In a letter to Monday's Times, Mr. Arnold-Forster describes in
detail the persecution of Mr. Bindon Blood. Mr. Blood, "an eminent civil engineer," was made Professor of Engineer- ing at the Queen's College, Galway. In an unlucky moment, a relative left him a house and " bit of land" in County Clare. Here Mr. Blood retired, taking with him an old servant, for whom he built a house, adding that if at any time they had to part, he would give this old servant £100 to set him up. After a little time, Mr. Blood found that the man had taken his son to live with him,—this son being a notorious bad character, and suspected of complicity in two murders. Naturally enough, Mr. Blood objected to having this person established a few yards from his own house, and told the father he must get rid of him, offering, however, to smooth matters by letting the son have the 2100. The father refused, and Mr. Blood then gave him notice to quit, tendering the 2100 as agreed. This was Mr. Blood's crime. His punish- ment has been a sentence of death, only tempered by the inability of the "finest peasantry in the world" to shoot straight. Once he reaped an ambush by a friendly warning. Another time, shots were fired at him as he drove along a high road in broad daylight. On a third occasion, five revolver-shots were fired through a window as Mr. Blood sat in his chair by the fire. A fourth attempt to kill him was made some four or five weeks ago. Though both Mr. Arnold- Forster and Mr. T. W. Russell raised the matter in the House of Commons on Thursday, and dwelt at length on Mr. Blood's persecution, Mr. Morley made no attempt to reply or to give any different version of the story. We may assume, then, that the facts stand as stated by Mr. Arnold-Forster.
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