who had been engaged fishing for Connell refused to fish, saying that if they fished for him the sale of the fish would be boycotted, which was true.

“Since then Connell has been deprived of his means of livelihood, and no one dare employ him.  He, however, through his mother, was able to procure the necessaries of life until about the 22d of November last, when his mother was refused goods by the tradesmen with whom she had dealt, owing to a resolution passed at a meeting of the ‘suppressed’ branch of the League here, to the effect that any person supplying her would be boycotted.  December 23d she came into Milltown Malbay for goods, and was refused.  The police accompanied her, but no person would supply her.  On the 2d of January she came again, when one trader supplied her with some bread, but refused groceries.  The police accompanied her to several traders, who all refused.  Ultimately she was supplied by the post-mistress.  On the 7th of January she came, and the police accompanied her to several traders, all of whom refused her even bread.  Believing she wanted it badly, we, the police, supplied her with some.  On these three occasions she was followed by large numbers of young people about the street, evidently to frighten and intimidate her, and their demeanour was so hostile that we were obliged to disperse them and protect her home.  On a subsequent occasion she stated that stones were thrown at her.  Since then she has not come here for goods, and, in my opinion, it would not be safe for her to do so without protection.  She and her son are now getting goods from Mrs. Moroney’s shop at Spanish Point, which she opened a few years ago to supply boycotted persons.

“The Connells find it hard to get turf, and are obliged to bring it a distance in bags so that it may not be observed.  As for milk, the person who did supply them privately for a considerable time declined some weeks ago to do so any longer.  They are now really destitute, as any little money Connell had saved is spent, and, although willing and anxious to work, no person will employ him.  Summonses have been issued against the tradesmen for refusing to supply Hannah Connell on the occasions already referred to.  I have only to add that I have from time to time reported fully the foregoing facts with regard to the persecution of this poor man and his aged mother; and I regret to say that boycotting and intimidation never prevailed to a greater extent here than at present.  Connell’s safety is being looked after by patrols from this and Spanish Point station.”

Three things seem to me specially noteworthy in this tale of cowardly and malignant tyranny.  The victims of this vulgar Vehmgericht are neither landlords nor agents.  They are a poor Irish labourer and his aged mother.  The “crime” for which these poor creatures are thus persecuted is simply that one of them—­the man—­chose to obey the law of the land in which he lives, and to work for his livelihood and that of his mother.  And the priest of the parish, instead of sheltering and protecting these hunted creatures, is presented as joining in the hunt, and actually devising a trap to catch the poor frightened man in a falsehood.