In these memoirs of my father, I have either derived my information from
the verbal accounts of his friends and contemporaries, or taken it from
his own letters and papers. Many things have I omitted, as irrelevant to
his story, which, in themselves, might not have been devoid of interest;
and of some others, the meaning and purport being somewhat obscure,
I have abstained from all mention. I make this apology for the
incompleteness of my narrative; and the reader will probably accept
my excuses the more willingly since he is spared the infliction of my
discursiveness on topics only secondary and adventitious.
I now, however, come to a period the most eventful of his story, but,
by an unhappy accident, the least illustrated by any record of its acts.
MacNaghten, my chief source of information hitherto, is here unable to
guide or direct me. He knew nothing of my father's movements, nor did
he hold any direct intercourse with him. Whatever letters may have been
written by my father himself, I am unable to tell, none of them having
ever reached me. My difficulty is therefore considerable, having little
to guide me beyond chance paragraphs in some of Fagan's letters to
his daughter, and some two or three formal communications on business
matters to my mother.
There is yet enough even in these scattered notices to show that Fagan's
hopes of realizing the great ambition of his life had been suddenly
and unexpectedly renewed. Not alone was he inclined to believe that my
father might become the political leader of his own peculiar party, and
take upon him the unclaimed position of an Irish champion, but, further
still, he persuaded himself that my father was not really married, and
that the present conjuncture offered a favorable prospect of making him
his son-in-law.
The reader has already seen from what a slight foundation this edifice
sprung,--a random word spoken by my father at a moment of great
excitement; a half-muttered regret, wrung from him in a paroxysm of
wounded self-love.
He was not the first, nor will he be the last, who shall raise up a
structure for which the will alone supplies material; mayhap, too, in
his case, the fire of hope had never been totally extinguished in
his heart, and from its smouldering embers now burst out this new and
brilliant flame.
It was about an hour after midnight that a chaise, with four horses,
drew up at Fagan's door; and, after a brief delay, a sick man was
assisted carefully down the stairs and deposited within the carriage.
Raper took his place beside him, and, with a speed that denoted urgency,
the equipage drove away, and, passing through many a narrow lane and
alley, emerged from the city at last, and took the great western road.
Fallrach, even in our own day of universal travel and research, is a
wild and lonely spot; but at the time I refer to, it was as utterly
removed from all intercourse with the world as some distant settlement
of Central America. Situated in a little bend or bight of coast where
the Killeries opens to the great ocean, backed by lofty mountains, and
flanked either by the sea or the still less accessible crags of granite,
this little cottage was almost concealed from view. Unpretending as it
was without, its internal arrangements included every comfort; and my
father found himself not only surrounded with all the appliances of ease
and enjoyment, but in the very midst of objects well known and dear
to him from old associations. It had been in our family for about a
century; but up to this moment my father had never seen it, nor was he
aware of the singular beauty of the neighboring coast scenery.
At first, he could do no more than sit at an open window that looked
over the sea, enjoying, with dreamy languor, the calm influences of a
solitude so thoroughly unbroken. To an overwrought and excited mind,
this interval of quiet was a priceless luxury; and far from experiencing
weariness in his lonely life, the days glided past unnoticed.
Raper was not of a nature to obtrude himself on any one; and as my
father neither sought nor needed a companion, they continued to live
beneath the same roof almost without meeting. While, therefore, there
was the most scrupulous attention to all my father's wants, and a
watchfulness that seemed even to anticipate a wish on his part, his
privacy was never invaded nor disturbed. A few words each morning
between Raper and himself provided for all the arrangements of the day,
and there ended their intercourse.
Leaving him, therefore, in the indulgence of this placid existence,
I must now turn to another scene, where very different actors and
interests were engaged.
The death of Barry Rutledge had created the most intense excitement,
not alone in Dublin, but throughout the country generally. He was almost
universally known. His acquaintanceship embraced men of every shade of
opinion, and of all parties; and if his character did not suggest any
feelings of strong attachment or regard, there were social qualities
about him which, at least, attracted admiration, and made him welcome in
society.
Such men are often regretted by the world more deeply than is their due.
Their amusing faculties are frequently traced back to some imaginary
excellence in their natures, and there mingles with the sorrow for their
loss a sort of tender compassion for the fate of abilities misapplied,
and high gifts wasted. This was exactly the case here. Many who did not
rank amongst his intimates while he lived, now affected to deplore his
death most deeply; and there was a degree of sympathy felt, or assumed
to be felt, for his fate, widely disproportioned to his claims upon real
regard.
