§ MR. MURPHY (Dublin, St. Patrick's)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether it was proved, at the recent trial of the Falcarragh prisoners before Judge John son, that a scandalous riot took place at the evictions in the presence of military and police, lasting over an hour, in which the emergency men, led by the agent of Mr. Olphert, kept up a fusilade of stones at the defenders of the houses whenever any of them appeared near a window opening; if it was also proved that the 28 emergency men on the same occasion took possession of the mail car, turning off the passengers, and throwing the parcel post baskets on the road; whether these evictions were carried out by irresponsible bailiffs, without the intervention of the sheriffs; and, were these evictions carried out with the sanction of the Government; and, if not, would he withhold the forces of the Crown in all such cases, unless the decrees for possession were entrusted to the sheriffs?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am informed that it was proved at the recent trial of the Falcarragh prisoners at the Assizes that a riot and unlawful assembly took place on the part of a body of men who had assembled in a house in which a decree for possession was about to be carried out; that they stoned and otherwise assaulted the bailiffs and Seriously wounded a police sergeant with a pitchfork. It was also proved that some of the special bailiff's assistants threw stones at the barricaded windows to keep back the men inside from stoning one of their comrades who was endeavouring to effect an entrance. The agent, I understand, took no part in the stone-throwing. It also appears that it was not true that the emergency men took possession of the mail car, or interfered with it in any way. The evictions appear to have been carried out by a special bailiff and his assistants under decree issued by the magistrates. The landlord, under the Land Law Act of 1887, is entitled to have the warrant addressed to the Sheriff of the Court, or to a special bailiff, at his option.