THE EVICTION

henever there is talk of the Land War in Clare, one regularly hears mention of the evictions at , and Miltown Malbay. Little is heard of a brutal eviction in south-east Clare, where a farmer, his wife and their ten children were savagely forced out of their home in late September, 1887. Michael Lane of Firhill, Parteen, was a tenant on the 600 acre estate of Colonel Thomas J. McAdam of Blackwater. He and his wife, Joanna, had lived on their 321h acres farm for 14 years. Michael had inherited the farm from his father, who had toiled there for over 30 years. The valuation was £38.10.0. Initially, the rent was £40 a year, rising to £50, and eventually to the exorbitant rate of £102 a year. The bad economic times of the 1870s and early 1880s led many farmers to look A watercolour of Parteen by E. Hawker. for a reduction in their rents. The requests of the luckier ones were acceded has been no labourer's cottage built in to by the more benevolent landlords such this division of the Union, as Vandeleur of Ralahine, Blood of and that we appeal to the guardians to Brackhill, Westropp of and some at once proceed to erect suitable others. Manv of the tenants had to have parish priest of Parteen. Interestingly dwellings for the too long oppressed their requests processed through the enough, a strong presence of police was labourers. newly formed Land Courts, which were reported; seemingly, this was for the That we desire to make an emphatic empowered to reduce rents if they saw protection of a government notetaker, protest against the mockery of trial by fit to do so. In 1882, Michael Lane 'whom they so well enclosed in their jury which occurred during the recent applied to the court for a reduction, and midst that few, if any, of the people trials of Sligo and we trust that the his annual rent was reduced from £102 to observed his presence or, if they did, they priests and people of will take £80. took no notice whatever of him'. vigorous measures to prevent a For many tenant farmers the At the outset a number of resolutions repetition of the gross insults offered reduction in judicial rents was enough to were proposed by P.M. Lane and to the Catholic jurymen of Ireland by see them through their difficulties, but seconded by M.Corry: the action of the Crown lawyers. times were never so bad. The thin wind of economic depression continued to cut, That we renew our pledges of entire Needless to say, the resolutions were and agricultural prices fell throughout trust in Mr. Parnell and the Irish passed unanimously. the 1880s. But it was when the slump hit Parliamentary Party and that we bind Next to the platform was R.J. Cox, the dry cattle industry in 1886-87 that the ourselves to give a constant and M.P. for east Clare, who was a vocal crunch really came for many farmers, unfailing support to the programme of champion of tenants and their rights. He and it was then, too, that their unecon- the Irish National League until the got the crowd going fairly quickly with omic smallholdings proved unviable. achievement of the complete realis- some rousing remarks about landlords Michael Lane was representative of ation of our hopes in the establish- and their style. He outlined the circum- his class. He was in deep financial ment o our national independence. stances surrounding Michael Lane's case, trouble. In 1886, he could cobble together That fwe trust that the landlords of and then addressed Col. McAdam 'in the only £40 of his £80 rent, and so the this district will follow the example name of the people of Clare and Limerick landlord moved in. In the earlybdays of set them in many parts of Ireland by until Michael Lane was restored to his January, 1887, his farm was put up for granting reductions in rents farm it would remain idle - a monument sale at the Courthouse, . It was proportionate to the admitted fall in to the tyranny of landlordism (cheers). 'bought in' for Col. McAdam by a clerk the value of all agricultural produce. The man that would, however, injure the named Lyons for £40! That we pledge ourselves to support hair of the head of Col. McAdams or The local response was swift and by every lawful means within our Horsford, or Delmege (other landlords), angry. Within a few days of the sale, the power Mr. Michael Lane in his or any emergency caretaker in the farm Parteen Branch of the Irish National struggle with his landlord until such would do a greater injury to the National Land League held a meeting at time as he shall have wrung from him cause and the case of Michael Lane than (now Parteen village) to a fair and reasonable settlement. the emergency man who would go into denounce the landlord and to condemn That we call upon all those who are the farm.' his action. Two bands entertained not alreadu enrolled to join the ranks The Land League had a very clear contingents of the League from Limerick, of the Iris$ National ~e&ue,and policy when a farmer was evicted from , Newmarket and else- take a manly and honourable part in -- his land. Nobody was to touch the land, where. The Clare Examiner estimated the Ireland 'S struggle for independence. and if anyone did so, he was boycotted. attendance to b&about 5,000. The That we again call public attention to Emergency