COLLINS DEAD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16820, 24 August 1922, Page 5

COLLINS DEAD.

ASSASSINATED BY REBELS. AMBUSHED IN HIS OWN DISTRICT. END OF A GREAT LEADER. Bt Tel«vgrr«ph—Aesooiation—Oopyrisrht Australian and X.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, August 23. Mr Michael Collins was ambushed and killed at Bandon, twenty mile* south-west of Cork. NEWS CONFIRMED. GRAVE BLOW TO FREE STATE. Australian and N.Z. Gable Association. LONDON, August 23. The report of the death of Mr Collins has been officially confirmed. The news created greater excitement in Belfast than that of Mr Griffith’s death. It is recognised as the gravest blow to the Free Staters. The Free State Government has issued a proclamation to the army urging the troops not to indulge in reprisals. THE LATE MR COLLINS Mr Michael Collins was. before the signing of the treaty, the chief of the ‘* Irish Republican Army,” hut once that document was completed be became an advocate of the Free State. When Mr de Valera resigned his position as president, Mr Collins took the portfolio of finance under the presi dencv of the late Mr Arthur Griffith. This was on Januarv 10 last. More recently he has held the post of Com-mander-in-Chief of the Free State Army. Writing of him in pre-treaty days, the Loudon correspondent of the “ New York Herald” described him as th> most sinister figure connected with the Irish republican movement. He is the most “wanted ” mnn in the world, said the “ Herald.” No character in fiction has surpassed his record for audacity and there is no man living about whom so many tales of narrow escape* can be told. It is probable that when history

comes to be written his name will sink ! into insignificance for he is not a statesman and does not believe in a peaceable solution to Irish problems. “ Stop talking and get on with the job.” was his message to Ireland when peace overtures were suggested a few months ago. HOLDS SWAY OVER THOUSANDS. But to-day his name is mentioned in whispers throughout the land of tears and he holds complete sway over sev oral thousands of young men who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the J.R.A., dare not disobey his orders. Even loyalists are forced by sheer ter ror of his name into helping the republican cause. Nor is his influenoe felt in Ireland alone. Hi*» power extends all over the British Isles, and in the heart of London his agents are known to he at work planning deeds of violence to lie committed in the name of the republic ho re presente. Details of his early life arc little known. He wa.s horn thirty nine years ago of humble parents in County Kerry. He had an ordinarv elementary school education and aftey working with his brother, in the grocery business. entered the postal service. At one time he was employed at the G.P.O in London as a sorter, where he astounded everyone by his extremist views on the Irisii question. He is a man of more than average height, rather strongly built. His face is at onoe intellectual and cruel, he has u square jaw and his eyes are strangely piercing. AT LARGE IN DUBLIN. A man who saw him recently walking openly in the streets of Dublin described the incident as follows : “ As he drew level with me I was struck with the remarkable resemblance he bore to the official photographs or Michael Collins circulated throughout Ireland. For a moment I allowed my eyes to linger on his, fascinated by their penetrating gaze, hut suddenly the air became electric and I realised the danger of turning round to take a second look. His own right hand was in his pocket, and behind him were five or six men all at different distances from one another, all with their right hands in their pockets and all with their eyes glued in unwavering stares upon me. ■ I walked straight on for about a quarter of a mile before I dared to turn round, for T knew that quite accidentally I had seen and recognised •Michael Collins and his bodyguard at large in the streets of Dublin.” He was first heard of officially fti connection with the Sinn Fein movement in October, 1914. Strangely enough this first official report proves him to have been living under disguise. The white paper on Sinn Fein’s plot with Germany describes him as “a priest named Michael Collins.” who accompanied Sir Roger Casement on a mission to Germany to visit the Irish prisoners of war. He became notorious in the rebellion of 1916. where he com manded part of the rebel army. of which P. H Pearce (executed May 3 1916} was Commandant-General. THE SEARCH FOR £ - MYSTERIOUS MIKE ” Like all other Sinn Fein M.P ’s. he has never .sat at Westminster, but is an important member of the Dail Eirean the Irish Republican Parliament. He makes his headquarters in Dublin, although he has of necessity to be prepared to move from one district to another ot a moment’s notice. Mnnv houses used bv Michael Collins for meetings have been raided by the military. the R.I.Ck. the Auxiliary Cadet* and the “ Black and Tans,” hut always Mysterious Mike ” has managed to elude them. By bis very boldness he succeeds where other men would fail. He is a past master in the art of disguise, and it is said that he never goes into th j street without a bodyguard of six gun men. He employs a large number of '.routs and intelligence men. wbo keep him supplied with information regarding the movements of the Crown, forces. Narrow escapes. He has escaped several times by disguising himself as a woman, and on one occasion he travelled in the uniform of a eolonel of the British Army and was saluted several times by the troop.-> themselves. It is known that he has entered Dublin Castle recently in di«- * guise, and when the Auxiliaries raided a house in which he was sleeping be escaped through a back window in his shirt and was proved afterward to have dressed and walked down the street as one of the crowd and watched the proof the raid-

] Information was received some time \ ago that be was attending a wake in the Dublin district, and when the house was raided he evaded capture by taking refuge in the coffin after removing the body. The military, out of respectfor the dead, made hut a cursory examination of the room containing the coffin. Many men have been arrested in mistake for Michael Collins, and he has been reported killed on several ocoaTt Is believed by many that if he* were captured the extremist movement would cease to have any importance, as a large number of his men are bound to him solely by dread of the consct quences if they attempted to evade ser- . vice. Because of the large price on his head there are men in Dublin, in addition to the Crown forces who are making it their business to track him down in the hope of fretting the reward. Recently two of these amateur sleuths met him walking alone in one of the mnnv i squares of Dublin. They approached 1 him with revolvers pointed towards bis j heart. GUARDED BY GUNMEN. “You are Michael Collins, and you must come with us ” thev challenged 'him. The chief of the I.R.A. smiled in assent. ; You are quite right.” he replied | • I am Michael Collins, but -pointj ing to a spot a hundred yards in the I rear—“do you see those men r ” ( There were two men standing still ' and looking in Collins’s direction. | “ They are with mo.” he j&aicl and j indicated two more a hundred yards in | the other direction. “ so are they, as well as the two looking in the shop ) across the road’. Every one of them is armed, and i, you dare touch me yo i will not live five seconds from non Needless to say. he escaped once more. SPIES EVERYWHERE His “eves” are everywhere. Day after day and night after night thcombined forces of the Crown carry on their ceaseless search, now among the slum byways of Dublin and now to son* stately mansion on the outskirts of thv city. When loading their rifles the me*, make it a practice to put in “ one extr i for Mike.” Always the buildings chosen by him for his meetings have some cunning I emergency exit arranged apart from the j front and rear doors. A largo house as ; Rathmines in which he is reported to ! have stayed, was raided recently and was found to contain countless scorer. : doors, sliding panels and hidden corridors. But no man could stand the terrible j strain of such a ife for an indefinite ; period, and the most recent reports sa.v ! that he is beginning to show sign-s of ' fatigue. It is prophesied that it is now ; only a matter of weeks before he will be caught. “ No man is indispensable.” was a saying that gained great popularit yduring the war. but it is a matter for doubt whether the extremist* of Ireland in the event of his capture will be able to find another man so daring and resourceful as the elusive Michael t Yd]inn