THE TRUE STORY OF THE COLLEEN BAWN.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10333, 29 April 1899, Page 2

THE TRUE STORY OF THE COLLEEN BAWN.

:From tub WkbkiiT Temjqraph. • •_:<■ >>,tt j The true story of. the unhappy fW'jjrf:-;! Eily O'Connor is very different to that ■'&',s* i scribed by Griffin, and .dramatised from, ,htii : ;|i I novel, "The Cbttogians," by Boncicaulfc r fM The real ..thd.',,te.rtible crime' and-j-I j oi the .execution ! revolting to be, set' form, yin their deformity by the <»|3js9, above book';|% and were into some-'-v ' thing less horriblof ■ M&e^ 'though he dife-C not attribute to 4 a posi-£? tive and deliberatfe' uitehjf favor consent the murder of thy: victim, the glamour' he threw\abdut-''the charactor»( other paramour,' X, him more interesting than and pious 4 * t j|i Kyrle Daly, troubled Ger&d's spirit so.'.f much that he did liis' utmost; to buy back;,;; the copyright of "The Collegians," with'a -,& firm resolve of-consigning'it'to the flames, The true facts, as related by, Lord Mont4y* eagle, thßn Mr Spring-Rice, -to an English.'";/ gentleman travelling in Ireland, are as fol-;0" lows:—- \ ' .„'.>:! "Eily O'Connor lived in. the county oLffe Limerick, to the east of Foynes, with her! > uncle, an old man possessed of some pro- >o< perty. In the same district" lived the>% family of Scanlan, connected with the best \(J blood in the country."' Mrs Scanlan was a-i; De Lacy.. , Her husband was connected with;.- "" the Masseys and Fifczgibbons;' both nobla \!\ families. Young Scanlan, the ' heir of the 41*, Scanlans, who had been himself an officer ■',■■ in the army, persuaded Eily to.' rob her.v. uncle of a considerable sum, and. to elope; '-,- with him to Glin. Here they lived - for some time, until the money was spent-f-> and he was tired of his mistress, He.had.: ~' 5 " in his employ a man named, I believe,."",, Sullivan, connected with ■ him, by - what in Ireland is a strong tie —that of foster? _* : ~ brotherhood, One of "Che 'last-times,'" >- said Lord Monteagl'e, "that she.-was seen:' ; alive was near this promontory, jwhen-ahel—t' and Sullivan got into a small boatmen the;.-,:; Shannon, while Scanlan sat on a&oqk hard ".': by playing tho flute: The boat \stK Sulli-< w van returned during the night, anoVh© ra-HW ported, that they had boarded ■ the Shannon bound for r " Eily O'Connor had taken her passage I 'in----. it. ' , . W- <J :' y ■ "About three weeks after a femftle/body was washed ashore at Kilrugh. It^as/^uite,.' ;_- ---nude, and the features of the were; :.- quite obliterated. - The skull had % b&on ex- \-'*- - tensively fractured. A suspicion arose that , this might be the body of Eily ... ,but- there, did not appear- to reafnin any ' means of identifying it. - A" Glin>man, .accidentally present, stated that if,.-tit were , the body of Eily O'Connor it would be re- -roognised as having a double eye-tooth. On.rr examination it was found that the teeth had.dropped out,but'~ r the sockets of double eye-teeth were visible in- the tipper jaw. .-f Sullivan- immediately •:•>. plain-that the story.-of: the embarkation--. for" America, was falsi. ' <The .. quest had brought in"a"verdicb' oHnmraerT'' . against Sullivan and Scanlan, and Yjvjirrants - for their arrests were issued. Bus'no I 'one ,- seemed for a, time disposed to'arrest-a man so 'well born' arid so highly connected as' Scanlan. He" not only walked about at liberty, bub even appeared at shooting- r parties unmolested.' I wrote to the Castle/ urging that' they, should take steps to end, -: such a, scandal as this impunity to crime. - - I got an answer,-- saying-'that the scandal ?.-. was not morcf theirs th&ii" mine, as I, -being '\ a-magistrate,' ought/to. .enforce my town-war- - rant. I felt the truth of this, and acted--* <j|oa it. I knew- that if my intention to do" - so were, suvpected, Seanhin. would receive .? notice "and escape. I went after sunset to'the officer cx>rrmiandmg,the.mQitary force of the \ district, and made a requisition for,a body' ' of the 18fch Hussars td' be furnighed vary " ■ night, to-ba employed on.a service which I could not communicate even to him. After some hesitation- he placed them under my. ' command, Without telUng. bun,whither we, were going, I led them, by 'byroads to the , Scanlan mansion.. In this I was assisted by Mr Lynne (a county magistrate), who ac-, companied mc. I posted sentinels all , around it, and then, accompanied by a party - of the 18th Hussars, knocked at the door and asked for Mr Scanlan, .the father. A minute or two passed, during which there seemed to be some disturbance within, and I was ushered into a room in which some of the family were saated by the fire. I said that I was ■ come on a.painful duty, to execute a warrant ■against their, son. "'You!' screamed autrthe mother, 'you,'a Eioe, come to arrest a "Scanlan! There ia enually pure blood in both our-veins. Youi- ' father, and your grandfather, and your greatgrandfather himted and shot and lived with his father, and 'grandfather, and great-grand-father, and you say you are now here to arrest him! But you aro too late, sirl My son left home yesterday, not to avoid arrest, but on business, for he has nothing to fear from the law. If he could have guessed that you were coming on such an- errand, he would have stayed to meet you.' "I answered that we must search the house, " 'Search it,' she raid, 'and welcome. You are insulting us to no purpose.' "We examined the dwelling-house, but found nothing. Then we went to the outhouse. There was a granary, the floor coyer- • ed with hay. My men poked about with : their sabres. Suddenly there was a-loud scream heard, and Scanlan .was pulled out from under the hay, wounded by a sabre. His mother saw us p*uss through the hall with him, and dropped fainting to the ground, aa if she' had been shot. Scanlan wosput on' his trial at the next assizes, and convicted. Immense effort was made to prevent his cxc- , cution; He.(sent to beg mejtp visit him in his cell. When ho entered W said, T sent , for you in the first place to tell you that I bear you no ill-will; you only did your duty. And secondly, I want to assure you that I die innocent. , I did not kill Eily O'Connor. How was it possible that, loving her as I had done, * could have harmed her? Sullivan, instead of putting her as we had agreed, on board an. American vessel, Btunned her. with the butt end of his musket, and then threw" her into the 'Shannon. As a proof of the truth of my story, you will find the musket hid in the cave under the promontory whence the beat started.' "The Executive Government was firm and no pardon or commutation was granted. The i horses which were drawing him to the place Ia? execution, some way out of Limerick, ! stood fast on the bridge, and he was forced to ! be taken from the carriage and made to walk jto the-gibbet. He mot his death with fortij tudo. "About a year after Scanlan's execution, j the wretch, Sullivan, thinking that the matI tor had blown over, or that he should not be detected, returned to: the country. He was I recognised, tried, and convicted, and then ! confessed that the murder was committed by ' himself, though planned and directed bjr j Scanlanl He,, of course, was also executed. *. •Blowb.