IRISH TURMOIL

Otago Witness, Issue 3499, 5 April 1921, Page 16

IRISH TURMOIL

CAMPAIGN OF CRIME. LONDON, March 25 Armed men shot dead John Cathcart, managing director of the Pasley Company, after forcing their way into his home at iJToughal. An envelope inscribed “ A convicted spy ; spies and informers beware. 5 was placed on the body. SINN FEIN PLOT FRUSTRATED. SEDITIOUS LITERATURE SECURED. LONDON, March 37. It transpires that the arms and other Pterial discovered in Charles street, Dub- , were intended for an ambush of the ywn forces en route to Mount)'oy Prison, it had succeeded the prison would have been attacked with the view to releasing the Sinn Fein prisoners. The consignment Was landed on the Kerry coast last week in fish barrels and despatched to a wellknown address in Dublin to disarm suspicion. A Sinn Fein agent duly intercepted the consignment before delivery. An important raid was made in Molesworth street, Dublin, the Crown forces discovering the Sinn Fein propagandist headquarters and making the largest capture of seditious literature to date, along with an elaborate equipment of typewriters and duplicators. Many of the documents were addressed to Sinn Fein (fcgents in France, Spain, ai l Italy. Several tons’ weight of documents and literature were seized. MILITARY MOTOR CAR ATTACKED.. LONDON, March 28. Armed men attacked military motor In Dublin. Three attackers were shot down and one soldier was wounded. INCENDIARY FIRES IN ENGLAND. LONDON, March 28. There were altogether 40 Sinn Fein in cendiary farm fires in the Newcastle district on Saturday night. TELEPHONE EXCHANGES RAIDED. LONDON, March 28. Armed men raided the telephone exchanges around Dublin and dismantled tbe *witchboards. x DEMONSTRATION IN BOSTON. NEW YORK, March 28. A. remarkable incident occurred at Bos top during the festivities in connection with tile visit to the < ‘ty of Mr O’Callaghan (Lord Mayor of Cork). Irish sympathisers pulled down the British flag which was flying at the home of Dr Ladd, in the aristocratic Back Bay district. Dr Ladd wrapped the trampled flag about his shoulders and stepped out into the street, and challenged the members of the mob who had insulted the emblem. The only answer was hisses. The doctor returned home and again hung out the flag. The mob surged towards the house, hut the police arrived before violence was committed. THE ULSTER PARLIAMENT. LONDON, March 28. Mr J. Devlin, M.P. for Fal's, Belfast, speaking at Billygran, Down, said the Ulster Parliament would not solve the Irish problem. The scheme insulted their nationality and intelligence. The highest Service to Ireland would be to make it impossible. He predicted the Parliament’s early decease. ATTACKS ON MILITARY GUARD. LONDON, March 29 There was considerable firing at Kingstown (Dublin) late on Sunday night, due to simultaneous attacks on the military guard at three points. _ Unofficial reports assert that the Republicans planned a raid on the naval base. THE MALLOW SHOOTINGS. LONDON, March 29. The Court of Inquiry into the Mallow shooting found that the railwaymen were not inhumanely treated, nor were they fired on as alleged. The remainder of the allegations made in the House of Commons were not borne out by the evidence. [Captain King-, county inspector of the constabulary, was critically wounded and his wife was shot dead at Mallow railway station while awaiting the mail from Cork. Their assailants also fired on the police when they arrived at the station half an hour later. _ The police replied to the fire, killing one civilian and wounding eight. It wag stated that the police got out of hand and raided the railway station, killing two and wounding eight railway employees. The Irish railwaymen‘s version of the affair declared that the Black-and-Tans rounded up the station staff and marched them into the road. They told them to run for their fives, and fired as they ran, killing two. Sixteen others escaped on a locomotive. In the House of Commons a few days afterwards Mr J. H. Thomas raised the question of the Mallow shootings. He detailed the results of inquiries made by a trade union delegate, showing that the Crown Forces Were highly blameworthy. Mr Thomas said that after Mrs King swas shot the police came to the station and said that if she died 15 railwaymen would be shot. Four railwayman who were captured were marched to the barracks, where they were beaten with fists and revolvers, and told to carry the body of the woman from a military motor to a cell. When released next morning the railwaymen were told to run, and th ree out of the four were shot dead. Mr Lloyd George promised an inquiry.) BRITISH OFFICERS MURDERED. LONDON, March ?9. Captain Lees, who was employed at Dob] an Castle, was shot dead in Drury ret. He was in mufti, and was walking the Castle, when three or four men Borrounded him and fired several shots at point-blank range. His assassins escaped. Armed men removed Captain Good, M.C., from a trap at Barryshall, Cork,

