(Continuing our series on typical events of 1919 with the help of the First Dail’s newspaper, the Irish Bulletin)
LEST WE FORGET (3)
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ACTS OF AGGRESSION COMMITTED IN IRELAND BY THE MILITARY AND POLICE OF OUR USURPING ENGLISH GOVERNMENT DURING THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 14th 1919
MONDAY, JUNE 9th, 1919
Arrests:- Mr. Michael O’Connell, Main Street, Thurles, was arrested and sent under strong escort to Cork Jail. The charge has not been mentioned.
Raids:- Three houses were raided at Thurles, Co. Tipperary. The five Railway Stations in Cork were raided by armed police, late at night, and searched.
Sentences;- Bryan Shanahan, Grantstown, Co. Tipperary, was sentenced to four months imprisonment for “being suspected of having an intention to commit an illegal act.” The evidence against Mr. Shanahan was that he answered police questions in Irish and had possession of the key of a house in which two Irish Volunteers Uniforms were kept. Dr. T.F. Higgins of Maryborough was sent to gaol for one month for failing to admit police to a Language Movement Concert.
Murder:- Mr. Matthew Murphy, shot on the 4th June by a sentry posted without notice outside Dundalk died of his wounds.
TUESDAY, JUNE 10th, 1919
Raids:- Armed police raided the house of Mrs. O’Mullin, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. The police arrived at 2 o’c. in the morning and searched the premises for several hours.
Armed Assaults:- Seven baton charges took place in Killarney. The local Aeridheacht was proclaimed and a crowd having gathered in the streets of the town were attacked by the police. Many were injured.
Proclamation:- A football match at Tipperary was proclaimed by the Military authorities.
WEDNESDAY, 11th JUNE, 1919
Arrests:- Mr. Matthew Butler was arrested at Thurles Co. Tipperary. No charge was made against him. Mr. Thomas Shanahan of Knocklong was arrested by military and police. No charge was made against him. Messrs. Denis Murphy, James McKenna, Michael Callanan and D. Fitzgerald were arrested for collecting for the Irish Self-Determination Fund without a permit from the English authorities.
Sentences:- Mr. Owen Sweeney, President of the Athlone Sinn Fein Club, and Mr. Michael Dillon, Sacristan, St. Mary’s Church, were sent to gaol for one month on a charge of “unlawful assembly”. The “unlawful assembly” consisted in attending a meeting addressed by Mr. Ginnell, Member of the Irish Parliament for the Constituency of Westmeath. The intention to hold the meeting was advertised for ten days but the proclamation suppressing it was not issued until the night of the meeting itself. There was then no possibility of preventing the people coming to the meeting. The police admitted that the people did not know the meeting was proclaimed and further stated that the crowd was quiet and orderly until charged by the soldiers with bayonets fixed.
Raids:- The house of Mr. Mat. Butler of Thurles was raided by armed police and searched. Military and police raided many houses in the Knocklong district, Co. Limerick. At Rathnure and Clonmel Railway Stations raids and searched were made by the police.
Suppressions:- A Labour meeting was being held in the Parochial Hall, Golden, Co. Tipperary, when the Hall was forcibly entered by a strong of police and military who ordered a dispersal of the meeting. At the threat that the military would use force if the meeting continued it was abandoned. Military with machine guns invaded the village of Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, to suppress a Republican meeting. The meeting was held secretly elsewhere.
Armed Assaults:- Many people were batoned by the police at Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, for cheering g the removal of political prisoners. Mr. M. O’Connell, Main Street, Thurles, arrested for having a revolver in his possession was brought to Cork under a military and police guard of 35 men.
THURSDAY, JUNE 12th, 1919
Arrests:-
Patrick McCormack, Cappamurra, Co. Tipperary was arrested on a charge of being a person of ill fame, and a prominent member of the Irish Volunteers.
Raids:-
The Wagons containing the properties of Mr. P. J. O’Brien, Cinema proprietor and Dramatic entertainer, were held up and searched by the police. Three houses at Feahanagh, West Limerick, were raided and searched by armed police. The house of Mr. W. R. Gubbins, J.P., Chairman of Limerick County Council, was raided and searched by military and police.
