O'FARRELL, THE FENIAN.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2658, 7 April 1868, Page 2 (Supplement)

O'FARRELL, THE FENIAN.

Regarding the would-be assassin of H.R.H the Duke of Edinburgh there are various and very conflicting accounts. The Melbourne Argus of ths 16th adoptß the following from the Ballarat Star : — O'Farrell was no more than a monomaniac — an individual who for some years past was scarcely l'esponsible for his actions, and who, from all that can bo gleaned, should have been kept under restraint as a decided, if not a dangerous, lunatic. About ten years since he settled down in Ballarat, and whatever his antecedents might have been, he for a long time showed himself to be a prudent, sensible, and industrious individual — ecoentric to be sure, in some particulars — but, as a rule, a thorough-going business-like sort of person. In partnership with a man named Kennedy, he opened a hay and corn store at the corner of Doveton-Btreet and Market-square — the premises at present in the possession of Mr Boyd as an hotel — and for many years carried on there a flourishing and lucrative business. To his neighbours ho was known us a quiet, unpretending, though in his private affairs, somewhat peculiar man. Ho was of Irish extraction, though said to have boon born in the colony ; but more particular inquiry would prove that at an early age he was brought by bis parents (who were Dublin people) to Melbourne, where his fathor settled as a butcher, and where he made a competency sufficient to enable him to place his children in a somewhat superior position. O'Farrell was intended for the priesthood, his parents being of the Roman Catholic persuasion. With that view ho received a collegiate education, and was admitted to deacon's orders in the year 1852 in the church of St. Francis, Melbourne. As a young man he was regarded as genial, warmhearted, and enthusiastic, but possessed of an undeniably national bias, and no small amount of the dulce et decorum est y>ro p atria mori proclivity as regards Ireland. Some time after this j ho paid a visit to Europe, and having made a ■ tour of the Continent and visited the principal ' cities there, as well as in England and Ireland, ' he returned to Australia after about two years' ( absence. "Whether from incompatibility of sentiment or otherwise we cannot say, but upon his return to this colony ho appears to hnve severed his connexion with the Church, and directed his attention to business matters. By and bye O'Farrell took to drinking, mainly, as it would seem, from the heavy losses incurred in speculating. At this time it is said that his manner was exciteable, though his powers of conversation and argument were of a high order. When thwarted in any way he was violent, and frequently used threats. Things went from bad to worse with him. He was obliged to mortgage his proporty to meet his liabilities. He was compelled to have recourse to every possible shift to try and relieve himself of his embarrassments, but without avail. Calls on shares came heavily. The value of stock fell, and he found himself unable to struggle with the emergency. This, it would seem, drove him to drink to excess. His mode of living became irregular and eccentric. To stifle trouble be he sought companionship he would otherwise have shunned, and the latent seeds of aberration, if not absolute insanity, were gradually developed. He was of the most exciteable temperament, intoxicating liquor having the effect of completely upsetting his mental equilibrium. Otherwise he was affable, conversational, and gentlemanly, ganial and unsophisticated ; a stickler for law and order, avoiding whatever had a tendency to the opposite. Having taken ecclesiastical vows of celibacy, he lived alone in his place of business in Doveton street, after the death of his partner. He was known to go without his meals for days, generally dining out, and seemingly regardless of all personal or domestic comfort. In his manner he was flighty, in his conversation inconsequent aud wandering, and in a variety of ways evidenoing to if not an actual incipient madness. He would go down to Buninyong sometimes, and wander over the country, go to the top of the mount, and stop there for hours, and when spoken to would say he came there for his health. About eighteen months ago O'Farrell was attacked with a fit of delirium tremens. During this fit we are told a friend of his, who resided in the neighborhood of Market square, was called on one night when O'Farrell was in delirium tremens, and found him in a state bordering on the worst species of insanity. He had sent for an official of one of the local banks with whom he was on a footing of intimacy, and explained his circumstances to him, at the same time asking for a loan of money. He was expostulated with, and told he would have it upon the usual terms, when he suddenly leaped from his bed, seized a sword cane, and would certainly have wounded or killed the gentleman alluded to but for the interference of some persons who were present. His oase grew worse, and Drs Heisse, Whitcombo, and Butler were called in, and remained in attendance upon him for some time. He was occasionally extremely violent, and was known to have secreted a pistol in his sleeping upartment, which he would at times go in search of and threaten to take the lives of the persons near him. There is an entry in the books of the Ballarat hospital, dated March 23, 1867, of O'Farrell having been admitted as a pay patient laboring under delirium c potu, and being dismissed on April sth cured. After his discharge from the hospital he was taken by his relatives to Melbourne ; and though subsequent to that he visited and remained a Bhort time in Ballarat, yet it may be said he ended his connection witli the town from the date of his second illness His property had been mortgaged, his business injured by his mining speculations and losses, until at last all he possessed passed into other hands to pay off his liabilities ; his reverses being attributable to rash speculations, his habits of dissipation following his pecuniary misfortunes ; his ultimate wreck, mentally and socially, arising from a variety of causes, more or less of which can be gathered from the foregoing particulars. Mr P. W. Weish, who had acted as Mr O'Farrell's agent in some business transactions, saw him into the train for Melbourne in charge of some friends. After leaving Melbourne, O'lfarrell proceeded to Queensland, and then returned to Sydney, where nt length he did tho deed which has made his name infamous.