Feared more than God Almighty

Jack Adair was one of the most unpopular landlords in this country, and I heard a story of him asking one of his agents one day if he was afraid of him. The agent said he feared Jack more than God Almighty; of course this is how Jack liked to be regarded. There was the story of an altercation between Jack and the local Catholic priest, which I won’t print in case it conflicts with other peoples’ version. Sufficient to say that the priest gave Jack what turned out to be a very accurate prediction of events leading up to Jack’s demise. Jack donated $50, towards the building fund for the new church which is now in Rath. Rumour says that this donation rather than being a token of support was to encourage the Catholics to build their church away from the original chosen site, which would have been in view of Jack’s house. The site where Rath Church is built backs down close to Sallyfort stream and I believe there was as much material under the foundation as there was over the ground. In the end only the stone suppliers and masons benefited from Jack’s donation.

Michael Dempsey
Local Historian
Abbeyview Cottage
County Laois, Eire