The Sedalia Weekly Bazoo

PARNELL'S PREDICAMENT.

A Sensation of Great Magnitude Cast on O'Shea's Wife Mentioned.

The Evidences of Guilt Against the Irish Leader - His Friend is Denied.

St. Louis, June 10. - A special to the Post-Dispatch says:

That a woman could make or mar a man's political career, was one of the political axioms of the late Lord Beaconsfield. It has received strong confirmation in recent events in English politics, stronger in marring than making careers. The polished and intellectual Sir Charles Dilke had the fruit of his triumph snatched away just as it was within his grasp. He is a political wreck, bowed and broken by disgrace, with scarcely a feature of influence among his associates, who at one time regarded him as the coming man. His ruin was the work of a woman. A greater man than Sir Charles Dilke is threatened, and with his ruin, should it come to pass, a serious blow would be dealt to a cause which is stirring the empire to its core, and in which the interests of the people are at stake. It is no less than the "uncrowned king of Ireland" at whom the tongue of scandal is pointed at present.

An ugly rumor which is current, points to developments which will cause an immense sensation in political circles. There are several incidents, slight in themselves, which are regarded with intense interest by all who are cognizant of the reports in connection with them. One is the collision of Mr. Parnell's brougham with a vegetable wagon in the village of Eltham in Kent, by which the Irish leader had a narrow escape from injury. Another is the forcing of Captain O'Shea by Mr. Parnell on the electors of Galway as their candidate for parliament. Still another is the significant act of Captain O'Shea in leaving the house and refusing to vote on the Home Rule bill and later his retirement from politics.

To pick up the thread of the story it is necessary to go back to the late election for the house in Ireland. It will be remembered that in the Galway convention to select a candidate, Parnell came near causing a rupture in his party by insisting that Captain O'Shea be put forward. It required all the influence that the dictator possessed to force the acceptance of his candidate. He had to use threats and powerful inducements to accomplish his purpose, and the fight left bitter feelings in the breasts of a number of Irish members against Parnell and Captain O'Shea. The incident was taken by many as the first step in the direction of a split in the Parnell following, and as the opening wedge of dissension which might bring ruin on the cause. It was a bold action of Parnell, and the reason for it was sought in vain. Various conjectures were brought forward in explanation of it, and the current belief was that Parnell was under heavy obligations to O'Shea or was in his power to some extent. The home rule leader offered no reason, and the party accepted their associate with ill grace. O'Shea has never enjoyed personal popularity in his party, and bitter enmity has existed between him and several prominent members of it. Healy hated him thoroughly, and his feeling is shared by Lord Mayor Sullivan, of Dublin, and other equally prominent in Irish politics. The relations between Parnell and O'Shea were passed by with hints and rumors for the time until the collision between the Irish leader's brougham and a vegetable wagon in Eltham revealed a secret which Mr. Parnell and the most intimate friends of the latter knew the kept safely guarded. Mr. Parnell's residence for a long time was a mystery apparently to every one. The invariable response to a question as to his address asked of any member of the Irish party was that a letter directed to the house of commons or the general office of the Irish parliamentary party would reach him. It was believed that Mr. Parnell's desire for this seclusion was his reason for maintaining this secrecy with regard to his residence. His most intimate friends declared that they did not know where he lived excepting that it was somewhere in the country near London. There was one singular circumstance about the life of the leader, and this was that every now and then even at the most critical periods in politics, he would disappear for a week or two, and it would be impossible to discover his place of resort.

The incident of the collision led to the discovery of this retreat. Early one morning a vegetable wagon on its way to Covent Garden market collided with a brougham which contained Mr. Parnell. While the parliament man was not injured in body, there is reason to believe that a physical injury would have been preferable to the publicity of the incident. Eltham is a small village in Kent about ten miles from Charing Cross station on the Southeastern railway, and in which is the home of Captain O'Shea, Mr. Parnell's recent fellow-member. The lodge has a charming location just beyond the village in a row of detached villas. The fifth house in the row is where Mrs. O'Shea, the captain's wife, makes her constant home, and where Mr. Parnell's brougham stops for him to alight in his periodical retreats. This is where the Irish leader finds repose from his parliamentary contests. He leaves Charing Cross station generally after the sitting of the commons is over and is always met at Eltham by a carriage which conveys him to Mrs. O'Shea's house. The villagers of Eltham know of Parnell's visits to the O'Shea villa, and regard him as either a guest or a lodger of the lady of the house. They know little about his life there, and always speak of him with esteem and respect.

The latest development with which rumor deals is the apparent break in the amicable relations existing between Mr. Parnell and Captain O'Shea - the latter was the only Irish member who failed to vote in the critical division on the home rule bill - when the division was called for he took his hat and walked out of the house. Since then he has declared his intention to withdraw from politics.

These are only the outward manifestations of a volcano which is said to be boiling under Mr. Parnell's feet, and which threatens to burst at any moment. The report from inside sources is that the relations between Mr. Parnell and Mrs. O'Shea have not been confined to simple friendship, - that he has been more than either guest or lodger to the lady. The lever by which Captain O'Shea is said to have moved the Irish leader to do his bidding was the knowledge of the intimacy existing between his wife and Mr. Parnell. It is stated by those who are familiar with current political talk and events that the relations of Mr. Parnell and Mrs. O'Shea has been maintained with the knowledge and connivance of the husband, but the break has come and an explosion is impending.

There is a report of divorce proceedings on the part of Captain O'Shea, which will cause a sensation, owing to the position of the parties, correspondingly equal, if not greater than that caused by the Dilke-Crawford scandal.

Mr. Parnell denies all such rumors, and they are denied by the friends of Mr. Parnell. Every effort is being made to smother the rumors. What the effect of such a disclosure of Mr. Parnell's career has on the party and home rule will be, are pure conjecture.