Part 3

_Cromwell._--Oliver Cromwell rebelled against King Charles I, beheaded the latter, and set up a Republic. In 1649, Cromwell landed in Dublin, took Drogheda, and put the priests and women to sword. Pierce Ferriter held Kerry against the English for ten years. Ferriter was the last Catholic chieftain to hold out against Cromwell's forces. In direct violation of the English pledges, Ferriter was hanged at Killarney in 1653, together with Father T. Moriarty.

_Crowbar Brigade._--This was applied to the Sheriff and landlords' bailiffs because, armed with crowbars and protected by police, they forced an entry into the houses of those to be ejected and demolished the homes of the evicted tenants. They also often carried a battering ram, i. e., timber bound with irons, hoist on poles, and swung against the sides of the buildings.

_Doon-an-Ore and Olean-an-Ore._--These were the names given by the country people hereabouts to a rock in Smerwick Harbour on seeing it covered with brass cannon, the flags of Spain and the Pope's consecrated banner sparkling in the sun. Foreigners also had the reputation of bringing a large quantity of gold with them. (See "Hist. Co. Kerry"--Corkaguiny.)

_English Garrison._--The Irish landlords are so called by public speakers because as Cromwell's soldiers they possessed themselves of all the Irish lands, and since then the British Government by military force has maintained them in this country, where they became a crushing burden on the people.

_Enlisting Young Men by Slipping a Shilling Into Their Hands._--The custom of recruiting sergeants going around the country and slipping a shilling in the Queen's name into a young man's hand, then forcing him into the army, has been stopped. In Dingle peninsula the recruiting sergeant very often secured crippled tailors of good appearance, who on purpose would sit in the darkest room in a public house likely to be visited by the sergeant, keeping their feet under a drinking table and their crutches hidden, with a half-gallon of porter before them. The recruiting sergeant, looking into the faces of fine, strong-looking, muscular men, would force a drink upon them and ask them to enlist. At first they would take the drink, but would pretend to be hesitating very much about taking the shilling which the recruiting sergeant would have spinning on the table before them. After a good deal of sham pretentions of being unable to fight and unwilling to do so, each of them would slowly accept the shilling, spend it at once, swallow the free drinks and eat Queen's dinner and, when fed like game cocks, would ask one of their companions to look for their crutches for them so they could accompany the sergeant and enlist in the army. When the sergeant would discover his mistake the trouble started to get back the shilling, but as they made it a point not to have more than one penny in their possession he was compelled to leave without recruits or money.

_Excommunication with Bell, Book and Candle._--During the Souper Campaign persons were excommunicated in Dingle, Ventry and Castle Gregory Chapels. After the priest had read the sentence, the bell was rung, the book closed and the candles extinguished. That moment the person excommunicated was excluded from the sacraments.

_Faction Fights._--The fairs of Ballinclare were noted for their faction fights. The way these fights usually were started was a hero follower of the Fitzgeralds, primed with drink, would prance through the fair, waving his blackthorn cudgel and at the same time shouting for a Moriarity. Of course, he would not go very long until he would be met by a gang of the followers of the Moriarity's. Then a fight was started in which whole parishes became involved. They fought each other without any individual ill-will, using stumps of furze, sticks of hawthorn or oak as their weapons. Sometimes big fights were started by a man holding out a stick and having one member of a faction spit on it and asking a man of the opponent's faction then to let him spit on. If he did, this was a challenge and the fight started. Tents were upset and the people scattered leaving the fair grounds to the combatants.

