374         FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.

JOHN FLOOD, EDWARD DUFFY, MICHAEL CODY.

Flood Arrested with McCafferty—Aids to Release Stephens—Position in the Organization. Duffy Arrested with Stephens—Sick in Prison—Liberated Re-Arrested and Identified—Trials—Flood, Duffy and Cody found Guilty—Their Speeches in the Dock—Sentences.

JOHN FLOOD, who was arrested with McCafferty in the Liffey under the name of Phillips, and who was so constantly alluded to by the informer and detectives, presented a striking appearance when confronted with his persecutors. A fine looking man, of large person, and frank, handsome features, adorned by an ample beard of a tawny color, his bearing was upriglt and stalwart, and he seemed little affected by the confinement of prison life. John Flood is about thirty years of age, and a Wexford. man. He first became specially distinguished by his participation in the arrangements for the escape of Stephens from Ireland. He accompanied Stephens and Colonel Kelly in their perilous journey from Dublin to Scotland. Adverse winds blew their boat into Belfast Harbor with the loss of their tiller ; and. it was owing to Flood's knowledge and experience that the party were saved. He received a severe injury in the hand letting go the an-

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chor in the hurry to prevent their being driven too far into the harbor. Flood saw Stephens safe to Paris, and after a few days returned to Ireland, and almost immediately took his position as one of the first officers of the English and Scotch Organization. He is frequently alluded to as one of the " Directory " and as chief projector of the Chester affair. His comrades speak of him as a man of great energy, who always stood faithfully to his work, and was respected and relied upon by the people.
It will be remembered that Edward Duffy was one of the parties arrested at Stephens' house on the morning of the 11th November, 1865. He was charged at the same time with confederating and conspiring to levy war against the Queen, to separate Ireland from England, and to establish a republic in the former. On this occasion, before the magistrates, Mr. Duffy sharply catechised the police, and denied the right of the latter to search suspected localities without a warrant. He wanted to expose the fact that " according to British law, a constable can arrest a man for treason without a warrant" in Ireland. The chief police magistrate declined to discuss the point, and Duffy called on the members of the press who were present to note the fact, "in order," as he said, " that the public may know under what sort of law we are living." Mr. Duffy was committed,' with his friends, Stephens, Kickham, and Brophy, to Richmond jail.
Mr. Edward Duffy was regarded as a person of more than usual influence in the organization—a man

376 FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.

of capacity, ability and resolution, who stood high in the estimation of the then controlling powers of the Brotherhood. While in prison, however, grave symptoms of disease manifested themselves, which threatened to end in consigning Mr. Duffy to a premature grave. The authorities, seeing his health such as would prevent any future aid to the cause for which he was arrested, set him at liberty. He went to the west of Ireland, and, in company with a young man named Thomas Egan, was again arrested at Boyle in the County of Roscommon, on the 11th of March, 1866. The prisoners were immediately conveyed to Dublin ; and on the trial of Captain McCafferty, while the informer Corydon was being examined, Mr. Duffy was brought forward for identification with John Flood. Duffy was characterized as " the organizer for the province of Connaught." They were subsequently brought to trial at the Special Commission, Dublin; and on Friday, 17th May, Flood, Duffy, and Michael Cody, (who attempted to shoot his captors,) were found guilty of treason-felony. It will be remembered that Flood and McCafferty were arrested on the 23d February, after having eluded the authorities from the day of the Chester demonstration ; and it was sought to directly connect them with the rising of the 5th March. An authoritative communication to the Dublin Irishman contradicts this, and we are in a position to know that the statement which follows is based on fact
" Of course anything that I can say now cannot alter the sen- tence of the law, nor be of any benefit to the prisoner; yet it is

