John F. Armstrong Timeline: 1884
March 8, 2017In 1884, Augusta dry goods merchant John F. Armstrong remained active in local and state Democratic party politics in Georgia. He traveled to meetings for the Irish National League of America and, most likely, the Clan na Gael, the secret American Fenian organization.
Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Where Luke Armstrong was imprisoned in 1884, Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
JF and Sarah McAndrew Armstrong’s oldest son, Frank, died on August 20th, 1884, his twelfth birthday. He had gotten sick on a trip to Ireland with his father and been sent to convalesce with family friends in Wilkes County, Georgia. He did not recover, however, and died in his sister May’s arms on the train back to Augusta.
Luke Armstrong, JF’s younger brother in County Sligo, was arrested on April 2nd, 1884 along with ten other men on charges of “conspiracy to murder and treason felony”. After being imprisoned at Sligo Gaol and Kilmainham Prison, the government dropped the case the following November.
In August, the main faction of the Clan na Gael, dominated by Alexander Sullivan, held its convention in Boston. Members voted to sever the Clan’s ties to the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland. They also reduced the organization’s ruling directory to three people, referred to as the Triangle. Led by Sullivan, Michael Boland, and Denis Feely, the Triangle was committed to broadening the Dynamite War in Great Britain.
The other faction of the Clan, led by John Devoy, continued to work with the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland and, like the IRB, strongly opposed the Dynamite War.
American Fenians, including the Clan’s Triangle faction, continued the Dynamite War (1881-1885) in Great Britain. In February, May, and December, dynamite bombs exploded in London at Victoria Station, Scotland Yard, and London Bridge.
1884
January 16th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 6: The men of Sacred Heart parish, including John F. Armstrong, were thanked for their work on behalf of the Sacred Heart Fair. With their assistance, the ladies of the parish raised over $3,000.
January 21st, Philadelphia Inquirer, p. 3: John F. Armstrong was listed as a passenger on the City of Maeon steamship, which left for Savannah on Saturday, January 19th.
February 26, War in the Shadows, p. vii: Dynamite bomb exploded in London at Victoria Station. Unexploded bombs found at Charing Cross, Paddington, and Ludgate Hill.
April 3rd, Freeman’s Journal (Ireland), p. 7: Eleven men in County Sligo, Ireland, including JF’s younger brother Luke Armstrong, were arrested at their homes the night of April 2nd, 1882. The men were charged with “conspiracy to murder” for crimes that were committed in December 1881 and March 1882.
April 11th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 4: Advertisement for an Easter Monday Ball sponsored by the Augusta Chapter of the Irish National League of America. John F. Armstrong was a member of the reception committee.
May 6th, Dublin Daily Express (Ireland), p. 5: The eleven men – one of whom was Luke Armstrong – arrested in Tubbercurry in County Sligo on April 2nd and charged with “conspiracy to murder” were brought before magistrates on the morning of May 6th to begin the investigation into the charges against them. Witnesses identified the accused as Fenians associated with PJ Sheridan, one of the leaders of the Invincibles, an assassination group responsible for the Phoenix Park murders of the Chief Secretary of Ireland and the Undersecretary in Dublin on May 6th, 1882.
May 20th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 6: At a meeting of the Organization of Augusta Real Estate and Improvement Company, John F. Armstrong was elected to the auditing committee.
May 30th, The Times (London), p. 7: West London was rocked by the explosions of three dynamite bombs. The first was at Scotland Yard, the second at the Junior Carlton Club, and the third near the Army and Navy Club.
May 30th, War in the Shadows, p. viii: In addition to the three explosions mentioned in the May 30th London Times, dynamite was found in London at Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.
August, War in the Shadows, pp. 166-167: The Clan na Gael had divided into two factions led by Alexander Sullivan and John Devoy. In August, the Sullivan faction held a small convention in Boston and officially broke ties with the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland. It also reduced its Executive Directory from eleven to three members known as the Triangle. The Triangle gained control over the Clan’s treasury and used it to finance the controversial dynamite campaign in Britain. The Irish Republican Brotherhood and many American Fenians, most notably John Devoy, strongly opposed the Dynamite War.
August, Blood Runs Green, pp. 52-53: The Clan na Gael convention of 1884 became known as the “Triangle Convention” because the representatives voted to reduce the Executive Directory to three people: Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland, and Denis Feely. Sullivan made sure that John Devoy, who opposed the Triangle’s part in the Dynamite War in Great Britain, was not invited to the convention. A previous convention, with a larger number of delegates, was held in Chicago in 1881.
August 13th & 14th, Second Annual Convention of the Irish National League of America Held at Boston, Massachusetts on August 13th & 14th, 1884, p. 2: The officers elected at the 1884 Irish National League of America (INLA) convention were Patrick Egan, President; O’Neill Ryan of St. Louis, Missouri, Vice-President; Thomas F. Dougherty of Boston, Massachusetts, Vice-President; M. F. Wilhere of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Vice-President; Rev. Chas. O’Reilly, D.D. of Detroit, Michigan, Treasurer; Roger Walsh of Lincoln, Nebraska, Secretary. Delegates chosen for the National Council of Seven were: Honorable M.V. Gannon of Davenport, Iowa; Timothy Moroney of New Orleans, Louisiana; Thomas Flatley of Boston, Massachusetts; Col. M. Boland of Denver, Colorado; M.B. Holmes of Jersey City, New Jersey; Hugh J. Carrol of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; and Honorable J.G. Donnelly of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (John F. Armstrong did not serve on the National Council of Seven in 1884.)