The origin of these factional fights in those parts was the betrayal of the Earl of Desmond--a Fitzgerald--by a Moriarity. However, in the course of time they branched into minor factions. There, too, was a class of idle half-gentry, called middlemen, in the country who pretty often caused faction fights. They made it a practice to attend fox hunts, horse races, cock fights and country fairs. They were idle, extravagant drunkards having the pretentions of gentlemen, and by the common people were called master "D--R--fe," while in truth and in fact they were the very pest of society. Another mistaken notion entered their heads that to give drink was a first-class qualification to be a gentleman, consequently they gave it freely pretty often and therefore secured a following. An insult arising out of a fox hunt, a horse race, a cock fight, or even a common game of cards in which they were concerned often led to serious faction fights. These faction fights were disapproved of by the honest worker; they were denounced by the clergy and suppressed by the police.

_Fenianism._--(See Author's Note on page 64.)

_Forty-Shilling Freeholders._--Persons (men) in occupation of very small holdings with an annual valuation of both buildings and land combined amounting to forty shillings or over, were entitled to vote at Parliamentary elections. Landlords who used their tenants as voting instruments encouraged the dividing of holdings into as many patches with a valuation of forty shillings as was possible so as to multiply votes. In villages like North Cahirdorgan, Kildurry, Cahirs, Culibeen, Smerwick, Ballybrack and others a surprisingly large number of votes were obtained by this means. Usually the small holders voted as their immediate lessors requested. They were deprived of their votes with the passing of Catholic emancipation and the valuation has increased to ten pounds. O'Connell was blamed for it, but he is credited with having said that he would not accept Catholic emancipation if he knew that by so doing the forty-shilling freeholders would have to be sacrificed. The general belief is that he was in full accord with it from the start, in order to check a too rapid growth in the population of the country.

_Gaudy Ribbon Crosses_ (_St. Patrick's Day_).--These of various colors were sold on our streets some thirty-five years ago and worn on children's arms on St. Patrick's Day, but are now wholly extinct. A green rosette with a harp is now worn in front on the left breast instead. (See "His. Co. Kerry," page 37.)

_George Wyndham's Land Purchase Act._--This land act of 1903, introduced by George Wyndham, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, was the first good "Broom" brought by the Government to sweep the landlords of Ireland out of existence.

_Glenbeigh Evictions._--These took place in 1887, or thereabouts. At the suggestion of General Revvers Buller, who was then in Ireland, the agent had the tenants' houses destroyed by fire. Mr. Edward Harrington, M. P., and Mr. Sheehan, M. P., played a prominent part in opposing the carrying out of those evictions.

_Great Famine._--This famine started in both Ireland and England in 1315, or thereabouts. Mothers were known to devour their own children, and children ate their dead parents. Parents stole the children of others to eat them. Starving women started dancing around open air fires, to attract children so as to kill and cook them. Dead bodies were taken from the graves to be used for food. In jails prisoners ate each other. This famine, and the pestilence that accompanied it coming and going, lasted about eighty-five years.

_Halley's Comet._--On the 18th of May, 1910, the earth passed through the tail of Halley's comet. Its approach caused great fear and excitement in some places. It is very remarkable that great wars follow Halley's comet.

_Head Act._--By this law if an Irishman was found going on a journey from one county to another without being accompanied by an Englishman, dressed in English apparel, and of name and fame, it was lawful to kill the Irishman and cut off his head. For every head cut off the murderer was to receive one penny reward. The slaughter was great. Incredible as this might appear to the reader, it is too true. Deputy Earl of Desmond, representing British law in Ireland, was responsible for this Act.

_Harrington and Esmond's Election._--This Parliamentary election contest took place between Edward Harrington, Parnellite, outgoing M. P. for West Kerry, and Sir Thomas Gratton Esmond, anti-Parnellite. By the undue influence of the clergy, Sir Thomas Gratton was elected.

