Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/64

30 I made none while in the cells. I swear that the conversation at Hoey's took place on 1st January, 1866.

By the Court:

Before prisoner told you that the Fenians were going to beat the English army out of the country and make it free, had there been no conversation about Fenianism in presence of the prisoner?

Witness. No.

President. What reason had you for not reporting this conversation?

Witness. I did not wish to get myself or any one else into trouble by doing so.

The next witness was Private', Tenth Hussars:

I was in Hoey's with prisoner some time after Christmas, about 1st January, 1866. I went there by myself; no one took me. When I went there I was directed into a room where I saw the prisoner. Room was full of soldiers playing cards. There were some civilians there, but I knew none of them but O'Eeilly. I since learnt that a man named Doyle, of the Sixty-flrst, was there. I saw him just now outside this room. Prisoner introduced me as a friend to a civilian.

Here Court adjourned to reassemble next morning, when Private Smith continued his evidence:

I left the room with the civilian and he spoke to me.

The prisoner objected to the question and the objection was allowed.

Witness. I had some conversation with the civilian, but I do not know if the prisoner was near enough to hear it. After I left the room with the prisoner he said the movement had been going on some time, but he did not say what movement. After that he returned into the room, and when I went back I found him there. There was no conversation louder than your breath among those who were in the room. When I left the room with the civilian he asked me to do so. When I left the room I went to the back of the house with him, but the prisoner did not come out at all while we were there. It was on the lobby that the prisoner told me that he had known of the movement for some time. That was said before I went into the yard with the civilian. There was no one else but the civilian present at "the time with us. The observation was made in the course of conversation between me and the civilian. We were all standing on the lobby at the time.

President. What was the conversation about, at the time the observation was made?

Prisoner. I beg to object to that question, sir. The witness has already said that he cannot say whether I heard the conversation or not.

The Judge-Advocate said that the question was a legal one. Th©