– Georgia delegates to the INLA convention were John F. Armstrong of Augusta and John B. Killourhy of Savannah. Armstrong was selected to represent Georgia on the National Executive Committee, a group made up of one representative from each state. Armstrong was also chosen to serve on the Committee of Resolutions, the Committee of Constitution and as a vice-president on the Committee of Organization at the convention.
August 15th, Worcester Daily Spy (Worcester, MA), p. 1: At the annual Irish National League of America meeting in Boston, John Francis Armstrong was appointed to the organization’s Executive Committee.
August 19th, Boston Weekly Globe, p. 5: The Irish National League Convention opened in Boston the day before. League president, Alexander Sullivan, did not run for re-election. Patrick Egan, the former treasurer of the Irish National Land League in Ireland, was voted president. Egan had previously been identified by British agents as one of the planners behind the Phoenix Park murders in Dublin in 1882.
August 20th, Atlanta Constitution, p. 835: Frank Armstrong, the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Armstrong died on Saturday, August 16th, his twelfth birthday. He was on the way home to Augusta from Wilkes County, where he had been staying with family friends to recover from an illness. Mr. Armstrong returned from the Irish National League meeting in Boston for the funeral.
August 23rd, Irish American Weekly (NY), pp. 1 and 8: The annual Irish National League of America meeting was held in Boston. John F. Armstrong of Georgia served on the Committee of Resolutions and the Committee of Organization. Armstrong was also voted a vice-president of the organization.
August 23rd, Sligo Gaol Prison Register, no page numbers (Look for a commitment date of 2 April 1882 for Luke Armstrong, Tubbercurry shopkeeper): Prisoner removed to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin by order of the Lord Lieutenant on 23/8/1884.
September 3rd, The Morning News (Belfast, Ireland), p. 5: In an article about the Irish National League of America convention in Boston, John F. Armstrong was described as the “point of order’ Parliamentarian of the Convention, and a keen debater”.
November 12th, Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 5: The Tubbercurry Conspiracy case was dropped by the government after the acquittal of Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the twelve men charged in the case, on November 10, 1884. Luke Armstrong, JF’s younger brother, was one of the defendants charged in the case.
December 14th, The Times (London), p. 10: Dynamite exploded at one of the buttresses supporting London Bridge between five and six in the evening on Saturday, December 13th.
References
(1884). Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). Chicago Daily Tribune. Retrieved February and March 2017 from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). Elkhart Daily Review (Elkhart, IN). Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). Irish Nation (NY). Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). The Morning News (Belfast, Ireland). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). Muskegon Chronicle (Muskegon, MI). Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). The Sun (New York). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1884). The Times (London). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
Boston Weekly Globe. “Liberty’s League.” 19 August 1884, p. 5. Accessed March 2017 at Newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/58648577/?terms=Alexander%2BSullivan
Dublin Daily Express (Ireland). “Important Evidence of an Approver. Startling Revelations.” 6 May 1884, p. 5. Accessed March 2017 at the British Newspaper Archive at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0001384%2f18840506%2f111
Freeman’s Journal (Ireland). “Alleged Conspiracy to Murder. Numerous Arrests in Sligo”. 13 April 1882, p. 7. Accessed March 2017 at the British Newspaper Archive at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000056%2f18840403%2f033
Golway, Terry. Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America’s Fight for Ireland’s Freedom. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print.
Irish American Weekly (New York). “The Boston Convention”. 14 August 1884, p. 1. Accessed March 2017 at Genealogybank.com.
Kenna, Shane. War in the Shadows: The Irish-American Fenians Who Bombed Victorian Britain. Irish Academic Press: Merrion Press, 2014. Print.
Kilmainham Prison Court Registry of Prisoners for Trial Before the Honorable Mister Justice Harrison. County Sligo Prisoner Luke Armstrong. 27th May 1884 and 7 November 1984. From Irish Prison Registers 1790-1924 accessed March 2017 at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018280%2f4492663%2f00272&parentid=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018280%2f4492663%2f00272%2f003
***Note: Armstrong was arrested on 2 April 1884 in Tubbercurry and imprisoned at Sligo Gaol in Sligo Town and in Kilmainham Prison in Dublin. He was bailed from Kilmainham Prison on 27th October 1884. The case was abandoned by the court after the 10 Nov 1884 acquittal of Patrick Fitzgerald.
Moody, T.W. and F.X. Martin, Editors. The Course of Irish History. Dublin: The Mercier Press, 1993. Print.
O’Brien, Gillian. Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2015. Print.
Second Annual Convention of the Irish National League of America Held at Boston, Massachusetts on August 13th & 14th, 1884. Lincoln, Nebraska: Journal Co., State Printers, 1884. Accessed in April 2017 at Books.google.com at https://books.google.com/books?id=hPULAQAAMAAJ&q=Armstrong&source=gbs_word_cloud_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sligo Gaol General Register of Prisoners. 2 April 1884 commital date. Prisoner Luke Armstrong, resident of Tullyvellia. From Irish Prison Registers 1790-1924 accessed March 2017 at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018281%2f4492692%2f00701&parentid=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018281%2f4492692%2f00701%2f015&highlights=%22%22
***Note: According to the Sligo Gaol General Register of Prisoners, Luke Armstrong was transferred to Kilmainham Prison in Dublin on 11 Sept 1884 and 17 Oct 1884.
Sligo Gaol Prison Register. 2 April 1884 commital date. Prisoner Luke Armstrong, shopkeeper and resident of Tullyvellia. From Irish Prison Registers 1790-1924 accessed March 2017 at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018281%2f4492692%2f00689&parentid=ire%2fprisr%2frs00018281%2f4492692%2f00689%2f002&highlights=%22%22
***Note: According to the Sligo Gaol Prison Register, Luke Armstrong was transferred to Kilmainham Prison in Dublin on 23 Aug 1884 by order of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.