Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/243

Rh fellow denied the story; but on being asked to put his denial in writing, he quibbled and shirked the act; "upon which," says the Pilot, ingenuously, "Mr. O'Reilly gave him a sound thrashing and kicked him out of the editorial rooms. When Mr. speaks about the Pilot in future, people will understand his motive."

O'Reilly, ever a loyal Democrat, waged gallant war for his party's ticket in the presidential election of 1880. When the contest ended in the enemy's favor he took the defeat manfully, like the gladiator that he was, and acknowledged it in the next issue of his paper under the caption,

And they were not.