men, as they were known, meeting was headed by F. Luke Gleeson, the fact that up to the present there who operated the farm for the landlord The Lax Weir, with Parteen in the background. got a hard time generally. John Dillon's The other M.P. for County Limerick, evicting brigade were surprised by the words were followed assiduously: 'If any John Finucane, then addressed the appearance of the place when they man takes up that land, let no man speak meeting and berated the local branch of arrived, as the windows had been to him or have any business transactions the League for having allowed matters to removed and the openings in the wall with him'. deteriorate to the point where McAdam filled by large stones. It soon became Cox concluded his speech by calling could actually sell Lane's farm. He was clear that there was going to be nothing on all present to support the tenant followed by a number of speakers of easy about this eviction. farmers: 'It was no use meeting there and lesser importance and then Fr. Gleeson Lane, his wife and his brother-in-law, shouting God Save Ireland, and sending closed the meeting. Thomas O'Grady, left it until the last denounciations of landlordism up to the In spite of the rhetoric of the National minute before they went back into the high heavens, if they left the field and League leaders and the outrages house and slammed the door in the face went to their houses without doing some committed by its members, evictions of the sheriff and his bailiffs. real genuine work; and the work they became a common feature throughout A number of police, armed with rifles, wereBsked to do was to assist them and the county in the spring and summer of were ordered to approach the house and give them support by going and joining 1887. Michael Lane's turn came in mid- to stand within a few yards of the door to the National League'. autumn. guard the sheriff and his bailiffs. William Abraham, M.P. for Limerick 'An eviction is a sentence of death', Possession was demanded by Capt. County, echoed Cox's sentiments when Gladstone had said, and, as if the Croker, the sheriff, but a shout of he addressed the gathering, but applied emphasise the point, the chapel bell defiance was the only answer he got. the knife to the landlord much more tolled funeral-like on the morning of 27 Once the preliminaries were over, the severely: September. Ominously, bodies of police police were ordered in. Baton-men first and military began to arrive in what is cleared onlookers, including Lane's ten The landlord sought for half a year's rent now the vicinity of the Tail Race Bar and young children, from the hedge at the to confiscate the improvements of half a what was then Parteen. First to arrive at opposite side of the road. No opposition ' century -for £40 to seize £400. It was 10 o'clock were the Royal Irish Constab- was offered to the police, even though proof of the honesty of the motives which ulary, under the command of County one or two constables were over-robust activated them, that Col. McAdam with Inspector Heard, District Inspectors while carrying out this order. The bailiffs his own misdeeds and his ancestors' Siddal of Tda, Keyser of Sixmilebridge then began to apply their hatchets on the treachery known all over the country - and O'Reilly of . Then, about wall near the door but had only could walk over the land freely and 80 men of the Second Leinster Regiment displaced some mortar when one of them unmolested by the people whose liberty marched up, fully accoutred and with used a crowbar to put the door flying in. his ancestor had betrayed and whose baynots fixed, and took a position close At this point, police were ordered to rights he himself had trampled upon; but to the police. Their commanding officer draw swords. Lane, his wife and while they fought with felonious was Captain Cole, who was assisted by O'Grady then appeared in the doorway. landlordism, they fought within the laws. Lieutenants Drummond and Meyer. A Mrs. Lane was armed with a poker; her Theirs was not a policy of rapine of Dr. Stoney was in attendence, in case of husband had the handle of a shovel, and bloodshed, with which their opponents any contingency that might arise. The O'Grady brandished a large stick with a credited them; it was the policy of justice whole force was under the command of lump of lead on top. They shouted at the by the force of public opinion and Colonel Turner R.M., Capt. Walshe R.M., police and bailiffs to come on, and then restitution by constitutional means , and Mr. Hodder R.M. made a bold dash amongst them, (applause). At about 10.45 a.m., the 150 police throwing the police into temporary and 80 soldiers marched to 'the scene of confusion. They struck right and left.-.. as.