The Washington herald., 1918-05-19
net 500 IRISH;
CONSPIRACY
ALLEGED
Sinn Feiners Taken Include
Five Members Of
Parliament.
FORMAL CHARGES
50 FAR WITHHELD
Plot with Germans Given
as Cause for Spectacu-
lar Coup.
SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUAL
DISCOVERED ON COAST
Man Locked Now in Tower Had
Boat Made for Sinister
Purpose.
FORMAL CHARGES
| so FAR WITHHELD
SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUAL
DISCOVERED ON COAST

London, May IS.-Once again
the long arm of the British gov
ernment has reached out and nip
ped in the bud gigantic German
plot in Ireland.
= This time it was able to stifle
the plot before it got under way.
Fully 500 men and women, it is
estimated late tonight, most of
them Sim Feiners, have been ar
rested without bloodshed in all
parts of Ireland.
Dublin is quiet. In front of the
Sim Fein headquarters in Har-
court street hangs a big poster,
Business as usual"
Z M. P.'s ARRESTED.
High and low are among the
prisoners. Practically every man
and woman leader of the Sim
Fein movement, many of them
ehieftains in the, Dublin Easter
revolt two years ago. are under
iosk and key. fiye members Of
Parliament are held.
Names that are inseparable
from the sound of Sim Fcin are
on the prisoners roll--Devalera,
Arthur Griffith, the Countess OF
Markiewicz, DR.. Thomas Dillon,
Gen" Mellowes, William Cos
grave, "Pat" O'kcefe and so on
ad infinitum.
So far no formal charges have
been lodged against the prisoners.
The charges will range from dis
orderly conduct to "communicat-
ing with the enemy" and high
treason.
Conspiracy With Enemy.
Documentary evidence is in the
hands of the government of a Sim
Fein conspiracy with the Germans for
open revolt. Only those high in the
councils of Sim Feinism are believed
to be directly linked with the Berlin
inspired scheme; hundreds Of others
were mere dupes but indirectly follow
ing their leaders in the hope that the
hour Of freedom" was about to strike.
A general Official communique on the
circumstances prompting the govern
ments measures is expected at any
moment. The full story. however, will
not be told for some time, it is he
lieved.
There Is every indication that the
scheme was for the Germans to land
armed forces and large supplies OF
arms and ammunition in Ireland at a
given moment, when the population
was to rise in revolt.
Dnte-.Der Tagf"
That given moment, it Is presumed.
was to be the same in which Luden-
dorff gave the word for the reopening
Of the great Western drive. The reptile
sedition was to dart at England from
the rear just as her supreme back to
the WALL fight would begin.
Thus the same mysterious source
which tipped" the government on
the plot may have placed it in
possession of a piece of informa-
tion relatively far more significant
the day and the hour of the pro-
posed renewal of Hindenburg's
drive.
What is that mysterious source?
Plotter I'm Tower.
There is man in the Tower Of
\ ln MI
Yard and. the government knows
his name or nationality-who not
many days ago was discovered at
a lonely spot somewhere on the
Irish coast, trying to play the role
that Sir Roger Easement played
and paid for with his life. This
man had landed in a coilapsible
boat. 1t was curious conveyance,
nearly all handmade with palms.
, taking industry and care. When
examined. after the mans arrival,
il showed all the earmarks Of hev-
ing been destined to sink itself
after it had served its purpose. This
fact was taken to show the man
meant to stay a while at least. Pos
sibIy, or in the light of what has
since been learned. probably, he
was to wait for der tag" when the
( Germans were coming to Free Ire
land" in-true Ukrainian fashion,
A journalist named Barry was ar
rested In Cork.
The Star. referring to the proc
lamation urging the men OF Ireland
to volunteer, so as to avoid conscrfY-
tion, says:
"1ts heal is of gold its feet Of miry
clay. Nobody in Ireland believes a
voluntary system can be organized. :"
Press Comment.
Tonight's Dublin dispatches quote
some Irish press voices as asserting
the arrests were made by the govern
cosuNuw EspAGE sMa s