FALL OF FOUR COURTS

Evening Star, Issue 18051, 19 August 1922, Page 7

FALL OF FOUR COURTS

TERRIFIC MINE EXPLOSION. BUILDINGS LAID DESOLATE. SURRENDER OF REBELS. The Dublin correspondent of the London ‘ Times,’ writing on Juno 30, describes the destruction of the Four Courts. 1.30 p.m.—The fall of the Four Courts is now imminent. Soon after midday a fire broke out in the eastern wing, and largo volumes of smoko wore carried over the city by, the strong westerly wind. A few minutes later there was a terrific explosion, which shattered all the windows, including heavy shop plate-glass windows, within a largo radius. It is reported that fragments of records were flung into the Liffey as far as three miles away. Dense clouds of smoke rose from the shattered building, and lurid tongues of flame licked their way through the dust aud smoko to the dear sky above, flecked, only by countless masses of charred papers aud rubbish, which were caught up into the wind aud swirled away across the town. The detonation was due to the explosion of a mine laid by the Irregulars, and present information is that the mine was laid near the centre of the building. This seems somewhat incredible, because the green copper cupola is still standing, and this could hardly occur if a mine had heen sprung below it. It is uncertain at present whether the mine was deliberately fired by the Irregulars, or whether the explosion was caused by the bursting of one of the howitzer shells which have been dropping all the .morning on the building, and arc still being fired spasmodically upon it. Fortunately there were no killed among the Government forces occupying the outside courts of'the building, but about two dozen men wore severely shell-shocked, and had to be evacuated. 'The casualties among the rebels are not known, hut they are still holding out in the basement of the northeastern wing. 2.30 p.iu.—O’Connor lias just asked for a truce. This was arranged during a lull in the firing, in order to permit doctors to enter the building, hut there is no certainty that the truce will be confirmed or extended. It is believed that the casualties among the mutineers are very heavy, WHITE FLAG HOISTED. GARRISON MARCHED TO MOUNTJOY. 1.30 p.m.—The Provisional Government officially announces that the Irregulars in the Four Courts have hoisted the white flag, and have surrendered. The men, who were about 130 or 150 in number, were at first marched out of the building with their hands up under a strong military guard, and were then lined up on the guays. They were afterwards taken off on foot in the direction of Mountjoy Prison, where they will be interned pending a decision as to their fate. Many of them were mere boys. Fighting is going on fairly briskly in the northern half of the city, and it is pretty obvious that unless their opponents surrender the Government has still a harassing task before it. The Irregulars continue thenpolicy of seizing houses in various quarters of the city, and have now occupied the Gresham Hotel. All this quarter is particularly lively to-day, and there has been sharp firing from time to time in Parnell square. A British military lorry which had made its way along O’Connell street was sniped at from an hotel in Talbot street occupied by the Irregulars. The lorry was promptly halted, aud a single soldier, quietly jumping down, gave the building a, burst of machine-gun fire, and coolly clambered back into tho lorry. It is quite impossible to giro a complete picture of all the isolated fighting that is going on all around. I had the opportunity, with a colleague, of getting a good bird’s-eye view-- of the city from a certain tall, building giving a direct view of Pour Courts. A clear view was at times impossible owing to the smoke, but wo could sec a fireengine dashing along an adjoining street, and it would not he surprising if some of tho old, squalid buildings abutting on the Four Courts were to catch fire. In what seethed to he Capol street we saw hn armored car firing round after round at an unseen target, and as the shots suddenly ceased an ambulance car appeared at the head cf the street and went slowly down it, stopping from time to time to take up casualties from either side of the. road.

