Martin Hogan

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

DEATH comes to the Hogans: 1899, 30 December: Elizabeth Hogan died. Her obituary in the Chicago Citizen, on 20 January, 1900, read: “Hogan, Elizabeth J., wife of Martin J. Hogan, one of the Australian military prisoners rescued by the Catalpa several years ago, died at her residence in this city recently. She was born Elizabeth Anderson in Parish Addergoole, Co. Mayo in 1850. She leaves beside her husband, two daughters – Misses Ellen and Lily Hogan. The funeral occurred from the Jesuit Church." --0-- 1901, 26 November: Martin Hogan, aged 68, died in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA. He was buried at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, where the inscription on his grave stone declares he was a Fenian (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152356855/martin-hogan). Memorial stones and grave markers were erected for Martin Hogan and James McNally Wilson "through the efforts of Irish Americans in Rhode Island and Chicago" as part of project by the Friendly Sons of St Patrick and the New York Fenian Memorial Committee of America to erect memorials for all of the "Catalpa six" (https://friendlysonsofsaintpatrick.com/2017/10/remembering-the-fenians-thomas-darragh-robert-cranston-102817/) --0-- A final word from Peter FitzSimons in his Epilogue (2019, p357): “Master swordsman Martin Hogan moved to Chicago, also remaining active in Fenian affairs. He married and had one daughter [sic], though he had trouble adjusting to his new life after so many years in prison and reportedly may have developed a drinking problem. Hogan, who had been in straitened circumstances for some time, died in Cook County Hospital, Chicago, in 1901, aged 63 [sic]." ---00---

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

1877 (?): Martin Hogan married Elizabeth J. Anderson. --0-- 1876, 5 November: In New York, Martin Hogan, Robert Cranston, Thomas Darragh and Michael Harrington were pall bearers at the funeral of William Foley, a former trooper in the 5th Dragoon Guards, who arrived in New York in June 1876. He, too, had been transported to WA as a Fenian convict in 1867/68. Sentenced to five years’ transportation, he had been granted a Ticket of Leave and was just out of the hospital – where he had been treated for heart disease – when he was recruited to assist in freeing the Catalpa six (Pease, p189). --0-- 1880: Census – Martin Hogan, his wife and young daughter were living in Washington Street, Chicago, where he was a painter (1880 US Federal Census). --0-- 1884, 3 November: Martin J Hogan received his US Certificate of Naturalization, no.846, at the Cook County Court, Illinois. This document gives his year and country of birth as 1833, Ireland (U.S., Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992). --0--

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

ESCAPE to America: 1876, 17 April: The whaler Catalpa with the six military Fenians aboard sailed for America. At two o'clock on the morning of 19 August, 1876, the Catalpa anchored off Castle Garden, New York. --0-- 1876, 14 June: From the NSW Police Gazette, p189: “Extracts from the Western Australian Police Gazette… 10th May 1876 Absconders... Martin Hogan, Imperial Convict, Reg. No. 9767; arrived in the Colony per convict ship ‘Hougoumont’, 1868; received life sentence 21st August, 1866. Description: Stout, aged 37 years [should be 42], height 5 feet 6 inches, dark brown hair, dark hazel eyes, long visage, dark complexion. Marks: D left side; cut left cheek; cut left eyebrow; walks firmly; has the gait and appearance of a cavalry soldier; is a coachpainter. Fenian. Absconded 8.30a.m. from Fremantle, on 17th April. Escaped from the Colony in the American whaler ‘Catalpa’, G. Anthony, Master." --0-- 1876, 9 September: From The Pilot, Boston: “The rescued prisoners’ grand reception in Boston On the 1st inst., a grand entertainment was given in Music Hall for the benefit of the released prisoners, who were present. The immense hall was crowded; nearly every seat on floor and galleries was filled. The stage was fitted up with a handsome proscenium, the Sheil Literary Institute playing the patriotic drama of Robert Emmet. The greatest credit is due to the management committee. Polite ushers were in attendance, and not the least hitch occurred in the whole evening's entertainment. The address was delivered by John E. Fitzgerald, Esq., who was greeted with thundering applause. He pictured in graphic words the condition of Ireland for centuries; while Poland and other struggling nationalities had been wiped from the map, the intense individualism of the Irish as a nation had preserved them. The movement for which these gallant fellows had suffered was the embodiment of the national idea. (Applause.) … the demand for the appearance of the rescued prisoners was imperious, and had to be gratified, though it was intended by the committee that the men should not be paraded. But the call was so strong and kindly that the bronzed men appeared on the stage, and were introduced by Mr. Fitzgerald. The greeting they received will never be forgotten. It was plain how deep a chord their suffering and escape has struck in the Irish heart. They numbered six, though Mr. Wilson, one of the rescued men, was not present; his place was filled by Mr. William Foley, the ex-prisoner who arrived in this country about two months ago. The entertainment was a complete success; and, besides its value as a patriotic safety-valve, it will add a considerable sum to the testimonial to be presented to the ex-prisoners, to enable them to begin life in this new country under fair circumstances." --0--

