He was, in the true sense
of the idea, a good son, an affectionate husband and father, and a
sincere friend."
On Monday, October 28th, the three Irishmen whose lives we have
glanced at were placed at the bar of the Manchester Assize Court,
and formally placed on their trial for wilful murder. With them were
arraigned Thomas Maguire, a private belonging to the Royal Marines,
who was on furlough in Liverpool at the time of Kelly's liberation,
and who was arrested merely because he happened to be an Irishman,
and who, though perfectly innocent of the whole transaction, had
been sworn against by numerous witnesses as a ringleader in the
attack; and Edward O'Meagher Condon (_alias_ Shore), a fine-looking
Irish-American, a citizen of the State of Ohio, against whom, like
his four companions, true bills had been found by the Grand Jury.
It would take long to describe the paroxysms of excitement, panic,
and agitation that raged in the English mind within the period that
intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the date at
which we are now arrived. Nothing was heard of but the Fenians;
nothing was talked of but the diabolical plots and murderous designs
they were said to be preparing. The Queen was to be shot at; Balmoral
was to be burned down; the armouries had been attacked; the barracks
were undermined; the gas works were to be exploded, the Bank blown
up, the water poisoned.
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