George McLaughlin began work with Northern Irish political prisoners in the '80s, the era made famous by hunger strikers like Bobby Sands. McLaughlin, who teaches at Central Falls High School and spends his summers in Ireland, has woven a life defined by both countries, yet bounded by neither. He's an exemplar, in short, of our thoroughly modern moment, wherein international dispatches arrive instantly, making others' issues immediately our own, and planes depart for everywhere on the hour, making a Mobius strip of the concept, "Be here now."

Appearances deceive. McLaughlin's itinerary looks modern because we're myopic, focused on up-to-the-minute machinery, when really it's man's motivation that propels things. And as McLaughlin himself has recently discovered, the motivation that characterizes his work as an Irish-American -- assisting the fight for Irish independence -- is an old one indeed. It was born in the Irish Famine's aftermath of resistance to British rule and mass emigration of Irish to the United States. It was born before Alexander Graham Bell himself; born, then, when a man's voice could be heard only by those near to him, when to depend on a communications network meant to trust not wires or fiber optics, but rather people in proximity.

Recently, via just such a network, McLaughlin and a group of fellow enthusiasts serendipitously uncovered the tale of a famous Irish patriot's bafflingly unfamous life in Central Falls, just before all evidence of it might have died with the last men to remember him. And as is often the case, the tale of discovery is a tale in itself.

About a year ago, McLaughlin was talking with a member of Clan na Gael (a cultural organization), who mentioned a "Fenian" buried somewhere in New England (the Fenians were 19th-century Irish revolutionaries). Some weeks later, in a book of local history he came upon a photo of a gravestone: James Wilson, Irish Patriot, Died 1921. Could it be?

No mere Fenian, Wilson had been one of the most famous prison escapees of all time. Arrested for taking part in a revolt while in the British Army, Wilson had been sentenced to the Australian penal colony, Fremantle, a place so desolate and remote, says McLaughlin, that today's equivalent sentence would be life on the moon. Desperate, Wilson wrote a "letter from the tomb," imploring any recipient to plot an escape. It was smuggled out to two Fenians in the US, who got a New Bedford whaling captain to agree to sail his ship, the Catalpa, to rescue Wilson and five other prisoners, and bring them to the America. The journey was filled with hair's-breadth escapes; astonishingly, the men were delivered to safety, their story told and retold.

So how had Wilson disappeared in Central Falls? McLaughlin got help at the Adams Memorial Library from director Tom Shannahan and administrator Don Twohig, who share an interest in Central Falls history. They found Wilson's 1915 address: 52 Cross Street -- less than a block away. More discoveries followed, including residents who remembered Wilson from their childhoods, and the roster of researchers grew. Giving the story a wonderfully American twist, those involved include two Central Falls High School students, Thecia Faria, a Brazilian immigrant, and Thang Hyunh, from Vietnam, who explains his fascination with the project thus: "James Wilson came here looking for freedom and so did I."

This Saturday, December 7, the Search for James Wilson Roundtable is hosting a commemoration of his life. The event starts at 11 a.m. with oration and music at his grave in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Pawtucket, and moves at 12:30 to Adams Memorial Library (205 Central Ave., Central Falls), where festivities will include a symposium, music, and the unveiling of an exhibit on Wilson's life.

The organizers hope for a big, celebratory crowd. McLaughlin says, "In the modern world, we throw away the physical evidence of our lives while we're still living -- we have nothing to show our children. But we still have stories -- how this guy got here, the heartache of leaving an old life, the joy of the start of a new one. This isn't an Irish story; this country is always about hope, no matter what your politics. This story embodies that."

For more information, call (401) 727-7440, (401) 273-3935, or write to don@cflibrary.com or seoirse49@earthlink.net.

Issue Date: December 6 - 12, 2002