CRIME AND MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 78, 3 April 1926, Page 23

CRIME AND MYSTERY.

ROUNDING UP THE FENIANS,

fOLTCE CHIEFS ACCOUNT — FOILING OF THE IRISH PLOTS — TO - LAY THE BIG CITIES IN ASHES.

i_t y SIR WILLIAM KNOTT BOWER, City of London Police Commissioner, 1802-20.)

THB FEXIAN RING-LEADERS. j McSrath, sent to penal servitude for life )fc>r trying to blow up Liverpool Town Hall. McKevitt, sent to penal servitude for la *earß as McGrath's accomplice. ' .Featherston (E, O'Brien Kennedy), an Irish-American; Denis Deary, a Cork porter; Pat Flanagan, a railway signalman at St.'Helens; and Dalton {John O'Connor), Svere all sent to penal servitude for life for treason, conspiring to niurd-r, and for illegal possession of explosives. O'Herlihy, -who was tried with them, was Acquitted. i The Tear of my appointment to Liverpool teas that in which the notorious Patrick Ford, editor of the "Irish News" of New &ork and a leading Fenian, made public tie jiistory of his "Skirmishing Fund," a fund established in 1575 for plots "to lay the bis , titles of England in ashes." These plot 9 were carried into effect by a Jjand of assassins and dynamiters, described later by Lord James of Hereford as being "•enemies of the human race, the lowest and JUOSt degraded of beings, unfit -to be regarded as belonging to the human eoinfaunity." To them and to their paymasters were Qae the dastardly assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Thomas Burke In the Phoenix Park, Dublin, In ISB-, tne numerous dynamite outrages, murders, pud loss of life In London, Glasgow, and OtheT places, well as those crimes in (Liverpool of which I had such close pergonal knowledge. During my earlier time in Liverpool, indeed, much of my heaviest and most absorbing work had to do with these outrages. Just before my arrival in Liverpool a serious attempt had been made to blow _p the Police Section House in Hatton Garden, a building used as a residence for a large number of young constables. Happily the terrible outrage contemplated met with small success, hut It proved the serious dangers which now had to he faced. Tho orimlnals unfortunately got Clear away, and no cine to them seemed to but later (as Is afterwards mentioned) one of them, a man named McGrath, received a life sentence for another outrage. ,/ iLess than a month later an attempt was made upon the Liverpool Town Hall. About 4 a.m. Police Constable Read noticed two men on tie steps of the town hall. One of them was stooping down to a bag, which lay upon the steps, and remembering what bad so recently happened at Hatton Garden, the constable naturally suspected what might be their design and immediately rushed upon them. The moment they saw him they left the bag and bolted off at top speed. Read (who iff_s a big, stoutish man) was quite incapable ot racing at the pace they went, but followed them as fast as he could go, blowing his whistle all the time. Coming across Police Constable Crelghton he shouted to him to make back at once to the town hallFight "With Loaded Revolver. Another constable (P.C. Casey) then'appeared, and when the two men sighted him they rushed down a side street, which, fortunately, turned out to ba a cul-de-sac. Casey was a young and active man and outstripped Read, at the bottom, of the street coming up wit— one of the two men (afterWards found to be McKevitt) hiding under a cart Casey pulled him out, whereupon McKevitt drew a loaded revolver from his pocket end threatened Casey with lt. Casey promptly seized tie hand holding the revolver and a desperate struggle followed. McKevitt managed to get his hand free and suddenly Jerked the revolve- over tne lew wall of an adjoining coalyard. * At last he was overpowered by Casey and handed over to another constable who had Just then come up. Casey then acted with marvellous promptitude, courage and • skill to search for tho second man. Armed with itcKevitt'a revolver, which had been brought to him by carter, he carefully searched the coalyards adjoining the street, but without success. The bottom of the street was closed (by a high stone wall, topped with iron spikes. On the other side waa the canal, and an empty coal barge was moored just opposite to the end of the street. Caught on Spikes. Obtaining the key of a coalyard abutting en the canal, Casey reached the barge. Here be found the man he was pursuing (afterwards Identified as llcGrath). He was dripping wet, with a large piece torn from Sis trousers, which had caught on the apikes when he climbed over. Casey seized him by the collar of bi» cort and pointed I___9Vitf s revolver at him. McGrath said: Til make no resistance. I'm half-drowned. I've had a narrow escape of my life." Casey then, revolver In hand, made McGrath precede >Htti along the Bin wide ledge beside the oannl, through the coalyaxd, and into the street. There with the aid of another const-hie, ho searched 1 J-oGrath and took from him two loaded revolvers, and then conveye- him to the police station, to which McKevitt had already been taken. In the meantime. Police Constable Crelghton had arrived at the Town Hall, accompanied by Police Constables Mcßirnle and Sinclair, who had joined bin- They caw the bag on the steps, with smoke Issuing from its mouth. Feeling something bard inside, they suspected danger, and dragged the bag off the steps and across the footway Into the street. Marvellous Escapes. ' J-CBlznle then threw it three or four yards further away and began to try to Unfasten the string closing its neck. Crelghton called out to him to be cautious and come away from the bag, as lt was probably dangerous. Then they moved a few yards away, when suddenly there was a terrific explosion, followed by a great fall of glass, Iron, pieces of lead piping, etc. Fortunately, the constables were all uninjured ; It was marvellous how they escaped ; but much damage was done to the surrounding- buildings. The bombs in the bag consisted of lengths of iron piping, plugged at both «nds, charged with a nitro-glycerlne compound, and fitted to be exploded by detonators and a "time" fuse. McGrath was sentenced to penal servitude for life and McKevitt to penal servitude for 15 years. A very large subscription was raised to reward the police constables concerned, -nd of this a considerable sum was awarded to Police Constable Casey, who had so. well earned lt by his fine, efficient, and courageous conduct, following on a creditable previous police career and good Army ■ervlce. It Is sad to think that, so far from being the valuable aid which it might have been to his future life, it proved to be . tta Coymo of his downfall. It was one of M*% fltofffliwlng **»crie_ce* pay official

