A man of the name of Patrick Tadford Hickie was
charged at Bow Street Police-court, on Tuesday, with sending a letter threatening to assassinate Mr. W. E. Forster, the Secretary for Ireland. A private letter, signed with the initials of the accused, and, as it is asserted, in his handwriting, was produced in court, stating that the writer would be prepared for his attempt On Sunday next,—" would watch him [Mr. Forster] when coming from his prayers," and if he did not then get a chance, would watch again on Monday night. The inspector of police who visited the prisoner had found on his table writing-paper of the same sort as that on which the threatening letter is written, and other evidence was produced of the plot. It is reported that the prisoner had applied for admission to the police force. The threatening letter itself warned Mr. Forster that unless he released the persons imprisoned under the Coercion Act, and resigned his office, he would be assassinated.
he prisoner was remanded till further evidence could be pro- -cured. The case looks serious enough, but the threatener, whether a man of distinct purpose and nerve, or not, is hazy in his ideas. In the letter to his friend he says, "Now is our time. Forster to live or I to die." But the two events are clearly not alternatives. Both might happen, conveniently enough; nor -does the happening of either appear at all likely to render the ether improbable. The public ought to realise, perhaps, more -clearly than they usually do, that it is no slight risk which our statesmen often undergo in our service,—not unfrequently a risk approaching or passing the risk of soldiers on the field of battle.
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