GIBBS IN UPROAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 72, 28 March 1921, Page 3

GIBBS IN UPROAR.

- _> UKACPRAID OF SHOT F_TN_RS. IFrom Our Own Correspondent.) J SAN" FRANTCISCO, March 4. S'r Philip Gibtr=. the noted English war correspondent, who has been touring the United States delivering a series of lectures, withstood the hoots and catcalk of Sinn Feiner sympathisers for'an hour and a-half in the Carnegie Hall in New York, during his address o-n the Irish situation, hurled back defiance '.nto the teeth of his hecklers in th" gallery, and showed himself one of the gamest speakers who ever spoke on an. American stage. The Sinn Feiner organisation of New York maintained its disgraceful policy of baiting any British speaker appearing in New York, and S'r Philip Gi.bbs has been no exception to the -ule. The yells and boos in Carnegie Hall on this occasion lasted fully an hour and a-half, and during all that time there was nota period of (five -minutes that -was not punctuated by their catcalls. The audience was divided, and the major part frequently cried angrily at the wild voiced men and women who shrieked denunciation in the name of Ireland. But through it all Sir Philip hardly raised his voice, rocking silently back "and forth on his toes during the uproar, fixing his eyes stead'ly on those above him. and only picking the periods of silence to go evenly on. In the first few heated moments of the attack upon him, when the hall had been buried beneath the volleys of abuse, came the most of the entire evening. A slim, tall man climbed upon the stage, and walked over to within a few feet of Sir Philip, wbo looked at him amazingly, and then walked over to him and cordially shook his hand. The house was silent for a minute, even the Sinn Fein enthusiasts ceasing their noise before this unexpected introduction, then most of those present recognised the* clergyman, breaking into wild applause. "I would like to introduce myself to th's audience," he said. "My name is Father Duffy." The rest was lost in the burst of Hand-clapping in welcome to th* prie_- of the "fighting Sixty-Ninth,*' the Irish division which fought its war so { gallantly to the Marne. ''I want to say ! that Sir Philip Gibbs has done more to restore truth to the world than any other man," said Father -Duffy. "I want to warn Sir (Philip that this presentation of facts will like-ly produce the conclusion in the m:_ds of this audience that he is a ißritish propagandist." Cries of ana "You're not the speaker" arose from the floor of the hall, which in a moment had turned on the famous war chaplain. It wag a symptom of the divided following of the audience. Policemen stood around the back of the house and the gallery and balcony and side of the hall into which the exits nnd entrance were filled with the bluecoated men swinging clubs. It was onrj due to their strenuous efforts that the meeting was not broken up.