SINN FEIN ATROCITIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18294, 11 July 1921, Page 6

SINN FEIN ATROCITIES

MURDER CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND. S MEN AND WOMEN SHOT. SEVEN RAIDS IN LONDON. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 17. Sinn Feinera have now carried their murder campaign into England. On the eve of Vihilsninide parties of armed men rained many private houses in London, St. Albans, and Liverpool. Five people were wounded by revolver shot, and a number of houses were set on lire. The houses selected by the raiders were occupied by relatives of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In London the raids scorn to have been carried out almost simultaneously, about 9.45 p.m. P ive men called at a house in Shepherd's Bush, and asked for Mr Birthwright, late of the R.I.C. On being told that he was not at home they produced a card falsely purporting to bo a warrant for Ids arrest, and they forced their way into the passage. When stopped by a visitor to the house, they presented revolvers at him, and then smashed a bottle of paraffin on the floor, set it alignt, and made off. This fire was easily extinguished, and little damage resulted. DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED. - Mr M'Neil, also of Shepherd's Bush, is now lying dangerously wounded, having been shot in the abdomen by one of a party who called at his house. Mrs M’Neil thus tehs what happened. Flearing a knock at the door about 10 p.m. she opened it, and was con Iron ted by lour masked men carrying revolvers. ‘"Their eyes were covered by large, dark spectacles. When I opened the door, the man nearest to me put his foot inside and asked in a gruff and very Irish voice: ‘Does Comes live here?’ 1 know he was referring to my son-in-law, Charles Comes, who is only 23, and who haj been in the R.I.C. sinco January; he_ i s now in Ireland, I said to the man; ‘No, ho does not live hero.’ Ho began to argue with me, and just then my husband came into the passage, asking: ‘What’s all this about?’ The man answered, ‘Comes—where's Comes?’ All four men pushed their way in. My husband tried to shut thorn out. but one man fired and hit him in the abdomen. He fell on to the mat, and the men at once ran off, disappearing before anyone could come.” Before joining the R.I.C. Comes was a mechanic jn the R.A.F, ‘Tie married my daughter in January, and went to Ireland almost at once.” The assailants left behind them two broken bottles of petrol, a revolver, a"d a false moustache. DETAILS OF OTHER CRIMES.

On opening thoir door to three masked men who knocked, Mr and Mrs Duffcll, aged hi and 56, of Catfoid, were shot through the arms, lut they were not dangerously wounded. Tho three men then hurried away on bicycles. A bottle containing petrol wa s found outside the house, and a pistol, of which two chambers had been discharged. Other simile;- raids were made at West Kensington,'East Greenwich, Blackho.elh, and Tooting, r.nd in every case an attempt was made to set the premises on fire. LIVERPOOL RAIDS.

Parties of armed and masked men on Saturday night visited six houses in Liverpool, occupied by relatives of members of the R.1.C., and attempted to set fire to them. In only t\v > oases were tho raiders successful in starting fires, end in neither case was there much damage. In one instance a ran and his wife were bound and gagged. Tne other at tempi; failed owing to the resistance occupied by the occupants, and tne attacking parties fled. leaving behind bottles of paraffin and many masks. At one house, a girl of 15 opened the door. “What do you want?”, she asked. ‘‘We want your lives,” said the men outside, pushing their way in. They were met by flying furniture, and departed after striking the children and knocking a boy senseless. Mr and Mrs W. Owon were gagged and bound by raiders, who emptied oil in the kitchen, started a fire, and made off. Mr Cwqn managed to release himself end his wife, end tho brigade put the fire out. MAN AND WIFE SHOT. At St Albans a young man and his wife were shot at and also struck on tho head with revolvers. Four nen at 9.45 p.m called, and one of them said, “I know you, Ashby ; you have been in the P..1.C. I want you to open that box,” pointing to one standing on tho floor. While Mr Ashby was attempting to open it, a revolver was fired and he foil to the floor, struck in tho head by a bullet. He was then hit on the side of the head with the butt end of a revolver One of the raiders vn.-tlcring what srnnded like, ‘Might as well make a good job of it,” shot Mrs Ashby ns she bent over her husband. As she fell, she. too, was hit v ith the buttend of a revolver. The landlady was seized by a man at the door and vas gagged. Finally all four made their escape.