The manner of his death still remained a profound mystery. The verdict
of the coroner's jury was simply to the effect that “he had died of
wounds inflicted by a person or persons unknown,” but without an attempt
at explanation. The witnesses examined deposed to very little more
than the state in which the body was found, and the prints of footsteps
discovered in its vicinity. These, indeed, and other marks about the
spot seemed to indicate that a struggle had taken place; but a strange
and unaccountable apathy prevailed as to all investigation, and the
public was left to the very vaguest of speculations as they appeared
from time to time in the columns of the newspapers.
Amongst those who accompanied Rutledge into the street there was a
singular discrepancy of opinion, some averring that they heard him
called on by his name, and others equally positive in asserting that the
provocation was uttered only in the emphatic monosyllable, “a lie.” They
were all men of standing and position in the world; they were persons
of indisputable honor; and yet, strange to say, upon a simple matter of
fact which had occupied but a few seconds, they could not be brought
to anything like agreement. The most positive of all in maintaining his
opinion was a Colonel Vereker, who persisted in alleging that he stood
side by side with Rutledge the whole time he was speaking; that he could
swear not only to the words used by the unknown speaker, but that he
would go so far as to say, that such was the impression made upon his
senses that he could detect the voice were he ever to hear it again.
This assertion, at first uttered in the small circle of intimacy, at
last grew to be talked of abroad, and many were of opinion it would
one day or other give the clew to this mysterious affair. As to Vereker
himself, he felt that he was to a certain extent pledged to the proof
of what he had maintained so persistently. His opinions had gained
currency, and were discussed by the press, which, in the dearth of
other topics of interest, devoted a large portion of their columns to
commentary on this event.
Any one now looking back to the pages of the Dublin “Express” or
“Falkner” of that date will scarcely fail to find that each day
contributed some new and ingenious suggestion as to the manner of
Rutledge's death. Some of these were arrayed with great details and the
most minute arrangement of circumstances; others were constructed of
materials the least probable and likely. Every view had, however, its
peculiar advocates, and it was curious to see to what violence was
carried the war of controversy upon the subject.
By the publicity which accompanies such events as these, the ends of
justice are mainly sustained and aided. Discussion suggests inquiry,
and by degrees the general mind is turned with zeal to an investigation
which, under ordinary circumstances, had only occupied the attention of
the authorities.
To any one who has not witnessed a similar movement of popular anxiety,
it would be difficult to believe how completely this topic engrossed
the thoughts of the capital; and through every grade of society the same
intense desire prevailed to unravel this mystery. Amongst the many facts
adduced, was one which attracted a large share of speculation, and this
was the track of footsteps from the very opposite corner of the “Green”
to the fatal spot, and their issue at the little wicket gate of which
we have already spoken. These traces were made by a large foot, and were
unmistakably those of a heavy man, wearing boots such as were usually
worn by gentlemen. One peculiarity of them, too, was, that the heels
were studded with large nails, rarely worn save by the peasantry. A
shoemaker who served on the inquest was heard to remark that a very few
country gentlemen still persisted in having their boots thus provided,
and that he himself had only one such customer, for whom he had just
finished a new pair that were then ready to be sent home.
The remark attracted attention, and led to an examination of the boots,
which, strange to say, were found exactly to correspond with the tracks
in the clay. This fact, coupled with another, that the person for whom
they were made, and who had been impatient to obtain them, had not even
called at the shop or made any inquiry since the night of Rutledge's
death, was of so suspicious a nature, that the boots were taken
possession of by the authorities, and the maker strictly enjoined to the
most guarded secrecy as to the name of him by whom they were ordered.
With every precaution to secure secrecy, the story of the boots got
noised about, and letters poured forth in print to show that the custom
of wearing such heels as were described was by no means so limited as
was at first assumed. In the very thick of discussion on this subject,
there came a post letter one evening to the bootmaker's house,
requesting him to send the boots lately ordered by an old customer, J.
C, to the “Blue Balls,” at Clontarf, addressed, “George J. Grogan, Esq.”
The shopkeeper, on receiving this epistle, immediately communicated it
to the authorities, who could not fail to see in it another circumstance
of deep suspicion. From the first moment of having learned his name,
they had prosecuted the most active inquiries, and learned that he had
actually been in town the evening of Rutledge's death, and suddenly
taken his departure on the morning after. The entire of the preceding
evening, too, he had been absent from his hotel, to which he returned
late at night, and instead of retiring to bed, immediately occupied
himself with preparations for his departure.
