Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/65

Rh prisoner had introduced the civilian to the witness and the conversation took place when the three were standing within a yard of one another. The observation was part of the conversation.

Witness. I cannot say what the conversation was about. It was the civilian that asked me to go down to the yard. I don't know whether prisoner left before he asked me to go. About three days after, I met the prisoner at Walshe's public house. No one took me there. The house was full of soldiers. I did not know any of the civilians, but there were some men of my regiment there.

President. Do you know the names of any of the soldiers?

Witness. I did, but I cannot now recollect what their names were.

Prisoner. I think that the witness said, sir, that Walshe's is a singing saloon.

President. Is it a public house or a music hall exclusively?

Witness. It is both; none of the civilians present had been in Hoey's when I was there; the prisoner told me that he wanted to see me the next night at Pilsworth's public house; he said that he wanted to see some friends and to bring me to them; I met him as he appointed; there were two of the Sixty-first there when we got to Pilsworth's, neither of whose names I know; there was nobody else there during the time we stopped; the prisoner and I had some conversation, but I forget what it was; we left the room shortly after; the only conversation that took place was that we asked each other to drink; O'Reilly came away with me, and we went to Hoey's; it was the prisoner who asked me to go there; he said, "Perhaps we will meet the friends who promised to meet us at Pilsworth's"; he told me that some of them were the same that we had to meet at Hoey's before; on our way he spoke about different men who used to meet him at Hoey's; he told me that those he was in the habit of meeting there were Fenian agents, and men from America, who had been sent here to carry on business; that is the purport of what the prisoner said; nothing else that I can recollect passed between us; the prisoner told me the business the American agents came to carry on; Fenian business, he said, of course.

President. Why, "of course"? You give us credit for knowing more than we do.

Witness. When we got to Hoey's we met the same civilian that we had met there before, and some more strangers; we stayed in Hoey's about three-quarters of an hour; I had no conversation there with the prisoner; we separated, I to play cards and he to talk with some civilians; there was none but ordinary conversation going on; when we left Hoey's we went back to Pilsworth's; a civilian asked us both to go to Pilsworth's along with some other soldiers; some civilians were there, Americans, I think; I cannot remember what the conversation