The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-10-25
N M'SW|NEY IS !.
-
DEAD after
LONG FAST
Lord Mayor Succumbs at
$40 Monday Morning Fol-
lowing Hunger Strike of 73
Days.
IRELAND IS MOURNING
fBy Associated Press)

s~iney, lord mayor of Cork, died at
brixton prison, this city, at, $40
o'clock this morning. His death fol.
lowed a hunger strike of more than
Is days, eclipsing any in the annals
Oh the medical world.
MacSwlney who had been uncon-
sclous for several days, did not re-
cover his faculties before he died.
ra.ner dominic, his private chaplain.
ana MS brother, John MacSwiney,
were with him when the end came.
rather dominic was at the prison all
snt ana old not leave until several
last. N1'
John MacSwiney and the chaplain-
VINO mad been waiting down stairs in
sn :ne prison, were told by prison offic-
lais at 4:35 o'clock that they should
so 10 tne mayors bedside, as they
.nougnt death was approaching. The
Drother asked for the privilege of com
municating with other relatives who
were not present, but the officials. if
Is said, refused him the use of a tele-
phone.
Mrs.MacSwiney Arrives.
After the prisoners death. his
anu Tie chaplain were not
permitted to leave Brixton prison nm.
I'LL 6:15 O'Clock. John MacSwiney i'm
meolateiy conveyed word to the wild
U" OF the lord mayor, who was STAY
ing at a west end hotel with Mr.. and
mrs. O'Brien, the former being the
London executive of the Irish Self-De-
termination league
Mrs. MacSwiney, ACCOMPANIED by
her parents and the Misses Annie and
mary MacSwiney, sisters of the lord
mayor. arrived at Brixton prison at
s:oO o'clock. 1t is understood ar
Ianeements are being made to take the
pooy 10 ireland for burial News of
MacSwiney's death had not become
known in the district around Brixton
prison until after o'clock. The usual
large contingent of police was on dutv
inside the prison grounds to prevent
any demonstration, but outside. and
along the road leading to the main
highway, there were no unusual signs
of activity. No civilians were waiting
there, as they usually did in the early
days of the lord mayors hunger
strike.
May Hold Inquest.
1t Is probable the inquest will be
held at the prison today, after which
the body will be turned over to rel.
atives. MacSwiney was unconscious
for thirty-six hours before his death
occurred, it is stated. Father Dominic
therefore, was unable to give him the
iast sacrament, but he administered
extreme JUNCTION. The cause of Mac
e"iney's death was heart failure, &C.
cordlng to statement issued at the
home Office.
Terence MacSwiney was 40 wears
of ~
Sim Feiners. He started life as a
diapers assistant, but became q poet
author and playwright before taking
up politics seriously. Later he became
violently anti-English. While in Wake
field Jail, Yorkshire, in 1916, he met
Mur1el Murphy, daughter of a wealthy
Cork d1stiller, who visited the Jail, and
shortly after they were married, de-
spite much opposition.
Mac Swiney was elected as a Sim
Fein member from Cork to the British
parliament in 1918, but never took his
seat He was present at the first ses-
sion of the Irish parliament in 1919.
when the establishment of the repub-
lie was confirmed, and was elected
lord mayor of Cork in 1920. For var.
1ous political offenses, he had been IN
Jail, with brief intervals of liberty,
since January, 1916, and in October.
1917, secured his release from Jail by
hunger striking.
The story of the self-starvation of
Terence MacSwiney. Lord Mayor of
Cork, probably will become one of the
most moving chapters of the centuries
long history of the Irish struggle. No
other controversy has stirred Great
Britain so deeply as this since the
one that centered upon Cecil Rhodes,
when the Jameson raid was baked by
Paul Kruger and the raiders Inn
prisoned.
The campaign in England for Mac
Swiney's release from prison has
been apart from all political and party
considerations and even the King was
drawn into it. The movement in Mac
Swiney's behalf was mainly humani-
tartan and enlisted tender-hearted
people of all factions but was urged
by others with arguments of party
strategy.
Mac Swiney dead and canonized in
the hearts of the Irish people with
Wolf Tone and the Manchester mar
tyrs would be more valuable asset to
the Sim Fein than Mac Swiney alive
and, even though a free pass to free
dom for Mac Swiney might weaken
the governments hand, why help the
separatist cause by giving II a
martyr" were the arguments put for
ward even by British unionists.
Stand by the law and do not create
precedent which would make the will
of convicted rebel the decisive fac
tor in determining whether he shall
be punished" was the argument of
the stand fast faction. A majority of
the British papers including the Lon
don Times and the liberal press, the
labor unionists, and many members of
both parties in Parliament Joined In
the agitation for Mac Swiney's re-
lease.
Two Controversies.
Two notable cntroversies. one con-
stitutional and the other theological.
have arisen from the case. The first
was whether King George could proper.
ly exercise his pardoning prerogative
independently of or against the advice
of his ministers. The second was
Continued on Page Twelve)