People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 40, 6 October 1904, Page 10

People We Hear About

Ib is difficult to imagine it, but it w|o'uld seem that Mr. T. P. O'Connor is 56. Born in Athlone in liß4Bi"he is a graduate of Queen's College, Galway, and has blpeut pretty well 40 years of his 56 at press work. No fewe*r tfhan fiv<> estaMisMied 'publications owe their origin to hm*— tlhe ' London Star,' the ' Sutn,' ' Weekly Sun ' ' M A. P.,' and ' T.P.s Weekly ' In a /newspaper way whatever, be touches seems to futrn to golti. Such a mam, one would thinlk, shb'uld be an optimist, yet T P notwithstanding his genial diapositian and invariable cheerfulness, has in him a tinge of cjftucal sadness that yometimes seems to plumb the depth's of melancholy. Mir, Thomas Taggart, the chairman of the Democratic National .Committee, is another ■ example of the mamy, feaJders in American politics Who have riseh from the smallest beginnings. He was born at Waterford, in Ireland, in 1856. While still a child he accompanied his lather and mother to America, where they settled in Ohio. In 1886 he received His first start in politics by being elected auditor of Marion County, in Indiana In 18196 he became Mayor of Indianapolis, ajid was appointed a member of the National. Committee, in which position !be. was a supporter of Mr. Bryan. When Mr Parker's name was first mentioned as Candidate for the Piesulein'cy, Mr. Taggart became one of his supporters. Mrs. Mary Murphy, the oldest person in Meadeville Pa , died on August 6, aged nearly 134 years thAis rivallijng the venerable California Mission Indian woman, who passed away a few ycais ago at about the same age. Mrs. Murphy herself had stated that she was bcin in Dublin, on Christmas Day, 1770, and that she well remembered the Irish uprising of 1798, and the execution frve years later, of Robert Emmet. She was almost a\ centenarian when she went to America in May, I\B7o. A few days earlier, at the Home for the Aged, of Hie Little Sibters of the Poor, Philadelphia, Michael Maoney passed away, aged 112. lie was a native of County Longford, and also remembered the days of '98. Lord Ripon, who was the Prince of Wales' host the o-tQieitf day, has in his time (says the ' Daily Chronicle ') filled mowti of the impoitaiit offices of State. lie has bcefn Secretary of State for War, for the Colonies and for India, First Lord of the Admiralty, Viceroy of India, and Lord President of the Council, ko that his knowledge of his country's administration is based on profioiuna experience. Lady Ripon has identified herself with all her husband's trials amd triumphs, and has been his most faithful ally through a long career. She was hus cousiln, a Miss Vyner of Lincolnshire, granddaughter of tjhe firsrti Lord de Grey. Shr Tibomas Lip ton eschews Cowes as am anchorage groumi (writes a London correspondent), preferring the lass fashionable water by Southampton. The sight oC the Royal Yacht Squadron Club house, prominent in the viowi of Cowes from the Solent, cannot be pleasing to 'him. There are few men who have done more for yachting than the owner of the ' Shan.nr oak.' Yet vheai his 'name was put up tor membership of the Royal Yacht Squadron Club, albeit backed by the active personal influence of the King, then Prince of Wales, he wasi hopelessly blackballed. In point of seniority the Cliub is beaten by the Old Cork Yacht Club, founded in 1720, ija years ahead of the Cowes aristocrat. The latter attempts to make up for the inferiority oil this ground by charging an entrance fee of £100, against the Cork Clmb's £7, and performing other acts! of snobbery, suclh as that Vvhich, on the grounds that he still sells tda arad baton, snubbed a yachtsman who has gamed the esteem and admiration of two hemispheres. Of the two illus'triotus brothers, the Cardinals Vannutelli, it was the youngest, Vincent, who presided at the ceremonies at Armagh Cathedral. Vfocent Vannutelli ranks fifth m the honored list of the Pritaces of the Church, being one of the six who bear the illustrious dignity of Cardinal Bishop, the ofther Cardinals being either Cardinal Priest or Cardinal Deacon. The Cardinal Bishops are always prelates of tiho Sees in tlho immediate vicinity of Rome. Cardinal Vincent's See is P'alestrina. Both Cardinal Vi'nccait anid Lis elder brother, Cardinal Serafmo, have Hie highest reputatiolri for piety and learning. Both arc eminent theologians and famous Doctors of Canon Law. The life of Cardinal Vincent has been pre-eminently the retired lifo of a scholar and divine. Cardinal Serafino has had a more adventurous career, and has been more in ' the public ga^e. Serafino Van'nutelli, as Nuntio to Mexico, was with the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian almost to the last.