Sentences:-
Twenty-eight residents of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, including several members of public boards, were sentenced in their absence, each to 7 days imprisonment for collecting for the Irish Self-Determination Fund, without permit from the English authorities.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13th, 1919
Arrests:-
Mr. James O’Keefe was arrested at Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, by armed police.
Raids:-
Avondale House, Rathdrum, the home of Charles Stewart Parnell, was raided and searched by a strong force of police. During the raid the town of Rathdrum was occupied by a strong force of military and police. Armed police raided the house of James Shannon, aged 19, who lives at Glenmore, Ashford, Co. Wicklow. The raid took place In the early hours of the morning and the boy’s parents, sisters and brothers were put out of their beds while the search proceeded.
Proclamation:-
A Concert and Lecture to be held In the City Hall, Waterford, in aid of the Irish Labour Party, was proclaimed and suppressed by the English Authorities.
Court Martial:-
Patrick Quill of Drumnaculla, Co. Kerry was Court Martialled for having a shotgun in his possession.
Houses raided.
The residence of Liam Mellowes, M.P., 21 Mountshannon Road. Mrs. Mellowes, mother of Liam Mellowes, was the only occupant of the house at the time. The residence of Sean McGarry, T.C., 37 Philipsburgh Avenue, (Mr. McGarry while at the sea-side a few weeks earlier, after a severe illness, was visited by armed police at midnight, turned out of bed and had his bed and personal effects thoroughly searched). The residence of Mr. O’Loingsigh, 24 Reuben Road, South Circular Road. The residence of Mr. MacMahon, 10 Lomond Avenue, Fairview, father of Mr. Phil MacMahon, who was Sinn Fein Food Director in succession to Diarmuid Lynch, M. P. The residence of Mrs. Murphy, Albert Place, mother of Mr. C. Murphy, Manager of “Nationality.” Fitzgerald’s newsagency, 173 Gt. Brunswick Street. The raiding party here consisted of seven armed detectives, accompanied by a military motor lorry. The residence of Mrs. Lynch, Richmond Road, Drumcondra, the second time In a few weeks.
Sentences:-
Patrick Quill, Drumnacurra, Co. Kerry, tried by Court-Martial was sentenced to a week’s imprisonment for having in his possession a double-barrelled shot gun. Frank Gallagher, Sinn Fein Propaganda Department sentenced to four month’s imprisonment for statements alleged to have been made in a speech at Myshall, Co. Carlow. According to the evidence he told the people “You owe no allegiance to any alien government. England has no more right to govern you than China. You belong to Dail Eireann, and whatever it asks you to do, you must do from a Christian as well as a moral standpoint.”
SATURDAY, JUNE 14th, 1919.
Arrests:-
Armed police raided the house where resides Countess Markievicz, Member of the Irish Parliament for St. Patrick’s Division, Dublin, and Mrs. Clarke, widow of Thomas Clarke (Signatory of the proclamation of the Irish Republic 1916, who although 74 years of age was executed by English Military). Countess Markievicz was arrested, no charge was preferred. She was taken alone in a special train from Dublin to Cork, under a heavy fully armed guard of military and police.
Sentences:-
James McCann, Loughrea, Co, Galway, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment with hard labour, for possessing a revolver and ammunition without permission from English authorities.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ACTS OF AGGRESSION COMMITTED IN IRELAND BY THE MILITARY AND POLICE OF OUR USURPING ENGLISH GOVERNMENT DURING
THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 21th 1919
MONDAY, JUNE 16th, 1919
Arrests:- Mr. James Roche of Midleton, Co. Cork, was arrested and taken under armed guard to Cork Jail. On a charge of collecting for the Irish Self-Determination Fund, without a permit from the English Military.Mr. Joseph Lawless, son of Mr. Frank Lawless, Member of the Irish Parliament for North County Dublin, was arrested at his place of business, Parnell street, Dublin.
