'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... a disagreement was taking place within the United Irishmen organisation between those who wanted immediate armed action against British mis-rule in Ireland and those who wanted to wait for French assistance : the latter won the day . It was agreed that a representative of the United Irishmen leadership be sent to France to help organise whatever assistance was on offer .......
Arthur O'Connor was chosen by the leadership to travel to France and , in February 1798 , as he was travelling through Margate , in England , he was stopped and arrested by the Brits ; he was 'tried' in May 1798 in Maidstone , England , charged with 'sedition' (ie " talk or action exciting discontent or rebellion ... " against the Westminster Administration ) - but found not guilty !
In typical British arrogance , they had not bothered to 'back-up' their 'case' against O'Connor , believing that their opinion alone should be enough to gain a conviction .
Arthur O'Connor walked .... a few yards , anyway : he was immediately re-arrested , transported to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and charged , again , with 'sedition' . But this time - no 'trial' ; the Brits were 'once bitten , twice shy ' - he was held in that prison for seven months (ie until January 1799) when he was brought before the prison administration .......
(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 .
(11 of 20).
By 1951 , Ronald Reagan's acting career was fading ; then , in 1954 , he received the biggest break in both his showbusiness and political career - General Electric , with plants all over the United States , paid him $125,000 dollars a year to host a new TV series and to travel around their plants boosting company morale .
Reagan went on the road from eight to sixteen weeks a year , sometimes giving fourteen speeches a day to GE employees . Mostly he talked about Hollywood , but when they started asking his opinion on current events Reagan was somewhat surprised to hear himself starting to form a political philosophy in his answers .
Although for all practical purposes Reagan was a conservative by this time , he still considered himself a Democrat - now even that was changing ; Edward Langley , a public relations man for GE who travelled with Reagan during those years , remembers the metamorphosis .......
(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 .
(7 of 14).
14th March : Thomas John Hardy (48) , a part-time UDR man , was shot dead at the Granville Meats plant , Dungannon , County Tyrone . Mr. Hardy , from Dungannon , was shot dead after he drove into a loading bay at the company premises on the Augnacloy Road . He joined the UDR on its formation in 1970 .
16th March : John Irvine (49) was shot dead on the street outside his shop on Skegoneill Avenue in North Belfast . The IRA , who claimed the killing , said that Mr. Irvine , who was a defendant in the Budgie Allen supergrass trial some years ago , was an active member of the UVF , a charge denied by that loyalist organisation .
17th March : Niall Davies (42) , a Catholic Senior Civil Servant , was shot dead in front of his wife and daughter at their home in Glengormley , North Belfast ; loyalist attackers used a sledgehammer to break down a door at the Davies home on Church Road and then shot their victim at least three times in the chest . Mr. Davies worked in the North's 'Department of Health and Social Services' .
(MORE LATER).
