court house two men hanging about whom they suspected to be Fenians, and
a policeman made a rush at one of them to arrest him, in which he
succeeded, but not until the man had drawn a dagger and attempted to
stab him, the blow being warded off. The other made his escape."

As to the incident just related, it seems that a patriotic but imprudent
man belonging to one of the Manchester circles had got to hear of the
intended rescue, and was indignant at being left out. His suspicious
conduct outside the court house drew the attention of the police--as we
have seen--with the result, as the paper said, that the authorities
became alarmed. Kelly and Deasy were put in irons on their removal, and
a strong body of police were sent with the van intended to take them to
Belle Vue Prison.

It was the custom for a policeman to ride outside the van, on the step
behind, but, on this occasion, owing to the incident just described,
Brett, the officer in charge, went _inside_ the van. The door was then
locked, and the keys handed to him through the ventilator.

It is certain that, up to this point, the Manchester police had no
suspicion of the intended rescue, and it was only the imprudent
behaviour of the man whom the police had arrested that caused additional
precautions to be taken. Certain it is that if the Manchester
authorities had had any information of the probability of an attempted
rescue there would have been a formidable escort of the police and
military.

With so much false swearing at the trials with regard to the facts of
the Manchester Rescue, it is important that the information given in
books for the benefit of the present and future generations of Irishmen