Ireland's First District Justice A 1.ittle over ten years ago, on December 28th., 1942, the mortal remains of Louis J. ·walsh -lawyer, dramatist, author ;and journalist:-were laid to rest on the gr1assy knoll of Conwal whose northern side faces to\viards the rim of hills that overlooks 'his native Solllth Derry. His de1ath at a time when his wide public believed that he had yet two decades of iacti<ve, useful work before him was not only 1a loss to contempor'?ry 1etters but took from the naJtional scene one who /always delighted ju playiing a •part in public affairs and who broug.ht to the discharge of a high office the Franciscan geniality and broad charity that made ·his Courts the most popu1ar T11ibunals .in the land. THE impetmanence of newsr:i:oiper notices is almos,t as notorious as the forgetfulness of those who write them, yet it is in •a way a special tribute to the ma!"! himself that Louis J . Walsh should be gratefully remembered ten years after by the many newspaper-men whom he made his friends. Most Donegal people by now have forgotten the full page obituary notices that appeared and the s9ecial articles contributed by men of letters from all parts of the Catholic world. But in the newspaper offices of an evening when the work is done and the last proof 1of. 1a 424. dreary recording of the unimportant doings of a District Council has gone to the compositors, the re9011ters. settle back on their chairs and listen to the flow of anecdote from the.. older men. Inevitably, one of the company will remark "That reminds me of Donegal and the day we were .at Falcarragh Court ....." and off he goes into a delightful reminiscence of the Derry-born Just:ce for Donegal who dispensed his own brand of judicial mercy in the little barn at the Crossroads. One good story calls for another, and before one knows, the air will be filled with stories in whic-h Justice Walsh figured - figured always to his credit and inevitably to the advantage of the newsmen. WHEN contributing to THE DONEGAL ANNUAL what is meant merely .as 1a vignette one must omit details that helong more properly to •a biography. Thus, it is taken for grant€d that the reader already knows in 1a general way that Louis J. \Valsh came from Mag.hera, that he studied under Padraig Pearse, that he was in gaol for his country's cause (though the genial Justice would .have it that he was interned for his country's good) and that he became Ireland's first District Justice. It is assumed also that his war){ as a Cath{)Uc publicist
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