One of these he kindly presented to the
author, which is now in his possession. It is two feet three inches
long, by one foot one inch across the arms. It bears the following
inscription:--
"During the frightful famine-plague, which devastated a large proportion
of Ireland in the years 1846-47, that monstrous and unchristian machine,
a "sliding coffin," was, from necessity, used in Bantry Union for the
conveyance of the victims to one common grave. The material of this
cross, the symbol of our Redemption, is a portion of one of the
machines, which enclosed the remains of several hundreds of our
countrymen, during their passage from the wretched huts or waysides,
where they died, to the pit into which their remains were thrown.--T.W."
[245] _The Winter of 1846-7 in Antrim, with Remarks on Out-door Relief
and Colonization_. By A. Shafto Adair, F.R.S. London: Ridgway, 1847.
Haliday Pamphlets, Royal Irish Academy, vol. 1,992. Mr. Adair is a
landlord of large possessions in the County Antrim, who exerted himself
very much to alleviate the sufferings of the people during the
Famine.--He was raised to the Peerage in 1873 as Baron Waveney.
CHAPTER XIII.
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