One column in that particular journal prompted an assassination attempt on the writer's life.
He had written of his experience of spray painting barns. The reader was able to infer that the whole business was of an illegal nature. A lawsuit from the gentleman referred to threatened libel. Libel laws then meant that almost any critical comment on a person could be construed as libel under the law. It was common to hear the law of libel explained in the phrase: 'The greater the truth, the greater the libel.' Patrick informed the complainant's lawyer that the gentleman referred to had a criminal record, and therefore hadn't a character to be threatened. The Dublin Underworld of that time were not satisfied.
One dark November night in 1959, as Patrick left Searsons bar at closing time to make his way home, a car pulled up. Its occupants invited him to come to a flat for some drinks, and to make peace with the aggrieved crime boss. Always keen to appease hatred of any sort Patrick agreed. However, he blacked out after one drink. He was brought to Baggot St. Bridge, the intention being to drop him over the edge and leave him to drown. As the wall was over seven feet in height, the two assassins were confident that he would be unable to scale its side, even were he to come to. It was not an incident that would have to be investigated, as the verdict would assume it to have been an accidental death.
However, just as he was being pushed over the side a very personal spiritual force intervened. He came to and saw the faces of the two brothers who were pushing him and felt his father around him. Mr.Kavanagh Senior had died in 1929, and Patrick had always had a special type of spiritual relationship with him.
As soon as he hit the water, he was fully conscious and clambered out. It must be remembered that although Kavanagh was a giant of a man he was missing one lung. On the first of March 1955, he had survived lung cancer by having it removed. It is, therefore, even more remarkable that he was possessed of the physical stamina to climb the wall, and make good his escape. He went to the house of a friend of his, a woman doctor, called Dr. Patricia Murphy in Wilton Place. She put him to bed after treating him and drying him off. The time was 1.30am. He had lost one of his shoes and his spectacles in his determined bid for freedom.
He was able to retrieve his hat on the canal bank the next morning.
That afternoon, Kavanagh and Dr. Murphy went to Mc Daids to celebrate his survival.
They were sitting at the bar, when in the mirror Patrick saw the reflection of one of the men who had tried to kill him. The man paled and fled. Kavanagh likened him to Macbeth on seeing Banquo's ghost.
Patrick wrote two accounts of the incident: one for Walter Carroll, the State Solicitor and one for the Farmer's Journal. He titled the piece for the Journal:" The Man They Couldn't Kill".
He refused, however,to allow proceedings against his assailants. The reasons for this were twofold. In the first place, he was concerned for the welfare of his brother, Peter. He had supported him spiritually and physically at various times throughout his life,and he feared for his closest sibling's life.
In the second, he had had enough of the legal profession and the Courts. To understand
why one has to look at what happened in 1954, when he had decided to take a libel
action against the publishers,printers and distributors of "The Leader". The article that
had incensed him was titled "Profile" , and was unsigned. It certainly defined him as a
barfly. His lawyers were so certain of winning that they accepted the case pro bono.
His defence involved the re-invention of his character. A non-drinker who frequented
coffee shops. As the case consisted of cross-examining the injured party for thirteen
hours it was no surprise when he lost it. Although monies for the winning Appeal was
raised from a committee which included literary luminaries such as John Betjeman and
T.S.Eliot, Kavanagh left the courts exhausted and sick.
His response to his assailants, therefore, was one worthy of his great Imagination. He
befriended them. Two years later, one of his assailant's wives gave birth to a differently
abled child. Patrick was asked to lay his hands on the baby as the parents believed
that this was the result of attacking a poet. Belief in the poet's curse was prevalent.
He wrote : "Words like Eternal Judgment or Contemplation are so loaded with
associations that we are inclined to think of God as pompous, whereas even the
facts that we know show the opposite to be true."
The next time you read the lines of his infamous" Canal Bank Walk", whose opening
lines read-
"Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
Pouring redemption for me..."
or read, the opening lines of "Lines Written On A Seat On The Grand Canal,
Dublin"
"O commemorate me where there is water
Canal water preferably, so stilly
Greeny at the heart of summer...." you may find an extra resonance in their meaning.
He was able to retrieve his hat on the canal bank the next morning.
That afternoon, Kavanagh and Dr. Murphy went to Mc Daids to celebrate his survival.
They were sitting at the bar, when in the mirror Patrick saw the reflection of one of the men who had tried to kill him. The man paled and fled. Kavanagh likened him to Macbeth on seeing Banquo's ghost.
Patrick wrote two accounts of the incident: one for Walter Carroll, the State Solicitor and one for the Farmer's Journal. He titled the piece for the Journal:" The Man They Couldn't Kill".
He refused, however,to allow proceedings against his assailants. The reasons for this were twofold. In the first place, he was concerned for the welfare of his brother, Peter. He had supported him spiritually and physically at various times throughout his life,and he feared for his closest sibling's life.
In the second, he had had enough of the legal profession and the Courts. To understand
why one has to look at what happened in 1954, when he had decided to take a libel
action against the publishers,printers and distributors of "The Leader". The article that
had incensed him was titled "Profile" , and was unsigned. It certainly defined him as a
barfly. His lawyers were so certain of winning that they accepted the case pro bono.
His defence involved the re-invention of his character. A non-drinker who frequented
coffee shops. As the case consisted of cross-examining the injured party for thirteen
hours it was no surprise when he lost it. Although monies for the winning Appeal was
raised from a committee which included literary luminaries such as John Betjeman and
T.S.Eliot, Kavanagh left the courts exhausted and sick.
His response to his assailants, therefore, was one worthy of his great Imagination. He
befriended them. Two years later, one of his assailant's wives gave birth to a differently
abled child. Patrick was asked to lay his hands on the baby as the parents believed
that this was the result of attacking a poet. Belief in the poet's curse was prevalent.
He wrote : "Words like Eternal Judgment or Contemplation are so loaded with
associations that we are inclined to think of God as pompous, whereas even the
facts that we know show the opposite to be true."
The next time you read the lines of his infamous" Canal Bank Walk", whose opening
lines read-
"Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
Pouring redemption for me..."
or read, the opening lines of "Lines Written On A Seat On The Grand Canal,
Dublin"
"O commemorate me where there is water
Canal water preferably, so stilly
Greeny at the heart of summer...." you may find an extra resonance in their meaning.