What was perhaps the most interest mg point was the large number of Government troops that we saw on tire roofs of the houses at our feet. Some of them were firing, while others were keeping a sharp look-out, and it was clear that the Government had organised a careful system of overhead observation, and was able to follow the movements of all persons in the city with accuracy. In the streets, as one walks about somewhat cautiously on the look-out for the thoroughfares it is best to avoid, the rolling by of an obviously British motor lorry occasionally excites the comment of the passers-by. The .Anti-Treaty Party, it is. plain, is trying to exploit this circumstance in the interest of its _ contention that this civil war is being made at the dictation of the British Government. The plain fact is that these lorries are merely engaged in the carriage of mails and supplies. VSCENE OF DESTRUCTION. About an hour after the surrender of the Four Courts 1 went inside. The circular hall under the dome and the passages and rooms adjoining were all tilled with debris, which was blazing fiercely. At the north end tire rim of the supporting edge of the dome was alight, and burning very fast. The columns supporting the dome to the rear, or some of them, were out of contact with the rim of the dome at the top, and the consequence is that the whole fabric is liable to collapse at any moment. The cast wing of the building collapsed at an early stage after the explosion, and dense clouds of black smoke shot up into the air. The whole of the forecourt was tilled with barbed wire. There was a tremendous amount of damage outside in the lower front of the building by bursting shells. One of the first columns supporting the portico lias had a direct hit from a shell, and has had practically threequarters of its length knocked off. A fire-engine and an escape arrived in front of the building about 3 o’clock, but it was quite impossible to make any attempt to attack the fire, the situation being hopeless. One feature of the fire was the complete destruction of the records. This was .made plain by ttie showers of burnt paper which came down in the street. A witness of the scene who had visited the ruins of Rheims Cathedral said that the havoc was worse in Dublin.

Tho explosion is supposed to have been duo to lire caused by a shell falling on a largo stock of 'gelignite. Tho .Free State soldiers were taken completely by surprise, but it is not definitely known whether a mine was fired by tho rebels or whether explosives they had accumulated were naught by the flames.

CONTINUOUS SNIPING. ' WOUNDED FALLING IN THE STREETS. It is astonisliing how few signs of panic or even, of alarm have been shown during these two trying days b.y the general public of Dublin. Over a wide area outside the neighborhood of the Four Courts sniping lias been going on continuously across and along many of the principal streets. _ Yesterday morning firing was continuous from about G o’clock, and there had been no cessation when I loft for Holyhead at 7 p.m. I was in the street during the whole of the day, traversing the distance between the Shelbourne Hotel and Amiens Street Post Office, and although the shops were almost everywhere closed, there seemed to he nearly as many people about, particularly at midday, as on an ordinary Sunday. On one of those journeys I saw an unlucky follow brought down by a bullet under the Great Northern Railway viaduct. A small group speedily surrounded him and raised him to his feet, and attended to him until the ambulance arrived.

Most of this sniping took place from the roofs of buildings or from windows of upper storeys, and a noteable instance was along Talbot street, which leads to the Amiens Street Station. The public seems to have developed a new method of negotiating the difficulties of the situation. One sees the passers-by slowing down at each corner or crossing, and peeping round before advancing if the street appears to be deserted, which is the usual sign that snipers are about. My view of the fire at the Four’ Courts, which was shared by a number of people who had climbed to the same elevated position, provided ns with a magnificent but rather horrifying spectacle. The advance of the flames was extraordinarily rapid, and I afterwards learned that this was > due to the stores of ammunition which had been lodged in the floors of the building. All the time an eighteen-pounder gun was going, and every now and then one heard the rattle of musketry fire either in the building where the fire had not yet reached or close outside. An unusually long burst of such fire shortly' preceded the final surrender, which"might thus be thought to bo due to tho exhaustion of the rebels' available ammunition at the particular time that it happened. Firing was also noticeable in the Rutland square area, while the fire was in progress, but our attention as onlookers was also claimed by a view of a portion of Capell street, where an armored car was firing belt after belt of Thompson gnu ammunition at a target in the neighborhood, but which we could not clearly distinguish. It was down this street that one fire-engine appeared on its way to the Four Courts. Afterwards an ambulance came, and appeared to be engaged in picking up casualties with assiduity from both sides. PILLAR OF SMOKE AND FLAME. Another account states; At half-past 12 to-day there was a terrific explosion at the Four Courts. It seemed to shake the whole of Dublin, and carried panic into the furthest suburbs. A great pillar of smoko and flame rose into the air, carrying masses of burning paper. These were blown to a distance of two or three miles, and legal documents, still burning, were picked up at Bellsbridge and other places in the western suburbs. The burning papers represented very largo sums of money and records of legal transactions. Their loss will be a new factor of confusion and delay in tho creation of the Irish Free State. The-part of the Four Courts which was destroyed by the explosion contained the Probate Office, the Land Judges Office, and the Land Registry. The cause of the explosion is not known as I write, but the public life of Ireland will not be allowed to forget it for many years. In particular, the loss of the documents dealing with the transfer of Irish land must oi> cassiou the gravest inconvenience am delay. ■