life that the strenuous and long-continued efforts which I made to avert the consequences to a man whose services were so highly appreciated, failed of success. Following on these two desperate outrages, hardly a day passed without further alarms, further threats, and much volunteered information. It seemed a merciful dispensation of Providence that when three Irishmen conspired to commit crime, one at least (often all three) turned traitor nnd endeavoured to secure safety and profit for himself at the expense of his confdorates, quite regardless of "honour among thieves," or his always muchvaunted "patriotism." Information, though plentiful, was often impossible to use for purposes of prosecution, for the evidence of "informers" needed substantial corroboration, and the production of such evidence might often "dry up" our other sources of information, and it was always felt that the prevention of outrage was even more important than the punishment of offenders. A Glorious Tradition. One of the tragedies of a policeman's life is that ho often possesses complete knowledge of a crime and Its perpetrators and yet is unable to use that knowledge. The public frequently accuse him of stupidity, or want of intelligence, whereas the real cause of his failure is that he is compelled to work with one eye closed and one arm strapped behind his back, owing to the decision of the English law that criminals must be treated as "game," only to be hunted under fixed rules and regulations, and not as "vermin" to be ruthlessly extirpated. I do not complain of our glorious English tradition, on the contrary I feel it is mc to be proud of, and, on the whole conducive to the highest Justice. The maxim "Better ten guilty men escape than one innocent man suffer," is a right and noble one, but it should not be forgotten that the escape of the ten guilty men often means loss and suffering to one hundred innocent men. Don't Blame the Police. It Is not fair to blame the police for the results which these conditions necessarily involve. And if this is true of every sort of crime, it applies more than ever to socalled "political" crime, whether It be the Bolshevist conspiracy of the present day, or the Irish-American conspiracy of the early 'eighties. In June, ISB2, we obtained information that a man, passing under the name of Featherston, would be arriving in Liverpol from Philadelphia, and would lodge at 43, Regent Street. It was known that his real name was Edmund O'Brien Kennedy, and that he was connected with the Irish American revolutionary conspiracy. On arrival he was at once placed under close observation. Six months later he was in Glasgow and obtained several carboys of nitric and sulphuric acid, which be bought under the name of O'Herllny. and which he had sent to- Cork, where they were called for by Denis Deasy, a porter, and conveyed to the house of (the real) O'Herllhy, who was a maker- of ink and resided at 10, Great George's Street Soon after the middle of March information was conveyed to us that bombs manufactured in Cork, would shortly be brought over to Liverpool by Deasy, and a close watch was at once set upon all boats arriving from Ireland. Deasy crossed from Ireland by the Cork boat on the 28th, bringing with ___ a heavy box labelled "Cattle Spice." As he »ras leaving the dock he was stopped by detectives and asked what was In the box and he replied, "Cattle food." He -was'then arrested and ta_en, with the box, to the police station, where I (hastily summoned from a dinner party) and others were eagerly looking out for him. The (box was opened, and was found to contain two large tin canisters filled with ilgnlne dynamite, a most highly dangerous explosive, and one never used for any legitimate purpose. In addition there -were In the box all th© Ingredients necessary for making f nsea , as well as three brass taps so constructed as to ensure an Interval of 20 minutes between the lighting of the fuse and the explosion of the bomb. On Deasy being searched there were found upon him two papers. On one was written: ".Stay at 43, Regent Street (Featherston's Liverpool address). Go to Lime iStreet Statnon, on to St. Helens Junction, Pat. (Flanagan, 24, Convent "Road. Sutton." The other paper said: "The bearer, Denis Deasy, Is the young man I asked you to find employment for. "He is a good fellow and will mind his own business.—Tours, etc., Edmund." Arrest in a Signal Box. Both were in the handwriting of Featherston, alias Edmund O'Brien Kennedy. Deasy also had a pooket book containing an entry as to the use of nitric acid. Acting on the Information contained in these documents, I at once sent detectives to St. Helens to arrest Flanagan, who was found to bo a railway signalman, and was at the time on duty. After arranging with the railway ofllcials, they proceeded to his signal box and there arrested him. They then took htm to his lodgings In Sutton, and there found a large tin box In which was a small locked bag containing a false beard, a revolver with five chambers 'loaded, a box of cartridges, and a tin canister filled with an explosive mixture. The detectives then took their prisoner to Liverpool. , As soon as it was known that Deasy had really embarked for Liverpool, the Cork police arrested Fea-therston and O'Herlihy. On Featherston were found a letter ordering two more carboys of sulphuric acid; a recipe headed "Best Cure for Gout Known," giving full instructions for the preparation of a highly dangerous inflammable substance known as "Fenian Fire"; and a small brass tap similar to the taps found with Deasy. and also to those used in recent actual explosions. O'Herlihy. on his arrest, said he was "innocent, and had quite enough to do without attending to such matters." On his house being searched nothing was found to incriminate him. At the same time, the London police were closely watching a man pasing under tbe name of Dalton, whose real name was John O'Connor. He was found to be carefully Inspecting and taking notes at Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the Treasury, the Home Ofllce, and the scene of the recent explosion at tbe Local Government Board Office. He visited many suspected persons, and wns known .to be In communication With Fisatherston. Four Life Sentences. Dalton was arrested at an American reading room In the Strand. On him were found a pocket book containing a card beaslng tM #ddw_» «£ *»'Btt__vy"