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due to history that the truth should be known. The Directory, of which it was supposed that Flood and McCafferty were members, had been dissolved long before they came to Ireland. The rising of the 5th was planned by other parties, and long after Flood and McCafferty were arrested, All this Massey could have told were he allowed to give evidence on the trial of either. The paper so cleverly "burked " by the Crown, would also prove that these two men had nothing whatever to do with the rising, nor did they even know of that event. It is plain that the Crown lawyers kept Massey and his informations back for the purpose of having Flood and McCafferty convicted. They knew that the production of either on the, trial would infallibly acquit them. How will an astonished world look upon the English Government when that paper, in the keeping of the Chief Secretary, shall see the light and confirm my statement, that these men are innocent ?
On Tuesday, the 21st May, Flood, Duffy, and Cody were brought up for sentence. In reply to the usual question, Flood stood forward, and in a strong, clear voice and pleasant utterance, said
My lords—" I have been convicted on the evidence of three men. Not one word of truth has either of them sworn. To begin with Corydon. I will say that I was not present at the meeting he describes as having taken place in Liverpool. 1 knew nothing about it, and I believe that the Crown counsel have had in their hands the means of disproving what he said. I believe that Massey 's evidence would go to disprove it, and in fact, there never was a Directory of which I was a member. The Crown had that evidence in their hands and would not produce it. I was not in that place in Chester where Bray says I was. Every word he swore concerning me was a falsehood from beginning to end. I may say that a detective officer went over to Manchester, but the Attorney-General denied it, to tamper with a witness. If the detective went to Manchester and sought to know whether these people told the truth or not, he must have satisfied himself that

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they did tell the truth, and that I was in Manchester at the time.

Therefore, I say, the Crown held possession of evidence, which they withheld, to prove that I was not at Chester at the time the swore I was. I positively declare that the detective never saw me there, for I was not there. Now the evidence of Dawson, that very effective detective, bears falsehood on the face of it. He swears he saw me, and knew my appearance, about town for a length of time, and met me in Burke's public house, where I never was in my life. A strange coincidence is that on that night he saw me enter a drill-room. Can any one believe that that is true? Now I say I have been unfairly dealt with other- wise, and I say that, by a sort of legal legerdemain, I have been placed on trial here on the terrible charge of assassination. No man in this court could regard such a charge with greater horror than I do. No man has a greater horror of it, and I never heard of such an odious and abominable conspiracy as the witness Meara had deposed to. I am sure that no true Irishman would attempt to have anything to do with such a thing. I heard nothing about it, and I do say that, if I should have been tried with ay one, I should have been tried with McCafferty, the man with
whom I was identified, and with whom I was arrested, I might w
have got a fair trial then, but I declare I have not had a fair trial. There has been an extreme course adopted by the Crown toward me from my arrest to the present hour. I say they had evidence in their possession which would have gone to prove my innocence, and it has been suppressed. Let them deny that. The Attorney- General says he thinks he is above motives. I impute no motives. I state facts and leave the world to judge. You saw how the identification has been proved against me by that woman from Chester. I will tell you how such a thing is carried on. We were taken to Mountjoy and paraded before the Detective Police, and day after day came groups of people either informers or detectives from England or elsewhere, always accompanied by one or more of the detectives who came there the day before; and I do not know but these people were told, That's Flood,' or That's McCafferty.' If they had come forward and identified me properly, they should have said, You arc the man I saw in Chester, or Liverpool,' as

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the case may be. I repeat again that I have been unfairly dealt with in every sense of the word. The Attorney -General has alluded to me repeatedly as that wretched man. If loving my country through my whole life should make me wretched, I am wretched indeed; for I tell you now, and I tell the world, that I not only abhor assassination, but that I would rather go to my doom than be guilty of the moral assassination that has been practiced against me. I am ready, my lords, for my sentence."
The usual question was then put to Duffy, who stepped forward, and despite the miserably weak state to which illness had reduced ham, spoke as follows, clearly •and distinctly, but evidently with much difficulty.
My Lords—" I am not in a capacity to say much to your lordships, after the evidence of that man Kelly against me. He has sworn falsely against me. I leave my countrymen to judge. There is no political act of mine which I regret. I joined the association sincerely, for my country's cause, and I have been actuated throughout by a strong sense of duty. I believe that a man's duty to his country is part of his duty to God, for it is He that, in fact, implants the feeling of patriotism in the human breast, and who knows whether I have been actuated by any paltry ambition, and whether I have worked for any selfish ends. For the late outbreak I am not responsible. I did all in my power to prevent it, knowing that, circumstanced as we were, it would be a failure. I feel bound, in justice to myself, to say this. It had been stated on the trials that Stephens was for peace. That was a mistake, and it maybe well that it should not be left uncontradicted. It is but too well known in Ireland that he sent numbers of men here to fight, promising them to be with them when the time would come. The time did come, but not Mr. Stephens. He remained behind. He went to France to see the Paris Exhibition. It may be a very pleasant sight, but I would not be in his place now. He is a lost man—lost to Ireland, lost to his country. There are a
 