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

1869, 5 February: Thirty five Fenians who had been transported to Western Australia (as well as others imprisoned in Great Britain) were given Free Pardons / “unconditionally discharged” by the House of Commons. Martin Hogan was not among them. He and the other 15 military Fenians at Fremantle were consigned to serve out their life sentences, or lesser terms up to 15 years, in WA. For a full list of those who received pardons, see the Melbourne Advocate, 22 May 1869, p4 (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169267360?). -0— From his Fremantle jail record: HOGAN, Martin, #9767, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1839 [11 November, 1833, is stated on his death record and grave stone] Place of Birth: Limerick Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Coach painter Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Dublin Crime: Mutinous conduct & desertion Sentence Period: Life Comments: One of 62 Fenians transported on the Hougoumont, the last convict ship sent to Australia. Its arrival at Fremantle on 9 Jan 1868 signalled the end of transportation to this country. One of six Fenians, Robert CRANSTON (9702), Thomas DARRAGH (9707), Michael HARRINGTON (9757), Martin HOGAN (9767), Thomas HASSETT (9758) & James WILSON (9915) who escaped from Fremantle Prison on the US whaler Catalpa, 17 Apr 1876. Held at Mountjoy, Dublin & transferred to Pentonville, England, 24 Oct 1866. Ex 5th Dragoon Guards. --0--

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

1868, 21 April: Martin Hogan became “the first Fenian to be reported for misconduct in the colony”. It was stated that Hogan had abused and threatened Assistant Warder Munday at a quarry [Four Mile] by the Swan River, and had walked off to the Swan Convict Station, after declaring that he would no longer work there. An explanation for Hogan's behaviour was given in a letter to John Devoy from [fellow Fenian convict and friend] James Wilson. He wrote that Hogan was "going to kill a warder that spoke slightingly of Ireland". Another possible influence was that the incident occurred five weeks after Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, had been shot and wounded by Henry James O'Farrell, at a picnic at Clontarf on Sydney Harbour, as the first royal tour got under way in a "frenzy" of colonial patriotism. It appears that Martin Hogan may have been goaded by a loyalist warder who had heard of the O'Farrell assassination attempt (Fennell & King, 2006). Thomas Keneally (1999, p496) takes a similar tack: “From the attack on Prince Alfred… which confirmed the idea of Fenianism’s worldwide malice, there was fallout in Western Australia. The soldier Fenian Martin Hogan, working at the quarry in Perth in a mixed gang, responded to a particular warder’s maligning of the Irish by walking off the job. But Hogan was not given the justice he expected from the resident magistrate; he was sentenced to six months’ hard labour in separate confinement, which was as bad as anything meted out by Pentonville or Millbank – hard labour, bread and water diet, strict silence and confinement at night in a cell without bedding, or, if with bedding, then without clothing. Hogan, former dragoon, would in the end serve three months of this bitter regime, darkly occupying his thoughts, before the medical superintendent recommended he be removed because of peril to his health. He was transferred to a work party at Champion Bay." Residential magistrates "were bound to accept a warder's evidence rather than a convict's word, as the Fenians were later to learn to their cost. An uneasy three months passed before Martin Hogan was sentenced.” (Eamon McDermott, 1988, p117). --0-- 1868, 23 April: Martin Hogan’s Convict Record shows otherwise. Just two days after his walk-off, he was sentenced to “6 months’ hard labour to be passed in strict separate confinement”. Eamon McDermott (p117) explains that hard labour in separate confinement was “a severe punishment, in some ways more damaging than a flogging”. Separate confinement was “served in a dark cell, the prisoner chained and denied bedding – or if bedding provided, then no clothes – strict silence maintained, and a bread and water diet; it was interrupted only upon medical advice that confinees were ‘unable to bear such treatment longer without danger to their lives’. In regard to the mental state induced, the Medical Superintendent of Fremantle Prison, George Attfield, felt obliged to observe in an annual report: ‘solitary confinement ... does, I am well assured, from first to last, exert a gradually increasing wear and tear upon the mind.’ When Hogan had served three months, Attfield reported that he was ‘suffering somewhat in health’ and recommended his removal on medical grounds. He was duly released and transferred to a different work-party at Champion Bay." Martin Hogan’s subsequent behaviour was, according to Fennell and King (p81), “satisfactory and he became a painter at the prison”. A further three times he was placed on bread and water, for a total of 13 days – once for “gross insubordination” at Champion Bay depot (this came with 3 months’ hard labour), a second time for “violently resisting officers [while] under the influence of drink”, and the third for “leaving the RC chapel during the service”. In 1874, he was put in charge of the Roman Catholic choir. Over the next year, he earned a total of 12 months’ remission from gang labour – 9 months of which was on the grounds of “clemency” and 3 months for “industry” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930). Meantime, letters home from Hogan “caused the IRB to organize its own [rescue] mission to Fremantle. Hogan also wrote a letter that came to [John] Devoy’s attention” [the Fenian organiser in America of the 1876 Catalpa rescue expedition] (Fennell & King, p81). --0--

