Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-06
REPORT M'SW|NEY
IS FED SECRETLY
Radical Irish Group Smuggles
Life-Sustaining Drugs to
Captive, II Is Said
POLITICAL PLOT SUSPECTED
Special cable dispatch from Carl
W. Alderman reprinted from TO-
dare Public Ledger. Copyright,
1920, bB Public Ledger Co.


--
London, Sept. 6.--It Is not possible
nor is II necessary to disclose my sources
Of informa tion. but I am able now "a
cable the inside story. Of Lord Mayor
MacSwiney's hunger strike. At the
very beginning it may be stated most
emphatically that IL Cork's chief mag :
istrate. who at the time Of writing has
tasted 662 hours. dies it will be an nc :
cidcnt. Neither the British Govern
ment, the British officials In ireland nor
the Slim Fein moderate leaders want
him to die.
The secret fact aoout the Iord
mayors case Is that the British Cov.
ernment and the Sim Fein leaders are
playing game OF chess with his life.
and each thinks that II will be able 10
checkmate the other before be dies.
The British Government believes th,,
Mayor MRcSwiney is the pawn of Slim
Fein politics, that the moderates do moi
wish and do not intend to have him die
that they will interfere before he he .
comes dangerously i'll and the govern =
ment also thinks that the MncSwiney
case will test the strength between the
Sim Fein moderates, led by Arthur
Griffths and the Catholic bishops,
against Michael Collins and the ex :
tremists.
Playing Waiting Game
The Sim Fein, on the other hand
sees the case Of the lord mayor becom
ing political issue in Great Britain, the
British Empire and In world affairs, and
those Sim Fein leaders are of the
opinion that IL MacSwiney holds ou,
long enough, world opinion will compel
the British cabinet to release him
Meanwhile MacSwincy languishes In
Brixton prison, nourished by food tab
lets smuggled into him and sustained by
the drugs administered by the prison
physician.
I learn on excellent authority thai
MucSwiney should be able to survive al
least ten days more under the present
conditions, unless his heart gives wa,
under the strain. Both the government
and the Sim Fein. however, are watch
ing this delicate organ while they con-
tnue their political maneuvers. Grcat
pressure is being brought to bear upor
the government to release him, and gov
ernment officials here are not certain
from day to day, what the exact atti'
tude of the government is. While tn,
government has declared repeatedly tha
lieye the government will persist to th,
bitter end. The government is in
delicate position, however. While tn,
highest officials would like to releas
MacSwiney, because of the effect of sucl
action upon world opinion, they fee
they cannot do so without having sucl
action interpreted in Ireland Us sigl
of weakness on behalf of the British
cabinet. As is so often the case will
Irish questions, what Is good for Ire
land is misnterpreted abroad and wha
is satisfactory abroad is misconstrue,
In Ireland.
Eject on Police Feared
From the standpoint of the Britis
governing power in Ireland, the releas
of the lord mayor is certain to hav
| n serious reaction upon the police force
and tho army because those bodies be
lieye that MncSwiney, as chief of tn
Cork brigade Of Irish republican vol
! unteers, is directly and personally re
sponsible for all of the assassination
in the south of Ireland. They conside
him the murderer of policemen an
officers and they believe he is guilty, a
the chief Sim Fein official in Cork, Q
the burning of government buildings.
The Sim Fein, ~ the other hand
maintains that the Irish republic is tn
real government of Ireland and that a
of the British forces are there contrar
to the will Of the Irish people TIL
| Sim Fein maintain that the Britis
officials are enemies of Ireland, and a
enemies it is just and right for tn
Irish volunteers to kill them. Tha
position of the Sim Fein has been yer
forcefully expounded by the editor @
the Catholic Herald. who recently serve
six months for maintaining that tn
killing of British officials in ireland wa
not murder. The Sim Fcin NATURAL
does not acknowledge that MacSwine
is responsible for those acts. If ther
is any responsibility it rests upon tn
Irish government and not upon indi
viduals, in their viewpoint.
chess.