Raids:– Approximately 500 houses were raided by armed military and police In South and South-West Tipperary. The premises of Messrs. Heron and Lawless, Parnell Street, were raided by armed police. Parts of a disused rifle were found, and Mr. Lawless was arrested. The house of Mr. F. Gogarty and Mr. Gogan, farmer, both of Donore, Co. Louth, were raided by armed police. Mr. Lenahan, Rossnaree, in the same county had his house raided and searched. The Dublin residence of Mr. Harry Boland, member of the Irish Parliament for South Roscommon,, was raided by a strong force of Military and Police. All private correspondence found in the house was read and all the personal belongings of Mr. Boland minutely examined. Mrs. Boland, the mother of the M.P. , and her daughter were the only occupants of the house when the raid took place. The premises of Mr. Hoban, Newsagent, Parnell St., and Mr. Michael Brady, Talbot street, Dublin, were raided by armed police and exhaustively searched.
Armed Assaults:-
Mr. Martin Rice and his father Michael Rice, a man of nearly 60 years, and the father of eleven children, were shot by police at Ardatacole, Queen’ County. The Police came at 1 o’clock in the morning to Rice’s house “protecting” a process server who brought presumably a notice of ejectment. The father refused to admit the process server, and after an argument the police retired and brought with them two other process servers. The party then entered Rice’s yard, and one of the police, a Sergeant Mattheson, ordered Rice to take the ejectment order. “Take it” he said “or I’ll shoot you”. Rice refused, and in the effort to prevent them coming into his house he was knocked down, beaten with the policemen’s batons and the process servers’ loaded ashplants. Martin Rice, the son of the assaulted man, declaring that he could not see his father being murdered, was rushing to his father’s aid when his mother called to him “They’ll shoot you”. Martin turned round to speak to his mother when he was shot in the back by the police and fell unconscious into her arms. The old man who was at this time lying on the ground half unconscious from his beating , was shot immediately afterwards. No action has been taken by the Government against the police engaged in this dastardly assault. The English censor has refused to permit the publication of the full facts of this incident.
The Annual Feis (Language Movement Festival) at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, was proclaimed by the English Military and police fully armed and accompanied by machine guns and armoured cars invaded the town and occupied the main streets. The Feis was not held, but a crowd which gathered in the streets that evening was savagely set upon by the police, and many were injured with blows from their clubs. Among those wounded were many women and children. One woman who complained to a constable about the injuries inflicted by the police upon her brother who had served for four years at the front in the British Army, was herself batoned for making the protest. A U.S.A. Chaplain who was a witness to the occurrence said he had never seen such an attack made upon peaceful citizens. Military and Police numbering 3,000 Invaded South and West Tipperary. They were accompanied by armoured cars, machine guns and aeroplanes. The Glen of Aherlow was first surrounded and although it was 2 o’clock in the morning every house was entered and searched by English troops and police. The troops were in full equipment. One huge military force then proceeded through the entire district entering every house in it. Aeroplanes meanwhile manoeuvred overhead. Armoured cars and motor lorries went up the Tipperary Hills and brought down the herds that were minding cattle there and cross-examined them. The raid lasted all through the night. The English Censor also suppressed the full facts of this outrage on the peaceful people of Tipperary
Treatment of Prisoners:-
The Westmeath County Council unanimously protested against the treatment of the Member of the Irish Parliament for Westmeath, Mr. Lawrence Ginnell. They declared that the Government while professing to uphold the rights of small nations could “not allow the people’s representatives liberty even to walk under arrest without being manacled.” The Galway council passed a resolution protesting against the treatment of prisoners in Galway Jail, stating that Messrs. Hoey, Stanton, Dogherty and Jordan, all political prisoners from Galway, had been deprived in prison of their clothes and bedboards and manacled. They also declared that Mr. Sheehy of Kiltimagh who was subject to epileptic fits was more than once found in his cell in a state of collapse.
TUESDAY, JUNE 17th, 1919
Arrests:-
Patrick Halloran, farmer’s son, Scallagheen, Tipperary was arrested. The house had been visited by Military and Police.Patrick Brennan, Meelick , Co. Limerick, was arrested at home by police and military. He had been “wanted ” for over a year.
