TERROR IN IRELAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10545, 23 March 1920, Page 6

TERROR IN IRELAND

A MIDNIGHT MURDER LOUD MAYOR OF CORK THE VICTIM. A PROMINENT SINN FEINER. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright Australian and iN.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, March 19. Mr MacOurtain, the Lord Mayor of Cork, a prominent Sinn Feinor, who was interned for some time .after tho Faster week rebellion in 1916, has been murdered in atrocious circumstances. A party of eight or ten men, with their faces blacicenod, cam© to hij houso in Blackpool in the middle of the night. Mrs MacOurtain opened tho door and itho men rushed in, and while some held his wife down, others dashed up to the Lord Mayor’s bedroom, took him to the lauding, and shot him. The men then motored off. Mrs MacOurtain rang up the firo station, but tho Lord Mayor died netora a priest arrived. He leaves several young children. “AN APPALLING EVENT.” LONDON, March 20. The body of Mr Mao Curtain is lying in state, in a Sinn Fein uniform, with a guard of volunteers, till Monday, when there will be a public funeral. The chairman of the Tipperary Board of Guardians said tho shooting of the Lord Mayor was an appalling event, which had cast a gloom over the country. The military searched the house after the murder. The “Weekly Dispatch” describes the murder as an example of the new counter-outrage, and points out that it is hardly possible to attribute the crime to Sinn Foiners. TRIBUTE TO DEAD MAYOR. ''Received March 32, 7.45 p.m.) LONDON, March 21. Five bands and a procession a mile long participated in the removal from his home in Blackpool, a, suburb of Cork, of Mr Mao Curtain’s body to tbe City Hall, where it ia lying >u state dressed in the uniform of tho Irish Volunteers. Thousands of people inspected the body to-day, Sinn loin Volunteers acting as a guard. All places of amusement in _ Cork were closed on Saturday. The city is observing Monday as a general holiday. ' . The inquest was opened and adjourned. No police were present. The solicitor for the next-of-kin requested that no ex-policeman be allowed to serve on the jury. A PROFESSOR ESCAPES. CONSTABLE SLAIN WHILE ON DUTY. LONDON, March, 20. Professor S+ockley, a prominent Cork Sinn Feiner. had a narrow escape yesterday. Four shots were fired, but he was not hurt. Later the same night. Constable Murtaah was going off duty on the Quayside, when suddenly shots rang o-jfh and Murtagh dropped dead, his body riddled with bullets. The authorities rounded up prominent Sinn Foiners in Kerry to-day and carried them in motor lorries to the coast, where a destroyer was waiting and took them to an unknown destinaitdon. FURTHER MAIL ROBBERIES. LONDON. March 10. Mail robberies continue in Ireland. A partv of men, descending from three motor-cars between Newry and Cartinaford, hold ut> a mail-car, partially destroyed it, stole the mails, and made a nrisonor of tho driver (Bovle). Bovle was found in the neighbourina wood. He declares that the robbers compelled him to drink_ from a settle, and he became immediately unconscious. • In another instance tho raiders locked up tho driver inside the mail-van while they escaped. SINN FEIN HOTHEADS. DEVELOPING A DANGEROUS SPIRIT. LONDON. March 20. The Dublin correspondent of the “Sunday Times” says the Sinn Fein leaders are averse to any recurrence of rebellion, knowing that failure is inevitable; but the young hotheads are developing a dangerous spirit, and the political tension is increasing, and has reached, a point unequalled for many months.