[lucideer]

Looking at the cited source text for this quote, the Wikipedia rewrite seems to take some licence, and the original source itself cited "folk memory", likely itself coloured by stereotypes at the time (a time when Ireland was still under British rule & the population thereof still derided by most academics/ writers, who were by-and-large not Irish) and from an American perspective (the paper is a University of California Press/London publication) Irish immigration was at its highest (with all the accompanying societal prejudices that entails).

Needless to say, this probably happened, but I'd take the specific details of the events described with liberal handfuls of salt.

> Guess I found a brand new piece of trivia to share with my Irish friends and co-workers.

I really wouldn't. They'll probably laugh politely, we're very used to this. But this won't endear you.