(featherston?) in Cork; an entry of the address of the Glasgow chemists from whom Featherston had procured the nitric and sulphuric acids; and a recipe for the manufacture of explosives. On August 2, Deasy, Flanagan, Featherston, O'Herlihy, and Dalton were tried at the Liverpool Assizes for treason, felony, conspiracy to murder, and for being in possession of explosives with felonious Intent. O'Herlihy was acquitted, but the other four prisoners were sentenced to penal servitude for life. Two illuminating, and rather comical episodes, as showing what the mind of a juryman may toe, and what the considerations which may Influence the Terdict of a jury, were afterwards related to mc by a member of this jury with whom I had some personal acquaintance. He told mc that when the jury retired a "member of It sitting near to him whispered: "I am very deaf and didn't hear much of the evidence, but I know you are a gentleman and will decide right, so I shall vote as you do." A general discussion by the jury then took place on the facts of the case, and they unanimously came to the conclusion to convict Featherston. Deasy, and Flanagan, but were much divided with regard to Dalton.* The Jury's Logic. It was pointed out by one of the Jury that the judge bad practlcaly advised them to acquit him, even though they might be convinced (as they were and rightly) that he was In the thick. If not indeed a ringleader, in this particular crime. The discussion became at last quite heated, until one juryman solved the difficulty by remarking: "Why argue, gentlemen? We are all satisfied that even If Dalton is not proved to be in this particular business he has been in something quite as bad, or worse. So why not find him guilty and have done with It?" This weighty argument at once appealed to the whole Jury, who forthwith agreed unanimously to find a verdict of "Guilty" against all four of the prisoners. "With these cases Irish trouble subsided largely in Liverpool, though lt was long before we had Immunity from threats and alarms, and from the heavy work of sifting all the Information that came to us.