THE "IRISH BRIGADE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16904, 17 July 1918, Page 8

THE "IRISH BRIGADE."

CHARGE AGAINST DOWLING. :;;:,.: EVIDENCE AT THE TRIAL. *'-';•- .'< LONDON, July 9. ■rr Lance-corporal J. Dcwling, of the Con"naught Rangers, who landed on the Irish coast from a German submarine, and was arrested, wag tried to-day by court-martial -is London. Bowling was driven to the , A £ Court handcuffed to a. soldier. A sergeant- ~" major, with a revolver, accompanied him. 1 ; The Crown Prosecutor said that Dowling •■ joined 'the army in 1904, and war taken prisoner is August, 1914. The Germans ■■/_ concentrated ; 2000 Irish prisoners in one -, cftmp at the end of 1914. The men Were -.•«.. well treated, and the accused with two ,:\.confederates endeavoured to seduce his ": fellow-prisoners, • but the vast majority "booed" Sir Roger Casement from the ?/■ camp....•■• Their \ rations ' were consequently ' cut and rebut down, and they were other4\l,wise shamefully treated when they per* sisted in their refusal to join the Irish brigade. :V '. ; -v.- : ; : . ; '<'.'! ■< One method of persuasion. used was to! "' march small groups of loyal troops to a :.m special office, where Dowling and his conVy federates acted as recruiting officers. When .-/ the loyalists resisted their blandishments, 1 '■■' f they ; were marched up on another day. Only 59 succumbed to these traitorous in* fluences. v •■■...• The prosecution called as. a witness a % former?: prisoner of war from Liraburg £ Camp, who gave evidence in the Casement case. -/'.; v . v. : Other Irish prisoners from Limburg testi- * fied how the members of the so-called Irish '••', Brigade were well fed, while the loyalists '-■<- were actually starving and naked, until *',;' Mr. 'Gerard, United States Ambassador, \'~„: relieved their necessities. Beer and cigars ' were temptingly laid out in the recruiting : . office; The loyalists used to give Dowling Vr' a good punching, and a kick or two when- ;■' ever an opportunity offered. The punish- ■■■ ment for such an assault included a fortnight in the dark cells, and the loss of camp jobs..; An Iriiih priest used to tell tile prisoners that the " brigade" was a sort of trap to enable prisoners of war to have Germany, ''-Counsel for the defence urged that Dow- --•. ling had never intended to play the traitor, ': but was merely actuated by the desire to *. aseape from Germany. '.y? The Crown Prosecutor said: If this is so, -" why did not Dowling, when ho landed in "" - Ireland, go to the authorities and give the plot away! Accused did not' give evidence. The finding of the Court will be promulgated in duo course.