the Penal Code and the late
more refined but none the less deaG
: ly efforts to strangle that faith wit
which st. Patrick blessed our islant
, The precise occasion of its origin
! subject to some uncertainty. Som
? ascribe it to the year 1912, whe
Pope Urban VIII. sent his blessin
, to the Irish people and encourage
! them in their fight for God and coul
Y try. Others give the date as 165
subsequent to Cromwell's mild r,
j. quest to the mere Irish to betah
! themselves to He'll or to Connaugh
' Other authorities, including Mitch
j. and Lecky, place the year of II
d founding as 1865, and this is probab
8 the most accurate statement, for
that year the Earl of Sussex issued
4 proclamation making death the pc
g atty to any priest found in the pro
d Continued on page 2.)