ALARMING AGRARIAN OUTRAGE IN IRELAND.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 605, 27 May 1876, Page 3

ALARMING AGRARIAN OUTRAGE IN IRELAND.

The ITome News reports ;—“ Although the agrarian spirit, has been slumbering for some time, it is beginning to show some dangerous signs of unimpaired vitality. Mr Patrick S. Bridges, a land agent, was fired at on the evening of March 31st on the public road near Mitchelstown, and seriously wounded. Mr Bridges was agent to Mr R. Buckley, an extensive landowner. He was fired at about a year and a half ago while walking in his own demesne with his sister, but the contents of the gun only grazed his flesh. He was to have taken possession of a farm next day from which a tenant had been evicted. Being a man of great courage and resolution, he was not intimidated by one attempt upon his life, but went next day and took up the possession, At the subsequent Limerick Assizes he recovered a sum of £3OO compensation under the Peace Preservation Act, though not without some difficulty, and Mr Justice O’Brien had some doubt whether it was an agrarian outrage or not. He was agent for many years of the late Lord Kingston, and afterwards of the Mitchelstown estates, and he at one time resided at Mitchelstown Castle. It is an extraordinary fact that the man who made the first attempt upon his life has never been arrested, though he never left the country and is well known. The only explanation of this which can be offered is that the place is situated on the borders of the three counties of Cork, Tipperary and Limerick, in a wild mountainous district, and the duty of bringing him to justice seemed to be shifted by tbs police from one to the other. Since the first outrage Mr Bridges has been constantly guarded by police, having generally four constables with him. He had a large number of ejectments pending, as many as forty, and this, no doubt, was the motive for the present attempt upon his life. He was returning on a car from Mitchelstown after receiving the half-year’s rents, and had two constables with him when he was fired at and wounded. The driver ot the car, whose name was Hyland, was shot dead. There were three men engaged in the attack. Cue of them, a farmer named Thomas Crowe, has been arrested by tho constables, one of whom was also wounded. Shots were exchanged between the parties. Crowe was armed with a blunderbuss and pistols. His two companions escaped, but their guns were secured. Mr Bridges and his party consisted of a steward named O'Loughlin, Hyland, the driver of the car, and two policemen, who were well armed. They had reached an open spot, two miles from Mitchelstown, when a furious cross fire was opened upon them from behind the thick fences at both sides of the road. Hyland fell dead at once, and the whole parly were thrown into confusion and so stunned by the suddenness of the attack that they remained fixed to the spot, while the fire continued until the car was riddltd with pellets. The blood flo ved freely down Mr Bridge’s face from wounds in his head He was also struck in other parts of the body One wound below the ear is thought to be serious. The pellets remained lodged in the bone of the skull. One of •.he constables was seriously wounded. It is now reported that there were several assailants, and that when they thought their work complete they took to flight. The police pursued them, and arrested Crowe, who is sixty years of ago. A party of police under Mr Eaton, resident magistrate, arrived quickly at the spot, but no further arrests have been made. Hyland, the driver who is killed, had received several warnings during the past month to leave Mr Bridge’s service. His body lay on the road all night. “ It is stated that Mr Bridges still declares his determination to enforce the increased rent which has been put upon the esta'e, and which the tenants regards as excessive. The place appears to have been selected and the attack planned with great deliberation and skill.

“ The outrage has created a feeling of deep anxiety and alarm among all classes connected with the ownership and management of property. It has dispelled the illusion of peace and contentment in the country, and shows that the congratulations of judges and others upon the cessation of agrarian crime were, to say the least, premature. The outrage was committed on the old high road to Cork. No assistance whatever was rendered to the police by the people who lived in the vicinity. The affair is a practical comment upon the agitation for a new Land (Transfer) Act, and against the oppressive law which deprives the Irish people of the free use ol arms and limits the power of legislating by blunderbuss.

"Among the conflicting reports which havr been brought to town by telegraph, it habeen stated that the constables were stunned and lost their self-possession. There appears, however, to be no foundation for this state ment, and it is due to the police to corrcc' it. So far from showing any indecision oi timidity, the facts show that both constables acted with great courage and presence oi mind. No stronger proof need be given thai the promptitude with which one of them (Nugent), who was struck by five pellets—two iu the breast which tore his tunic, two in the shoulder which grazed the flesh, and one in the knee—immediately levelled hie piece and fired, but missed his mark, and then, jumping off the car, sprang over tin hedge, and, grappling with the assassin wrenched the pistol from him and seen e him with handcuffs. A blunderbuss and

s horse pistol wcr; found near him on the ground, 1 “An inqu jat on the body of the murdered car timer nas been held and an open verj diet returned. Crowe, the man who was arrested, Inrj been committed for trial at the I assizes. There it no account of Mb two

associates, and the persons arrested on sirs pinion have been discharged.”