3-028-232 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches from Ireland: Rory of the Hills taken from the police barrack at Edgeworthstown to Longford Gaol, 1870. 'The police...succeeded in arresting the individual against whom their suspicions pointed from the first moment they heard of the affair, just as he was about entering his own house, near to which they had been lying in wait for several hours. He was forthwith conveyed to Edgeworthstown, and, having been fully identified, was taken before the magistrates, who committed him to Longford gaol. The prisoner, who is about twenty-eight years of age, has been resident in the United States...He appears to have been the recognised agitator of the district, and when he mounted the car which was to convey him to Longford gaol, under the guard of armed constables, the small farmers and people generally at Edgeworthstown market, which happened to be held on this day, not only cheered him lustily, but rushed forward to shake him by the hand...The moral effect of the capture of Rory, the redoubtable tailor of Sheenhansankey...is evinced by the fact that, since it took place, there has been a total cessation of threatening notices, accompanied by acts of violence, not only in Longford, but also in the counties around'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.70.