The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-11-20
The 2srd day of November, 1867,


scene in the great English city of
Manchester. Long ere the grey win
ter's morning struggled in through the
crisp frosty air-long ere the first
CLEAN of the coming day dulled the
glare of the flaming gas jets, the
streets of the Lancashire capital were
all astir with bustling crowds, and the
silence of the night was broken by the
ceaseless footballs and the voices of
hurrying throngs. Through the long.
dim streets, and past the tall rows of
silent houses, the full tide Of life ed
died and poured in rapid current; stout
burghers, closely muffled and staff in
hand; children grown prematurely
old, with the hard marks of vice al.
ready branded on their features; young
girls with Haunting ribbons and bold,
flushed faces; pale-faced operatives,
and strong men whose brawny limbs
told of the Titanic labors of the foun-
dry; the clerk from his desk; the shop
keeper from his store; the withered
crone, and the careless navy. swayed
and struggled through the living mass;
and with them trooped the legions of
want, and vice, and ignorance, that
burrow and tester in the foetid lanes,
and purlieus of the large British cities;
from the dark alleys where misery
and degradation forever dwell, and
from reeking cellars and nameless
haunts, where the twin demons of al
cohol and crime rule supreme; from
the gin-palace, and the beer-shop, and
the midnight haunts of the tramp and
the burglar, they came in all their
responsiveness and debasement, with
the rags of wretchedness upon their
backs, and the cries of profanity and
obscenity upon their lips. Forward
they rushed in surging flood through
many street and byway, until where
the narrowing thoroughfares open into
the space surrounding the New Bailey
Prison, in that suburb Of the great city
known as the Borough of Stafford, they
found their further progress arrest
ed. Between them and the massive
prison walls rose piles Of heavy barri-
cading, and the intervening space was
black with a dense body of men, all
of whom faced the gloomy building
beyond, and each of whom carried a
special constable's baton in his hand.
The long railway bridge running close
was occupied by detachment Of in
fantry, and from the parapet of the
frowning walls the muzzle Of cannon,
trained on the space below, might be
dimly discerned in the darkness. But
the crowd paid little attention to these
extraordinary appearances; their eyes
were riveted on the black projection
which jutted from the prison wall, and
which, shrouded in dark drapery, loom
ed with CHASTITY significance through
the haze. Rising above the scaffold,
which replaced a portion of the prison
walls, the outlines Of a gibbet were
jiscerned; and from the cross-beam
there hung three ropes, terminating
in nooses, just perceptible above the
upper edge of the curtain which ex-
tended thence to tho ground. The
grim excrescence seemed to possess
horrible fascination for the multi
tude. Those in position to see it best
stirred not from their post, but faced
the fatal cross-tree, the motionless
ropes, the empty platform, with an
untiring, Unsuitable gaze, that seemed
pregnant with some terrible meaning,
while the mob behind them struggled,
and pushed. and raved, and fought;
and the haggard hundreds of gaunt,
diseased, stricken wretches, that vain
ly contested with the stronger types of
ruitianism for place, loaded the air
with their blasphemies and impreca-
tions. The day broke slowly and doubt
fully upon the scene; dense yellow,
murky fog foated round the spot,
wrapping in its Opaque folds the hide.
GUS gallows and the frowning mass of
masonry behind. An hour passed, and
then hoarse murmur swelled up.
wards from the glistening rows of up.
turned faces. The platform was no
longer empty; three pinioned men,
with white caps drawn closely over
their faces, were standing upon the
drop. For moment the crowd was
awed into stiffness; for a moment the
responses, Christ, have mercy on u.s."
Christ, have mercy on u.s." were heard
from the lips Of the doomed men, to.
wards whom the sea of faces were turn
ed. Then came a dull crash, and the
mob swayed backwards for an instant
The drop had fallen, and the victims
were struggling in the throes Of q
horrible death. The ropes jerked and
swayed with the convulsive move
ments of the dying men. A minute
later, and the vibrations ceased-the
end had come, the swaying limbs fell
rigid and stark, and the souls of the
strangled men had foated upwards
from the cursed spot-up from the
hateful crowd and the sin.laden at
mosphere-to the throne of the God
who made them.
So persisted, in the. bloom of man
q