_Home Rule._--On Thursday, the 19th day of May, 1870, this association sprung into existence in Dublin under the leadership of Isaac Butt, a Protestant Nationalist. Briefly stated, the principal object contemplated by the organization was to obtain for the Irish people power to make their own laws and manage their own local affairs by an Irish Parliament, and to be subject to the English Crown, like Canada, Southwest Africa and Australia. In the Irish Parliament there was not to be a class or creed ascendancy, but Protestants and Catholics were to be linked together in one bond in a free and independent Parliament. In 1871, Isaac Butt was elected a member of Parliament for Limerick without a contest. Many Protestants joined the Home Rule cause. In the North of Ireland there exists a class of foreign Irish better known throughout the world as "Orangemen." The English Unionist classes, under the false color and pretense of peacemakers and Christians, are doing the utmost in their power to sow the seeds of discord and dissension among the Irish people. One of the sharpest wedges they can drive to divide the people in Ireland is religion. They raised the cry that it was not "Home Rule" but "Rome Rule." The wealth of the Unionist party, or capitalist classes, of England, Scotland, Ireland, India, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada is behind them, and this class of people are petted and pampered for keeping the Unionist party in power.

Home rule bills were often passed by the House of Commons as representing a substantial majority of the people of the United Kingdom but rejected by the House of Lords. However, it may be well to note that a fight to restore the Irish Parliament under the title of "Repeal of the Union" started in Ireland before the doors of the Houses of Parliament were closed.[5]

_House League._--This league was introduced into those parts in 1886, through the Irish National League. The object of the House League was to check the owners of houses from charging exorbitant rents to the occupants. In Dingle, Castle Gregory, and other places, the League fixed "fair rents" and compelled the owners to give clear receipts, on payment of the new rents. For various reasons, the House League was never popular. As intimidation was practiced by the House League upon the owners of houses, the law courts held the receipts given invalid, and the old rents were recovered.

_Influenza._--This is one of the most contagious diseases known, and far more dangerous than most people believe. Its last serious appearance amongst the people was in 1889-90. Every time it started from China and traveled the world quicker than any other disease. A letter written by one person to another, although over three thousand miles apart, caused an outbreak of the disease. Those suffering from any other malady, especially consumptives, were swept away to their graves. It made many a fond mother cry. It was known to be in Ireland in 1836-37, 1847-48, 1889-90. It is said that influenza first appeared in the country in 1570.

_Invisible-Blood-Jobbers._--These are false and corrupt political leaders who for blood-money, and in hopes of receiving positions with pay, power, and false honor, are seducing the young men of Ireland into that mad and insane war now raging in Europe.

_Ivy Day._--The anniversary of Parnell's burial. Ivy is an evergreen, therefore it is worn on Sunday following the 6th of October to keep the memory of C. S. Parnell forever green in the hearts of his followers.

_Kennels and Hunting._--Formerly hunting was very much carried on in the peninsula. Every Sunday during the hunting season the sides of our mountains and valleys resounded with the yells of packs of half-starved beagles kept by middlemen. With the disappearance of the latter class, the beagles also followed, save a few exceptions.

_Kerry Bonds._--Persons who were unable to pay their tithes in full when demanded and overdue, gave a bond bearing interest. The system appears to be peculiar to the promontories of Kerry for some time, but finally became extinct. Many of these bonds were given for tithes illegally levied.

_Kerry Cows Know Sunday._--This old saying is handed down to us as a relic of the wicked famine which started in 1739, when living cattle were bled once a week and the blood boiled with milk, cabbage or grass to make a Sunday meal for the family. (See 1713.)

_Kerry Election._--This election took place in February of 1872. It was the first great flame kindled between the Home Rule party and the landlord classes in the county. The landlords were so irritated by the speeches delivered by the Blennerhassett supporters that they were determined to make their power felt and destroy the Home Rule party. The candidate chosen by the Home Rule party was a Protestant gentleman named Ponsby Blennerhassett from Kells. James A. Dease, a Roman Catholic gentleman from West Meath, was selected by the family of the Earl of Kenmare for the landlords. Dr. Moriarty, a Roman Catholic bishop, did all in his power to elect the nominee of the Kenmare family. In face of terror and landlord's oppression, in open voting the Home Rule candidate was elected by the Roman Catholics of Kerry. Many patriotic priests took sides with Blennerhassett. This gentleman remained true to the Home Rule party, but the Home Rule party, led by Sir Isaac Butt, was considered too mild. (See my "History of County Kerry" for a full account of this election.)

