ugh, and I saw that the joke was an old one.

The Invincibles had a few recruits in Mullingar and district, and the
Land Leaguers also made their mark. The stationmaster sued somebody
for travelling without a ticket. He was shot dead in the street
immediately afterwards. Miss Croughan did not meet popular opinion in
the matter of farm management. She was shot as she walked to church
one fine Sunday morning. Patrick Farrelly took land which somebody
else wanted. Shot as he walked home from work. Mr. Dolan, of a flour
mill in the neighbourhood, had some misunderstanding with his workmen.
Shot, on the chance that his successor would take warning, and
accommodate himself to the public sentiment. Miss Ann Murphy, who with
her two brothers lives at a small farm a mile or two away, supplied a
jug of milk, and said that things were quiet for the moment, but there
was no telling what might happen. The house was roofed with corrugated
iron. "Ah," said Miss Murphy, "we were nearly burned to death, myself
an' my two brothers. An' this was the way iv it. Tramps and ruffians
would call here at nightfall, an' would ask for a shelter an' a lie
down, an' I would lay a few bags or something on the flure over
beyant, an' they would sthretch themselves out till mornin', an' often
and often I would wash their cheeks an' heads where they had been
fightin', an' would be all cut an' hacked. One fellow was often here,
an' my brothers had reason to refuse him free lodgin's, an' so the
next mornin' we found the gate lifted off the hinges an' carried away
down the lane. My brothers spoke to the police-sergeant about this,
an' the very next thing was to try to burn us alive in our beds. Some
ruffian came in the night an' put a match in the thatch, an' I woke
almost suffocated. I ran out, an' there was the house on fire, and the
cow-house, with a beautiful, lovely cow, all a solid piece of blazin'
flames, till ye could see nothin' else. We saved the four walls an'
some of the furniture, an' we got L50 from the County. That's the sort
of people the Land League brought out all over the country."

A sturdy farmer living near said:--"An' that's what we'll have to
suffer again, once ye let Home Rulers have the upper hand. The only
way ye can manage these scamps is to make them feel the lash. No good
tomfooling with these murdherin' ruffians. With Home Rule they expect
to do as they like. If I go into a whiskey shop on a market day, what
do I hear? Ever