Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1880-12-18 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

THREATENING LETTERS.  Threatening letters have a conspicuous Place among the various forms of intimidation and terrorism which are at present being practised in Ireland. They are largely on the increase, and are being sent now to Judges as well as to obnoxious landlords. One was recently addressed to Mr. Justice Fitzgerald and another to Mr. Baron Dowse. '1 here was so much similarity between the two letters in the profanity and disloyalty of their contents that they pro. bably emanated from the same person. Baron Dowse was of opinion, as he stated in the Galway court; that the one he received written evidently with the left hand, writ the work of a person of more than ordinary eductaion. Nothing of this superior culture was disernable in the letter as it appeared in the newspapers, if we except the words "la Reins" following Victoria, and the exclamations '•Vive Parnell, notre Roi" But these are words that it did not need more than ordinary education to pick up by the wayside. They might be put in merely to delude the judge into the belief that the letter was written by a leading member of the Parnellite party. It differs very little from ordinary missives of the kind, which resemble each other so closely in style and contents that they might almost seem to be the the production of the same parson. It is very rare indeed when threatening letters do not show the hall mark of —Alliterary the writing a mere scrawl, and the badness of the spelling in perfect accord with the bad language, Without the accompaniment of the rough sketch of a coffin or of a skull and crossbones, such missives would not be complete. The symbols of death, in their most effecting form must not be forgotten. In what expression beyond the French ones already referred to, did the alleged superior education exhibited in the letter to Mr. Baron Dowse make itself manifest? Was it in the opening words, "Dowse, you infernal Protestant or in the warning conveyed to him that he I would met the the fate of Lord Mouritmorres even on the bench if he convicted any ' Land Leaguer? If the more than ordinary education" was shown in the handwriting I though disguised, there is just a possibility that some jocular juniors of the bar have been playing off a praotioal joke upon Mr. Baron Dowse. It is not educated persons who are in the habit of writing the coffin, skull, and crossbones illustrated letters which contain threats of murder—it is "Rory of the Mlle," the same cowardly ruffian who lies crouched behind a hedge waiting an opportunity to get a pot-shot at his intended victim, or who fires recklessly through lighted windows at night heedless whether it be father, mother, or children that he hits when they are seated comfortably together by the fireside. There is the soul of a cowardly sneak in the person whO sends threatening letters. It may be thougnt audacious to address one to a judge but the mere fact of doing no betrays the miserable nature of the debased wretch who cannot comprehend that men occupying seats on the bench are above intimidation. Baron Dowse, after reading in the Galway Court the letter which he had received, only remarked that it was hardly necessary for him to say that nothing of the kind would deter him or any brethren on the bench from doing their duty. There is not a Judge in the United Kingdom, worthy of his high and responsible position, who would not adopt and echo these words of Baron bows.