IRISH OUTRAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18347, 13 March 1923, Page 7

IRISH OUTRAGES.

BLOW AT THE PRESIDENT. DWELLING BURNED DOWN. KIDNAPPING A SENATOR. The destructive activity of the Irregulars has been working at a high pitch, in Dublin and district, wrote the Dublin correspondent of the Manchester Guardian recently. The most outrageous of their works has been the burning down of President Cosgrave's house, Beech Park, at Ballyboden, a few miles south. of the city. Nobody saw them at the job, but empty petrol tins scattered about the lawn attest with sufficient clearness the deliberate nature of the destruction. No one has lived in the house for some time, and no fires have been lit there for weeks. The house was a small Georgian place of two storeys, standing in a lonely spot in a garden. The garden was walled round, and er.tranco was through an iron gate against which was a lodge, where Mr. and Mrs. Egan, the caretakers, lived. No one saw the fire begin, but between six and seven o'clock in the morning a man who was going to work saw the flames. At the same time he Became aware of armed men, who came upon him out of the darkness and told him to stand where he was and not try to raise an alarm. Almost at the same time the fire was noticed from two other quarters, by another workman and by the occupants of a house that stands some distance away. The workman at once roused the . lodgckeeper and his wife, and from the neighbouring house a telephone i message was sent to the fire brigade. While waiting for the brigade to come, Mr. and Mrs. Egan. at considerable risk, entered the burning house and managed to bring out some of the furniture— couches, china, and a grandfather's clock. Then the spreading flames drove them out. .... When the firemen arrived the house was blazing madly. The nearest hydrant was 200 yds. away, and the pressure of water was very low. The brigade could hope to do nothing but save the rooms which were not seriously alight. These were the rooms at the back of the house, the dining room and the servants' bedrooms above them. These are undamaged except by water, but the drawing room - and all the front bedrooms are utterly destroyed. ''J Lost Manuscripts. Soldiers and men of the C.I.D. were hurried out in lorries, and some searched the district for the wreckers, while others helped to salve whatever was left undestroyed. Mr. Cosgrave himself was on the spot before the day had well come, ': and searched among the melancholy ruins for any small personal belongings that might remain. He said ,be , was . not. surprised at what had ■ happened; it was what might have been ' expected any day. He seemed most grieved at the loss of a col; lection of manuscripts and documents which he - has been collecting during the last 20 years, and which illustrated the Irish movement for independence • during that time. Among them were letters from the leaders of the 1916 rising, from'. Collins, Griffith, and many others. -• Not long ago Mr. Cosgrave visited the house ana took many of these papers-, away with r him, but many remained and are now destroyed. "'" * . ■-'.- '..,-..;■;" ;.. «-.!*■'■.;.• ■,''■ • •"{ s The house was an interesting illustra- ; tion, too, of > Irish art and craftsmanship. Everything in it was of Irish manufacture. ' ,„,.,,.„;..,.."."... ■-.;,;.' ;■-.. ■;-'.,' :^;.\..' v ■:/ ;■■■■/'.'" Another Daring Outrage. Another daring outrage was the kidnapping of Dr. St. John Gogartyijr the well-known Dublin physician and littera- \ teur, a member of the Senate. -: While Dr. Gogarty .. was ■?■ taking ;. -a t bath before --- dining, a powerful closed motor ; car con- ;, :,: taining six men and - a woman,' 1 drew up .' at his door in Ely Place. The house adjoins that cloistral garden in which George .;: Moore wrote a good deal of his early > work. : Two :of the men knocked J at': the "-\ .' door and told the maid they, wished urgently to see the doctor. \ Dr. Gogarty hastily ' wrapped a towel around himself f and went down to the hall. S ; ~ I am giving the story as he reluctantly f s*'i told it to me himself when I saw him: in v : y a village outside Dublin. •In; the hall the :k ■ • two men produced revolvers and one said, .' " Get into your clothes; it's a matter of v > life and death." \ They; accompanied the\ C doctor to his bedroom. -f They stood over .-,pMi him as he dressed, and : then conducted him to the car. . He was placed on ..'the • :: back seat. • „ , v V ! Then the r conveyance, at ■'-■a"' busy " hour of the evening when all the electric stan- v dards are aglow,, drovo, through some 3of '■? I the main thoroughfares of Dublin. The ' senator was warned that ■if he ,tried,: to ' attract attention he would tbe shot. / The Empty Cottage. -> At; the point ! where the car., at last ~s V; stopped is an inconspicuous empty cot- f tage. The casual passer-by would hardly - r { notice it. Thei-a is a wicket in: ( the wall, v - and passing through -that one enters . the v '\ t? cottage, which lies below the road level, « by going down steps. . Around the .cottage ■.■:.••'.f-i is a garden, its foot washed by the; River ; i Liffey, which broadens 5 . out ;^ her© iinto ■> what is called Salmon's \. Pool. - '"A-v wall v ■';;? shuts the garden off from the Liffey save ": at one point, where there is access to the W. water through an arch in a pergola. '.'.^ s , s ■_■:'■ '■'.,' Here then - the car ' stopped ;'. and)': the % '; prisoner was compelled to walk up and ■[•■ down on, the roadside for a quarter of an "■'.' hour while a.". way , wiia broken into .. the dark, empty house. He was then taken f inside and warned ■to make no noise. ; A : fire was lit in a room on the left of the 1 ,; ■;* hall and there Dr. I Gogarty was left with four-of the men. There must have L been guards posted in the garden, for , some- ~.' one complained: that a light was showing .: V through the shutters. , . :: j,..: ./*'.• . The Escape. ■'■'.'■■■' t '. , For nearly two hours Dr. Gogarty.re-; mained in the house, and .then lie made an excuse for going into the ■' grounds. > He was wearing a very heavy overcoat, ■•'; and was accompanied outside by one man, who carried a revolver. . . '■■>■■ ~*?';'- :,; . ; v..;..' ; It was a black, frosty night, and in the '.'" , quiet of the garden the doctor .; realised that this was his moment for ■? escape. Slowly he began to peel, off his overcoat. : -"/t£ twisting it so that the lining of unslip- .■'.'':.;£ pery material /was outward. v ' Then 7he ? v turned to the guard. 0? " Here, hold nry : vj: coat,'! he said, and swift as thought threw ' § the heavy encumbering garment over the man's head, driving the revolver hand up- . wards and backwards. Then, the sound , . of his going deadened by the pumps \he was wearing, he dashed'; across the ;i gar- v den, zigzagging towards-a shrubbery. ' !: r^-: He found himself against the high wall '•" ' behind which ' the Liffey flows, and ' worked down it to the opening in the pergola. At ='• this point, fearful lest :he V should be silhouetted against the sky,' he lay down and rolled dyer and over till he reached the opening to the' river. Then he rolled himself ' over ' the , edge ' and dropped ten feet into the river in spate. Dr. Gogarty is a powerful swimmer, though he had not swum because of . his health .for ten years. He holds the Royal' Humane Society medals and certificates for life-saving. ' v« I "As soon as I touched the water, he said, "I felt as though I were in an upholstered saloon, because I knew : I was ; : safe/' '.- ■-.«.. -■' .' } 'i\' ; ''■■:. After a strenuous swim he reached safety, and informed the civic guard. ;: /'//-' ;.-'•.< —I ! —~ ■ — "~~"~T~ " - ■ ,t. : ■ -v.-.'-"y "vj