Daniel Mcsweeney to Charles R. Lowell, June 7, 1881

Mr. McSweeney to Mr. Lowell.

Sir: I am an American citizen, having resided twenty-five years in the United States, twenty of which I spent in San Francisco, Cal. During that time I never was either charged, accused, or even suspected of any crime, nor in fact never was accused of any crime in my life, until on the 2d of the present month my house was surrounded by an armed force and I was forcibly dragged from the bosom of my family and lodged in jail.

The charge against me now is, inciting persons to unlawfully assemble and commit riot and assault. Now, there was no unlawful assembly, no riot or assault committed in the district from which I was arrested, neither was there any incitement to commit such. The government kindly furnished me with a short-hand reporter who carefully took down every word I said in the English or Irish language, and I challenge him, or the government, or all the landlords in Ireland, to prove that I uttered one word which could by any possibility be construed to mean incitement to crime. On the contrary, from every platform I advised the people to commit no crime, to violate no law, but to carefully work within the lines of the constitution.

Now, sir, I want a fair trial; if I am innocent, I want, as an American, to be released; I want to know if my naturalization papers are worth preserving; whether, when an American leaves home his mouth must be sealed, though slavery in its worst form should exist in every country through which he may travel.

Yours, respectfully,