and shot him dead. A note was attached to his clothing containing the words : “Convicted spies and informers beware.' 1 Captain Good’s father was shot dead on Marih 10. MR O’CALLAGHAN IN AMERICA. WASHINGTON, March 29. It is understood that the State Department will contest Mr O’Callaghan’s plea that he is entitled to remain in the United States as a political refugee on the ground that preat Britain has not demanded his surrender and that he promised the immigration officials when he arrived that he intended to stay only 60 days. The State Department’s Labour Department in the meantime will not hinder Mr O’Callaghan from visiting different cities with large Irish-American populations and delivering speeches on the Irish situation. FARMER AND SON MURDERED. LONDON, March 30. Rebels placed William Fleming, a Protestant farmer at Drumgad, Monaghan, and his son Robert against a wall and shot them. The eon died instantly and the father later. The Flemings recently refused to give up arms to the Sinn Feiners. OUTRAGE AT BANDON* LONDON, March 30. Two men entered the home of Denis Donovan, an insurance agent and a naval pensioner, at Bandon. They fired two shots, killing Donovan. A BRAVE WOMAN. LONDON, March 30. Six armed Sinn Feiners held up Mrs Moore, keeper of the Croagh level crossing, just before the mail train was passing, hoping to ambush the train by setting the signals against it and thus capture the military mails. The woman, however, misled the Sinn Feiners regarding the signals while her young daughter slipped out and opened the gates and lowered the signals. | The train passed safely through. The Sinn Feiners ran out and fired three shots. Later they threatened to shoot the mother and daughter. IRISH ENVOY’S TROUBLES. VANCOUVER, March 30. The Makura arrived this morning at Victoria (B.O.). Mr O. T. Esmonde (the Irish envoy) did not attempt to land The officials prevented him from addressing sympathisers assembled on the wharf. He says that he does not want to return to Ireland, and will resist being forced aboard another ship. He is apparently inclined to remain on the Makura and to fight the exclusion decision. Mr Esmonde states that he was refused permission to land at Suva, and was robbed of £2OO during the voyage and had only £3 left. Mr Esmonde has been detained at Vancouver pending inquiry. VALUABLE CAPTURE BY POLICE. LONDON. March 31. The police captured a Lewis gun, a German aeroplane, and 5000 rounds of ammunition in a stable in Harcourt street, Dublin. DAIL EIREANN AND THE GOVERNMENT. LONDON, March 31. Cardinal Logne received a deputation of Southern Unionists. It is understood that it had reference to opening negotiations between the Dail Eireann and the Government. IRISH RELIEF WORK. WASHINGTON, March 31. The British Embassy states that a misapprehension appears to exist regarding the necessity for raising funds in America for Irish relief work. Statistics show that Ireland was never more prosperous than now. Every case of distress and destitution (aside from unemployment due to normal trade depression and normal poverty) is due directly to the Sinn Fein rebellion. The Sinn Fein regions refuse to accepts funds raised in the United Kingdom for aid, but appeal to America for charity. The British Government, while not agreeing that, there is any need for American charity, will not place unnecessary obstacles in the way of any charitable organisation constituted on a strictly non-political basis. COMMISSION’S REPORT ON IRELAND. WASHINGTON, March 31. The British Embassy has issued a statement commenting upon the Commission’s report on Ireland, which charges the Crown forces with perpetrating atrocities. The statement says that these reports are entitled to exactly the amount of weight which should be given to any judgment based. entirely on ex parte evidence, and that it is biassed ana wholly misleading both as to its genei’al conclusions and in matters of detail. The statement denies that Ireland is a devastated country, but states that it is one of the most prosperous parts of Europe, and that the deposits m the joint stock banks have Increased by £53,000,000 since 1914; also that Sinn Fein votes at the 1918 election were less than 500,000 out of a total of 2,000,000. The report admits that it did not receive any evidence from British sources. A FIERCE ENCOUNTER. LONDON, Ma"ch 31. A large force of armed men blew up the Rosscarbery (Cork) police barrack >. The attack opened at 2 o’clock in the morning, when bombs and explosives demolishes* the front 'vail. The fight lasted for several horn’s. There was heavy and continuous rifle fire. The garrison, numbering 22, hold the barracks until ”ie last room saok fire. Then six escaped fl an an m w window. Five oi the police were killed and 12 wounded, and two ftre missing. The explosions were heard 30 miles distant, and reinforcements were despatched to the

