New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-13
Arthur. Griffith.
Sirln Fein Chief. .
Dies i'm Dublin
Cerebral Hemorrhage Fatal
to Head of Free State
After Suffering From an
Attack of the Influenza
Signer Of Irish Treaty
Founder of Movement for
Autonomy, Editor Was a
Follower Of ParneIl
spec;o, Cable TO The Tr,n,,,s

Special Cable to The Trtb,,ne
Copyright, 1922, New York Tribune Inc.
DUBLIN, Aug. 12.--Arthur Griffith,
president of the Dahl Eireann, died to-
day in st. Vincent's Hospital after col
lapsing in the hallway when he made
an attempt to start for business at his
office. Cerebral hemorrhage was the
immediate cause of the Free State lead
er's demise, although he had been suf-
fering from influenza for about fort
| night.
While living at the hospital in order
to recuperate he insisted on attending
to business every day. This morning
as he was departing he was seen by an
attendant who had just greeted him to
bend over as though to pick something
from the floor. Before assistance could
reach him he fell unconscious. For a
brief interval he regained conscious
ness, but soon relapsed and died while
priest was administering the last sac
! raments.
Dublin was much shocked by the un-
expected death of Mr.. Griffith. All
theaters were closed, and the horse
show, which was to open on Tuesday
has been postponed as a mark of re-
spect. He is survived by his wife and
two children
Father of Slim Fein"
Mr. Griffith, who was chairman of the
Irish delegates who negotiated the
British treaty, was generally regarded
as the father Of the Sim Fein move
ment, but it is toe early to predict the
political consequences of his death be-
yond the fact that Michael Collins, who
has been more in the limelight since
the Free State was founded, has now
apparently the sole claim to leadership.
Thus passes away the man who above
all others is to be credited with the
achievement of Irish autonomy after
centuries Of conflict. He was, of all
the present Irish leaders, the only one
who dated back to the time of Charles
Stewart Parnell, one of whose most
enthusiastic young followers he was,
and in whose interest he rallied many
of the youth of Ireland TO the Home
Rule standard. He was born in Dublin
in 1879, the son of printer, and him
self grew up to be printer and edi-
tor. After serving on several Dublin
papers he established in that city
Feln." and finally by Nationality"
More Radical Than Parnell
Even while following Parnell, he
was more radical than his leader, IA
voring the complete abstention of Irish
members from the Westminster Parlia-
ment. After Parnell's death he went
to South Africa. worked in the Jo-
hannesburg mines and was an enthu-
ger in his opposition to the British;
but when the Boer war came on he re-
turned to Ireland. He then employed
some of the ideas he had imbibed from
the cons Land" party In Africa In the
organization of Sim Fein--meaning
by Our Own Effort"
He came to public notice in the spring
of 1916, when he was arrested in the
general roundup which followed the
Easter insurreetion, although he was
not active in that affair. In the fall
of 1917 he was president of the Sim
Fein conference in Dublin, and in 1919
he was appointed a Sim Fein delegate
to the Paris peace conference, to pre-
sent the demands of Ireland for inde-
pendence, but could not secure a pass
port and therefore did not go.
During Eamon de Valera's visit to
the United States Mr.. Griffith acted in
his stead as president Of the Irish Ma
tional Assembly. He was arrested and
for time confined in Mountioy prison
in the winter of 1920-'21, and fruit
less attempt was made to rescue him
by party with an armored car.
Signer of Irish Treaty
When in June, 1921, the British gov
ernment planned the conference in
London which led to the Free State
treaty, Mr.. Griffith was released from
Mountjoy prison so that he could be
one of the Irish delegates. He went to
London with De Valera and Michael
Collins, and thereafter was one of the
foremost of the Irish negotiators of
peace with Great Britain, his efforts
eliminating on December 5flast, when
he was one of the sgners of the treaty.
After that he, with Michael Collins,
stood firmly for the Free State, and,
therefore, parted company with De
Valera.
He is one" wrote Padraic Colum of
him in The Tribune a few months ago,
"who will stand we'll to the forefront
among the statesmen of Europe
square, solid. enlightened, persistent,
devoted to his country. He is Dublin
man, completely urban man, and that
makes him remarkable among Irish
workers and thinkers. Most Irishmen
can think in terms Of cattle, horses
and grains. Not so Arthur Griffith
He is curiously unfamiliar with the
country people and with the country
outside the Pale. He went to the west,
to County Mayo, to help his friend,
Major MacBride, of the Boer-Irish
Brigade, in an election. That visit to
the west was quite an event in his
vacationless life. No man in Ireland
has more information, no man in Ire
land has greater powers of work, no
man in Ireland has greater love for
his country than has Arthur Griffith"
(ireenbrier, White Sulphur Springs. In
tennis. horseback. Booking Plaza, N, *.