ivable piece of carelessness on the part of the
conspirators, it was divulged to a man called Conolly, a Presbyterian
convert, who went straight and reported it to Sir William Parsons. The
latter at first declined to believe in it, but, Conolly persisting in
his story, steps were taken to strengthen the defences. The guard was
doubled; Lord Maguire and Hugh McMahon were arrested at daybreak next
morning; the rest, finding that their stroke had missed, fled with their
followers.

If this part of the rising failed, the other portions, unhappily, were
only too successful. The same day the Protestant settlers in Armagh and
Tyrone, unsuspicious of any danger, were suddenly set upon by a horde of
armed or half-armed men, dragged out of their houses, stripped to the
skin, and driven, naked and defenceless, into the cold. No one dared to
take them in, every door was shut in their faces, and though at first no
actual massacre seems to have been intended, hundreds perished within
the first few days of exposure, or fell dead by the roadside of famine
and exhaustion.

Sir Phelim O'Neill--a drunken ruffian for whom even the most patriotic
historian finds it hard to say a redeeming word--was here the
ringleader. On the same day--the 23rd of October--he got possession of
the fort of Charlemont, the strongest position in the new plantation, by
inviting himself to dinner with Lord Caulfield, the governor, and
suddenly seizing him prisoner. Dungannon, Mountjoy, and several of the
other forts, were also surprised and taken. Enniskillen, however, was
saved by its governor, Sir William Cole, and Derry, Coleraine, and
Carrickfergus, had also time fortunately to shut their gates, and into
these as many of the terrified settlers as could reach them crowded.

These were few, however, compared to those who could find no such haven
of refuge. Sir Phelim O'Neill, mad with excitement, and intoxicated with
the sudden sense of power, hounded on his excited and undisciplined
followers to commit every conceivable act of cruelty and atrocity.
Disappointed by the failure of the more important part of the rising,
and furious at the unsuccess of his attempts to capture the defended
towns, he turned like a bloodhound upon those unfortunates who were
within his grasp. Old Lord Caulfield was murdered in Sir Phelim's house
by Sir Phelim's own foster-brother; Mr. Blaney, the member for Monaghan,
was hanged; and some hundreds of the inhabitants of Armagh, who