BELFAST'S ORDEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18017, 16 February 1922, Page 7

BELFAST'S ORDEAL.

: FEOB-fiIVEN CITY,

SNIPING THROUGHOUT DAY.

SEVERAL street murders.

DASTARDLY BOMB CRIME.

SIX CHILDREN KILLED.

MILITARY CALLED OUT. g T TeleST*'. h—Prees Association—Copyright. ißeceivod 7.30 p.m.) A rod N.Z- LONDON. Fob- 15. Belfast, is in a state of extreme tension. Shooting almost continuous in some areas ycsterdiy. Mr. Michael Collins' admission that a- roup d'etat is possible has ca'ised no surprise in Ulster, where jt i> known that, the coup d'etat will be followed by a strcm-r attack against, the {ront-er. Accordingly recruits for the special .'onsUbiilary are pouring in. In or der to make raids difficult mountain roads m Fermanagh and Tyrone are being rendered impassable by volunteer labour.

The disorders in Belfast were so serious last- night thai the military vrcre called out. to assist in restoring order. One soldier wounded.

Dr Macrory, Bishop of Down and Conner, has telegraphed to Mr. Lloyd Georce asking protection for Roman Catholics in Relfnst, alleging that they ate being murdered. Inquiries show that (he majority of the victims on Monday were Roman Catholics, and that almost all the victims yesterday were Protestants.

The following are typical outrages. A gunman fired at a tramcar tilled with male and female factory workers. The conductor was wonnr'ed in the back and passengers cut Ttith broken glass. William Waring, caretaker of an Orange Ball, was walking in Regent Street when a Roman Catholic gunman knelt down, pnt a rifle to his shoulder, and shot- Waring dead. A youth named Harper was similarly shot" in full view of passengers in a tramcar. Shots were fired at ei-serrice men engaged in relaying a road in Belfast One "*as killed and another wounded.

Yosterdav afternoon snipers shot repeatedly into Royal Avenue, the principal thoroughfare of Belfast, plate glass windows being shattered. Vehicular traffic was suspended. A man named Wallace was killed, and another was wounded in the neck.

The bomb outrage on Monday evening was the most horrible of all tho crimes. A group of light-hearted girls and boys were playing, in the moonlight, with a skipping rope, their parents fitting at the hous® doors looking on, v-rhen the lomb hurtled through t.he air. A moment later the children lay in heaps on the roadwav screaming and moaning, while agonised mothers sought out the mutilated bodies. Sis of the children are now i dead, and 12 are wounded. All were | Reman Catholics.

The total casualties in Belfast 6ince Sunday total 13 killed and 49 wounded.

TROOPS IN IRELAND.

EVACUATION SUSPENDED.

COLLINS GOES TO LONDON.

A >Bd K.Z. LONDON, Feb. 14. In the House of Commons to-day, Mr. Winston Churchill announced that the Government had thought it necessary to suspend the evacuation of troops from Southern Ireland. Mr. Michael Collins was coming to London that night to confer with the Government. Replying to a question, Mr. Churchill said that apart from serious political reasons the Government had received nnanimous advice from its military advisers against having troops on the south side of the Ulster border.

KIDNAPPED CLSTEEMEN.

SOME TO BE RELEASED 1 .

A. and N.Z-

LONDON, Fob. 14.

Mr. Michael Collins telegraphed to Mr. Winston Churchill to-day: "I am happy to inform you th?.t I am in a position to secure the release of a number of the prisoners. I am not yet certain of the number, but will know later in the day.

PRISONERS IN ENGLAND.

60 SINN FEINERS RELEASED. A. »nd N.Z- LONDON, Feb. 14. Some 60 Sinn Fein political prisoners "ere released from English aud Scottish" prisons to-day.