As the individual was one well known, and occupying a prominent position
in society, it was deemed to be a step requiring the very gravest
deliberation in what manner to proceed. His political opinions, and even
his personal conduct, being strongly opposed to the Government, rather
increased than diminished this difficulty, since the Liberal papers
would be sure to lay hold of any proceedings as a gross insult to the
national party.
The advice of the law officers, however, overruled all these objections;
a number of circumstances appeared to concur to inculpate him, and it
was decided on issuing a warrant for his arrest at the place which he
had named as his address.
Secrecy was now no longer practicable; and to the astonishment of
all Dublin was it announced in the morning papers that Mr. Curtis was
arrested the preceding night, on a judge's warrant, charged with the
murder of Barry Rutledge.
Terrible as such an accusation must always sound, there is something
doubly appalling when uttered against one whose rank in society would
seem to exempt him from the temptations of such guilt. The natural
revulsion to credit a like imputation is, of course, considerable; but,
notwithstanding this, there were circumstances in Curtis's character and
habits that went far to render the allegation not devoid of probability.
He was a rash, impetuous, and revengeful man, always involved
in pecuniary difficulties, and rarely exempt from some personal
altercation. Harassed by law, disappointed, and, as he himself thought,
persecuted by the Government, his life was a continual conflict. Though
not without those who recognized in him traits of warm-hearted and
generous devotion, the number of these diminished as he grew older, and,
by the casualties of the world, he lived to fancy himself the last of a
bygone generation far superior in every gift and attribute to that which
succeeded it.
When arrested, and charged with the crime of wilful murder, so far
from experiencing the indignant astonishment such an allegation might
naturally lead to, he only accepted it as another instance of the
unrelenting hate with which the Government, or, as he styled it, “the
Castle,” had, through his life long, pursued him.
“Who is it,” cried he, with sarcastic bitterness, “that I have
murdered?”
“You are charged with being accessory to the death of Mr. Barry
Rutledge, sir,” said the other.
“Barry Rutledge!--the Court-jester, the Castle-mimic, the tale-bearer
of the Viceroy's household, the hireling scoffer at honest men, and
the cringing supplicant of bad ones. The man who crushed such a reptile
would have deserved well of his country, if it were not that the breed
is too large to be extirpated.”
“Take care what you say, Mr. Curtis,” said the other, respectfully;
“your words may be used to your disadvantage.”
“Take care what I say! Who are you speaking to, sirrah? Is the caution
given to Joe Curtis? Is it to the man that has braved your power and
laughed at your Acts of Parliament these fifty years? Are you going to
teach me discretion now? Hark ye, my man, tell your employers not to
puzzle their heads with plots and schemes about a conviction; they need
neither bribe a witness, corrupt a judge, nor pack a jury. Familiar as
such good actions are to them, their task will still be easier here.
Tell them this; and tell them also that the score they must one day be
prepared to settle would be lighter if Joe Curtis was the last man they
had sent innocently to the scaffold.”
As though he had disburdened his mind by this bitter speech, Curtis
never again adverted to the dreadful accusation against him. He was
committed to Newgate; and while treated with a certain deference to his
position in life, he never relaxed in the stern and unbending resolve
neither to accept any favor, nor even avail himself of the ordinary
means of legal defence.
“Prison diet and a straw mattress!” cried he; “such you cannot deny me;
and they will be the extent of the favors I'll receive at your hands.”
As the day fixed for the trial approached, the popular excitement rose
to a high degree. Curtis was not a favorite even with his own party; his
temper was sour, and his disposition unconciliatory; so that even by the
Liberal press, his name was mentioned with little sympathy or regard.
Besides this feeling, there was another, and a far more dangerous one,
then abroad. The lower classes had been of late reflected on severely
for the crimes which disgraced the county calendars, and the opportunity
of retaliating against the gentry, by a case which involved one of
their order, was not to be neglected. While, therefore, the daily papers
accumulated a variety of strange and seemingly convincing circumstances,
the street literature did not scruple to go further, and Curtis was
the theme of many a ballad, wherein his guilt was depicted in all the
glowing colors of verse.