scene ; but, as motor traffic was impossible owing to the destruction of bridges, they were obliged to walk. When they arrived the attackers had disappeared, taking with them the equipment from the destroyed barracks. It is stated that the rebels lost heavily. TEN POLICE KILLED. LONDON, April 1. The latest report states that 10 police are dead at Rosscarbery. A tragic story is told of the defenders’ fight amid the flames until they ware driven from their last refuge in a small upper room, whence they leaped to the ground amid the barbed wire defences, and thus became a target for the attackers’ concentrated fire. Only three escaped, and they reached Clonokilty. It is believed that most of the casualties were due to an explosion of stored bombs and ammunition. THE IRISH ENVOY. VANCOUVER, March 31. Mr Edmond Thomas Grattan Esmonde, having undertaken to embark without delay for England, has been permitted to cross Canada under surveillance. / FARMER FOULLY MURDERED. LONDON, March 31. William Lattimer, a farmer living near Mol) ill, did not respond to a demand to go outside, whereupon a bomb was thrown through the window of his house. Lattimer then went outside, and was shot dead. CENSUS POSTPONED. LONDON, April 1. The Government has decided to postpone taking the Irish census and leave the matter to the Northern and Southern Governments when they have been coneti tuted. HARCOURT STREET RAID. LONDON, April 1. A search of Harcourt street revealed a bomb factory for making both hand grenades 1 and trench mortars. THE IRSII ELECTIONS. LONDON, April 1. Mr De Valera, in the course of an interview in Ireland, said that the Dail Eirann would not place a ban on the elections for the Southern Parliament. Sinn Feiners intend contesting every constituency, and he was confident that the people, realising the importance of the issues, will elect only Republicans. Outside the six counties the Sinn Fein Party will also strive to capture as many seats as possible in Ulster. Mr Lloyd George, he said, could have peace and conciliation based on right and justice at any time. Any clashing of England’s and Ireland’s national rights was adjustable by means of negotiation and treaty, but he would never admit England’s right to dictate alliances for a partnership suiting England only. Mr Lloyd had never shown any willingness to treat the problem in the only way tending settlement as a question between moral equals. ATTACKS AT LONDONDERRY. LONDON, April 3. There was shooting and bomb-throwing at Londonderry on Friday night. The police barracks, the electric power station, and other places were attacked. Police Sergeant Higgins was killed, and two soldiers and two civilians wounded. OUTRAGE IN MANCHESTER, LONDON, April 3. Sinn Feiners in Manchester attempted to set fire to three hotels in which they had booked rooms, also a cafe and two warehouses, by overpowering the caretakers and cleaners in the early morning and then sprinkling oil on the premises. All the fires were extinguished, little damage being done. A constable was shot and seriously wounded while endeavouring to arrest the incendiarists. Documents seized in a house occupied by Richard Mulcahv, the Sinn Feiners’ Chief of Staff, complain that many officers of the Republican army are in a state of funk and are unwilling to participate in further outrages and murders. ESMONDE AT VANCOUVER. VANCOUVER, April 2. Esmonde, when released, dropped the mask of the tourist and addressed a meeting of 400 sympathisers to-night. He made a furious attack upon what he characterised as the drunken Viceroy’s regime.