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Show JOIN BOVLE O'REILLY'S ESCAPE RECALLED BY THE RECENT DEATH OF FATHER M'CABE. Reminiscences of O'Reilly's Thrilling Escape . From Australian Penal Coloney The Priest's Assistance. .... The" death? Of Father McCabe at Waseca . Minn.,-' recalls the ' thrilling escape- of John-Boyle, O'Reilly from the Australian " penal - colony, - which was brought 'about-with the aid of this devoted de-voted priest. : Father iMcCabe was the chaplain who,, in.-. 1869, assisted John Boyle O'Reilly to escape from the Australian Aus-tralian prison. But for this' humble priest, the light of that brilliant intellect intel-lect might have gone out in the depths of the Australian bush, amid the "poison flower of civilization's corruption." corrup-tion." his fellow convicts, and the pages of literature be minus of some of ity tenderest, sweetest songs. : As poet and man he charged against the iron prejudices pre-judices of Puritan Boston, and in a I short space of time he, the Irishman, the Catholic, the escaped convict, became be-came the idol of Boston's most cultured men of letters, and the bright particular star of all their assemblages. Father McCabe, ' at the time of O'Reilly's incarceration, had charge of a "parish" which extended over hundreds hun-dreds of. miles of wild bush country, and whose only parishioners were convicts and ticket-of -leave men. This scholarly, accomplished man had at that time passed fifteen fears in ministering min-istering to the spiritual needs of convicts. con-victs. He was kind to all men, whatever what-ever their creed, and a sincere Christian Chris-tian worker. O'Reilly himself said of Father McCabe: "He was the best influence; indeed, in my time he was the only good influence on the convicts in the whole district of Bunbury." To the priest O'Reilly managed to confide his plans for escape. The father discouraged O'Reilly's plan and advised him to wait, promising him that he himself would try and devise a 'plan for him, saying: "Don't do that. You'll hear from me before lang." Weeks and months passed and O'Reilly never heard from him. It was weary waiting., but the convict, though tortured by the uncertainty which kept him from working work-ing his own plan, still had confidence in his absent and silent friend. One day as he was crossing a plain called the "Race Course," he heard a "coo-ee," or bush cry. Looking in the i direction of the. sound, he saw a stalwart stal-wart man coming toward him with'an ax on his shoulder. There was a pleas-Vt,s.mile pleas-Vt,s.mile on his face as he approached O Reilly and said: "My name is Ma-guirer Ma-guirer I am-a -f fiend of Father Mac's and he s been speaking - about you " Seeing-o;Keilly hesitate, the stranger took a card from his wallet on which was a message to O'Reilly in the writing writ-ing of Father McCabe. This set at rest' all doubts and fears. O'Reilly eagerly listened to all he had to say, for he had come to carry out the good priest's plan of escape. He said he was clearing the "Race Course" and would be at work there for a month. In Feb-! Feb-! ruary it was then December American Amer-ican whalers would touch at Bunbury for water, and he would arrange with one of them to secrete O'Reilly on board and take him out of danger. . One night in February O'Reilly found Maguire waiting for him at the "Rac COHrffA " "Ara - ,l..o. . " i , ,. J 1MU : were- ine faithful fellow's first words. -He then I said that one of the whalers, the bark Vigilant of New Bedford, was to sail in four days and that Captain Baker had agreed to take O'Reilly on board if he fell in with him outside of Australian waters, and had even promised to cruise two or three days and keep a lookout for him. Maguire had arranged all the details of the escapel On the evening" of the day arranged OReilly left his hut and started off though the bush to meet his friends The plan worked evenly and the same night they reached the sea and had embarked in the waiting boat. By sun- rth.e, b1at had pot almost out of sight of land. The course -a as a stralgh' line of forty miles across Georgraphe Bay. It had been arranged to lie in wait for the Vigilant on the further shore and row toward her as she passed the northern end of the bay Through some oversight neither food nor drink had been provided and soon the occupants of the boat began to suffer suf-fer the pangs of hunger and thirst. Finally Fi-nally the boat was put ashcre and they wandered for houra through the dried swamps in search of water Fortunately there was a man living a few miles away whom the Maguires thought well of; and it was decided tnat the other three men should go to his house for food and drink, leaving O Reilly in the bush for safety, one to return with sustenance for the fugitive rrti e coma .com? unobserved. This was done, and the next day the party started again for the beach when they soon espied the Vigilant' Losing no time, they pulled cheerily toward to-ward the vessel which seemed to be steering straight toward them , when suddenly it changed its course 'and pased on, leaving the little boat to its fate. ; The intense bitterness of O'Reilly's disappointment was now increased by the sense of danged. At any moment discovery was liable. However, his good friends did not desert him. They rowed ashore again and it. was decided that O'Reilly should be left in the bush, as before, while the others went I to Johnson's. It was necessary to. trut the Englishman with the secret and let him know the hiding place ct the fugi- I tlve. for his friends were obliged to go I back and arrange for his ebape by one of. the other whfile ships., ,nl the meantime mean-time O'Reilly, sick with despair, found an old boat of Johnson's and mi t to scu alone.in the- bare chsnrp ef b?ing ab'" ' tu aUfactlthe- iK-ticc 0Lhe; Vigilant. Of J i . I ' r his cruel disappointment a second time, after a night alone in a mere shell on an unknown sea. when he Atas near I: enough to hear voices on the deck of the Vigilant, it is needless to dwell. Rowing wearily back to shore he made; his lonely way again to Johnson's, where after four days he was cheered by the arrival of Maguire and hi3 friend, who had come again to see him through. This time Maguire brought a brief letter from Father McCabe asking ask-ing O'Reilly to remember him. He had aranged with Captain Gifford of the ua.ru uazene of New Bedford, which I was to sail next day, to take 0"Reilly I on board. In order to insure the fulfilment fulfil-ment of this agreement, the good Father Fath-er had paid the Captain 10 to carry his friend as far as Java. Soon after daybreak the next Monday Mon-day the men went down to the beach. By neon they saw the two whaleboata under full headway. Towards evening they were hailed by the vessel, and it voice shouted O'Reilly's name and cried out: "Come on board." They pulled alongside and O'Reilly wa? helped on board. He was warmly-welcomed by Captain Gifford. and as the J boat pushed off from the ship Maguire f stood up and cried: "God bless you! n don't forget us. and don't mention-our fiaraes till you know it's all over." This ! is, in brief, the history of O'Reilly's memorable escape so braveiy plaRnol j and executed by Father McCabe. This noble priest, after his part in the es- cape- became known, was obliged to j leave Australia, and he came to Amer- J ica, where ever since, until his death I last week, he has pursued the ministra- M tlons of his priestly calling in the little I parish near Waseca, Minn. |