_Kissing the Blarney Stone by the Silver Tongue of Kerry and Others._--There is a saying among some people that Counselor Hussey of Farnakilla, known as the "Silver Tongue" of Kerry, kissed the Blarney stone in Blarney Castle, County Cork, and thereby secured his sweet, fluent, silver-tongued speech. He is not the only person hereabouts who is said to have kissed the Blarney stone. Everyone from the South of Ireland who has secured a fluent or flattering speech is credited with visiting it. As some individuals will be found ignorant enough to ascribe such a virtue to the stone and tell others in foreign lands that it possesses such, I am going a little outside my province to remove it as far as possible. If you _were forever rubbing your tongue to the Blarney stone, you would find no virtue in it whereby your speech will be improved_, and I dare say Silver Tongue of Dingle never kissed the stone.

Thousands of legends and stories are woven about it, but these were written for amusement, and the circumstances connected with kissing the stone supplied good food for legends and diversion.

There is a castle called "Blarney Castle" about six miles on this (Kerry) side of the City of Cork, within the Village of Blarney in the County of Cork. This castle contains a stone bearing the following inscription:

CORMACH MCCARTHY _Fortis me Fieri Facit_ A. D. 1446.

or the like. In 1602 an Irish chieftain named Cormach McDermod Carthy, who held the castle against the English, when hard pressed, concluded a truce with the Lord President, kissed the Blarney stone which his forefathers placed there, thereby leaving the Lord President and the English under the impression (without promising) that the castle would be surrendered as soon as McCarthy would reason with his followers and remove some of his belongings. The Lord President sent messengers to the English officers, gladly informing them that he "got Blarney" from McCarthy without much trouble. McCarthy, who was only borrowing time and quietly strengthening his castle, then set about and with fair promises and false pretext day by day put off the Lord President until he was reinforced by the Spaniards. Even then the Lord President was firmly assuring his countrymen that he "got Blarney" for them.

However, when the English found that instead of the Lord President having Blarney Castle he had nothing but McCarthy's honey and flattering speeches and they then had a hard fight before them, the Lord President became the laughing stock of both English, Irish and Spaniards, who mockingly would say of him, "He got Blarney."

If you will ever visit Blarney for the purpose of kissing the Blarney stone, you may be prepared for all sorts of tricks. The more earnest you appear about kissing it, the more fables you will be told about it. If a man is too feeble looking to climb, those in the Village of Blarney will most likely point out another broken stone lying on the ground belonging to the castle, telling him that a drunken blackguard dug it out of its place for carrying it away to make money by improving people's speech, and let it fall down and it was smashed, and then it lost its virtue.

If you are young and active, they will point out to you another stone about one hundred feet from the ground and tell you you must go up to the top of the castle and be held by the heels and leave your head and body hang downwards outside the parapet wall of the castle. Of course, you will say that is impossible for you to do. Then you are told you must go home without improving your speech.

_Land League and Irish National League._--On the 28th of April, 1879, the Land League was founded in Irishtown, West Mayo, by the late Michael Davitt. The object of this League was to abolish landlordism and make tenant farmers owners of their own holdings. Charles Stewart Parnell was placed at the head of this new organization, and on the 8th of June, Parnell and Davitt appeared at a monster meeting held at West Port. The Land League was suppressed by the Coercion Act, but the spirit was untouched. The name was changed to the Irish-National-League and Parnell chosen as its president. The Land League succeeded in its object.

