Flier for Constance Markievicz Lecture in San Francisco

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The crucial hour in the whole history of Ireland is here!Can those who are flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood count on you Today? COUNTESS CONSTANCE GEORGINA MARKIEVICZ who comes to San Francisco to plead for your flesh and blood in Ireland, is one of the most romantic characters in modern history and for this reason she has often been called Ireland's "Joan of Arc." Her achievements in behalf of the people of Ireland place her among the world's greatest women. Countess Markievicz comes from the old aristicratic Gore-Booth family of Ireland. She was reared in the midst of luxury and comfort. While a young woman she studied art in Paris and there married the Polish Count Casimir Dunin Markievicz. After her marriage she returned to Ireland and was welcomed into Dublin Castle circles. In 1907 she became interested in the Sinn Fein movement and joined a branch of Sinn Fein in Dublin. In 1909 she founded Fianna Eireann, the Irish boy scouts. This was a campaign to enlist all the headquarters of the Countess. At the appointed hour the Countess, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant of the Irish Volunteers, stepped forward to the British officer and kissing her rifle handed it to the military. After this she was court-martialed and sentenced to death. This was about the time of the execution of Edith Cavell in Belgium and public opinion was much aroused. It was generally supposed that the wave of indignation might be directed against England should the death of the Countess be carried out. The sentence was then changed to penal servitude for life. During the months pending her release the Countess served as a convict among the sweepers of English streets and gutters. The Countess has had an especial interest in the welfare of those who work for their daily bread. In 1913 during the strike and lockout in Dublin she personally took charge of a relief kitchen where the strikers, children, were fed. As a result of that strike the Irish Citizens' Army was established under the command of Padraig Pearse, and with this force Countess Markievicz fought for Ireland in Easter Week, 1916. Many of the Fianna were in the Countess' army during the rising of 1916—boys 16 and 17 fighting like young heroes. The Countess was a valiant fighter but once was ordered by the commander of the Irish Republican party to surrender. Sending word to the British officer in charge that she would surrender at a certain hour the military surrounded COUNTESS MARKIEVICZ will speak in the Civic Auditorium San Francisco, on Sunday, May 7th at 8 P. M. She was released in the general amnesty of 1917, but was re-arrested in 1918. So dear was she to the people of Ireland that in the general election of 1918 she was victorious over her opponent, and thus was the first woman ever elected to the British Parliament. She refused to take the seat. For one year the Countess was "on the run." Disguising herself as an old apple woman she went about Dublin, although the secret service force of th…