BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2681, 29 January 1916, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY

A JUDCE'S REMINISCENCES.

Books of legal memoirs are generally somewhat disappointing, for the wit which finds expression in a Court of Law is often : apt to lose much of its original savour when set forth in sober cold print: some years after the event, and those who are professionally engaged in a cause celebre are rarely its best chroniclers. It is pleasant, therefore, to signal the appearance of a book of memories of Bar and Bench, "The Reminiscences of John Adye Curran, Iv.C." ■ (Edward Arnold), which; in almost every chapter, contains some interesting anecdote, and which, in its central feature, an account of the part played by the author in connection with the detection

and punishment of those _ bloodthirsty ruffians, the so-called Invincibles, who plotted and carried out the vile assassination of Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish,'furnishes some entirely new and historically, valuable information on that shooking event. Son/of a Dublin barrister, wl» Had an extensive criminal practice, young Curran, although a Koman Catholic, was educated at.Trinity College, Dublin, and' soon after being admitted to the Irish Bar joined the Home Circuit and rapidly made headway in : his profession. Of his earlier' experiences as an advocate in the Courts, and, later on; of-his-experiences as a police magistrate and county judge, _ he tells many good stories, supplementing these by others which he heard at the circuit, mess table, or ■ on other" occasions. Amongst these is one of Chief Justice Lefroy, who was, like a highly-placed judicial functionary not /unknown ' in •New Zealand, an ardent temperance advocate:—.

During one Assizes, when Lefroy was trying a case.'with a jury, in Tullamore, a witness who' said ho was 82 years' of age, and seemed perfectly sound full of vigour, was asked by the Chief Justice" if he •was a temperate man. "I never touched a drop of liquor in my life, my Lord," was his reply. With a Bmile of satisfaction, the Chief Justice turned towards the jury. "See, igentlemen," he said, "the result of •what during my life I. have' always been advocating—temperance."' The next witness was an old man equally strong and vigorous, and to all appearance :as healthy.' "I suppose! you also," asked the Chief Justine, "have" been' temperate all your life?" Then, ,to the intense amusement of all the Court, except the Judge, the reply came: "Lord bless your Lordship; for years past I've never gone to bed sober when I had a chance of getting anything to drink."

Another story has for central figure Chief Baron Pigot," - who''was what lawyers call, "a prisoner's Judge." Both he and Mr. Justice James O'Brien made a special point of helping prisoners during their trials, but werej.ijevertheless very severe in their sentences in the case'of a conviction. . 'Pigot, it appears, was tt .most r • ;notetaker, arid jSs"a ;^ qiie'stiqff-^d-answer,Hhe raising .of his pen, with: the words; "I am writing," being always accepted by' counsel as a signal fei pause in the questioning/ On onoibccasion a soldier from the Curragh ■was being tried for larceny,. ; Says. the juthor:-?- . ... The> principal witness was an. English ■ sergeant-major, who seemed to have a high opinion: of himself. In the evidence he-deposed - that he had seen the prisoner in "A Square," pronouncing the letter with a strong aspirate. At the conclusion of his evidence the . Chief Baron'asked him at' what ■hour he had -seen the prisoner in , the forage yard. "I did not say I saw him in the forage yard." "Is not that where you keep the hay?" "Yes,' My Lord;" "Well, .you swore on your direct oath that you saw him-in the hay- square." "I did not say hay square, My Lord." The Chief Baron, reading, said:"Listen to your evidence, taken down at the time. '. 'I ■ saw t!>e prisoner in the hay square.' " I did not say hay square, My Lord: I said (h) A Square." '. It was some time before the matter ' was ' set right, to_ the satisfaction of the. painstaking Judge.'

