IRELAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 28 November 1922, Page 5

IRELAND

• EXECUTION Of CHILDERS “DIED LIKE A BRAVE MAN’’ (By Electric Teßgrapn. —Copyright.) (Australian & N. L. Cable Association:) ; LONDON, Nov. 26. The Daily Chronicle's Dublin conano pondent states that the Rev. Mr Wal ; lev, Protestant Dean of Kildare, ftays j thats'Childers died like a hipvc man. j He made a request, to see two Catholic priests, but only the IRv. Air Waller, who knew him as a 'schoolboy, was allowed to be present at his end. ;'lhe execution look place at Beggars Bush Ranncks, and was postponed from Tuesday to Friday. Childera read the Rook of Devotions, which has since been sent to his wife. He seldom or never referred to politics, and from Hie moment of the finding of tMe . court-martial he knew lie had no expectation'of reprieve. Only 'pressure' from higher quarters 'made him consent to the habeas corpus proceeding. „, ; _ •, . ' “1 sat with Childers-while he UvetlkIjistcd in- the guard-room on the morning he died,” says Mr Waller. “He was quite calm and resigned, and even cheerful. The execution Was lived for 7 a.m., but ns it was still dark it was some time after'when he , marched, out with a steady step and head held high to a. spot where the ,firing squad was lined up. ~ Before ,1 Jjeard the report of the rifles he had fallen. He was buried in a grave already prepared nearby/ I readme service, as .Childers was a Protestant.”De Valera’s latest bulletin (joes not allude to Childers, but. in strict legal' phraseology, ordains the suppression of the Irish * courts! Anyone aiding or abetting them will he deemed to be enemies <if Hie Republic. “Such language,” the Evening Nows -.remarks,, "‘ may" strike an .Englishman as, futile/: but there will -he anxiety in some dis«. tricts where the rebels are strong. However, .there are those who think Hie Oovernhlent, in executing didders,.. struck a mortal blow at de Valera s| organisation.” •

THE “CAT” ORDERED

LONDON-, Nov. 25

Mr Justice Wilson, declaring at- the Belfast assizes that the gunmen -with which they city was 1 infested must' be put down, sentenced five men> to three years’ penal servitude, plus ..fifteen strokes of the “cat,’ for armed robbery, and two others to six ‘snd seven respectively for firing ,at a policeman.s Seven of eight rebels, coupled with Childers in .the. habeas corpus case, have been- sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from a year to five years. Ope was found not .guilty, f

WEEK-END PASSES QUIETLY

LONDON, Nov. 27

The week-end passed quietly iii Dublin, except for. a noisy meeting of two thousand people .in . , O’Ccmml! _ street protesting against the execution of Childera. De Valera issued a statement: “Far the honour of Ireland, 1 in whose name this horrible crime , has been committed,' i|p person who is in any way responsible must he allowed I to evade responsibility.” , The statement includes the names of minister? and all members of the Provisional Parliament who voted for the establishment of military courts.’

PROM INENT IRR F.GULA RS ■■■■. - - CAPTURED- •

(Published in the Times.)

LONDON, Nov!' 26. Dublin/ lias been nm’et since Friday, with the exception of- desultory firing. There have been no engagements on ;i large scale. - ' At the conclusion of his trial Childers wrote an account of his life. Nationals,have been active in County Kerry, capturing a number of prominerfl irregulars. The rest of the country is fairly quiet, buf an ambush in County Wexford resulted in seven Nationals being wounded. Armed men raided the houses of rate collectors in County-Sligo, .taking booh": and large suras of money. One Free Stater was killed and one wounded in removing a road mine near ° olk ' LONDON, Nov. 26. The death has occurred , of Father Dominic, formerly chaplain to Terence *MacSwiuey and prominent in Dublin battles. He departed for America _ at. the orders of his ecclesiastical superiors.

FIGHTING AT NEWPORT LONDON, Nov. 27. Free State headquarters reports that five Free State soldiers were killed in fighting v at Newport. ' The casualties were heavy. They included two Hr Madden and TSrJgfldiei Moane.-. A national patrol was ambushed in Dublin on Saturday night. It retnrned the fire and one attacked was killed..

IRISH CONSTITUTION BILL . BEFORE HOUSE OF COM MONS . LONDON, Nov. 20. The Irish Constitution ißill was read a second-time without a. division- ■■■ * " ’*i ** I'ltiifi'illimimmri v ‘