DEATH OF "SKIN THE GOAT."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 919, 12 September 1910, Page 8

DEATH OF "SKIN THE GOAT."

. PHOENIX PARK MURDERS ; RECALLED. . The announcement cabled some days ago of the death in the South Dublin Union Workhouse of James Fitzharrisj commbnlyknown as "Skin the Goat," revives the.; memory of the most deplorable"; cfiine that_ stained the progress of the, Irish agitation .in the early eighties—the - Phoenix Park murders. Fitzharris 'drbve/ the.'hackney car which/conveyed/the murderers, of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Thomas Henry Burke 'to the Phoenix, Park, Dublin, oh" the fateful, evening of May 6, '1882,; and, Fitzharris it wa-s.who, Raiting within- convenient"distance •■w-. til dark deed jvas completed, drove the assassins .away' again. He was a member/of the .secret society, known as "Invincibles," . by.; whom, the . murder was' planned and, carried out, and-the outstanding feature of.his character and conduct was the;'■ loyalty 'he displayed towards his accomplices in; crime, notwithstanding the.' tempting ■■ rewards and immunity from. consequences, he might have earned;by. betraying them.., When,, finally,' Carey, the/informer,-himself: a ringleader in this .terrible/ conspiracy, placed' the'.rope round; the necks, of his ; associates, by identifying and giving evidence agahjst'them,, the bearded -and: taciturn 'iarvey,, who had -scorned ■' to traffic : in, their lives, ; heard his sentence of penal, servitude for life,-with stoical resignation'; .' :' '/ '■/'■"',' '-'//;-''". /■/-'. ■Fitzharris. spenta; great-part of 'his twenty .years'.' imprisonment:;atMary-, . borough, Convict. Prison,•; where "' he came to; be,a familiar figure,/and. where his unbroken/ docility , and V. good ;; conduot earned io'r him many of the : pot'ty privileges'' to;' be": gained by/ "lifers.'-/ : The General'Prisons-/Board; of- Ireland 'has a;compact farm.;attached.to.'the/e'stab-: lishment at; Maryborough, the land atr fording/profitable, employment -.to, 'a 'groat number -of/ the; prisoners.: ■) There on -any day, (up 'to. the ; period of his' liberation some' years" ago,:; a venerable figure ,in (convict:. garb /might ■'• be seen following his old : pursuit of '.driving: a gaol v cart./. That ■man; was' James Fitzharris. ■'.' After; his (release;:he.; worked about Dublin for some'years, until age. andi infirmity, forced, him -to thVworkhouse.->' . '.-',';. '/,-;//''// ,',-';.;(:/,:; '- No event;-within the.'• past century aroused •. 'more:.', horror/ and.:, indignation amongst 1 the Irish people of all sections than the murder- of; Lord Frederick .• eridish—the':. friendly, Englishman, /just; appointed Chief Secretary,, who '.had arrivedjin ' Dublin 'but -a few. ' hours' previously, to: inaugurate a new' regimo of peace:,;and' .goodwill,,';.'; after ;al- pro- 1 longed:.penod -of'coercibn,/;and( whose" identity/wasi'uhk'iibwn -eveh'te 'his'murderers. ("For tho : ; : Permanent((UnderSecretary ((Mr.. Burke), tho/'same sympathy did 'not' exists■':'■ , It ■' ;was /he' whom this grim, band :i of assassins sought, arid it. was well known ;that Lord : ' Frederick's/unfortunate ; assbcia-, tionwith. Burke,-and attempted defence of- his(life, led to the double tragedy.- , When -five men (paid the' penalty with -their, lives, about; .a year later, they, mot their -'fate amidst the '.--''popular execration of .a revolting- crime, and -had-, little, ■sympathy outside: their .own' immediate families and. accomplices.'; /.".'-/.V/,-''/'.