DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0061
THE STREET PORTER'S SON. 49
His distress—and that of his daughter, who appeared to
Keep house for them—was overwhelming, and, not unnaturally,
tn<^ heaviest of their reproaches fell upon me.
You tuck him away after promising that you would do your
best to save him and ketch the other villain !" cried the old
ma-n, with bitter tears. " Saints above us ! and I've been the
means of sending me own heart's blood to prison. Och ! och !
tne curse of Heaven be on me for that, and may the tongue
that betrayed him wither in me head !"
' I may save him yet, if you can only get him to speak—if
you can get him to denounce Micky. Could you not prove an
aMi for the night of the robbery ?"
The old man paused in his lamentations to think for a
moment, and then honestly confessed that the night of the
robbery and that which followed were twoon which he was certain
his son was not at home. I had therefore no doubt but Pat had
actually been engaged in the robbery, which had been executed
ln a clumsy and haphazard fashion, quite in keeping with the
two men in custody. I got the porter to see his son in prison,
but the effort was made in vain, for Pat would not open his
mouth. Tears, prayers, and entreaties were showered upon
mm in vain, and the only thing which moved him was his old
lather lifting his hands to invoke the curse of heaven upon his
ungrateful head.
Don't, father, dear!—don't," he piteously cried, grasping
through the bars at the feeble arms of his father as they were
about to be upraised ; " don't say the black words, for sure
J-ve an oath on me sowl, and I can't break it!"
„ Well, well, poor lad !" and the father struggled no more.
May the Almighty give ye strinth to throw id offand so
ey parted, and the misguided victim went unflinchingly to his
IVr \ Th.ere was not the smallest tittle of evidence to connect
lcky with the crime, and after a short .detention he was
^berated. Pat was tried shortly after at the High Court, and
en(t^need to eighteen months' imprisonment.
s}. ^"'.Patrick dear! it's somebody else should be in your
a°es tllls day," came like a " keen " from among the audience
ne was led out; and the cry seemed to unman him a little,
I0r it came from his sister.
some time after, when the circumstances had faded a little
w J^J memory, I was over in the jail seeing a prisoner who
no 1 near * not'cec^ tne porter's son, whose head was
f. w closely cropped, and his appearance considerably changed
T-t. Q
His distress—and that of his daughter, who appeared to
Keep house for them—was overwhelming, and, not unnaturally,
tn<^ heaviest of their reproaches fell upon me.
You tuck him away after promising that you would do your
best to save him and ketch the other villain !" cried the old
ma-n, with bitter tears. " Saints above us ! and I've been the
means of sending me own heart's blood to prison. Och ! och !
tne curse of Heaven be on me for that, and may the tongue
that betrayed him wither in me head !"
' I may save him yet, if you can only get him to speak—if
you can get him to denounce Micky. Could you not prove an
aMi for the night of the robbery ?"
The old man paused in his lamentations to think for a
moment, and then honestly confessed that the night of the
robbery and that which followed were twoon which he was certain
his son was not at home. I had therefore no doubt but Pat had
actually been engaged in the robbery, which had been executed
ln a clumsy and haphazard fashion, quite in keeping with the
two men in custody. I got the porter to see his son in prison,
but the effort was made in vain, for Pat would not open his
mouth. Tears, prayers, and entreaties were showered upon
mm in vain, and the only thing which moved him was his old
lather lifting his hands to invoke the curse of heaven upon his
ungrateful head.
Don't, father, dear!—don't," he piteously cried, grasping
through the bars at the feeble arms of his father as they were
about to be upraised ; " don't say the black words, for sure
J-ve an oath on me sowl, and I can't break it!"
„ Well, well, poor lad !" and the father struggled no more.
May the Almighty give ye strinth to throw id offand so
ey parted, and the misguided victim went unflinchingly to his
IVr \ Th.ere was not the smallest tittle of evidence to connect
lcky with the crime, and after a short .detention he was
^berated. Pat was tried shortly after at the High Court, and
en(t^need to eighteen months' imprisonment.
s}. ^"'.Patrick dear! it's somebody else should be in your
a°es tllls day," came like a " keen " from among the audience
ne was led out; and the cry seemed to unman him a little,
I0r it came from his sister.
some time after, when the circumstances had faded a little
w J^J memory, I was over in the jail seeing a prisoner who
no 1 near * not'cec^ tne porter's son, whose head was
f. w closely cropped, and his appearance considerably changed
T-t. Q