to protect his. However, O’Donovan Rossa’s suspicions had been roused when the prisoners had asked to see their wives. The authorities declined, but O’Donovan Rossa commented that Nagle had been allowed to see his wife. He initially put this down to Nagle being friendly with a police officer, until he realised the real reason and became aware of the deception. The prisoners were charged with Treason Felony and attempting to levy war upon the Queen, but later their sentence was increased to High Treason, an offence punishable by death. On learning this, O’Donovan Rossa became convinced that he was going to be hanged by the state, and preparing himself for death, he recalled how he was ready to die, pledging to ‘defy them to the bitter end’.22 Eventually brought before a Magistrates Court, O’Donovan Rossa and his comrades were taken to Richmond Prison in the outer Dublin suburbs to await trial as prisoners on remand. He was concerned for Mary Jane and wrote her a letter suggesting she should leave for America. Explaining why she should emigrate, he suggested that her life in Ireland, due to his imprisonment, would be frightening: ‘I would rather have you live there than die, or (what is much the same to you or me) be dependent upon anyone here.’23
Arriving at Richmond Prison, O’Donovan Rossa remembered his time in Cork Prison. He noted, however, that the experience in Dublin was far worse – he recalled that upon entry to the institution, ‘they stripped me naked, took my clothes… I was told I would be allowed to pay for my board, but if I did not pay I should work’.24 Once in prison, he was treated to a system of silence, supervision and separation, where prisoners were not allowed to speak to each other and were held in separate cells. He was allowed one hour of exercise in the prison yards, supervised by prison authorities. He recalled that ‘the most rigid precautions were taken lest we should carry on any kind of conversation during this hour’.25 As previously mentioned, O’Donovan Rossa was worried about Mary Jane’s welfare, as well as that of his family. O’Donovan Rossa strongly believed that he was going to be convicted and sentenced to either imprisonment or execution, and in this vein recommended to Mary Jane the importance of taking the family to America. He concluded that while in Ireland, there would be a vendetta against his family because of their convict father, and they would have a greater chance of survival in America within the Irish-American network. He told Mary Jane to use whatever resources she had to leave Ireland and suggested she come to Richmond Prison and collect his watch and chain for pawning. While Mary Jane resolved to go to America while he was in prison, she was determined to remain in Ireland for the duration of her husband’s trial and actively played a leading role in the establishment of a Ladies Committee seeking the release of the arrested Fenian prisoners.
The committee had sought to bring popular attention to their case and argue on the behalf of their husbands and brothers. The committee effectively waged a propaganda campaign, albeit couched in terms of charity rather than politics, on behalf of the imprisoned Fenians through The Irishman newspaper. It had also functioned as a means of maintaining communication within the broader IRB organisation following the arrests, aided by the fact that the police were anxious not to question the women, believing such behaviour was ‘very ticklish work’.26 Commending the activities of the Ladies Committee, John Devoy later noted:
In Ireland there was no regular organisation of Fenian women, but a large number of them worked as well as if they had been organised. They took no pledge, but were trusted by the men, were the keepers of important secrets, travelled from point to point bearing important messages, and were the chief agents in keeping the organisation alive in Ireland.27
On 28 October 1865 the committee released a statement entitled ‘An Appeal to the Women of Ireland’, holding that the prisoners were innocent of any crime ‘even in the eye of English law’. The Ladies Committee asked whether Irishwomen could stand by and allow the families of the prisoners to fall into destitution.28 Mary Jane worked as secretary to the Ladies Committee and developed a strong friendship with Letitia Frazier Luby and Eileen O’Leary, wife and sister of Thomas Clarke Luby and John O’Leary respectively. The Ladies Committee had hoped to establish branches throughout the city to actively campaign for the families of the prisoners and for the release of the imprisoned men. Membership was open to all women and the committee was defined as strictly non-political, although it did not ‘seek to conceal our sympathies are wholly with the prisoners’.29 Defining itself as a charitable organisation, the Ladies Committee boldly announced that: ‘their [the Fenian prisoners] principles and aspirations were noble and unselfish. Many of them sacrificed their prospects in work to for Ireland’s freedom’.30 The ladies were successful in establishing an argument favourable to the prisoners and their families within the popular mentality, and The Irishman regularly published a list of subscribers to the fund. The subscriptions to the Ladies Committee, however, came from the poorer sections of society and regular donations were quite small. This necessitated several appeals and the organising of bazaars, raffles and rallies. The Ladies had also hoped to hold what they termed a Grand National Fancy Fair and Concert in aid of the families of the State Prisoners. The State, however, blocked the event, and refused to give the Ladies Committee permission to go ahead with the fair and concert. While the ladies could have continued with their Fair without the State’s permission, considering the experience of police harassment, Mary Jane advised the cancellation of the event fearing ‘the emptied Richmond and Kilmainham cells would have had promise of an overflow of habitants’.31
The Ladies Committee also faced the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. As mentioned earlier, the Irish Clergy were staunchly opposed to Fenianism. With the arrests of the Fenian prisoners in 1865, the Catholic Church only hardened its position on the movement, lauding the British Government for its stern action. The Church also continued to regularly assail Fenianism through sermons and encyclicals. Archbishop Cullen, remaining dogged in his opposition to Fenianism, welcomed the arrest of O’Donovan Rossa and his colleagues, and the suppression of The Irish People. Producing an encyclical, which was read at Masses and published in the newspapers, he stated:
They are said to have proposed nothing less than to destroy the faith of our people by circulating works like those of the impious Voltaire, to preach up socialism, to seize the property of those who have any, and to exterminate both the gentry of the country and the Catholic Clergy. Whatever is to be said of such fearful accusations – which we hope are only founded on vague report – it is too certain that the managers of the Fenian paper, called the Irish People, made it a vehicle for scandal, and circulated in its columns most pernicious and poisonous maxims … it must be admitted, that for suppressing that paper the public authorities deserve the thanks and gratitude of all those who love Ireland, its peace and its religion.32
With the Church resolutely against the Fenian prisoners, the work of the Ladies Committee was incredibly difficult and despite early fundraising success, between January to June 1866, monthly subscription totals decreased from £270 to £30.
As a prisoner at Richmond Prison, O’Donovan Rossa rejected the silent treatment enforced upon the Fenian prisoners, not only were they a different category to ordinary prisoners, as prisoners on remand, he also argued that it undermined their defence. This objection was grounded in a consideration that as the prisoners were implicated with each other, the fact that they could not speak to each other meant that they could not prepare for Court together. O’Donovan Rossa became incredibly frustrated, and as he was processed as a prisoner he was asked his religion – deciding he would be difficult, and in an attempt to vent his frustration, when a prison warder asked him if he was Roman Catholic, he responded stating he ‘was Irish not Roman’, and refused to sign himself as Roman Catholic.33 Aggravating his jailers, O’Donovan Rossa demanded that he be registered as an Irish Catholic and continued to refuse to sign a declaration professing that he was a Roman Catholic. After much argument, the authorities decided that he would be prevented from attending Catholic Mass while a prisoner until he relented. Bringing further attention on himself, O’Donovan Rossa then demanded that the authorities provide all the evidence they had to them as to why the prisoners were arrested so that they could prepare their defence. While the prisoners were eventually allowed to speak to one another, albeit in the company of their solicitor, the State remained obstinate in allowing them to see the evidence against them. It also increasingly became known amongst
