The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-10-25
LORD MAYOR DIES
IN PRISON TODAY
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was sedition. The specific accusa-
itions against him were that he had
in his possession copy of resolutions
passed by the Cork council pledging
allegiance to the Irish republic and
also copy of secret cipher of the
British police in Ireland. Prosecu-
ton was based on the defense of the
realm act. Upon conviction by a
court martial and sentence, Mac
Swiney refused to eat He informed
his iudges he considered the court
illegal and without jurisdiction
Dublin in Mourning.
DUBLIN, Oct. 25.-Dublin went IN
to mourning today for Lord mayor
MacSwiney.
Church bells tolied and mourners
bearing the symbols of their sorrow
gathered for prayers for MacSw1ney 8
soul.
The flag on the mansion house was
lowered TO half mast. British SOL
diers who had raided the residence
earlier in the day and who still were
in their possession, made no enort 10
halt the men who lowered the nag.
Messages from other parts OF Ire
land said mourners were gathering In
their churches
MAC Swiney, said TO be suHerlns
from lung trouble, when arrested gu
August II. went on q hunger sti!Ae
Immediately. He was convicted aug
ust is by a military court on charges
OF preparing and having IN ms pos
session seditious literature.
Eleven other Irish republicans ar
rested about the same time, went on q
hunger strike two days earlier In the
Cork jail.
When Mac Swiney was deported TO
England to be placed in Brixton 1aai'
shortly after sentence, he was SO weak
he had to be carried aboard the steam
er. 1t was believed then he Would
die within few weeks
The lord mayor lived, however,
with only slight changes in his con-
ditiou. He lived to see one OF the
other hunger strikers, Michael Fltz
Gerald, die after sixty-eight days Oh
fasting.
While he lay on cot in Brixton
Jail. conditions in Ireland became still
more acute. The government an
nounced it would proceed vigorously
against the Sim Fain.
There began a period OF repr1sais
when police exacted swift vengeance
for eyerv ambush and attack by Sim
Feiners. Homes and business build
ings were destroyed and Sim Fem
leaders were shot by "black and tans
in reprisal for the death of their com
rades.
The Loyd1George government was
under fire, the attack being launched
by liberal and labor forces. They
seized on the new policy OF the gov
eminent, especially the reprisals for
arguments. Their attacks continued
up to the reassembling of parliament
when an attempt at censure led 10
vote of confidence in the government
Since the government had announc'
ed it would not free hunger striking
prisoners, the vote of confidence made
il clear Mac Swiney could gain neither
his release nor change in Grea'
Britain's policy toward the SIM
Feiners, His strike was for the an
nounced purpose of leading 70
change in policy or his own freedom
The British public reacted strangely
10 Mac Swineys case. His vitality
blocked his purpose. First there was
pity and widespread demand for the
prisoners release. Later arose sus
picfon he was being fed secretly anc
interest in England Jagged so news
papers neglected to print the daily
bulletin ON his condition.
Mac Swiney, who was forty-one
years old, was elected lord mayor o.
Cork by unanimous vote last spring
after the murder OF Mayor Mac Cur
tain.
He was arrested during a session
! of N republican court at which he was
presiding.
| Mac Swiney's trends charged the
government wished to put him out O
the way because of his restraining In
nuence on the people of Cork which
prevented them from committing act:
to Justify British soldiers and police
lin shooting Inhabitants.
Sim Fein leaders throughout TIT
fast maintained that the British gov
eminent would be guilty of deliberate
murder if the lord mayor died. Tht
officials responsible for the deatl
would be tried by Sim Fem courts
they said, and sentenced to death
| A notable example of Sim Fei1
death sentence was that passed OF
Police Inspector Swanzy, found guilt!
of "instigating the murder Of LORI
Mayor Mac Curtain" Swanzy wal
Ishot down by riflemen as he was leav
ing church.
Mac Swiney told his sister hi
wished no reprisals. Any attempt a
revenge, he said, would invalidat'
much. of the world sympathy for thu
Irish cause, evoked by his fast.
Appeals for Mac Sw1ney's RELEASE
were made personally to the highes
officials of the empire. The Irish OF
flee. Home Secretary Short, Premie
Lloyd George, King George and Queer
Mary in turn refused to interfere Wit
the decree that hunger strikers coult
not be freed.
The most pathetic figure in connec
ition with the lingering death of thu
lord mayor was that Of Lady Mayor