The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-25
CONNOLLY, NEW LABOR LEADER,
 IS MODEST MAN


 New York, Aug. 25.-Patrick J. Connolly slipped as silently as a shadow Frid ; afternoon into the of fees of the '. R. T., where he has been causing so much commotion, pulled his chair up to a desk, sa. down with great deliberation, looked seriously at his interviewer and re- marked:
 Fire away. Anything but the strike!''
 Here was the man who had turned things topsy-turvy in New York for couple of days; whose eyes were heavily underlined with sleeplessness; who was tense with the strain of q hard fight and a victory won. Less than a week ago few outside his inti- mate circle knew that such a man ex isted. Today every enc wants to know just who Connolly is.
 It would be hard to imagine the leader of the striking transit forces doing anything casually. He was des- perately serious about being inter- viewed, and he furnished a series of surprises. There is not a hint of the poseur bout him; nothing trucculent from the top of his stubbly, close cropped, gray head to the soles of his heavily shod feet.
 It could not have been his personal magnetism that led the strikers out. held them in leash and finally got them back to work again, for he is not the typical strike leader of fire and birthstone, enthusiasm and fam boyant oratory. It must rather have been his common sense that com mended him to the men.
 -tra, ,f INn o6r 1 he was not a socialist, and that the | last thing in the world he wanted to be was an agitator. But if he Is no' 1 a socialist he is an ardent Sim | Feiner. That is understood as soon l as he voices the rich tones of Con- 1 naueht. where, as every 1rishmar knows, the brogue is thicker than | anywhere else in the Emerald Isle He speaks with infinite deliberation- l with the hesitancy of the quiet mar | and the slow thinker.
 Connolly has none of the mental ol | physical characteristics Of the nght CT. His strength lies in certalr l solidity of characteE and qulet oog 1 eedness of purpose that make grad | uaI impression on his auditors He i | small, stocky, square, with lars' | homes and strong sinews-the typ' of man who has weatherd the out-oI doors and been too familiar witt hardships in his boyhood days t l grow tall or lissome.
 His head is bullet shaped, wlti nrominent cheek bones, long uppe lin. taut lear jaw and hmped eye that look out with exaggerated trank ness from under heavily fringed Iash es He is transparently honest 1ran' and dircet-believes in laying all m cards on the table and trusting hi fellow men.
 Tot that life has dealt too kindl,
 v;+r Connolly. Rather the reverse
 But he does not harbor any grudges Ha believes in evolutionary reform ana thinks sudden and revolutionar
 measures disastrous. Back of his In tense practicality an unexpected veil
 of idealism is discernible- , Strangely enough, this little ma r with the --raying hair, who has bee
 driving an "L'' train for s5 a day
 longs for something else. His day
 slip by to the amending roar of cit |, fife - grfrne. noise, skyscrapper.
 crowded streets-and all the time hi
 heart beats 70 the slow, sweet echoe
 of pastoral life. and he longs to b
 hack in the country. For there h l was born and bred-in the little vii I IagA of Meenagrene. County LeitriH n and there his 70-year-old mothe X lives today.
 When New York became more tha r he could bear he bought six-roor k | cottage out near Yo1kers and wne 3 he gets home at night he feels tna l he is a little nearer 10 Motner Na | ture. His chief Joy in life IS sowin' ]. | reaping and watching things grow . that his cottage Is thing or oeau' s will lines creeping over 1t. Howe garden lying around 1t. fruit tree
 shading IL and hens cackling in th
 back yard.
 n Much as he likes the country he
 -oinz to stick with transportation ' howerer. and do his best to heip D