One hundred years ago
James McGrath and James McKevitt were tried on Tuesday at Liverpool for their attempt to blow up the Liverpool Town Hall, were found guilty, and were sentenced to penal servitude for life and for 15 years respectively, — a wholesomely strong sentence. The American Fenians boast that they have successfully shipped to this country 80 of the infernal machines, of which ten only were discovered under the form of barrels of cement in the Liverpool Docks, so that if their boast be true, we have 70 still left to account for; and the assertion of O'Donovan Rossa, that his machinations blew up the `Doterel,' has received some kind of partconfirmation, from the discovery that at least no boiler explosion was the cause of the disaster, since the boilers have been found intact. The ruffians who do these things will probably be deterred by the detection and severe punishment of McGrath and McKevitt. Nihilists of the Russian type are not produced in Ireland.
Spectator, 6 August 1881
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