After dealing at some • length.' with the Parnell trial, the/author tells how, in 1881, he was appointed a Divisional Police Magistrate at Dublin. In May, 1882, occurred the horrible „ tragedy m Phoenix Park, '. Despite the _pasiing of the Crimes,-Act, . other; dreadful- deeds took place in'Galway. and . elsewhere, and in November,of the'same wear, :by which time: public' excitement: in refer-' ence to the Phoenix Park crime; had somewhat abated, a murderous attack was made on a. well-known and.respect-, ed Dublin citizen, Mr; .Denis _J. Field. It was realised .that "a criminal conspiracy of very serious magnitude,. and with the most malignant objects, existed in the city," and Judge Curran was ordered by the Lord-Lieutenant to hold' a special inquiry into the circumstances attending the attack on Mr. Field. ; It was as an indirect result of this inquiry that the ■ perpetrators of the much,-,-more ■ serious crime in Phoenix 'Park were brought to' justice, and' that the • organisation of the' "Invincible's" was finally broken up. . The author had before .him ; nearly ull the Invincibles, and examined ', tliem privately one _by one. Warned'that his life was in constant danger, tho Judge was under close police protection —a protection continued for nearly eight years I- —and for his own safety when examining, -took the precaution of keeping "his right hand in his side-pocket of his coatj holding in it a revolver at full cock, with his finger on the trigger. The actual detection',-of the infamous Dan Curley's connection with the crime, as told by Judge Curran, is quite ; a romance. ' Curley was the chairman of the executive of four of tho Irish Invincibles. On his way home from watching the devilish work done in Phoenix Park he was seen by a servant girl, who, after long and arduous search, was discovered, in a situation in England l . She identified Curley, who in duo course was convicted and hanged. Tho author gives a long description 'of the part played by James Carey, the infamous iuforrnor. He says:— James Carey will, in all probability, go down to posterity as tho prince of informers. All conspiracies are fraught with the .danger, with the ever-present danger, of a member turning informer. Usually such a man is one who has joined in weakness, and from a similar cause informs upon his fellows. Carey was hot such. He was ' a leader, and organiser, and the paymaster. He enrolled the members, planned the crimes,- took charge of the knives. It was hewho, with a

white handkerchief in his hand, called out to the men in the park when the two unfortunate gentle-men-were approaching tliem: "Bemembor, the man in. the grey suit" -vindicating Mr. Burke as the man wlio was to be_ murdered, and in ,tlui end left his human ioistru-

merits to pay the terrible penalty. I cannot speak in moderation of the character of James Carey. l Hib life and his story speak for themselves. The corporator and man of public affairs plans anarchy and the destruction of society. The pious man who receives the moist sacred mysteries of the Catholic Church contrives and contemplates one of the inosfc abominable sins 111 the Christian code. It cannot be said ho was immoral. He was nonmoral. . . After the trials of the Invincibles the judge was offered the position of Chief Justice in Jamaica, worth £2500 a year, but preferred to remain in Ireland, going to Kerry to try and restore peace in thSt county. Of his judicial work in. fierry, Longford, Meath, and elsewhore he gives an interesting account. It is with justifiable satisfaction that •he records tho good feeling in which, after a time, he was held by the peasants and others, with whom, it is clear, he had a deep personal sympathy, although no one,could be firmer in his administration of justice and in his determination to stamp out the worst features of • the boycotting campaign. When he first went to Kerry he was heralded there by the statement that he was "the Head Inquisitor of Dublin Castle." "Every man passing me on the road, driving or walking, met me with a scowl and' a look of defiance." Crime was rife, murders were deplorably common, and the moonlighters were very active. "Before ■ I left Kerry, at the end of five years, I'had satisfied the wants* of both landlords and tenants to a very .considerable extent. . . , In place of the scowl which met me , when I first went into the county, a pleasant smile and 'God bless your honour' greeted, me wherever I went." Ireland of to-day is a very different country to what' it was when Judge Ourran was at. the height of his judicial career, and it is evident that no one has more confidence in tho brightness of its future than the author of this interesting book of reminiscences. ,