hat their own leaders could no longer control the people, and believing
the destruction of himself and his party to be inevitable, Captain Trant
gave orders to his men to fire, which presented his only chance of
escape. Mr. O'Brien immediately rushed between the people and the
window, on one of which he jumped up, and once more demanded the officer
to surrender. But the order to fire had been given and executed with
deadly effect. Two men fell dead, and several were badly wounded. The
crowd fell back; but Mr. O'Brien remained still in front of the house.
There were several windows in front and two small ones only in the rear;
parallel with the rear was a barn, in which there were two still smaller
windows. Messrs. Stephens and MacManus took possession of this house,
and, placing three or four sure marksmen inside for the purpose of
taking down any of the police who should appear at the back windows,
they proposed to burn the house in which the police took shelter. They
carried bundles of hay and placed them against the back door and roof.
The police seized on Mrs. M'Cormick's children, and held them up to the
windows, to terrify or appease the people. At this juncture the Catholic
clergymen appeared on the scene. Either, being appalled by the scene of
death before them, or being personally cowardly, or feeling that to
continue the conflict would be productive of useless slaughter, they
exerted themselves to the utmost to disperse the crowd. Whatever may
have been their motives, it is certain that, although Mr. O'Brien was in
the neighbourhood since the previous Wednesday, they had not in any way
interfered, and only came upon the scene to attend to the dying and the
dead. Mr. O'Brien and his comrades, finding themselves beset by this
unexpected difficulty, retired a short distance, to consider what was
best to be done. The people were again quickly forming around them, and
all were hurriedly preparing to storm the house, when a fresh body of
police was seen approaching from the opposite direction. This force
consisted of sixty men; the first only amounted to forty-five. Constable
Carroll rode on considerably in advance of his party. He found himself
suddenly surrounded, and was forced to surrender and dismount. He and
two others of the advance-guard were removed. But the main body
continued to approach rapidly; and Mr. O'Brien was not in a position and
had not strength to intercept their junction with the other body. His