Disturbed Ireland | Page 8

was, as already
intimated, not in the bond, Mr. Hunter, not very unnaturally, insisted
that if the people would not pay him his landlord must, and asked Mr.
Gibbings to allow him ten pounds a year off his rent. The latter offered
him, as I am informed, five pounds. The matter was referred to an
umpire, who awarded Mr. Hunter twelve pounds, an assessment which
Mr. Gibbings declined to take into consideration at all. After some
further discussion Mr. Hunter warned the people off his farm and
declared their supposed "turbary" rights at an end. It is of course
difficult to arrive at any conclusion on the merits of the case. All that is
certain is, that the people had long enjoyed privileges which Mr.
Gibbings declared to be simple trespass. Finally he told Mr. Hunter he
had his bond and must enforce it himself. The unfortunate farmer, thus
placed, as it were, between the upper and nether millstone, endeavoured
to enforce his supposed rights. It is almost needless to remark that the
people went on cutting turf just as if nothing had happened. In an evil
hour Mr. Hunter determined to see what the law could do to protect
him in the enjoyment of his farm, and he sued the trespassers
accordingly. I will not attempt to explain the intricacies of an Irish
lawsuit farther than to note that, owing to some deficiency in their pleas,
the trespassers underwent a nonsuit, or some analogous doom, and
went gloomily away without having even the satisfaction of a fair fight
in court. At the instance of Mr. Hunter, execution for damages and

costs was issued against the most solvent of the trespassers, one John
O'Neill, of Knockmanus--his next-door neighbour, so to speak. On
Friday the execution was put in, and, on its being found impossible to
find anybody to act as bailiff, Mr. Hunter himself asked the sub-sheriff
to put in his name, and he would see himself that the crops were not
removed. This was done, and on the following Sunday Mr. Hunter went
with his family to attend Divine service at Newport. Leaving Newport
in the evening, he had gone not half-way to Tiernaur when his horse's
shoe came off. This circumstance, ominous enough in the disturbed
districts of Ireland, was not heeded by Mr. Hunter, who put back to
Newport and had his horse shod. As he set out for the second time, the
evening was closing in, and as he reached the road turning off from the
main track towards his own dwelling he was shot from the opposite
angle. The assassin must have been a good marksman, for there were
four persons in the dog-cart--Mr. Hunter, his wife, his son, and a
servant lad. The doomed man was picked out and shot dead. It is
obviously unnecessary to add that the assassin escaped, and has not
been discovered unto this day.
Immediately on the commission of the crime the widow of the
murdered man was afforded "protection," as it is called, in the manner
usual during Irish disturbances--that is, four men and a sergeant of the
constabulary were stationed at her house. In course of time, however,
Mrs. Hunter felt comparatively safe, and the constables removed to a
hut about two miles on the Newport road, opposite to some very good
grouse-shooting. There the five men dwell in their little iron-clad house,
pierced with loopholes in case of attack--a very improbable event. At
the moment of writing, four constables are also stationed at Mr.
Stoney's residence, Rossturk Castle, although it is not quite certain
what the owner has done to provoke the anger of the people. This being
the situation, a very short time since Mrs. Hunter elected to give up the
farm and leave this part of the country. The property is therefore on the
hands of the landlord, and is "to let." How bright the prospect of getting
a tenant is may be estimated by the remark made to me by a very
well-instructed person living close by--"If the landlord were to give me
that farm for nothing, stock it for me, and give me a cash balance to go
on with, I would gratefully but firmly decline the generous gift. No

consideration on earth would induce me to occupy Hunter's farm." In
the present condition of affairs it would certainly require either great
courage or profound ignorance on the part of a would-be tenant to
impel him to occupy any land under ban. A rational being would
almost as soon think of going to help Mr. Boycott to get in his potatoes.
For the people of Tiernaur are now face to face--only at a safe distance
for him--with Mr. Gibbings. The cause of the new difficulty is as
follows: Mrs. Hunter having given up the