he prayers and entreaties of the woman, the still was set up
in a retired spot near by and the manufacture of the poteen begun in as
large quantities as their limited resources would allow. A number of years
passed, and, as their product found a ready sale in the neighborhood, the
O'Malleys prospered as they had never done before, the boys married, and
families grew around them.

The eldest brother, John O'Malley, having gone to Galway, succeeded, by
what he considered a great stroke of good fortune, in obtaining a place on
the constabulary. The family at home knew nothing of him, nor had he
communicated with them, for directly after his enlistment he was sent to
the County Wexford on the opposite side of the island, and completely lost
sight of his old home. Proving intelligent and capable, he was promoted,
made a sergeant, and ordered to the County Galway. Immediately upon his
arrival at his new post, a small village in Connemara, intelligence was
brought of illicit distilling near the Twelve Pins, and O'Malley was
ordered to proceed with a strong party of police to seize the still, and,
if possible, arrest the criminals. The names of the offenders were not
given, but the location of the glen where operations were carried on was
described with such exactness that O'Malley, who knew every foot of ground
in the vicinity, laid such plans as to render escape by the distillers a
practical impossibility. Before dark one evening a party of twelve
mounted constables armed with rifles started from Maume, at the head of
Lough Corrib, travelled all night, and by morning Sergeant O'Malley had so
posted his men round the glen that the arrest of the distillers was
apparently a certainty. In the early dawn, before objects could be
distinctly seen, several men were observed going into the glen, and, at a
given signal, the police closed in on the little shanty where the still
was in operation. A desperate fight ensued, and Sergeant O'Malley was shot
dead by one of his brothers without knowing whose hand pointed the weapon.
Two of the O'Malleys were killed by the police bullets, and a constable
was mortally wounded. Michael and his remaining son were taken alive,
afterwards tried for murder, when for the first time they learned that the
dead Sergeant was their relative. Both were hanged, the singular
circumstances of the crime for which they suffered attracting wide
attention.

Mrs. O'Malley thus beheld herself, at a single blow, depr