THE PARNELL MEETING.
The Butte Miner, Butte, 1883-06-17, p.4
Summary
Report of the public meeting at the Renshaw Opera House in Butte on 16 June 1883 at which a branch of the Irish National League of America was formed. Resolutions of sympathy with Charles Stewart Parnell were passed; a separate resolution condemned Pope Leo XIII's recent interference in the temporal political activity of Irish Catholics while affirming spiritual obedience to him. Officers elected: James Mathews (President); J. T. Sullivan (Vice-President); Jno. H. Curtis (Cor. Secretary); James H. Lynch (Fin. Secretary); Samuel Mulville (Treasurer); James A. Murray, Patrick Coalan, John Maguire (trustees). Initiation fee $1, monthly dues 50 cents. Thirty members enrolled on the spot; $186 subscribed to the Parnell testimonial fund.
Narrative
A large meeting of Irish citizens at Renshaw Opera House in Butte, on the night of 16 June 1883, organised a branch of the Irish National League of America and passed resolutions pledging support to Charles Stewart Parnell while emphatically repudiating Pope Leo XIII's intervention in Irish temporal affairs as sympathetic to England. James Mathews was elected president of the new branch, with James A. Murray, Patrick Coalan, and John Maguire among the trustees. Thirty members enrolled on the spot and $186 was subscribed to the Parnell testimonial fund.
- “we emphatically repudiate his claim to exercise any authority over us as Irishmen while we vindicate the solemn and sacred duty we owe our mother country”
- “we hereby pledge him our faith, support and sympathy, now and in the future, in all his efforts to alleviate the sufferings of Ireland and the Irish people”
AI-generated (claude-sonnet-4-6). Verify against the transcription before quoting.
Also mentioned
- John Maguire · meeting_chairman_and_trustee
- John H. Curtis · secretary_and_corresponding_secretary
- James A. Murray · resolutions_committee_and_trustee
- James Mathews · president_butte_inla
- J. T. Sullivan · vice_president_butte_inla
- James H. Lynch · financial_secretary_butte_inla
- Samuel Mulville · treasurer_butte_inla
- Patrick Coalan · trustee_butte_inla
- Charles Stewart Parnell · subject_of_sympathy_resolutions
- Pope Leo XIII · subject_of_critical_resolutions
Places
- Butte, Montana (primary)
- Ireland (context)
Themes
Story threads
Tags
- evidence_primary
- context_setting
Source type
news_item, public_meeting_report, list_of_officers
Transcription
Open questions
- Do any of the 1883 Butte INLA officers (Curtis, Mathews, Sullivan, Lynch, Mulville, Murray, Coalan, Maguire) recur in the Butte AOH clippings later in the 1880s and 1890s? AOH/INLA memberships overlapped heavily. Cross-link as those clippings come in.
- Patrick Coalan — unusual surname spelling. Possibly Coalan / Cohalan / Collins. Worth checking against the 1880 or 1890 census for Butte.