- His reference to the treachery of operations'. Fr Gleeson, P.P. an- -. the police strove to disarm them. Capt. McAdam's ancestors linked the affair Russell C.C., accompanied by approx- Croker saved himself from a severe with the betrayal %f the ford across the imately 150 neighbours, were already at beating with the shield he had carried for Shannon by a McAdam during the Siege the farm, lined up on the ditches protection ever since hot water and gruel of Limerick. opposite the house. Reportedly, the and been thrown on him at Bodyke; he the police. A baton-charge followed and two men were arrested for obstruction. A week later Michael Lane, Joanna Lane and Thomas O'Grady were brought to court in . The courthouse was packed and knots of people cheered the prisoners as they were brought from Limerick. Maurice P. Leahy, Sessional Crown Solicitor, prosecuted and P.S. Connolly defended. Shortly after <12 noon, J.B. Irwin, R.M., Limerick, chair- man, and Major Rolleston, R.M., ~ew;' castle West, entered and the court began. The three prisoners were cha&ed with assaulting, unlawfully and wilfully resisting and obstructing Captain Croker, the police and bailiffs in carrying out their duties. An outline of what happ- ened on Lane's farm in the proclaimed district of Ardnacrusha was given to the Court by the prosecuting solicitor. Croker then gave evidence, and he was followed by the police. Connolly defended, and laid great emphasis on the fact that Lane's ten children and Mrs. Lane's aged mother were put through the ordeal of the eviction. In delivering judgement, J.B. Irwin said said that this 'was a case when these three prisoners yielded to a temporary fit of ungovernable passion, rushed out and made this onslaught on the sheriff and police. There was not the usual adjunct to these cases of hot water and boiling tar being used; if there had been, I would not have the slightest hesitation in giving each of the prisoners six months' imprisonment'. As it happened, they were given one month each. Lane and O'Grady asked to do Mrs. Lane's term but this was refused. The court The grave of Colonel MacAdam, Blackwater House. adjourned at 3.15 p.m. There was a curious sequel to the court case and eviction. On Tuesday, 21 escaped with only a slight scratch on the caretakers had been placed on the farm, February, 1888, Lane's farmhouse, by face. Some of the police, however, under the care of armed constables, the then occupied by an emergencyman and received sharp blows on their helmets, police and military were once more three policemen, was burnt to the but the closeness of quarters at which ordered to fall into marching order. With gound. On the following morning, the they fought prevented the free play of the prisoners in the centre of the military, eviction hut was burnt down. A local Lane's and O'Grady's use of weapons. the homeward march to Parteen was man, James Hartigan, was charged with One of the policemen managed to strike begun. A halt was made, and possession burning the hut, but it was thought that Lane on the side of the head with his of a jarvey-car was taken against the the burning of the house was not rifle, inflicting a nasty wound from owner's strong protestations. On the malicious. Hartigan was a rate collector. which blood trickled down his neck. order of Col. Turner, the jarvey, named When he was charged at the Clonlara Lane, in turn, smashed part of a Sheehy, had driven Mr. Hodder, R.M., sesssions in March, it was stated that he sergeant's rifle which came between his and another man from Limerick. But he was of unsound mind. Later in the year, stick and the constable's head. Superior refused to convey the prisoner even Hartigan was in further trouble for numbers won out in the end and Lane though he was ordered to do so by the embezzling funds of the Limerick Board was knocked down and handcuffed. Colonel. He remonstrated and said that of Guardians and had to resign his post. After a similar struggle, O'Grady was he would hold Turner responsible. The Michael Lane was nominated to take his overpowered too. But Mrs. Lane fought latter sharply replied that if Sheehy 'did place as rate collector and was duly on. She was surrounded by a separate not shut up he would damm soon make elected by the Board by 39 votes to 23. party of police and matched her husband him!' Sheehy replied that he was ready to Col. McAdam abstained. The Local and brother for bravery and effort. meet the Colonel at any time, claimed Government Board later queried the Armed with her poker, she kept the that the car was his and that he would appointment of Lane because of the police at bay for quite some time. One not drive it. At that, Col. Turner ordered happenings of the previous year but took officer, Detective Inspector O'Reilly, the police to commandeer the car and to no action. He named as his guarantors would remember her for a while, as she drive Mrs. Lane into the city. The whole Thomas O'Grady, Blackwater, and gave him an almighty blow on the left party then set out for Limerick with Mrs. William O'Grady, Caherconlish. His side of his head and inflicted a deep Lane on on the jarvey-car and her appointment stood and he operated in wound, the poker smashed in two from husband and brother on foot. +area as rate collector for some time. the effects of the blow. So, disarmed, she At approximately 2.30 p.m., the Not Somfortably though. As one member was eventually overpowered but not prisoners were placed in William Street of the Limerick Board of Guardians handcuffed. The struggle &S over. police station. Five hundred people gath- remarked: 'The pity is that Mr. Lane After about thirty minutes, when ered outside and groaned and hissed at should stoop to the position at all'.