BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17078, 29 January 1916, Page 12

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

A JUDGE'S Books of legal memoirs are generally somewhat disappointing, for the" wit which finds expression in a Court of I/aw is often apt to lose much of its original savour when set forth in sober cold print some years after the event,; and those who are professionally engaged in a cause celebre are rarely its beat chroniclers. It is pleasant, there-

fore, to signal the appearance of a book of memories of Bar and Bench, "The Reminiscences of John AdyeCurran, K.C." (Edward Arnold), winch, m almost every chapter, contains some interesting anecdote, and which, in its

' central feature, the account ol the part --played by the author in connection with tho detection and punishment ot those bloodthirsty-ruffians, the so-call-ed Invisibles, who plotted and earned out the vile assassination of Mr Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish, riu.iishes some entirely new' and historically valuable information on that shocking event. Son of a Dublin barrister,-vwho had an extensive criminal practice, although a Roman Catholic, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and soon- after being admitted to the Irish Bar joined the Home Circuit and rapidly made heacl- ' way in profession. Of his earlier I experiences as an advocate in tne § Courts, and, later on, of his expenI ences as a police magistrate and -county ' iudge. he tells many good stones, sup- : plementing these by others which he | heard at the circuit, mess table, or on 1 other occasions. Amongst these is one ' of Chief Justice Lefroy, who was, like ; a highly-placed* judicial functionary not \ unknown in New Zealand, an ardent J temperance advocate: — \ During one Assizes, when Lelroy was trying a case with a jury, in ; Tullamore, a witness who said he | was eighty-two years of age, and seemed perfectly sound and full ot \ vigour, was asked by-tho Chief ..Jusj tice if he was a temperate man. . I never touched a drop of liquor in my I life, my Lord,',' was his reply. With a smile of satisfaction, the Chief Justice turned towards the jury- "See, \ gentlemen," he said, "the result of J what during my life I have always been advocating—temperance." The next witness was an old man equally strong and vigorous, and to all appearance as healthy. " 1 suppuse you also," asked the Cliief Justice, "have been temperate all your lifo?" Then, to the intense amusement of all the ; : Court, except the Judge, the reply came: " Lord bless your Lordship, for years-past I've never gone to bed sober when. I had a chance of getting anything to drink." Another story has for central figure Chief Baron Pigot, who was what lawyers call "a prisoner's Judge." I Both he and Mr Justice James O'Brien j made a special point of helping prisonS ers during their trials, but were nevertheless very severe iu their sentences in the case of a conviction. Pigot, it j appears, was a most assiduous and ac- [ curate note-taker, and as a rule took ; down both question and answer, the ' raising of his pen, with the words, "1 I am writing;" being always accepted by " oounsei as a signal to pause in the ques- •" tioning". On one occasion a soldier from .. the Curragh was being tried for lar-

©eny. Says the author:— The principal witness was an Eng- ? lish sergeant-major, who seemed to have a high opinion of himself. In the evidence lie deposed that he had ■ seen the prisoner in "A Square," | pronouncing the letter with a strong aspirate. At the conclusion of his

1 evidence the Chief Baron asked him I at what hour he had seen the prison- | er in the forage yard. T did not say j. saw him in the forage yard." "Is not that where you keep the hay?" Lord." "Well, you swore S on your direct/oath that you saw him in the hay square." "I did not say hay square, my Lord." The Chief Baron, reading, said: "Listen I .. to your evidence, taken down at the v time. 'I saw the prisoner in the hay square.'" "I did not say hay square, my Lord: I said (h) A I Square." It was some the matter was set right, to the satisfaction of the painstaking Judge. After dealing at some length with r the Parnell-trial, the author tells how; Sn 1881, he was appointed a Divisional Police Magistrate at Dublin. In May,

1882, occurred the horrible tragedy in I Phoenix Park. Despite the passing of %he Crime 3 Act, other dreadful deeds took place in Galway and elsewhere, and in November of the same vear, by | -which time public excitement in refer-j ence to the Phcenix Park crime hadi somewhat abated, a murderous attack' . was made on a well-known and respectI «d Dublin citizen, Mr Denis J. Field. I It was realised that " a criminal con- ; spiracy of very serious magnitude, and with the most malignant objects, exist- £ ed in the city," and Judge Curran was | ordered by the Lord-Lieutenant to hold ! a,special inquiry into the circumstances j attending the attack on Mr Field. It j was as an indirect result of this inI quiry that the perpetrators of the much .'more serious crime in Phoenix Park : were brought to.justice, and that the I organisation of the " Invincibles " was "finally broken up. The author had before him nearly all the Invincibles, •and examined them privately one by one. Warned that his life was in constant danger, the Judge was under ■"close police protection a protection E continued for nearly eight years! ajid for his own safety when examining, '' took the precaution of keeping his right hand in the side-pocket of Ins coat, holding in it a revolver at full cock with his finger on the trigger. Ihe actual detection of the infamous Dan Ciirlev's connection wiith the crime, as told by Judge Curran, is quite a romance. Ourley was the chairmanof \i the executive of four of the Irish LnI vincibles. On his. way home from I hatching the devilish work done in Phoenix Park he was seen by a servant m, who, after long and arduous 1 search, was discovered in a situation in Sid. She identified Ourley who in ] due course was convicted and hanged. 1 The author gives a long : of the part played by James Care},-the I infamous informer. He says:— ■ James Carey will, in all probability, go down to posterity as the 1 prince of informers. All- conspira- ' cies axe fraught with the danger, with the ever-present danger of a member turning informer. Usually a such a man is one who has joined in weakness, and from a similar cause informs upon his fellows Carev was not such. He ,, wa ?-- f I leader, and organiser, and the paymaster. He enrolled the nwraJ*™**

planned the crimes, took charge, of the knives. It was ho who, with a white handkerchief in Ins hand, called out to the men in tho park when tho two. unfortunate gentlemen were approaching them: ' Remember, tho man in the grey suit, —indicating Mr Burke as the man who was to be murdered, and in the end left his human instruments to pay the terrible penalty. I cannot speak in moderation or the character of James Carey. His life and his story speak for themselves. Tho corporator and man ot public affairs plans.anarchy and the destruction of society. The pious man who receives the most sacred mysteries of the Catholic Church contrives and contemplates one ot the most abominable sins in the Christian code. It cannot, he said lie was immoral. He was nonmoral. . • •

After the trials of the Inyinciblcs the Judge was offered the position of Chief Justice in Jamaica,, worth £2500 a year, but preferred to remain in Ireland, going to Kerry to try and restore peace in that county. Of his judicial work in Kerry, Longford, Meath and elsewhere he gives an interesting account. It is with justifiable satisfaction that ho records tho igocd feeling in which, after a time, he was held by the peasants and others, with whom it is clear he had a deep personal sympathy, although no one could be firmer in his administration of justices and in hi& determination to stamp out the worst features of tho boycotting campaign. When he first went to Kerry he was heralded there by the statement that he was " the Head Inquisitor of Dublin Castle." "Every man passing me on the road, driving or walking, m«v me with a scowl and a look of defiance." Crime was rife, murders were deplorably common, and the moonlighters were very active. "Before I left Kerrv, at the end of five years, I had satisfied tho wants of both landlords and tenants to a very considerable extent. ... In place of the scowl which met mo when 1 first went into the county, a pleasant smile and ' God bless your honour' greeted me wnerever I went." Ireland of to-day is a very different country from what it was when Judge Curran was at the height of his judicial career, and it is evident that no one has more confidence in the brightness of its future than the author of this interesting book of reminiscences.