A MARKED MAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11248, 11 April 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

A MARKED MAN.

Sick' of persecution i» Ireland, Mi' Hurry Pcrsse,. a Gal way magistrate, went to London the. other Jay to let the people of Kriglaiid know tho real condition of affairs m Ireland, "I know lam risk, ing my life," he said to. an interviewer. |"I havo not the slightest vdoubt that iwhsn I return: I -.shall <be marked for tlio weapuj)» of the United ■ Jrisli' Leaguers." Mr Perssti owns a farm of 460 acres m Galway, from -which, no one lias ever been evicted, and to which no one but himself has any claim whatever. Shortly after he took possession., he received an anoflymous letter informing him that his \ life was hot safe, that he must at least lose an arm or » leg, and that he had bet ter provide. -himself with a, coffin. Walls were thrown down on the estate, iron spikes were driven into tho incadows, with the result that his mowing machine was smashed, and his. own arid his laborers' hotlSOs were attacked. In three cases shots were fired through doors and -windows. His cuttle were driven off by' a crowd' of 2CO men, so well organised miA ' disciplined that they obeyed orders, witli military; precision. "The police identified and arrested 16 of them, but the jury disagreed. Mr Persso is compelled to keep five armed' policemen on the premises, al. ; ways has .firearms.' ready to his hand, never goes out without an escort, and when ho vonturcs out after dark, has to creep home by the by-paths like a scout traversing a hostile country. Of course the household is rigorously" boycotted, livery thing used .m the house has to be obtained from Belfast or Dublin, for the local tradesmen, who litfo m. mortal terror of tlio League, dare not supply a, marked man. ".No oiie m England can understand the mental torture which, my wife and I have to undergo, sitting m a lonely country house lor litfnrs together at night time, and know, ing that, at any moment a volley of stones ov gunshot may \come.. hurtling through the window. ' And m the House of. Commons 31r Birrell and his colleagues speak comfortable words about the 'state, of . Ireland.