_Landlords or Their Land Agents' Approval Necessary to Marriages._--Within my personal recollection in this part of the country tenant-farmers had to go to the landlords or their agents or secretaries and get their landlord's approval of their sons' and daughters' marriages. If a farmer's son got married and the landlord or his agent was not consulted in his case, he would have to canvass for great influence when it would be time for him to become tenant, and even then he would stand great danger of never being accepted. The parents of the parties to be married would pretend to their landlord's agents that, owing to the holding being small or the quality of the land bad, they received a very small fortune. Castle Gregory was about the first place which I noticed to rebel against the system. Whenever a landlord, his agent or secretary passed by, the custom was to lift the hat off the head. Tenant farmers or any member of their families not doing so were looked upon very unfavorably thereafter. With the Land League, these customs rapidly began to decline.

_La Varaha na Feir, or The Killing of People in Dingle by the Military._--It appears a fierce encounter took place between soldiers and civilians in upper Main Street and Goat Street, Dingle, resulting in the killing of several persons. I regret I have forgotten grandmother's story in which was given the date, loss of life and circumstances that led to it.

_Lieth Broath, or Quirn._--This is a kind of hand millstone for grinding corn which formerly could be found in almost every house in the barony, but at present has almost entirely disappeared.

_Middlemen and the Conacre System._--Middlemen were landlords between the head landlords and the cultivators. Head landlords with large properties, wishing to live away in some other country, divided their properties and let them to persons called "middlemen." The middleman divided his portion and sublet the same at about treble the rent he was paying his head landlord. A third middleman would parcel his up into small divisions and sublet at an enormous profit. With a string of middlemen between the head landlord and the cultivator, an acre let by the head landlord to his immediate lessor for five shillings per acre might cost the cultivator five pounds. But that was not the worst. Very often a man was required to pay two or three times for the same patch of ground--even the man paying for his little "hundred" of ground had sometimes to pay twice for his little patch of potatoes--because two men would be claiming title to the land. Then there was the usual staff of office men, rent warners, bog rangers, bailiffs and under-strappers who claimed tributes as well as the middlemen. Tenants were called upon to cut, save and draw home corn, hay, turf and sea manure for nothing, leaving the women and children attend to the tenant's own crops. Whether the middlemen were of Irish descent or foreign, Catholic or Protestant it did not matter much to the tenant, as they were nearly all oppressors of the worse kind imaginable.[6]

The middleman of the Eighteenth Century were the very scum of society and the seeds of immorality. They destroyed and brought to sorrow most young girls that put any confidence in them or entered their service. Parnell's land agitation destroyed the last of them.

_Molly McGuires._--This name was given to three secret societies The first was an Irish secret society, formed in or about the year 1833, in the Barony of Farney Co., Monogham, Ireland, to co-operate with the Ribbon-Men, and was called after C. McGuire, a leader in the Irish wars of 1641. The object of this society was to resist the distraining of cattle for rent, then common with landlords and middlemen. At that time very often a poor tenant had to pay five or six times for the same piece of ground, for which he had already paid his immediate lessor, because the immediate lessor, or landlord failed to pay one of the middlemen or landlords over him. (See Middlemen.) Distraining a tenant's cattle, impounding them, and selling them at auction before his eyes, in the name of British law and justice, for another man's debts, of which he had no knowledge or control and provided no legal remedy, to him appeared a wicked law. The McGuires applied the most desperate remedies available. Disguised as women, they rescued the cattle, flung boiling water and porridge on bailiffs, clubbed and stoned process servers, broke the locks on the pounds and released the cattle.

The activities of this society were confined to Ireland. Dressing in women's clothing caused the name "Molly" to be given to them.

As other new tenant-league societies grew up, they began to decline about the year 1856.

The second and next Molly McGuires was an Irish-American secret society, with many branches in the coal mine districts of Pennsylvania, U. S. A. This society took the name of the Irish society, but these societies had no other connection whatsoever with each other, _only in name_. The first qualification required by the American society was that its members should be Irishmen by birth, or descent, and also Catholics. This society took an active part in politics, and had its secret signs and passwords conveyed to them from England, through a Board of Erin. For being a secret organization, the Catholic Church declared against its members.