The Life Story of an Old Rebel

ot suspected of any complicity with the revolutionary movement until after the ri

getting away to America. This was by no means an easy task, as all the ports were closely watched, and as, like his brother John, he was a fine handsome man,

minent members of the I.R.B. in this country, also friends of Breslin, who were anxious that the two parties should join. I wrote to him on their behalf, asking him to work towards that end. For greater safety the letters for Breslin were sent under cover through my cousin,

er Rescue, Michael Breslin was in the house at the time. Questioned by the police, he described himself as a traveller in the tea trade for Mr. James Lysaght Finigan, of Liverpool. As he had

f his family he was at the time engaged in the tea trade; but he was of an adventurous disposition, and afterwards served in t

an, of imposing presence-a director of an Insurance Company, for which he was also the resident manager in Birmingham. Living in that town, he was of great assistance to the various agents entrusted with the task of procuring arms for the revo

these that Hogan was put upon his trial. The maker of the revolvers was brought from Birmingham, and put in the witness box. He swore that a revolver produced was one of his own make, which he

his manufacture? The witness unhesitatingly did so. The counsel, when his turn came, called an

cognise it

made it

ished. The prosecut

u know it

ion was found to be correct, and as the other witness, who had sworn that he had made the weap

lvers he had purchased, had an exact copy of one of them made by a gunsmith whom they could trust, with instructions to put his own private marks upon it, which he cou

, but, being in delicate health, did not long survive, for he died in Portland Prison on June 28th of the following year. William Hogan, as the fulfilment of a sacred duty, brought the body of his friend home to Irela

penalties. Still, it has been my experience, that men like him, who have stood their ground, following their usual legitimate occupations, w

rth-country name, not at all likely to be borne by an Irishman. By some means the police got wind of the nature of the consignment, and the arms were held at the station, waiting for Mr. Kershaw to claim them. But it was a case of plot and counterplot; and when John was a

harmed with the social qualities of the genial commercial "gent" who was their fellow-traveller, never suspecting him to be an Irishman. They chatted together in the most agreeable manner, making no secret of their mission to London, and letting drop a few facts which proved useful to the counsel for the defence in the subsequent trial. Reaching London, they asked the commercial "gent" to spend a social evening with them and some of the witnesses in the case, which h

e only drawback being, they said, that one of the witne

I shall now introduce. Detective Superintendent Laurence Kehoe, of Liverpool, was a very decent man in his way. He was by no means of the type of John Boyle O'Reilly or the Breslins, who have shown that in the B

an Irish policeman called his attention to some poor waif of an Irish child who had lost its parents, or was in evil surroundings-having parents worse than none, or in danger of losing its faith-Laurence Kehoe would take the matter in hand. He would not always go through the formality of bringing the case of such child under the notice of the managers of one or other of the Catholic orp

, talking politics by any possible chance. I cannot, of course, state for certain how it was, but the reader, from what I am going to d

ard Burke, in the usual way, through the prison gate. Enter Arthur Forrester, who, in due course, found his way also-though but for a sh

ave often listened with pleasure to Arthur Forrester, when he used to come to address the "boys" in Liverpool. On one of those occasions Michael Davitt was with him, a modest, unassuming young man, with but little t

on it I quickly got them into safer hands than my own. Some compromising documents were found in Forrester's possession, including a certain letter with which Michael Davitt's name was connected. This same letter was brought forward in evidence some years afterwards, in the famous "Times Forgeries Commission," with a view to showing that the Irish leaders had incited to murder. As I expec

ence Kehoe. Miss Cameron lived in the house of the Detective Superintendent, along with her sister, Mrs. Kehoe. In the middle of the prev

as a pause; then Kehoe said, "No," adding some words to

ut his full term in Purgatory (for he is dead many years, God rest his soul!), I don't think St. Peter can have kept the Heavenl

e had his licence, all quite regular, to show. Under this he could sell his revolvers. There wa

k of procuring and distributing arms, after Forrester had become too well known to the police in connection with it. Davitt, too, had a hawker's licence; and, at first, there was really no evidence to connect

from day to day, without being charged with any offence, was that a similar connect

of the arrest. They had tea with us, and, I need scarcely say, were warmly welcomed in our little family circle, those in the hous

hers appeared in the "Nation" and "Dundalk Democrat." She was quite young when she came to England, and settled first in Liverpool, and then in Manchester. She married Michael Forrester, a stonemason, and had five children. It was quite evident there was a poetic strain in the Magennis blood, for two

spirit which displayed itself in the determined resistance he made against the police who came to arrest him in 1867, in Dublin, where he had found his way for the projected rising. He was a young Revolutionist truly-being then only seventeen

uring the Franco-Prussian War. Besides the "Songs of the Rising Nation" in connection with his mother, he produced "An Irish Crazy Quilt,

into these particulars; but I want to show what kind of people these Forresters

er. There was no difficulty-we could easily get the necessary security; but, name aft

r. Commins, barrister, acting for Forrester, claimed that no charge, but a mere matter of suspicion, being forthcoming against him, the bail offered

ewsagent. He was a decent Irishman, of Liverpool birth, who took no part in politics. He had been induced to go bail by one of the greatest scoundrels Ireland ever prod

his occupation was gone, and Michael Davitt took up the work. I am afraid that Davitt's visit to Liverpool on this

pons in exchange for the money. So far-Davitt having a hawker's licence, as in the case of Forrester-this would have been perfectly legitimate. What was wanted by the authorities was evidence to show a connection with the Fenian conspiracy. They really had no suc

ing the man's noble character, it should not be forgotten that the Irishman made an earnest appeal for the Englishman, declaring that Wilson knew nothing of the object for which the weapons were wanted, and asking that whatever sentence was to be passed on the gunsmith might be added to his own. This was quite worthy of Davitt's chivalrous and unse

on, the results of which seem likely to make the Irish people more the real po

e what I had long projected as a useful work for Ireland. This was the issue of my "Irish Library," co

ullivan, Timothy McSweeney, Hugh Heinrick, William J. Ryan, Francis Fahy, William P. Ryan, Alfred Perceval Graves, Michael O'Mahony, John J. Sheehan, Thomas Boyd, Thomas Flannery, John Hand, James Lysaght Finigan, and other well-kn