Lead-up to arrest
It was probably abhorrence of such measures that converted Fitzgerald's confidante, Thomas Reynolds, from a co-conspirator to an informer; at all events, Reynolds and several others, kept the authorities posted on what was going on, though lack of evidence produced in court delayed the arrest of the ringleaders. But on 12 March 1798 Reynolds' information led to the seizure of a number of conspirators at the house of Oliver Bond. Lord Edward FitzGerald, warned by Reynolds, was not among them.
As a fellow member of the Ascendancy class, the Government were anxious to make an exception for FitzGerald, avoiding the embarrassing and dangerous consequences of his subversive activities. They communicated their willingness to spare him from the normal fate meted out to traitors. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Clare, said to a member of his family, "For God's sake get this young man out of the country; the ports shall be thrown open, and no hindrance whatever offered".
FitzGerald, however, refused to desert others who could not escape, and whom he had himself led into danger. On 30 March the government proclamation of martial law authorising the military to act as they saw fit to crush the United Irishmen led to a campaign of vicious brutality in several parts of the country. This forced the United Irish executive to bring forward plans for the rising, with or without French aid.
Lord Edward FitzGerald's social position made him the most important United Irish leader still at liberty. On 9 May a reward of £1,000 was offered by Dublin Castle for his apprehension. Since the arrests at Bond's, FitzGerald had been in hiding, but had twice visited his wife in disguise and was himself visited by his stepfather Ogilvie and his friend William Lawless; he generally observed less caution than his situation required. Meanwhile, the date for the rising was finally fixed for 23 May and FitzGerald awaited the day hidden by Mary Moore above her family's inn in Thomas Street Dublin.
Tipped off that the house was going to be raided, Moore turned to Francis Magan, a Catholic barrister and trusted sympathiser, who agreed to hide Fitzgerald. Making their way to Magan's on 18 May, Fitzgerald's party was challenged by Henry Sirr, the town-major of Dublin, and a company of Dumbarton Fencibles. Moore escaped with Fitzgerald (William Putnam McCabe and other of his bodyguard were arrested) and took him back to Thomas Street to the house of Nicholas Murphy.
Moore explained to Magan what had happened and, unbeknownst to her, Magan informed Dublin Castle. The Moores were raided that day. Mary, running to warn the Leinster Directory meeting nearby in James's Gate, received a bayonet cut across the shoulders.