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

1867-68: During the Hougoumont’s voyage to Western Australia, “the Fenians organized evening concerts in which Hogan sang. His repertoire ranged from Stephen Foster’s ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Galley Slave’.” (Fennell & King, p81). --0-- 1868, 10 January: On arrival in WA, Martin Hogan was listed as #9767, 29 years old [this is incorrect, according to naturalization and death records], and a coach painter; single, with no children (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/40 - 43)). This record also contains his physical characteristics and his branding with a “D” (for deserter) on the left side. The deep cut on his cheek – described so explicitly by FitzSimons (2019), along with its wartime origins – is merely a “cut left cheek and one on left eyebrow”. On the General Register, his next of kin was his father, William, living at 8 Little Barrington Street, Limerick. Martin Hogan was able to read and write and was a Roman Catholic. His character was “good” and a notation indicates that he had been a Private in the 5th Dragoon Guards. This document also records that in the normal course of events he would have been eligible for a Ticket of Leave in July 1879 (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9559 – 10128 cont (R16)). --0--

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

TRANSPORTATION: 1867, late September: Taken from Chatham jail to board the convict ship Hougoumont, #9032 Martin Hogan was, according to newspaper reports, one of 15 Fenians sent from Chatham for transportation: “The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up, by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank, for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271).

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

BRANDED with a “D”: At some point during his incarceration in England, Martin Hogan was “branded”, a practice continued by the British until 1871, according to Phillip Hilton’s thesis, “Branded with a D on the left side”. Until 1829, any soldier could be branded but after that it was reserved for deserters. Hilton says “deserters were… ‘branded’ with a D on their left sides as a means of humiliating offenders” (2010, p140 at https://eprints.utas.edu.au/17678/2/Hilton_Thesis.pdf), but he doesn’t say how the branding happened and there are conflicting versions among writers. For example, Peter FitzSimons refers to barbaric fire brandings, while others such as Amos (1987) describe painful tattooing using India ink. A post on the Irish Garrison Towns website (http://irishgarrisontowns.com/d-for-deserter/) says both practices were used – hot iron/fire branding being the preferred method until around the mid-19th century when it was replaced by tattooing: “A new device was created to mark the soldiers’ skin with ink, or even gunpowder… The large, blunt points [on the branding tool] hint at the pain it caused as a spring mechanism forced these points into the skin. Regimental doctors described the practice as ‘cupping’." Simon Barnard’s book “Convict tattoos: Marked men and women of Australia” (p55) has several shots of one of these spring loaded, brass “branding instruments” manufactured by John Weiss & Sons of The Strand, London. Barnard says they were used by medical officers to tattoo army deserters. The head of the “Weiss’ Invention” model holds 47 needle points arranged in the shape of a “D”, all clearly capable of puncturing human skin. So, too, the points of the brass instrument featured on the Science Museum of London’s website. Made by Savigny & Co of London, its adjustable points “still bear traces of ink” and were pushed through the skin by a spring-powered mechanism. Savigny & Co was “better known as a major manufacturer of surgical instruments in the 1700s and early 1800s”. The Museum says branding was abolished in 1829, except for army deserters. After this, the mark was tattooed on the body until the practice was abandoned altogether in 1879 (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co155799/branding-tool-for-marking-deserters-london-england-1810-1850-branding-tool). But Martin Hogan’s branding in 1866 or 1867 was – according to Peter FitzSimons’ scenario in “The Catalpa rescue” (pp53-54) – by fire: “The British authorities running the fierce penitentiaries of mainland England don’t miss the opportunity to give their military deserter guests a souvenir to remember them by. Forever. With little preamble, and no explanation – for the prisoner has no rights and may be treated as a beast of burden – prison guards bustle Martin Hogan into a small room, lay him out on a long plank of wood that comes up from the floor at a 45 degree angle, and has an inverted triangle at the top. While his legs are now manacled to the bottom of the plank, each arm is splayed along one side of the triangle and also manacled. The one-time champion swordsman of the British Army would have made short work of the lot of them in a free fight. But they are too many, and after months of incarceration, he is too weak. He is at the mercy of merciless men. To his horror now, one of the warders roughly opens his shirt to leave his chest entirely exposed. A call goes up, and Hogan will ever after remember the horror of what happens next. In comes the prison blacksmith, with a bucket of hot coals. Out of the bucket he pulls a red-hot branding iron, on the end of which is the letter ‘D’... Before Hogan can even protest at the barbarity of it all, there is an instantaneous sensation of scorching heat … and the smell of burning skin. His own… Forevermore he will bear the large letter ‘D’ over his heart. This is what we do to Deserters. In their own prisons, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett and James Wilson are equally so branded.”

