The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-04
BASEMENT GOES TO HIS DEATH CALMLY
 AND WITH COURAGE
(ContInued from Page one)


 When the dull clang of the prison bell announced that the doomed man had paid the last penalty this little group fell on their knees and with bowed heads remained for some moments silently praying for the repose of the soul of their dead fellow countryman.
 Easement rose about 5:30 this morn- ing. From then until 2 o'clock when Father McCarrell arrived he spent the time reading the instructions of. the church for assisting at mass and the taking of the first communion. After mass he ate a little bread and butter and drank a glass of water
 He had very little to say to the priest, only making a few remarks about the immortality of the soul. He appeared, however. Father McCarrell said, like a man who had slept soundly-his nerves were completely calm.
 OFFICIAL STATEMENT
 An official statement issued from the press bureau tonight says:
 'The government carefully and re- peatedly considered all the circum : stances in the Easement case before reaching decision not to interfere with the sentence.
 He was convicted and punished for treachery of the worst kind to the em- pire. He had served as willing agent of Germany"
 After declaring that Easement had organized German assistance for the Irish rebellion, the statement contin- ues:
 Conclusive evidence has come iuto the hands of the government since the trial that he had entered into an agreement with the German govern ment which explicitly provided that the brigade which he was trying to raise among Irish soldiers held as pris- oners might be employed in Egypt against the British crown. Those among the Irish soldiers who resisted Easements solicitations of disloyalty tional cruelty by the Germans. Some of them since have been exchanged as invalids and have died in this country. regarding Easement as their mur- derer." fsF.ur In conclusion the statement points out that the suggestion which has been "conclusively disproved," that Easement went to Ireland to try to stop the rising was not raised at the trial, nor was the plea of insanity
 EASEMENTS FRIENDS ACTIVE
 Practically to the very hour of Roger ctr of q were made by his friends and sympathiz- CTS in the United States and Ireland, and even in England, to secure a reprieve. Petitions for mercy poured in upon the British government and efforts were made to obtain action by President Will son. Repeated attempts to pass a reso- lution through the United States Sen ate requesting the President to urge Great Britain to extend mercy to Case ly ended on July ?, when the Senate com mittee on foreign relations ordered an adverse report on all resolutions propos- ing intercession by the United States government. The only action taken in Washington was the passage of a resolu- tion by the Senate asking the President to use his good offices with the British authorities to obtain clemency for Irish political offenders in general.
 Many prominent men. both here and in Great Britain, interested themselves in Easements behalf, including George Bernard Shaw and the Irish poet, Viii liam Butler Yeats. The hopes of the condemned mans friends were ex- tinguished when Lord Robert Cecil minis ter of war trade, announced on Wednes- day that the British government was de- termined not to grant reprieve Lord Cecil declared that Easement was much more malignant and hostile to Great Britain than were the leaders who took an actual part in the Sim Fein revolt and that there was no ground which could be brought forward in mitigation of his offense.