Hi Larry T. Sherwood; Interesting story. A quick google search brought up this:
<pre
In the Young Irish disorders, in Ireland in 1848 the following nine men
were captured, tried and convicted of treason against Her Majesty, the
Queen, and were sentenced to death. John Mitchell, Morris Lyene, Pat
Donahue, Thomas McGee, Charles Duffy, Thomas Meagher, Richard O'Gorman,
Terrence McManus and Michael Ireland.
Before passing sentence, the judge asked if there was anything that
anyone wished to say. Meagher, speaking for all, said:
"My lord, this is our first offense, but not our last. If you will be
easy with us this once, we promise, on our word as gentlemen, to try to do
better next time. And next time ---sure we won't be fools to get caught."
Thereupon the indignant judge sentenced them all to be hanged by the neck
until dead and drawn and quartered. Passionate protest from the world
forced Queen Victoria to commute the sentence to transportation for life to
far away wild Australia.
In 1874, word reached the astounded Queen Victoria that Sir Charles Duffy
who had been elected Premier of the colony of Victoria, Australia was the
same Charles Duffy who had been transported 25 years before. On the Queen's
demand, the records of the rest of the transported men were revealed and
this is what was uncovered:
Thomas Francis Meagher Brigadier General, United States Army
and Governor of Montana.
Terrence McManus Brigadier General, United States Army.
Patrick Donahue Brigadier General, United States Army.
Richard O'Gorman Governor General of Newfoundland.
Morris Lyene Attorney General of Australia, in which office
Michael Ireland succeeded him.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee Member of Parliament, Montreal,
Minister of Agriculture and
President Council, Dominion of Canada.
John Mitchell A prominent New York politician.
This man was the father of
John Purroy Mitchell, Mayor of New York City
at the outbreak of World War I .
* The story of Richard O'Gorman is not quite complete from the above.
There was a Catholic priest named Father Michael Meehan in the mid-1800's,
who was a patriot and supporter of Daniel O'Connell. In 1846, he was given a
parish and sent to America to raise money for a church. When he returned,
his flock was being devastated by the Great Hunger. And so, Fr. Michael
elected to not use the funds he had raised for a new church. Instead, he
built a little carriage with an altar on it, and rode around to his
parishioners to bring them the sacraments. It was called "The Ark of
Kilbaha". After mass, there would be a collection in reverse, and each of
the faithful were given enough money to keep body and soul together.
These events led him to support the Young Ireland movement which was
more militant than O'Connell. When the trials of the Young Ireland movement
took place, Richard O'Gorman was tried in absentia. He went into hiding, and
nne knew where to find him. Fr. Michael, at around this time, took up the
hobby of rowing a little row boat out into the mouth of the sea. As each
evening approached, it became customary to see Fr. Michael row out to the
mouth of the sea, and then row back.
One night, O'Gorman was apparently stowed away on the little boat,
and the row boat made a rendezvous with a sea-going ship which was headed to
the Dardenelles. From there, O'Gorman eventually got safe passage to Canada.
The story remained a mystery until an anonymous source related the story in
an American newspaper - some twenty years later.
I hope some of this is of interest.
Ted Meehan</pre
groups.yahoo.com
-- Carl
P.S. Like any outspoken long time poster on SI, I have my share of people who follow me around and accuse me of ridiculous crimes. wstera_02 is a supporter of Rambus, and he once "made a career out of successfully exposing fraud" (See #reply-15798290 ). Rambus filed a patent lawsuit against Infineon, but the resulting court decision went against them, and they now stand convicted of fraud and owe millions of dollars. I suppose that somehow wstera_02 missed this particular fraud. I am a long time detractor of the company, and this is what brought me to wstera_02's attention. A good place to read the fascinating history of Rambus' shenanigans is this shareholder class action lawsuit filed against them after they were ordered to pay their opponents legal expenses. If you liked Bleak House and computers, you'll think this is a riot:
milberg.com |