An extensive starch was carried out by detectives all day on Sunday. In 25 motor cars and lorries they raided and searched various parte of London and suburbs, where Sinn Feiner? are known to reside. Two detectives, both armed, occupied each car. Only two arrests, however were made. WOMAN MURDERED, While Miss Harrington, only daughter of Sir Charles B Harrington (Glenstal Castle. Merror:.i. District Inspector Major Biggs, and two other women and ;y military officer were motoring an Saturday evening between Glenst.il and Newport, they were fired at by a party of armed men. Miss Barring ton and the inspector were shot dead, and the military officor was wounded Several shots s.rrc- discharged into the body of the dead inspector. The bodies of four men have beer- found shot near Carrigtohill, Co Cork The number of civilian; killed during '.he week end was ever 20, WIFE’S HEROISM.

Four out of a party of five motorists were shot dead when having a tennis Party cfl Eallyturin House, Co. Galway, >ast evening Die party were coming from Ballytucin House, near Gort, where they had been the guests of Mr J. C. Bagott, J.P. Tho cor contained Captain and District Inspector G. E. M. Blake, Mrs Blake. Captain Cornwallis, Lieut. MacCrea.w, and three officers belonging to the 17th Lancers. Mrs Gregory, the only survivor, was also with them. When the motor car arrived at the front gate of the avenue it was found that The prate had been closed. Not suspecting anything unusual. Captain Cornwallis got out to opon it. Shots rang out from tho adjacent shrubbery, and he fell dead of mortally wounded. Mrs Gregory is tho only survivor of tho party, for within the next. 10 minutes the tragedy had taken place, and her four companions lay dead by the avenue gate, while she fled back in terror to the house. It is stated that after Captain Cornwallis had fallen the lit ilo party was surrounded by armed and undisguised men. and the two women were ordered to leave. Mrs B’ake called out that she would never leave her husband. If she was to die she would die by his side. A.u agonising scene followed. Mrs Gregory was ordered away, and os who left further shots rang out. Five bullets were afterwards found in Mrs Blake’s body. EFFECT CN PUBLIC OPINION. "T he effet ‘ "inch these outrages will have upon pul opinion can hardly be in doubt," says the Daily Telegraph. “It is one thing to rend about outrages in Ireland; it is another to have them committed within earshot. These murderous attacks upon the parents of men who stopped into tho breach in Ireland at the call of tho Government, when Ireland was given over to the domination l of the terror, will bo bitterly resented, and will go far to neutralise the persistent effoi-ts made by Liberal and Labour members, and by certain Anglican bishops and leaders of the Nonconformist churches, to create prejudice against the conduct of the forces of the Crown in Ire land, acting under conditions of tho most extreme provocation. For it is clear that another orgy of cold-blooded murder has broken out in that unhappy country. Whether thi« lias been done with do Valera’s sanction, or whether his left wing is bent upon making any truce impossible between him and Ulster on tho one hand and the English Government on the other, must be a matter of surmise. De Valera may have no more direct control over the gunmen than Parnell had over the Konkin murderers. But tho only policy possible for a self-respecting Government towards arson and assassination.is one of determined resistance and repression and a strict refusal to regard either as a political weapon/'

“THE LIMIT." To the Morning Port it has long been evident that the Daily Post is an “organ of Bolshevism.” and now it reveals itself as “not le?« an organ of Sinn Fein.” Today tho Morning post remarks: “On Saturday u startling series of Sinn Fein outrages was committed in London ami Liverpool. The news was too sensational to 100 suppressed, but the Daily Herald managed to report it to the length of more than a column without onoo mentioning Sinn Fein or giving any suggestion of Sinn Fein’s connection with these attempts at murder and arson. Further, to disguise the significance of the news, the report appeared under tho headlines: ‘Fire Raiders in

London; Night Knocks at Dow'; “Here on Business'; ‘Three People Injured by Shots.’ Once before the Herald has been called ‘the limit,’ but now. surely, it earns the title afresh. Concerted and murderous attacks are made on the members of half a dozen households, and the event is epitomised ns ‘ Three People Injured by Shots!’ ”