It is one of the gravest inconveniences which accompany the liberty of
free discussion that an accused man is put upon his trial before the
bar of public opinion, and his guilt or innocence pronounced upon, long
before he takes his place in presence of his real judges; and although,
in the main, popular opinion is rarely wrong, still there are moments
of rash enthusiasm, periods of misguided zeal or unbridled bigotry, in
which such decisions are highly perilous. Too frequently, also, will
circumstances quite foreign to the matter at issue be found to influence
the opinions expressed upon it.
So far had the popular verdict gone against the accused in the present
case that there was a considerable time spent on the morning of the
trial, before a jury could be empanelled which should not include any
one who had already pronounced strongly on the case.
Curtis, as I have mentioned, declined all means of defence; he
thought, or affected to think, that every member of the bar was open to
Government corruption, and that as the whole was an organized plot for
his destruction, resistance was perfectly vain and useless. When asked,
therefore, to whom he had intrusted his case, he advanced to the front
of the dock, and said: “Gentlemen of the jury, the disagreeable duties
you are sworn to discharge shall not be protracted by anything on my
part. Whatever falsehoods the counsel for the Crown may advance, and the
witnesses swear to, shall meet neither denial nor refutation from me.
The Castle scoundrels shall play the whole game themselves, and whenever
you agree 'what 's to pay,' I 'll settle the score without flinching.”
This extraordinary address, uttered in a tone of half-savage jocularity,
excited a strange mixture of emotion in those who heard it, which
ultimately ended in half-subdued laughter throughout the court,
repressing which at once, the judge gravely reprimanded the prisoner
for the aspersions he had thrown on the administration of justice, and
appointed one of the most distinguished members of the bar to conduct
his defence.
It was late in the day when the Crown counsel rose to open his case. His
address was calm and dispassionate. It was divested of what might seem
to be any ungenerous allusion to the peculiar character or temperament
of the accused, but it promised an amount of circumstantial evidence
which, were the credit of the witnesses to stand unimpeached, would be
almost impossible to reconcile with anything short of the guilt of the
prisoner in the dock.
“We shall show you, gentlemen of the jury,” said he, “first of all that
there was a manifest motive for this crime,--at least, what to a man of
the prisoner's temper and passions might adequately represent a motive.
We shall produce evidence before you to prove his arrival secretly in
Dublin, where he lodged in an obscure and little-frequented locality,
avoiding all occasion of recognition, and passing under an assumed name.
We shall show you that on each evening he was accustomed to visit an
acquaintance--a solicitor, whom we shall produce on the table--whose
house is situated at the very opposite end of the city; returning from
which, it was his habit to pass through Stephen's Green, and that he
took this path on the night of the murder, having parted from his friend
a little before midnight. We shall next show you that the traces of
the footsteps correspond exactly with his boots, even to certain
peculiarities in their make. And, lastly, we shall prove his immediate
and secret departure from the capital on this very night in question;
his retirement to a distant part of the country, where he remained till
within a few days previous to his arrest.
“Such are the brief outlines of a case, the details of which will
comprise a vast number of circumstances,--slight, perhaps, and trivial
individually, but which, taken collectively, and considered in regard to
their bearing on the matter before us, will make up a mass of evidence
that the most sceptical cannot reject.
“Although it may not be usual to advert to the line of conduct which the
prisoner has adopted, in refusing to name a counsel for his defence,
I cannot avoid warning the jury that such a course may bear an
interpretation very remote from that which at first sight it seems
to convey. He would wish you to accept this position as the strongest
evidence of innocence; as if, relying on the justice of his cause, he
requires neither guidance nor counsel!
“It will be for you, gentlemen, to determine if the evidence placed
before you admit of such a construction; or whether, on the contrary,
it be not of such a nature that would foil the skill of the craftiest
advocate to shake, and be more effectually rebutted by a general and
vague denial, than by any systematic endeavors to impeach.
“You are not, therefore, to accept this rejection of aid as by any means
a proof of conscious innocence. Far from it. The more correct reading
might show it to be the crafty policy of a man who throughout his whole
life has been as remarkable for self-reliance as for secrecy; who,
confiding in his own skill to direct him in the most difficult
circumstances, places far more reliance on his personal adroitness than
upon the most practised advocacy; and whose depreciatory estimate of
mankind is but the gloomy reflection of a burdened conscience.”
It was so late when the counsel had concluded that the court adjourned
its proceedings till the following morning; and the vast assembly which
thronged the building dispersed, deeply impressed with the weighty
charge against the prisoner, and with far less of sympathy than is
usually accorded to those who stand in like predicament.