Many of them have attained a large degree of popularity
amongst his countrymen in Ireland and elsewhere, and taken a permanent
place in the poetic literature of the Irish race. Amongst these, his
ballads entitled "Patrick Sheehan," "Rory of the Hill," and "The Irish
Peasant Girl" are deserving of special mention. To these remarks it
remains to be added that as regards personal character, Charles J.
Kickham was one of the most amiable of men. He was generous and kindly
by nature, and was a pious member of the Catholic Church, to which his
family had given priests and nuns.
Such was the man whom the myrmidons of the law placed in the dock of
Green-street court-house, when on January 5th, 1866, after the return of
the judges from Cork, the Commission was re-opened in Dublin. His
appearance was somewhat peculiar. He was a tall, strong, rough-bearded
man, with that strained expression of face which is often worn by people
of dim sight. Around his neck he wore an india-rubber tube, or ear
trumpet, through which any words that were necessary to be addressed to
him were shouted into his ear by some of his friends, or by his
solicitor. His trial did not occupy much time, for on the refusal of the
crown lawyers and judges to produce the convict Thomas Clarke Luby, whom
he conceived to be a material witness for his defence, he directed his
lawyers to abandon the case, and contented himself with reading to the
court some remarks on the evidence which had been offered against him.
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