John Mcmahon to W. D. Frazee, July 21, 1866

Mr. McMahon to Mr. Frazee

Dear Sir: I have received your kind letter of the 17th, which gave me much pleasure to hear from you, and that you have not forgotton me, although now a prisoner in jail, but I thank God that I never was guilty of any crime that I should be in jail for. However, I am in now, but, thanks be to God, I am innocent of being a Fenian, for no priest can be a Fenian. I must tell you how I became to be in prison. I had a brother who was a rich storekeeper in Montreal, who died about three years ago; he never had any family, only his wife. Before he died he brought in the executors, and made his will; he had four brothers and one sister living there; he left his legacy to be divided among these, his wife and the orphans of St. Patrick’s church, Montreal. I having heard that the Fenians were going to take Montreal, I thought that I would go and see my sister-in-law, for fear that she would be in any trouble, as she thought that I would go to see her every summer since my brother died; so I left home on the 30th of May, came into Buffalo on the 31st, crossed over to Fort Erie on the 1st of June to take my passage for Montreal, as the Grand Trunk railroad comes to Fort Erie. I was just going to the office to get a ticket when there came a large number of Fenians, and took me by force, as that there was not any train going out that day to any place, and the steamboat that crossed me over had stopped. I had to stay there. The next day the fighting began, and no chance to get away, so I had to stay until I was taken.

On Sunday, the 3d day of June, the British soldiers came to the house where I was stopping, waiting for the train to come. They asked me my name, and where I lived; I told them; they then took me with them on the suspicion of being a Fenian; they took me to their camp ground, and kept me there the most part of that day. It seemed as if it was for exhibition for the troops and all the people to come and see the Roman Catholic priest that they had got. You would think they never saw one before; but to make a long story short, I suffered for the ten first days more than you would like to hear, and all for no reason. You mentioned that you would write to Washington; I hope you will, and make no delay, and mention in your letter that I will go straight as soon as I can to Washington, and satisfy the government both there and here that I never was a Fenian, and then the Catholic church, and then forget and forgive all my enemies, for it seems that they don’t know themselves, nor what they do. So we look for nothing but cruelty; there is no other appearance. When you write to Washington, you can tell them that I declared my intentions upwards of twenty-five years ago, in the marine court in New York city, and all the time since observed the rules and laws of the country. I heard that Governor Morton has witten for me, but do you all you can, and as soon as you can, and please write to me when you get this. The people in Winchester did well for me; Union, Muncie, Anderson, Middletown, the same. Hence, I am very thankful to you and all my friends. Homing to hear from you soon, I remain your humble servant and faithful friend,