erience, however, soon taught the people that the law and the
executive, when opposed, were anything but playthings, and the loss of
several lives on the part of those who attempted, by force, to obstruct
the execution of the former, led to the expediency of adopting the
passive plan. A widow's son had been shot in a tithe-levy; and on the
other side, a clergyman named Ryder had fallen a victim to the outrage
of the people--as, we believe, had other reverend gentlemen also,
together with a tithe-proctor, who was shot in his own field in open
day, his son, a boy of fifteen or sixteen, having also a narrow escape.
Purcel's position was now one of extreme danger and difficulty. The
combination against tithes had been carried to such a height, that
not only were the people sworn to pay no tithes, but all the proctor's
laborers were forced, besides, to quit his employment. No man could work
for him, unless at the certain risk of his life. By the mere influence
of money, and the offer of triple wages, he succeeded in procuring a
number of workmen from a neighboring county; but no sooner were they
seen in his employment, than an immense crowd collected from all parts
of the country, and after treating them with great violence, swore,
every man of them, never to work for Purcel, or any other tithe-proctor
whatever. This treatment exasperated the Purcels exceedingly; indeed,
so much so, that they expressed to the people a wish that their house
should be attacked, in order that they might thereby have an opportunity
of shooting the assailants like dogs. In this way the feeling ran on
between them day by day, until the acrimony and thirst for vengeance,
on each side, had reached its utmost height. In the meantime, a tithe
auction was to take place at a distance of some three or four miles from
the Proctor's. On the morning when it was to take place, Mogue Moylan
told Alick Purcel that he wished to speak to him. This scoundrel's
plausibility was such, that he had continued to act the spy and traitor
in the family, without exciting suspicion in the mind of any one,
with the exception only of Jerry Joyce, who being himself involved in
Whiteboyism, was placed in a position of great difficulty and danger. To
have discovered Mogue's treachery, would not only criminate himself, by
the necessity of admitting his connection with this illegal combination,
which was a felony at the time, but it would also have probably
occasioned the loss of h