. Heron, for his able defence,
and to Mr. Waters."

* * * * *

CAPTAIN WILLIAM MACKAY.

In the evidence adduced at the Cork Summer Assizes of 1867, on the
trials of persons charged with participation in the Fenian rising of
March 5th, the name of Captain Mackay frequently turned up. The captain,
it would appear, was a person of influence and importance in the
insurrectionary army. He had taken part in many councils of the Fenian
leaders, he was trusted implicitly by his political friends, and much
deference was paid to his opinion. But more than all this, he had taken
the field on the night of the rising, led his men gallantly to the
attack of Ballyknockane police barrack, and, to the-great horror of all
loyal subjects, committed the enormous offence of capturing it. This,
and the similar successes achieved by Lennon at Stepaside and
Glencullen, county Wicklow, were some of the incidents of the attempted
rebellion which most annoyed the government, who well knew the influence
which such events, occurring at the outset of a revolutionary movement,
are apt to exercise on the popular mind. Captain Mackay, therefore, was
badly "wanted" by the authorities after the Fenian rising; there was any
money to be given for information concerning the whereabouts of Captain
Mackay, but it came not. Every loyal-minded policeman in Cork county,
and in all the other Irish counties, and every detective, and every spy,
and every traitor in the pay of the government, kept a sharp look out
for the audacious Captain Mackay, who had compelled the garrison of one
of her Majesty's police barracks to surrender to him, and hand him up
their arms in the quietest and most polite manner imaginable; but they
saw him not, or if they saw, they did not recognise him.

So month after month rolled on, and no trace of Captain Mackay could be
had. The vigilant guardians and servants of English law in Ireland, then
began to think he must have managed to get clear out of the country, and
rather expected that the next thing they would hear of him would be that
he was organizing and lecturing amongst the Irish enemies of England in
the United States. There, however, they were quite mistaken, as they
soon found out to their very great vexation and alarm.

On the 27th day of December, 1867, there was strange news in Cork, and
strange news all over the country, for the telegraph wires spread it in
every direction