Widnes Examiner. — 1883-01-27 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE STATE OF IRELAND.  THE CONSPIRACY TO MURDER DUBLIN OFFICIALS. The magisterial inquiry into the Fenian conspiracy to assassinate Irish Government officials was commenced in Dublin on Saturday, 20 of the 21 men recently taken into custody being placed in the dock. The other man, Robert Farrell, was put in the witness box. He said that he had for seven or eight years been a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and he described various meetings of that society and the part taken in them by the prisoners. About 18 months ago he had a conversation with Daniel Curley, one of the prisoners, as to becoming a member of the "inner circle." He told witness that the -sinner circle was to be composed of the chosen men of the organisation. The business for which the inner circle was to be formed was chiefly to assassinate Government officials. After this Curley told him he was to stop the Chief Secretary's (Mr. Forster's) carriage, and that two other men named "would do the renaainder." Witness let the carriage pass, as he did not know it, and then Peter Doyle (a prisoner) said it was all up, and Curley seemed to be vexed over the mistake. The witness described other failures of the murderous design, and was then questioned with a view to its being shown that the Phosnix Park murders and the attempt on the life of Mr. Justice Lawson were crimes as to which overtures had been made to him. He also told how he received orders to take part in the attack on Mr. Field, the Dublin juror, and described Le facts of the attempted assassination. "There was," said the witness, " never an ord_r for assassination issued from the Fenian Society. The orders used to he given from the assassination conspiracy. Joseph Mullett (one of the prisoners) was the man who was responsible for this conspiracy." Farrell added ' that this assassination society was established from the , Fenian Brotherhood. He grew sick of the business, as he saw it was a sham and a delusion, and only good for those who lived by it. He repeatedly tendered his resignation, and Mullett placed him in his present position through his threats. The inquiry was adjourned for a week. SUPPOSED FURTHER CLUE TO OUTRAGE ORGiANISATIONS.  The Press Association's special correspondent in Dublin, telegraphing on Thursday evening, says :—Some important evidence has been obtained, within the last couple of months, regarding the perpt trators of some of the outrages committed daring the past two years in the West of Ireland. The fact that two men are awaiting their trial in Galway Gaol for the murder of a bog bailiff named Connors, on the estate of Lord Dunsany, is already known, but it is also a fact that the murderers of Mr. Blake and his servant Thady Flynn near Loughrea last year, and of Mr. Bourke and Corporal Wallace at Rahassane, will shortly engage the attention of a judicial tribunal. A man who is believed to have been engaged in the first of these two murders, and who is now in America, is being sought, for, and if he is found, as there is every reasoß to hope, it is expected Olathe will disclose the names of his associates. A number of Irish detective,, acting on information collected by the Royal Irish Constabulary, have been pursuing a close inquiry in the vicinity of the scenes of these murders, and it is stated that they are now in possession of information which, it is hoped, will enable them to lay their hands upon the whole of the members of the organisation which promoted those frightful crimes and others in the district. The extreme punishment which has been visited recently on the perpetrators of certain murders has evidently caused something like a panic among the local outrage organisations, some of thc members of which, by suddenly leaving the country or by taking some other extraordinary steps, have drawn upou thems,lves the notice of those who have been watching for nearly a year for a clue. In connection with these discoveties by the police it is also stated on good authority that the murderers of Lord Mountmorres are in view, and that the next month or two will witness the indictm4nt of several of the men engaged in these crimes.