EVIDENCE OF A SELF-STYLED "ASSASSIN."

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7263, 24 January 1889, Page 5

EVIDENCE OF A SELF-STYLED "ASSASSIN."

[Fb-:__ the "Aegcs" Correspondent.] LONDON, December 14. The leading incidents of the inquiry in _c Time, s-Parnell Commission Court this week have been the evidence of Buckley, an iniorme •. yesterday, and the proceedings against Mr O'Brien to-day. Jas. Buckley deposed that he was a sworn member of the Fenian Brotherhood in November, 1880. There was then a branch league in Tralee. The two men who swore him into the Fenian ranks were prominent leaguers. Then the witness told of a midnight assembly of eleven men, and of their subsequent outrage at the house of one Shelby, which was surrounded preparatory to a revolver fusilade at the windows. Happily for Shelby he was not in the house, as he would have been shot had he not then and there promised to give up his land. Not long after this Buckley was, with two others, told off to assassinate one Roche, but the attempt failed because Roche had a friend with him, and it was thought to be too dangerous to kill only one of a couple. Subsequently the witness was asked to shoot Roche himself, and was promised that he should be assisted by the Land League funds to go to America. Further, an alibi would be sworn to in order to shield him from any possible consequences. Buckley, it seems, cheerfully undertook the enterprise, and with perfect coolness he told the Court how he met Roche in the highway, entered into friendly conversation with him, and, while his head was turned, tried to shoot him. Some days before the assassin had hidden his revolver and cartridges in a ditch, and .they had got wet and would not go off. Roche, however, heard the click of the trigger, and then there was a hand-to-hand light, in which Buckley tried all the barrels of his weapon without result. When subsequently he knew that the police were looking for him he professed innocence, and gave him.elf,up. He was lodged in gaol, but his friends came forward and swore an alibi, and he was released. Then came the climax. Buckley only got _2- 10s for his attempt to murder Roche. He was told that he did not shoot Roche, and could not therefore expect more. A more shocking revelation of moral degradation has probably never been revealed than in Buckleys account of himself, and it was easy for Sir Charles Russell to get the witness to say that there was not a single respectable person in Kerry who would believe his uncorroborated oath. He said that he entered into communication with the police first in order to divert suspicion from himself, and then apparently in order to be revenged on his associates. He admitted to a number of convictions at the petty sessions for various offences, and out of some of these scrapes he insisted that he had been helped by the Land League. Generally the tendency of the cross-__—_—tation was to suggest that Buckley was a regular informer iv the pay of the police, and ready to create a crime whenever it might be useful. Being in London in 1885, and hearing that his life was in danger because he was believed to be a detective, he cleared himself of the reproach by assaulting a constable. The value of this kind of evidence depends upon the support it gets from more reputable people, and so far it must be said that Buckleys story ia not seriously confirmed. ___________________________________