Mr. Dix—­I cannot hear you.

   Mr. Bracken—­I have been brought here as a crown witness away from my
   business, and losing my time here.

   Mr. Donal Sullivan—­I am another, and I avow myself in the same way.

   Several voices—­“So am I.”

Mr. Bracken—­I want to know why I should be taken from my business, by which I have to support my family, and put me before the eyes of my countrymen as a crown witness (applause)?  I went heart and soul into the procession, and I am ready to do the same to-morrow, and abide by the consequences (applause).  It is curious that the government should point me out as a crown witness.

   Mr. Murphy—­I ask for an adjournment till to-morrow.

   Mr. Dix—­It is more convenient to adjourn now.

Mr. Martin—­I don’t want to make any insinuations against the gentlemen who represent the crown, nor against the police, but I mention the fact, in order that they may relieve themselves from the odium which would attach to them if they cannot explain it.  This morning a paragraph appears in one of the principal Dublin daily papers, the Irish Times, in which it is said that I, John Martin, have absconded; I must presume that the information was supplied to that paper either by the crown representatives or by the police.

Mr. Murphy, Q.C.—­It is right to state, so far as I am informed, that an endeavour was made to serve Mr. Martin in Dublin.  When the summonses were issued he was not in Dublin, but had gone down to the country, either to his own or the house of his brother, or—­

   Mr. Ross Todd, who sat beside Mr. Martin, here jumped up and said,
   “To his own house, sir, to his own house”—­

   Mr. Murphy—­Very well.  A constable was sent down there, and saw Mr.
   Martin, and he reported that Mr. Martin said he would attend
   forthwith.

   Mr. Dix—­And he has done so?

   Mr. Murphy—­I have no other knowledge.  It was briefed to me that Mr.
   Martin said he would attend forthwith.

Mr. Martin—­I am glad I have given the representatives of the crown an opportunity of making that statement.  But I cannot understand how, when the representatives of the crown had the information, and when I told the constables I would attend—­as I have done at great inconvenience and expense to myself—­I cannot understand how a newspaper should come to say I had absconded.

   Mr. Murphy—­I cannot understand it either; I can only tell the facts
   within my own knowledge.

   Mr. Molloy said it seemed very extraordinary that witnesses should be
   summoned, and the crown say they were not.

   Mr. Sullivan wished his summons to be examined.  Did the magistrates
   sign it?

   Mr. Dix—­Unless I saw the original I could not say.

   Mr. J.J.  Lalor—­Sir John Gray has been summoned as a witness, too.  It
   is monstrous.