MR. P. S. CASSIDY. CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 17, 23 April 1903, Page 20

MR. P. S. CASSIDY. CHRISTCHURCH.

The death occurred in Christchurch, on Friday, the 17th inst., of Mr. Patrick Sarsfield Cassidy, a very wellk,nown Irish-American journalist, whose work in the great American city commenced in 1865. Mr. Cassidv was born in Dunkineely, County Donegal, on Hallowe'en of 1849. When 16 years of age he left for America, to find a home among a people whose sympathies have always been strung to accordance with the dear old land. Shortly after his arrival he adopted journalism. For many years he worked hard, a young and enthusiastic Irishman, with no assistance beyond a determination to get on, a boundless and ardent love of his native country, a warm and imaginative temperament, and an inexhaustible fund of enthusiasm. He graduated through several of the great offices of New York, and was finally appointed to the editorial chair of the ' Mercury.' a position which he held till his health began to fail in 189."). At the beginning of 1896, he came to New Zealand to assume the management of the 'N Z. Times,' and to assist in the editorial work of that iournal, whose fortunes were than at a very low ebb. His up-to-date American ideas were inadequately appreciated by a colonial audience trained to Conservatism in their newspapers, and Mr. Cassidy left the ' Times ' in November of 1896, badly broken in health. A long sojourn with his relatives in Canterbury, followed by a visit to Now South Wales and a cruise among the Pacific Islands, left him no stronger than before, and he paid a visit to America and Ireland. He returned with his health utterly shattered, and after remaining for a year in New South Wales, he crossed over to Christchurch, where ho had been an' invalid till his death.

In earlier years Mr. Cassidy's name was a familiar one to ' Tablet ' readers, appearing under various poems reprinted in these columns from various American and Irish journals. Mr. Cassidy had the poetic temperament and the poetic fire (two often rarely associated qualities of intellect) in no small degree. Allied to the most fervent and passionate patriotism, Mr. Cassidy's natural gifts inspired him to produce a large number of stirring lyrics. He published a novel dealing with Irish life, and a volume of verse, ' The Borrowed Bride,' embodying the most famous of the legends of Donegal. Pntil his health gave way his name was known wherever Catholic magazines and journals had any circulation

The funeral of Mr. Cassidy, which, owing to his long illness, was a private one. attended only by his relatives and nearest friends, took place on Monday. The Rev. Father Marnane, of St. Mary's, officiated, after a Requiem Mass. — R.I.P.