THE DUBLIN RIOTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16268, 29 June 1916, Page 8

THE DUBLIN RIOTS.

AUCKLANDER'S STORY.

SHOOTING REBEL SNIPERS

FIGHT IN RAILWAY STATION.

Experiences in the suppression of the Irish rebellion are related by Bugler JG. Garland, who was one of a dozen colonial soldiers on leave in Dublin, in a letter to his father, Mr. Thomas D. Garland, of Auckland. He received a slight wound in the ankle from a spent bullet and a bayonet cut in one hand. Bugler Garland states that lie was on duty nine days, during which he had only about 20 hours' sleep. With a friend, Sergeant Nevin, of Christchurch, Bugler Garland was visiting Dublin, and on Easter Monday returned from an excursion to find that rebellion had broken out. About 2 p.m. they were standing in Sackville Street, among thousands of people. All of a sudden, he writes, 41 a large motor-car whizzed past us. In it was the noted countess, dressed in a green uniform. As she went past she fired two shots at us. One went above our heads; the other caught an elderly man in the arm. It seemed to be a signal to the other Sinn Feiners, for bullets started to whizz all round us. As we were unarmed, and had our Red Cross badges on, wje went for our lives to the Soldiers Club. The proprietor of the place told us that all the soldiers had gone over to Trinity College, which is the headquarters of the Dublin University Officers Training Corps. We reported there at 3 p.m. . There were only about 30 of us, and we filled sandbags from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. By that time our strength had grown to nearly 60, including five New Zealanders, on© Australian, five from South Africa, and two Canadians. At 11 p.m. they woke us up and took the colonials up to the roof, where we were to snipe. We re mained on that roof from midnight Easter Monday till midnight on Thursday without a wink of sleep—exactly 72 hours.

Firing From The Roof. "We got our first bag on Tuesday morning at four o'clock, when three Sinn Feiners came along on bicycles, evidently going from Shepherd's Green to_ the G.Jf.Q. We all fired at once, killing two and wounding the other. One of them was a platoon leader, and on him they found a list of the names and addresses of the members of his platoon and two despatches, together with some money that he had evidently taken from the G.P.O. On Wednesday we got two more in Sackville Street. They were armed with double-barrelled fowlingpieces, and had taken the small shot from the cartridges, replacing it with four slugs of lead about three-quarters of an inch by a-quarter of an inch. Insurgents in Belfry. " We were troubled by a sniper on our left in the direction of St. Andrew's Church, but as we were not quite sure we did not like to fire on that building. On Friday, after we had been relieved from the roof, a man living opposite the church came over and said he had seen the rifles pointing out of the belfry, so we six Anzacs were sent 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 tney 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 the Sinn Fein. When we got to the belfry we found two men. One was already dead, the other so badly wounded that he died an hour afterwards. A Narrow Escape. "On Saturday afternoon the colonials were ordered to capture Westland Row station. We entered the Grosvenor Hotel, which faces "the station, and by means of a ladder climbed over the Railway Arch and then over to the station. We got four there, and I had a narrow squeak. Two of us were going through the ticket office, and as soon as we entered the Sinn Feiners tried to bayonet the chap behind me. They just missed him, and caught me in the hand—just a mere scratch. Then we both got him together with our bayonets." Bugler Garland states that there was a great, deal of looting. Small boys of 10 to 14 who were brought in and searched had cameras, watches, diamond tiepins, etc. The rebels themselves did not do much looting. The rebels were posted in twos and threes in almost every house and shop in the city'.