Raids:-
Raids were made at the residence of Mr. P. O’Keeffe, M.P., the business establishment of Mr. J. P. Atkins, South Circular road, and his private residence, Portobello, Dublin, the premises of Messrs. Donnelly, Welford Street, the residence of Seamus Hughes, Iona Park, Glasnevin, Dublin, and a number of tents of people camping out at Ticknock, Dublin Mountains.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18th, 1919.
Raids:-
During police and military searches in the Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary, a farmer at Ballycrane, Kilross, hearing the aeroplane at dawn, went out to see what was happening. He was stripped by the search party and examined for marks of wounds. Another farmer was taken out of bed and similarly examined.
Courts-Martial:-
Private Fox, of the Black watch, was Court-Martialled on a charge of having been guilty of conduct to the prejudice of military disciple. Evidence was given that at Knocklong, Co. Limerick, on the occasion of the rescue of a prisoner accused stood looking out of a carriage window and shouted “Up, deValera”, “Up, Sinn Fein”. Maurice Crowe, Kilross, Tipperary, was Court-Martialled in Cork for having a document of a “seditious” nature in his possession. Defendant said he was a soldier of the Irish Republic and he refused to recognise the Court. James Barry, Gevagh, Fermoy, was charged with having a single-barrelled shot gun without a permit.
Sentences:-
Laurence Breen, Ballybeg, Tipperary, was sentenced by Court-Marital to 9 months’ imprisonment with hard labour. According to evidence he was stopped and searched on April 27th, while cycling, by a patrol of police and soldiers, and was found to have in his person “documents” of a seditious nature. Countess Markievicz, Member of the Irish Parliament for St. Patrick’s Division, Dublin, and Minister for Labour in the Cabinet of Dail Eireann, was sentenced at Mallow to four months’ imprisonment on a charge of “inciting the people against the police” in a speech at a meeting in Newmarket, Co. Cork, on May 17th. The Countess was brought from Cork Prison with an escort of military and police, with an armoured car, and hundreds of soldiers in full war kit were drafted from Buttevant. A large force of police occupied the Courthouse. In a letter to a friend in Dublin from Cork Gaol, the Countess said “I was taken from Dublin to Mallow in a special train, with a huge escort of military and police and two policewomen. At Mallow they went through a dress rehearsal of a trial for the benefit of the police so that they would get their story pat. They had changed the charge from the first warrant. Unless they change it again, I am now arrested and charged for advising the people to socially ostracise the police; for telling girls not to talk with them, and the boys not to drink with them.”
THURSDAY, JUNE 19th, 1919
Treatment of Prisoners:-
At Dundalk Urban District Council, the chairman said that a local man named Berrills was arrested five weeks ago. For three of the five weeks he had been kept in a military barracks. He had been taken from there to Belfast Jail. There he had been for a fortnight, denied visits from his friends, refused food from outside, and refused leave to smoke a cigarette. The worst feature of the case was that the man was kept in jail without a trial either by a military or a civil court.
FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, 1919
Arrests:-
Mr. Frank Gallagher, Propaganda Department, Sinn Fein Headquarters, was arrested and removed to the Bridewell.
Raids:-
Many houses in Greenore district, Tipperary, were searched by military and police.
Treatment of Prisoners:-
The Mullingar District Council protested against the removal of Mr. Laurence Ginnell, M. P., in handcuffs to and from Dublin.
Raids:-
Military and Police raiding parties in Dublin had a field day. Seven premises, private houses and business places were raided and thoroughly searched. The search in every instance was thorough, every room and every article of furniture being examined. Pianos were taken to pieces, seats and cushions of chairs and sofas were prodded, wardrobes opened, beds searched, and occasionally roofs were visited. Apparently no incriminating “finds” were made.
Treatment of Prisoners:-
The Limerick Corporation protested against the treatment in Limerick Prison of a political prisoner named Moran who was imprisoned on December 2nd, 1918 and since December 8th, 1918 has not been heard of by his parents or friends. It was stated at the Corporation that criminal prisoners got tolerable treatment, solitary confinement was the treatment for political prisoners.
| Irish Bulletin
A full reprint of newspaper of Dáil Éireann giving war reports. Published so far: (€55, £45 hardback) |