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few things that I would wish to say relative to the evidence given on my trial, but I request, my lord, that you would give me per- mission to make those remarks after sentence has been passed. They solely and entirely relate to the evidence, and I have a reason for asking why I should be allowed to say them after sentence has been passed."
The Chief Justice—" That is not the usual practice. The fact of your not having been tried for your life makes it very doubtful to me whether you should speak at all as to why sentence should not be passed upon you."
The prisoner—" With regard to the first piece of evidence, I declare before my God, that not one word that man swore against me on the table was true. He swore he saw me at Enniskerry ; but I never spoke to him on any political subject, or that I ever knew him to be an important member of the association until I saw the informations, I declare to Heaven I never did. He never spoke to me in my life, I knew him from the time he was a child, and I knew him to be among the vilest and worst in that little town, and I knew the character he was. Is it to be supposed that I would put my liberty into the hands of such a character ?   I never did. The next witness is Cordon. He swore that at the meeting to which he referred, I gave him directions to go to Kerry to O'Connor, and put himself in communication with them. I declare to my God that every word of that is false. Whether O'Connor was in the country or whether he made his escape, I knew as little as your lordship, and never heard of the Kerry rising till the tale of it appeared in the public papers. There is not a word of that that is not false. And as to giving the American officers information, before my God, and on the verge of my grave, as the sentence will send me to it, I say that is also false. As to the writing the policeman swore to in that book, and which is not a prayer book—it is an 'Imitation of Christ given to me,' by a lady to whom I served my time—what was written in that book was written by another young man who was in her employment. That is his and not my writing. That is the writing of a young man in the house, and I never wrote a line or a word of it."
The Lord Chief Justice—" It was not sworn to be in your hand-writing, as I understand."
Prisoner—" Yes, my lord. It was the policeman that swore it was in my handwriting."
The Lord Chief Justice—"That is a mistake. It was said to be like yours, but it was not given in evidence against you."
Prisoner—"It was said to be my writing. The jury have doomed me to a painful, but not less glorious death. I bid fare- well to my friends and all who are dear to me. There is yet a world where souls are free, and in that world I would sooner be than live in a life like this. I am proud to be considered worthy of suffering for my country, and when I am in my lonely cell, during the longings of my weary spirit, I shall not forget Ireland, and my constant prayer shall be that the God of Liberty may give her time and strength to shake off her chains.( Addressing the reporters)—I would not wish it to be supposed that it was on ac- count of my position now that I spoke as I did. I am not able to speak on account of my disease, and I do not wish it said that it was on account of my position. It is on account of my illness."
Michael Cody was regarded 'as a very dangerous character, and the names of the judges, prosecuting counsel, and jurors who tried Bourke and Doran having been found upon him, gave a pretext to the au- thorities to extend unusual severity to him. When his turn came to address the court, he said :
"As to the evidence of Foley, there are two men prepared to say he never saw me until he was brought to Kilmainham. Meagher says he met me in company with Baines, in the Canal Tavern, with a parcel of bowie-knives. This, also, is false , for I never had a bowie-knife in my possession, but one which was found in my possession in Lesson Lane. As to my acquaintance with St. Clair, Devoy, and others, I feel proud to be acquainted with them. From the moment I became sensible of my arrest,
 

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I was fully confident that a case would be trumped up against me, and I am not disappointed with the verdict. As to Corydon, he also swears that he knew me in 1865, and that I filled the position of centre, military organizer, detective, and Chief of the Assassination Committee, I am not so presumptuous as to imagine myself competent to fill any one of them ; but in justice to my own character, and in justice to the character of the men who are in the dungeons of Portland, I think I have a right to say that that charge is altogether unfounded. I am now about to be deprived of my liberty, perhaps for life, and I would scorn to say what is false, even to get out of this dock ; and before God and this assembly I say that the charge against me of being connected with that assassination committee, is as false as God is true. I have nothing more to say."
Mr. Baron Deasy then proceeded to pass sentence. In the course of his observations, he fully exonerated. Flood and Duffy from any connection with the assassination plan referred to by Corydon, and sentenced them to Fifteen Years' Penal Servitude each. The " evidence " produced against Cody on his trial, and the circumstance of his previous arrest, " compelled the Court " to give him Twenty years.
After the sentence had been pronounced, the convicts were removed from the cells beneath the court and conveyed to Mountjoy prison, escorted by mounted police, and two troops of the Ninth Lancers.