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

1866, 24 October: Martin Hogan was transferred to England, to Pentonville jail in north London. Completed in 1842, Pentonville was built “for the detention of convicts sentenced to imprisonment or awaiting transportation” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Pentonville). At Pentonville, he was listed as prisoner #4057, a Roman Catholic and “known Fenian”, sentenced to penal servitude for life. Also transferred with him were Thomas Hassett, Patrick Keatinge, James Wilson, Thomas Delaney, James McCoy, John Shine, William Foley, John Donoghoe and John Lynch – all listed as known Fenians (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners 1866-1869). --0-- 1866, 1 November: Martin Hogan was sent from Pentonville jail to Millbank at Westminster in London, which served as a holding facility for convicted prisoners before they were transported to Australia. There he was listed as prisoner #2551, 28 years old, a coachmaker, and Private 5th Dragoons, no.32. He was described as single, Roman Catholic, able to read and write imperfectly, and sentenced to life – penal servitude, for desertion and mutinous conduct, on 21 August 1866 by General Court Martial, Dublin. A notation says a parchment copy of his Discharge, received 20 December 1866, is attached. His behaviour was described as “good”; his next of kin were his father and mother William and Mary Hogan, of 8 Little Barrington Street, Limerick (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951, Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners 1866-1867). Note: By the 1850s, Pentonville and Millbank were places for all male convicts to serve “their probationary term (now reduced to 9 months), after which they would be transported or sent to a public works prison. This function continued more or less (notable exceptions including the reception of military prisoners in the 1860s…) until the decision to remove it from the convict prison system in 1885” (https://www.prisonhistory.org). --0-- 1867, 21 May: After 6½ months at Millbank, he was transferred to Chatham prison, east of London at St Mary’s Island in Kent. Chatham, a public works prison for male convicts, was notorious for riots in the 1860s (https://www.prisonhistory.org).

Level 218

Dianne Jones on 24th September 2021

PRISON contd: 1866, September: Martin Hogan was taken from Arbour Hill military prison in Dublin to Mountjoy convict prison, also in Dublin, where he remained until 10 October, 1866. While at Mountjoy, two mug shots were purportedly taken of Martin Hogan, and are held at the New York Public Library. A photograph of “William O’Brien”, on page 16 of the Mountjoy collection, shows a well-dressed man in “civvies” with dark wavy hair, a moustache and beard (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9669-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99). A second photograph, on page 86, of “Martin Hogan”, shows a man with a prison crew cut, clean shaven and wearing convict garb. The second mug shot has a notation, “see Wm O’Brien, same page” [p16] (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9768-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99). If these are one and the same man, it suggests a couple of possibilities: The transformation of William O’Brien (civilian) back into Martin Hogan (prisoner/Fenian) occurred at Mountjoy, rather than at Arbour Hill after his court martial as was reported by the Times’s Dublin correspondent; or the photographs were taken at quite different times – the first upon his arrest, masquerading as William O’Brien and detention at Mountjoy, and the second after his return to Mountjoy, from Arbour Hill, as Martin Hogan. The “deep scar” on his left cheek isn’t apparent in either mug shot, but that might be due to their quality. Pease (p12) says Martin Hogan was “a finely-built man, with ‘the gait and appearance of a cavalry soldier,’ according to the official prison description”.