500 EMIGRANTS TURNED BACK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2662, 6 January 1916, Page 3

500 EMIGRANTS TURNED BACK

CUNARD CREW REFUSE TO SAIL WITH THEM. A brief cable message early in November told how a contingent of young Irishmen who were booked for America wero blocked from deserting the Old Country in its time of trial. Further details aro available in London papers now to hand. Tho "Daily News" of November 3 tells tho story as follows: — Tho Cunard Steamship Company will not in future accept the bookings of any men who aro eligible for service with tho forces. They announced this fact officially on Saturday, and a notice which is being sent to tlieir agents reads: "Until further advised, please note that we cannot accept tho bookings of British subjects who are fit and eligible for military service." This step was the culminating point of a series of extraordinary happenings in Liverpool. A Cunard liner was duo to sail for New York, and among those who had booked passages wore over five hundred Irishmen. They were sturdy, well set-up men, who camo from distant parts of Ireland to sail from Liverpool. They were lined up in a big queue waiting their turns to enter the company's offices to complete the preliminaries incidental to their departure, when a staff of khaki-clad recruiters, some representative of Irish regiments, appeared on the scene. They appealed to the Irishmen to enlist and give up tho idea of going away, but they were unable to evoke any response. The silence of the intending emigrants angered the crowd, and some stinging remarks were directed at the Irishmen. There was also somo jostling and a display of white feathers. _ The number of people in the streets •increased rapidly, and the Irishmen had to run the'gauntlet of much chaff and invective. As they lined up alongside tho vessel tho recruiters redoubled their efforts, but made little impression. It was then that an unexpected and dramatic incident occurred. The crew of tho liner made a protest, the firemen leading the way. They_ made it clear that they would not sail if the liner had to carry so many men who were thought to be eligible for the Army. This action was apparently' approved by the company, who at once announced that no British subject who was eligible for service would be taken as a passenger. liner sailed at last without the eligibles, and as she moved away the soldiers on tho quayside gave the crew some rousing cheers. The disappointed emigrants went off in groups, and few escaped- the satire of the crowd. All who wore debarred from sailing v'ill have their passage money returned! Much the same scenes occurred at Glasgow. In this case, however, 200 emigrants sailed, amid cries of "You're a hopeless crew!" Following Liverpool's lead, however, the Scottish companies trading in the North Atlantic have decided not to book British subjects eligible for military service until further notice. The "Daily Mail," in its report of tho Liverpool incident,■ says:— "The military fitness of the men who vainly sought flight yesterday was all that, a recruiting officer could require. Hailing from the West and South-West of Ireland, where they followed the occupation of agricultural, labourers, they were big and lusty in body, whatever they might lack in courage. 'They wero dressed in their "best" clothes and had with them a good deal of luggage. Those who had arrived in the city on Friday slept overnight at emigrants' shelters. Tlieir numbers were greatly increased yesterday morning by fresh arrivals by tho Holyhead boat. To all appeals, sympathetic or otherwise, tho Irishmen turned a deaf ear. Not a word would they answer. Their most severe critics wero Irish men and women. 'I'lhey are a disgrace," shouted one woman native of Ireland, "to tho gallant Irish at the front, and, sure, they don't represent old Ireland one bit."

When it seemed that they had successfully run the gauntlet and were to get away after all, it was learned that the sailors and firemen of tlio liner had refused to sail if the runaways were allowed to embark.. "It -is more than British flesh and blood can stand," declared one of them. The crowd cheered the The Cunard Company promptly notified agreement with the sailors' action, and word was passed to the waiting crowd that the Irishmen would not be allowed to sail. ■The would-be runaways seemed unable to credit tho news, and would not leave the landing-stage. All Americans and other neutrals and ordinary were allowed on ™ard after the strictest investigation of t-hoir bona fidessby the alien officers. Meanwhile the recruiting officers got. busy again, but all to no purpose. The men wcro told that they could enlist or go homo to Ireland, whero i their passage money would be returned to them by the Irish agents. A short-statured artilleryman with a pronounced American accent told them of the cold reception they would have had in the United States, where pluck was the passport to success. "There is no room for cowards there," he declared. "If you go away you will for ever disgrace yourselves. Isn't there one of you with the pluck to step forward?" The Irishmen turned their backs on him, and said not a word, but the orowd of Americans looking on from the decks of the ship cheered, and one shouted, "We've no room for shirkers in America." _ At dusk tho liner moved away, leaving the crowd of would-bo runaways disconsolate on the stage. The soldiers present raised three hearty cheers for the sailors and firemen, the National Anthem was sung, and the crowd went away.