EVICTIONS AT MITCHELSTOWN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 433, 29 July 1881, Page 5

EVICTIONS AT MITCHELSTOWN.

The correspondent of the Cork JSxaminer, writing from Mitchelstown on May 20 says :—: — The process of eviction goes on apace in Munster. Last week I was the witness of exciting scenes at would-be seizures for rent at New Pallas, county Limerick, and although the " goings on" there i surpassed anything 1 had experienced in the great war between landlord and tenant now being waged in the country, yet the affray was mildtinted compared with what occurred in the Mitchelstown district today. That evictions on the Kingston estate were pending for some time was well known, but that they would he inaugurated at an early hour was only known to a few. Mr. J. B. Johnson, sub-sheriff, Mr. John Gale, deputy, and bailiffs Harding, Heenan, Costelloe, and White were present, as well as 150 soldiers of the 25th Regiment, and police, and a troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards from Fermoy. Mr. Eaton, R.M., had supreme control of the forces, and he had as subordinates Captain Sparks, Captain M'Kay, Sub-Inspector Carter and Sub-Inspector Fleming. The chapel bell commenced to ring at nine o'clock, as a warning to the country people that the evictions in the district were about to commence, but it was fully an hour afterwards before the people began to show in large numbers. An attempt was made by four policemen to, stop the ringing of the bell, but it was unsuccessful ; and the bell rang in the chapel throughout the day, which waß taken up by all the chapel bells within a radius of ten miles. Great indignation was felt in the district at the evictions, and naturally so, because the tenants on the Kingston estate only asked for an abatement of 10 per cent, on their rents, and this email concession was very ungraciously denied them. The infantry came from Fermoy in ambulance waggons, and on their way some of the hoises became umnanagable, and, coming in contact with a flour cart from the Kilworth mills, two soldiers got jammed between the vehicles, one of the men being severely crushed. To say that the day was one of great and unusual excitement in Mitchelstown would not at all express its character. It was probably the most exciting and eventful day of evictions that has yet been seen in Ireland within the memory of man ; and but for the wholesome influence exercised over the people by the Rev. Father O'Connell, CO., and Rev. Father BuTden C.C., the streets of Mitchelstown might have been reddeted to-day by the life-blood of the people. The people evinced no hostility to either military or police, and the ugly contretemps that arose were due solely to the presence of two obnoxious individuals who were deemed necessary for the purpose of pointing out to the subBheriff the houses and lands of the tenants to be evicted. These two persons were a clerk in the Kingston estate office (or a sub-agent) nemed Thomas Mahony, and a rent-warner or bailiff named Edmond Kelly. At half-past nine o'clock we arrived at the house of John Donogbue, Pollardstown, and a posse of police, under sub-inspector Carter, having taken up its position in the yard of the house, the subsheriff proceeded to evict the owner. The process was very simple. The door was closed, but it bad only to be pushed and it flew open, and, after five chair? had been removed out of the house into the yard by the bailiffs the tenant paid the rent, and he was reinstated in possession. He holds 25 acres ; his rent is now £35 9s, or about 20 per cent over the valuation, and a year's rent up to the 25th March, 1881, was due. As we left this house, Kelly, the rent-warner, was singled out for attack at an opportune moment when his military guard was some distance off, and the stones rained fast and furious off his head and body, as well as of the horse he was driving. A dozen dragoons now came up to his assistance, and two infantry men got up on Mb car, A stampede was made, escortsd by the dragoons, to the next scene of eviction. In this onset Kelly was struck on the poll with a stone, and while at the second house (that of Thomas Casey), of Killshannon, he was one« or twice covered with dirty water and filth, much to his discomfort. Casey holds 27 acres, his rent being £44 9s Bd, and valuation £28 15s. There, again, after some parley, the year's rent was paid, and in this way the tenants acted up to the principles of the Land League. The procession then started in the direction of Mitchelstown, but as more stones were thrown Mr. Baton read the Kiot Act and called on the people to disperse. They reluctantly complied to a certain extent, but as the stones continued to be thrown at O'Mahony and Kelly by a few indignant persons, the police charged the crowd, and one man was hurt. Rev. Father O'Connell came up now, and he was loudly cheered by the people. He counselled the people not to commit any breach of the peace, and rode along with the procession for the rest of the journey, exhorting the people, at short intervals, to maintain a peaceable attitude. All along the route the sub-agent and rent-warner continued to be pelted with stones, blood now flowing freely from the back of both their beads, and also from Kelly's face ; but they still proceeded on their way tinder the strong escort provided for them. Of course, some

soldiers and police were struck with a few of the stray missiles intended for the two worthies named, and one dragoon was unhorsed by a blow of a stone. Mr. Eaton again read the Riot Act, and said he would be obliged to fire on the crowd if the people did not disperse. The intermittent stone-throwing continued, and an iron gate was at once broken down by the police, through which the cavalry galloped into a field adjoining the road, and charged the people there assembled. The town of Mitchelstown was now in sight, and the streets were black with people. As the processivn moved towards the town more stones were thrown, several of which struck the police and cavalry, and a charge of the latter up the broad road leading into the main street succeeded in laying a few of the people prone for a while. Several large stones were thrown out of the brewery yard, and Head-constable Coyle and a number of police at once made a charge into the yard with fixed bayonets, the result of which was that some half-a-dozen persons received bayonet wounds about the head and face, one poor man having a bayonet driven through his lower jaw. When the major portion of the crowd heard of this, and saw the men bleeding, the excitement rose to the highest pitch, and but for the presence of Father O'Connell very bad work would undoubtedly have occurred. The people seemed determined not to assail the armed forces up this point, but when they saw the result of the police charge into the brewery yard they at once girded themselves up for a tussle, and were it not for the restraining influence of Father O'Connell there can be no doubt that the cry of '• Revenge for the arrest of Father Sheehy " would have met with desperately eventful recognition. The Blackroad Band and a band from Kilfinane now played into the town, and as the latter was entering the boundary of tbe township, preceded by some of " Parnell's Cavalry," the dragoons, while on the charge, encountered them, and some of the instruments were broken. The procession next wended its way to the lands of Thomas Donovan, Coolanane, and as there was no house on the premises possession of the lands was easily taken. In the same townland is a farm held by Hanrahan, shopkeeper, Mitcbelstown, and the caretaker of the house was evicted, but put back in possession — Mr. Hanrahan, who owes £12 11s for a year's rent, refusing for the present to pay such a sum as was demanded from him. While here, the horse of a trooper was struck with a stone and killed, and in the evening an " inquest " was held on the animal by the people, who looked upon it as symbolical of the expiry of landlordism. The large crowd (now about 15,000 people) still surged wildly to and fro in the streets, and it was with the greatest possible exertion ou the part of some members of the Land League that a serious collision between the authorities and the people was again averted. Three evictions still remained uneffected, but on arriving at the military barracks (the trysting-place of the morning) it was decided, I understand, that no more visits of such a character (for the present at least) should be paid to the tenants on the Kingston estate. It is but right to say that a large and respectable contingent of people from Kilworth (with band and banner), under the guidance of Mr. James Bice, arrived in town just as the excitement was beginning to pale.