THE MacMAHON FAMILY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 27 March 1922, Page 5

THE MacMAHON FAMILY.

DETAILS OF MURDERS. -

LOKJ^ON, March. 24. Not since the murder of sixteen officers in Dublin on "Black Sunday" has such a thrill of horror stricken Ireland. , .Jl£3>testants and Catholics alike contifcian the murder which clearly is a reprisal for the assassination of two constables in Belfast yesterday.- MacMahon was a Nationalist in politics, a keen sportsman,a nd very popular with all classes. The murderers gained admission by smashing the glass in the hall door a,nd lifting the latch. An inner door, which barred the way, was smashed in with a sledge hammer. The ikouse was in •darkness at- the time. Mrs MacMahon, hearing a noise, said it was a bomb. The wife and husband got up at the same time and went downstairs, and met masked men on tlse stairway. The murderers then collected the women, Mrs MacMahon, her niece, a daughter (14 years of age) and maid servants,, and put them in a back room on the first floor. The murderers then went upstairs and awakened seven men at the revolver's point, and compelled them to come downstairs. The masked men were carrying candles, which they brought with them. When ail were gathered in the parlour %Jiere was a pause. The leader told the terror-stricken man to use a few moments to pray for their «*.'!_. They were then lined up against the wall. On one side of the fireplace was MacMahon, then his son and barman. On the other side were two of the other sons, and on a chair near the door was a fourth son. -All were then shot, one by one. Jeremiah, aged 15/ died immediately, but the others lingered on. The masked men missed a boy of eleven, who, shrieking with fright, ran round the table. Two other shots at the boy jricochetted off the surface of the table into the walls. The boy was finally found under a sofa, petrified with fear.' |^ll was over in six minutes. The roisterers then climbed' over a paling fef£e into a garden and disapeared into tfoe darkness. The police* hearing Mrs MacMahon 1 s ! screams from a window, entered at the front door. On a chair in the hall they found a young man in his night attire gasping out his lift. The scene in the parlour was even more horrible. MeMahon was writing in agony. On the floor were five dead or dying. Before they left the murderers unlocked the door of the upstairs room, and when the wife came downstairs and saw the horrifying spectacle she collapsed and is still unconscious. One boy is exoeeted to recover. LONDON, March 24. Owing to the gravity of recent events in Ireland, the British Government has telegraphed requesting Sir James Craig and Mr Cqllms to come to London with any colleagues they wish, in order that the Government may examine with them every aspect of the situation. There were three, murders in Tyrone to-day. The victims are all Catholics, and presumably the acts are reprisals for the murder of loyalists. A police patrol of fifty was ambushed near Pom«roy. Fighting lasted six hours, several members of the patrol being wounded and one captured. William Campbell, City Corporation inspector, Belfast, was shot dead in the street.