ASSAULTS ON WOMEN IN IRELAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1525, 5 April 1887, Page 2

ASSAULTS ON WOMEN IN IRELAND.

It Id unnecessary to remind onr reader* that the " The Queen " la not m any sense a journal that takes any aide la party politics; bat ire do not on that account tbink tiiat it la necessary for us to refrain from expressing oar indignation whioh must be shared by every true woman m tbe kingdom— or, we may say, tin the world— against; the unmanly outrages that are offered to Women at the present' time m Ireland. In the "Times" of Monday it an account of a bund of upwards of twenty Moon* lighters, armed with guns atd revolvers, who entered the dwelling of a farmer named Murphy, who has two daughter!, Abima and Kanoy . The bedrooms of these girls were entered, tbe girla forced on their lmoes and held m that position by two of the rufiUns, whilst another out off their hair and poured a quantity of tar on their heads. Subsequently other houseawere visited, and the inmates served m a similar manner ; the only crime that these unfortunate girls had commltttd bring, thßt they were m the habit of speaking to policr men. Some significance, wrhes the reporter of these outrages, I* attached to the fact that at a recent open air National Lsague demonstration m the district, Dr Tan nor, M.P., who was tha principal speaker, warned the people, and particularly glrlr, not to bo seen speaking to polioemen. Later on the local branch of the League passed a resolution to th* effect that any girl who talked to a poliotman would be repotted And seriously dealt with. We have heard for a long time of the oo wardly mutilation of dumb .animals by the Irish peasantry, under the exoitement raised by professional agltatois. Oowa and horses are stabbed, their tails oat off* and they nre left to die miserably ; but-. that personal violence of an unmanly an& degrading oharaoter dhould be tiered to, women who dare to differ m opinion from, tbe petty despots of the hour, and that this should bo done by Irishmen on thelr own countrywomen, is a depth of degradation that n'ti hardly expeoted to h#. sounded, cv.on by the raont ignorant andt bruia.l of the peasantry urgod on by th» professional politicians of that moat unhappy country (• ' TbelQueen," of the 12th February.)