'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... in March 1798 , Dr. William James MacNeven was one of the 15 leaders of the United Irishmen organisation that were 'arrested' by the British at the home of Oliver Bond , in Dublin . The now leaderless Irish Rebel Army was easy pickings for the Brits - they began slaughtering the Irish fighters , showing no mercy .......
The men in prison had to do something to stop the butchery of their followers outside ; in July that year (1798) , Dr. William James MacNeven , Arthur O'Connor , Thomas Addis Emmet and 73 other Irish political prisoners agreed a compromise with the British - this became known as the 'Treaty of Newgate' and , under it , the Irish Rebels agreed to outline the aims and the objectives of the United Irishmen organisation and to give certain details of its contacts with other countries ; both sides agreed that individuals involved , at home or abroad , would not be named .
In return , the Brits would stop the slaughter of the Irish Rebels ; those prisoners that gave such information to the British would be allowed to exile themselves to a country of their choice . Dr. William James MacNeven was later to say , re the 'Treaty of Newgate' -
- " It was the best service they could perform to save the country from the cold-blooded slaughter of its best , its bravest , its most enlightened defenders . "
And so the 'trade-off' began ; however - once the Brits got as much information as they could from the 76 Irish political prisoners , they assembled those men in one area .......
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(8 of 20).
The response to Ronald Reagan's first political speech - in the late 1920's , in support of a student strike - left an impression on the young Reagan ; " I discovered that night that an audience has a feel to it and , in the parlance of the theatre , the audience and I were together . When I came to actually presenting the motion , there was no need for parliamentary procedure : they came to their feet with a roar . Even the faculty members present voted by acclamation . It was heady wine . "
Graduating in 1932 , Ronald Reagan got a job as a sportscaster with an Iowa radio station ; while covering a baseball game on the west coast he got a screen test at Warner Brothers and was given a contract at 200 dollars a week . Between 1937 and 1951 he made fifty-one movies , most of them forgettable .
" The studio " , he says , " did'nt want the pictures good , it wanted them Thursday ....... "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
(4 of 14).
18th February : Stephen McCrea (36) of Ebor Street , off the Shankill Road , died two days after being seriously injured in an attack by the IPLO on the Orange Cross Social Club on the Shankill Road . The IPLO claimed that several recent loyalist assassinations of nationalists had been planned in the club and that loyalist killers were present at the time of their attack . An off-duty UDR man was also seriously injured in the attack . Stephen McCrea had served a lengthy prison sentence for his part in the murder of Catholics some years ago .
20th February : Patrick Feeney (32) of Tullylish , Gilford , County Down , was the second member of his family to be killed by random loyalist attack . In 1975 his uncle John was shot by the UVF in Portadown . Patrick Feeney was manning a security gate at the Ewart Liddell Linen Mill in Donaghcloney five miles from his home where he had worked for ten years when he was shot dead just before 9.00pm .
22nd February : Lance Corporal Norman Duncan (27) was shot dead by an IRA Unit as he drove from Ebrington Barracks in Derry to the nearby Ebrington Primary School to collect the children of British soldiers in a school bus . He was a native of Craigellanchie in Scotland .
(MORE LATER).
