STREET-FIGHTING IN DUBLIN

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 153, 29 June 1916, Page 7

STREET-FIGHTING IN DUBLIN

NEW ZEALANDERS DRAWN IN

EXCITING EXPERIENCES,

(BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE POST.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Experiences during the Irish rebellion are described in a letter by Bugler J. G. Garland, of Auckland, who was on leave, in Dublin at the time, and served nine days with the forces assembled to suppress the rebellion.

About 2 p.m. on Easter Monday he was standing in Sackville street "with Sergeant Nevin, of Christchurch. There were thousands of people in the streets, and all of a sudden a large motor-ear whizzed past us. In it was a noted Countess dressed in a green uniform. As she went past she fired two shots at us. One went above our heads and the other caught an elderly man in the arm. It seemed to be a signal to other Sinn Feiners, for bu%ts started to whizz all round us. As we were unarmed and had our Red Cross badges on, we went for our lives to the Soldiers' Club. The proprietor of the plate told us that all the soldiers had gone to Trinity College.' There were only about thirty of us, and we filled sandbags from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. By^ that time our strength had grown to nearly sixty, including five New Zealanders, one Australian, five from South Africa, and two Canadians. At 11 p.m. they woko us up ami took the 'colonials up to the roof, where we were to snipe. AYe remained '■ on that roof from midnight on Easter Monday till midnight on Thursday withont a wink of sleep — exactly seventy-two hours. From the roof we could command a view of the main streets —Sackville, Grafton, and Dame. We got our first shot in on Tuesday morning at 4 o'clock, when three Sinn Feiners camo along ou bikes, evidently going from Shepherd's Green to the G.P.O. We all fired-at once, killing two and wounding the other one. Of those killed one was a platoon leader, and on him they found a list of names and addresses of members of tho platoon and two despatches, together with some money. On Wednesday we got two more in Sackville-street. They were armed with double-barrelled fowling-pieces, and had taken the small shot from the cartridges, rcplficing it with four slug* of .lead. AVe._wera ._,ouW«l.ijLa_aftJßes.W^

the direction of St. Andrew's Church. On Friday, a man living opposite the church said he had seen rifles pointing out of the belfrey, so we six Anzacs went across to his house and from his kitchen window we put about 100 rounds into the small triangular window they were firing from. Half an hour after they had ceased firing we decided to climb the tower. On the way over we were fired on by our own men, who mistook our slouch hats for those of Sinn Feiners., When we got to the belfrey .we found two men. One was already dead and the otljer so badly wounded that he died an honr afterwards."