1
Kilmainham Gaol 18th June 1916 My dear Maureen, I am sure you will
not be able to see us again before
we are sent away. I do not know
what sentences we may receive
but I am prepared for a long term
as the Chief Crown Solicitor told Dr.
O'Connell on Friday night that I
should have 'backed the wall'. They
failed to make out any case against us
but what do the Court-martial care about
such trifles as legal evidence when the
authorities want people out of the way?
I hope Collins gets off light as he was
an unfortunate victim to circumstances.
He, at any rate, should have been acquitted.
But we shall survive it all with God's
help, and meet our friends again. Goodbye, brave little woman, and say an
occasional prayer for
Ireland's unworthy son Austin Stack
A letter from Austin Stack (1879-1929) presumably to Maureen (Mairín) Cregan, a prolific
Irish children's writer who married James Ryan (1891-1970). The letter was written
from Kilmainham Gaol before Stack was sent to prison in the United Kingdom. In the
letter he speculates that he will get a long sentences as the Chief Crown Solicitor
claimed he should have been executed ('backed the wall'). He complains about the use
of evidence during the courts martial and hopes that Michael Collins, who had a minor
role in the Rising, would get a lenient sentence, describing him as 'an unfortunate
victim to circumstances'.Austin Stack, revolutionary, politician, was commandant of
the Kerry Brigade of the Irish Volunteers and made preparations to receive Roger Casement.
Stack was sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising, but this later commuted
to penal servitude for life and he was released in 1917.