Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-25

being led we do not know i" while mem
bers ~ MacSwiney's family denied cafe
poricalIy that food had been given him.
Peter Mnc3winey, NJ New York,
brother ~ the Lord Mayor, in an officia
of the American Commission for ffisf
Independence.
Within the past week when IL bcgar
To appear that the Lord mayor was 40.
preaching the end he was given liquid
noiIrishment by the prison doctors during
periods of uncioiwuess. This fact ap-
peared IN statements by both the Irish
Self Determination League, which had
been issuing regular bulletins on Mac
Swineys condition, aud BIZ the home
office. The leagues statement showed
the lord mayor as becoming extremely
indignant upon regaining consciousness
and realizing that he had been fed
'fhey tricked me, and I didn't know
il" he exclaimed. The leagues bulletin
on October III contained this statement.
1T should be made clear that the meat
extract given the lord mayor during his
deliriurn on the Goth day of his fast was
the first nourishment which had passed
his lips since his arrest on August u /"
With regard 10 the theological aspects
Of the lord mayors hunger strike and
that Of the Irish prisoners IN the Cork
jail who began n similar abstention from
food shortly before MacSwincy's fast
started, it was stated, in a Rome dispatch
on October IL, that Pope Benedict had
referred the problem Of the status 81 these
hunger striking prisoners 70 the COngre-
CATION of the Holy Office.
His Holiness had received many ur-
gent appeals to make some pronounce
q
OF opposite viewpoints Jmploring the
Pontih To reach Numerically opposed
decisions on the question where the
deaths of the prisoners AZ q result a their
hunger strike would make them suicides
He had found widely divergent opinions
also, IL was said, among learned cardinals
and other prominent figures in the church
with whom he had discussed the situation
and therefore had laid the problem before
the congregation n the Holy Office which
settles questions If faith and morals and
judges heresy. There has been M indica-
tion rs 70 when q decision might be ez-
pected from this body.
The first death among the hunger
strikers occurred on Sunday, October IL,
when Michael Fitzgerald, one of the
eleven striking prisoners in the Cork jail,
succumbed to the results of his self
imposed fast He had tasted 90 days
Several other of the Cork prisoners are
declared now n be in a critical state.
THIS statement is considered an IN
direct answer 70 the criticisms of Dr..
Josiah Oldfeld, the physician and pub
hcist, who has declared il was wrong for
the lord mayors doctors n administer
meat juice and brandy He said brandy
was a poison and that . man at the point
of death was very susceptible 70 poison
DR. Oldfeld added that when a man tasted
a long time the first food he could
endure wns fruit Juice
When one Of the officials was asked to
day regarding Mrs MacSwiney's absence
from the bedside when death occurred
he replied by saying the restrictions
which were recently imposed upon The
visits 0f relatives were urged by the
attending physicians as vital to the prison
er 8 own interest
At last, after the mayor, who mad
reached the stage Of extreme eTnaclatlnn
had become periodically deiiTIous, the
officials began 20 give him iiqlIld notrlsh-
ment. This came TOO late, however, As the
ulavor has been all but dead for MANY
DAYS. As the end approached, the authorI-
ties restricted the visits Of his relatives.
declaring this was n he interest of the
prisoner. who was said 70 be TOO weak Tor
excitement. Last evening his brother Sean
John and Father Dominic STAYED in the
prison u view of eventualities. Shortly
before clock this morning thev were
summoned 70 see the lord mayor. VINO had
taken a bad turn They found him lying
motionless with MS eyes open but IN
conscious.
Father Dominic whispered few prayers
but the diving man did not recognize MIN.
The priest then recited the prayers for the
dying. while Sean. the nurses and the
four doctors, including the expert adviser
Of the Home Office, stood by.
Father Dominic and Sean then retired
TO allow the doctors to DO what they could
for the lord mayor One of them I'M ieCted
strychnine Father Dominic and sean IN
the meantime we're repeating rosaTles IN
Gaelic in another part If the ward.
A friend Of the MacSwlney family who
Mrs MacSwiney when she
visited Brixton prison this morning said
the lord mayors telegram Of October )
TO the Cork hunger strikers with reference
TO the death Of the hunger striker Michael
in Cork jail, in which he re-
ferred 70 Fitzgerald as having died for his
country and joined the immortals, char
acterized the family's attitude
Mrs. MscSwiney ana the lord mayor :
sisters, Annie and Mary, who we're not
present when the end came, entered the
cell, kissed the mayors cheek, knelt
silently in prayer a few moments and then
left, the friend said There was not
tear shed BY the mayoress, who preserved
the same stoical self possession she has
shown throughout the long crceal
The physicians shortly notified them
that the lord mayor was beyond human
aid, and Father Dominic again said the
prayers for the dying Just SIS he had
the lord mayor breathed his last
The news Of his death spread rapidly
throughout the United Kingdom and
for q great funeral were I'M
begun by the Sim Fein. Plans,
contingent upon government approval, IN
clude the body lying in state in st.
Georges Cathedral in London. and the
Mansion House Ia Dublin, and series Of
en- route from Dublin 70 Cork
Similar plans were made some time ago
when il appeared that the lord mayor
was about to die, and it is known that AZ
that time the government took steps 20 re-
press what it might consider any undue
Just what the attitude
Of the government viii be in the present
case is not known, but it appeared certain
that no big demonstration of any kind
would be sanctioned either in England or
in Ireland that the funeral probably would
be controlled as WAS that Of Michael
in Cork recently.