Yesterday I posted the story of nine Irish rebels who were exiled by Queen Victoria to the wilds of Australia. As the legend goes, all nine men later became eminently successful. Fact or fiction?

A quote attributed to Thomas Babington Macaulay (British poet, historian and politician): "The best histories may sometimes be those in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accordance, but much is gained in effect."

'The Nine Convicts' - sometimes called 'The Legend of the Nine Famous Irishmen' - is a good story, published often enough during the past three decades to become an urban legend, but the facts don't pass muster. Admittedly the information below comes from googling sites like Wikipedia and may not be absolutely factual either. I found many of the names to be spelled differently than in the published story, and my research certainly does not meet genealogical proof standards. Nevertheless, here's what I found to be the rest of the story about the nine Irish convicts, for your entertainment:

• The Young Ireland movement culminated in a failed Irish rebellion in 1848 but inspired generations of Irish nationalists. A group of Young Irelanders, led by William Smith O'Brien, were arrested and charged with high treason. O'Brien and a few others were convicted and sentenced to life exile in Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land).
• Charles Gavan Duffy was freed after an appeal to the House of Lords and was never deported. Duffy continued to pursue reforms in Ireland until 1856 when, doubting prospects for Irish independence, he emigrated with his family to Victoria, Australia. Duffy became active in Victorian politics and was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1877. He quit the post in 1880 and retired to the south of France where he died in 1903.
• Thomas Francis Meagher was a 'man of many lives'. Meagher escaped Van Dieman's Land in 1852 and settled in New York City where he studied law and journalism. At the beginning of the Civil War, he volunteered to fight for the Union and led the Irish Brigade in a military career marked by controversy. After the war he was designated Acting Governor of the Territory of Montana (although labeled by his detractors as little more than a drunk). In the summer of 1867 he traveled to Fort Benton to receive a shipment of guns and ammunition for the Montana militia. He'd allegedly been drinking, fell from the boat and drowned in the Missouri River. Because Meagher was outspoken and controversial - and his body was never recovered - many were suspicious about the circumstances of his death. Did he commit suicide or simply fall overboard? Was he murdered by Montana political enemies? Or, as suggested by some conspiracy theorists, did he abscond with the cash intended for the purchase of munitions and return to Ireland?
• Terence Bellew MacManus escaped Australia with Meagher in 1852 and settled in San Francisco. MacManus failed in attempts to re-establish his career as a shipping agent and died in poverty in 1861. His body was taken back to Ireland where he was buried amid nationalist demonstrations at Glasnevin cemetery near Dublin.
• Patrick O'Donaghue, also exiled to Tasmania, started a weekly newspaper, The Irish Exile, in Hobart. This publication was considered to be the first Irish Nationalist newspaper in Australia. His writings displeased the Australian governor, and O'Donaghue was arrested for having "left his allocated district." He was sentenced to serve one year on a chain gang but managed to escape to New York where he died in 1854. The hard labor while on the chain gang is thought to have undermined his health.
• Maurice Leyne was imprisoned for a time but never officially tried for treason. Leyne moved to Thurles where he became editor of the Tipperary Leader newspaper. He died of typhus in 1854.
• Richard O'Gorman, a young barrister, set out to organize the Irish revolutionary movement in Counties Limerick and Clare. He escaped to America in 1849 where he became a lawyer and a state supreme court judge. One biographer states O'Gorman "wound up as a cog in William 'Boss' Tweed's corrupt political machine in New York." O'Gorman died in New York in 1895.
• Thomas D'Arcy McGee escaped Ireland in 1848 after a warrant was issued for his arrest following the failed rebellion. He grew disillusioned with American democracy and emigrated to Canada in 1857. He worked for the creation of an independent Canada and served in provincial government positions. Following the confederation of Canada, McGee was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament in 1867. He was assassinated in 1868 while walking home from a parliamentary debate. The government of Canada's Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building stands near the site of the assassination.
• John Mitchel was convicted of felony treason and deported, first to Bermuda, and later to the penal colony in Van Dieman's Land. He escaped in 1853 and settled in the United States. A pro-slavery advocate, Mitchel believed slaves in the American South were better cared for and fed than Irish cottiers. After the war he moved from Richmond to New York and edited newspapers there. In 1875 Mitchel returned to Ireland and was elected to the Parliament of the UK to represent Tipperary. His election was invalidated because he was a convicted felon. Mitchel died suddenly while the courts were deciding the matter. His grandson, John Purroy Mitchel, is sometimes referred to as the "Boy Mayor of New York" and served in that office 1914-1917.
• Michael Ireland - I don't find this name listed among Young Irelanders, nor do I find him as Attorney General in Australia or its colonies/states.
• One other piece of inconsistent identity: the only information I could find about the historian credited with writing yesterday's article, Michael J. McCabe, is that he served as director of the Congressional Record Index Office for a time. Members of Congress may submit speeches and tributes  - including remarks not actually uttered - as "statements for the record." It appears that's how the myth of the nine convicts achieved credibility.