DEATH OF CAPTAIN PLUNK ETT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 42, 7 February 1890, Page 15

DEATH OF CAPTAIN PLUNK ETT.

OUB ■(Dublin Freeman) Cork correspondent telegraphed on December 13-Captain Plunkett, D.M., died at his hotel, Charlotte Quay to-day. The deceased was brother of the late Earl of Louth and uncle of the present holder of the title. He was born in 1838 and at an early age joined the army and became attached to the Ist Koval Regiment, now known as the Midlothian. He served in the Crimea and was present at the taking of Sebaatopol, where he was wounded' He also served in the campaign of 1860 in Chma. He received medals m recognition of the bravery displayed by him in both campaigns, In 1866 he was appointed resident magistrate for Munster He was invested with almost autocratic powers, and his name was appended to almost every proclamation which aimed at the suppression of the people's liberties He organised an intelligence bureau on the South-mall which would remind one of Fouche in the days of the First Empire. He was the author of the famous " Don't hesitate to shoot ' telegram addressed to the police authorities at Youghal Death (says United Ireland of December 14th) has taken from Mr. Balfour the services of au eminent upholder of law and oider the notorious author of the Mitchelßtown mot d'ordrc, " Don't hesitate to shoot.' Captain Plunkett has passed away, and we in Ireland would be glad to forget that such > person played the tyrant for years over a great division of the country, but we are not allowed to forget him. His too diligent friends will not cease raking up his hpted memory and misdeeds, and flinging the most outrageous untruths about him in the face of an indignant public. In commenting on his death last Saturday, that singularly candid organ, the Daih, Express .complains that the agitators hounded Captain Plunkelt to death-that they even tried to serve a writ upon him when it was known that he was suffering from a disease which must prove fatal in a few days. The Express never before attempted anything 80 ma g° nincent in the way of suppression and missUtement as this lh P suppression consists in the fact that the writ which was attemoted to be served upon their departed idol was one in a divorce suH in Zlt n ♦ bee ? ° amed as co-respondent ; and the misstatement in the allegation that it was the agitators who had attempted to let this document served. If the officers of the law or legal employe™ are to be classed as agitators, then matters are getting decidedly mixed. It is painful to have to refer to such a subject, now that the man is gone to his account ; but this mistaken zeal of the Coercions will not even allow us to treat his misdeeds while living with indif ference now that he is no more.

deatn * ° Plunk f" (Bft( Bft y 8 Mr. Stead in the Pall Mall) is iuSl « It maD a . debt Of e ra tit«de. It was he, more than almos any other man who convinced me that the present regime t? n J n &n 1 W *\ U w y J mpoß9ible - l have 8 «H the livliestrecoK tion of a long talk I had with him in the club at Cork where ha t P i°on red h °t rt ttht h h BU t ? fl ° od of , iQformation in support of his cont en! XS,it\ wh « le l a , ndlord B y ßtem iQ the Bouth-west had gone in^l 7 w° Pl 6^ Sl batl le P ' he Club feelin & thafc H °™ Kale wm m TJLIi *a ?e? c rr ' 81Qg of the Bun - Tou might as well try to glue the withered leaves upon the tree branches from which they fall in November and call it spring, as to reestablish the landlord system n s^&ss&^zr" clearly and expreß9ed £t more wh* » a PP eara ° cc Captain Plunkett was a jovial b!ack-visaged officer, S?n r M' 7 °u n l 0f Bherry and the B ° ciet y « f la dies. He was ?ot ?hronU h h-? Ub t ban^ ?? P ° liCe ° ffice ' thou e h on t^ whole he v£h f?l g J \ lB work Wlth a fair measure of success. The Nationalist belief that he was an enemy of theirs is a delusion. He hated the stone-broke impracticable landlords far worse th«n any National T?w« l l h \ la ? d ' aDd L ook little P ains todissemble his animosity. to^toSrtiFS&Z?** haVe 86rVed Mr - ParQeU " faith "