Muriel MacSwiney, widow of Lord Mayor of Cork, Visits Boston in the wake of her Husband's Death

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Mrs. Muriel MacSwiney, widowed wife of Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney, visited Boston two months after her husband died on October 20, 1920, after a 74-day hunger strike protesting British rule in Ireland.  

She came here to express her gratitude to the Boston Irish for their steadfast support of her husband during his imprisonment and subsequent hunger strike.  She was accompanied by Harry Boland, secretary to Ireland's President Eamonn deValera, and her sister in law, Miss Mary MacSwiney.

During her visit, MacSwiney met with William Cardinal O'Connell, and later attended a dinner in her honor at the Copley Square Hotel, attended by numerous Boston Irish leaders. The following day, the visitors went to the State House, where she was received in the Hall of Flags, and invited to address the Massachusetts Senate. 

Addressing the senate, Mrs. MacSwiney said, "It gives me great pleasure to thank you for the greeting that has been extended to me today. I never made a public speech, yet I want to tell you how grateful I am.  I am sure my husband would be gratified also. We have always been friendly with America. We feel as you felt. You have got your freedom. We will get our freedom some day. As you have suffered, we are suffering now. Again I wish to thank you."

At her hotel, she was greeted by the Terence MacSwiney Council and the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. "Several little girls presented Mrs MacSwiney with gold coins for use in relief work among the children of stricken Cork," according to The Boston Globe, and the Charitable Irish Society presented a framed resolution on the death of  Lord Mayor MacSwiney.

From Boston, Mrs. MacSwiney departed for Manchester, NH, where she was slated to meet with Irish leaders there.  

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