EXPLOSION IN THEATRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19219, 7 January 1926, Page 12

EXPLOSION IN THEATRE.

ANOTHER DUBLIN CRIME.

EOMB THROWN IN VESTIBULE.

TWO CIVIC GUARDS WOUNDED.

The Masterpiece Cinema Theatre, in Talbot Street, Dublin, where the "Ypres" film had been on view, was partly wrecked by an explosive at seven o'clock on the morning of November 20. Two civic guards (Free State police), who about half an hour afterwards approached three men who were suspected of taking part in the outrage, were fi.red on and wounded, one of them so badly that he may not recover. It will be remembered that on Monday, November 9, armed men entered the Masterpiece Cinema and seized the "Ypres" film. The cinema managemont procured another copy of the film, and it had been shown to crowded houses. The attack was made by means of a powerful bomb or land mine. The explosion did much damage to the cinema vestibule and to houses on the opposite side of the street. The "Ypres" film, however, was undamaged. A policeman was on duty bofore the cinema when, under cover of the fog, a man approached him stealthily, and said: ''Hands up." Tho policeman turned round and saw a large revolver pointed at him. Another man, also armed with a revolver, came almost simultaneously from the opposite side of tho street, and said to the policeman: "If you stir, I'll shoot you." The words were hardly uttered when a car came from the direction of Nelson Pillar. The driver—its only occupant—got out at the Masterpieco Cinema and threw a large brown paper covered object into the cinema vestibule. He, with tho two men who had "held up" tho policeman, then jumped into the car and drove by way of Amiens Street toward Sheriff Street.

Hardly had they moved away when a violent explosion wrecked the vestibule of the cinema, flung the policeman to the ground, shattered tho big plate-glass windows of the shops on the opposite side of the street, leaving but one small pane intact in 36 of the upper-storey windows. The force of the explosion tore off and twisted the strong iron gateway of the cinema. It tore a great hole in the floor besido the pay-box, and in the inside of the cinema it did much damage. The street was strewn with broken glass.

In the meantime the three men in the motor-car had got to Amiens Street, when, just outside the railway terminus, their car got out of action and stopped suddenly. They did to fix it, but descended and ran on by way of Sheriff Street and were lost in the fog. Two civic guards, who had heard the sound ot the explosion, were in Sheriff Street at. half-past seven, when they saw three men who had been approaching turn into an archway. They followed and challenged them, and ona of tho three men, without speaking, turned and fired a revolver, wounding both the civic guards. The three mon ran, and the guards made their way to a neighbouring shop, whence they were taken to Jervis Street Hospital. Four men were detained on suspicion.