THE AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 25 August 1921, Page 7

THE AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND

INTERIM REPORT

(Continued from last week.)

CHAPTER IV

The British Campaign in Ireland

Killings.—According to lists compiled by the Irish Republican Government and submitted to us, over 200 unarmed Irish civilians were killed by the military and "police" during 1920 alone. This number does not include persons killed in skirmishes or. battles Ibetween English and Irish armed forces, or in indiscriminate firing. According to the Irish Republican figures the list includes six women, twelve children, ten old men, and two priests. The increase in the killings over those of the past few years is startling. For 1919 eight similar killings were recorded, for 1918, six, and for 1917, seven.

We cannot vouch for the exactness of these figures, but we have direct testimony describing the killing of Mac Curtain, Walsh, Buckley, Quirk, and the boy at the Galway railway station of ten men, one woman, and three children at Croke Park; and of others. In addition, statements made before us indicate that when local disturbances (not military battles) and general shooting-up of towns are added to the category, the tally of civilians violently brought to an end in 1920 runs into many hundreds Miss Signe Toksvig testified that figures published in Belfast for the month of August alone showed fifty-six persons killed in that one city as the result of local disturbances. We shall cite from the testimony as few instances as are necessary to elucidate it, selecting them not for their ghastliness but for their instructiveness.

John A. Lynch in Dublin.—The Rev. Dr. Cotter was in Dublin when John A. Lynch, a Republican Councilman and Registrar of Courts, was shot in the Exchange Hotel (September 21, 1920). He investigated the tragedy: "Six soldiers came to the door of the hotel at two o'clock in the morning, asked to see the register, looked for a name, and went to room number six. They left. Nobody heard any sound. And some half-hour or so afterwards two policemen came and knocked at the hotel and said to the night clerk: 'We are going to guard room number six, where a man lies dying. The military told us to come here.' All the next day they stood guard at that room, and did not even admit the proprietor of the hotel into that room. They supposed the man was dying. He was shot in the throat. The military held the inquest." Thomas Dwyer of Ragg.—ln the village of Ragg, Thomas Dwyer, known as a Republican, was shot at his own door, January 21,. 1920. Councillor Morgan testified: "A knock came at the door and his sister, a married lady, opened the door, and they demanded her brother. She said he was upstairs. He came down with a candle

in his hand. Two shots were fired and he fell: A man at the door said: 'I think I will finish him.' And he fired another shot into him. The verdict in that case was ' Wilful murder against the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary.' "

In each of these cases the assassination of a particular person seems to have been sought. If any trial preceded the assassination, the accused was absent from it.

The indentity of the victim was established in the first case by occupancy of a room. The uncertainty of such methods of identification is emphasised by the deaths of James McCarthy and Patrick Lynch.

James McCarthy of Thurles.— Dennis Morgan, Chairman of the Urban Council of the agricultural town of Thurles* in Tipperary, told of several killings in the neighborhood during the past year. Here is one incident:

"A member of the Urban Council named McCarthy was very prominent in demanding an inquiry into the shooting up of the town. At the Urban Council he put forward a resolution that some inquiry be held as to the importance of the damage done and everything- else in the shooting up of the town. This chap got a letter informing him that if he came up Pryor Street in the direction of the barracks they would give him all the information he wanted. Naturally, he did not move. A few nights afterward, after the family was in bed— live off the Liberty Square—the family was in bed about two o'clock in the morning. A knocking came at the door and they asked who was there, and they said they'were looking for one McCarthy. The member of the Urban Council is Michael McCarthy. The brother, a lad named James, who never takes part in "public life in any way, simply a chap who is fond of going around wi£h dogs and sporting, he said he would go down and answer the door. As he answered the door the men asked him what was his name. Immediately two shots were fired, and he fell back dead in the hall. The men wore police uniforms."

Patrick Lynch of Hospital.—Rev. Michael M. English of Whitehall, Montana, testified to a killing he investigated in the town of Hospital, County Limerick: "On the morning of Sunday, August 15, I went to the town of Hospital. Upon the previous night a number of soldiers had entered the house of Patrick Lynch, a harness maker, a single man forty years of age, living with his two sisters and a blind father. These soldiers had entered his house at eleven-thirty, Sunday night, while they were on their knees saying the rosary. The first asked Lynch to come along. He said: « Just a minute until I get my cap.' They said: You will not need your cap in the place you are going.' They took him about 100 yards to a place called the Fair Green, the village square. And then they shot him. There were about four wounds in his head. His body was badly battered." Lynch nas not connected with the Republican movement, and it was reported in. the village that he had been mistaken for some other man of the same name. A statement was made public by the police to the effect that he had been shot by forces of the Crown while attempting to escape. Father English attended the inquest and testified to us that no evidence to this effect was presented. Other instances of analogous mistakes leading to vicarious sacrifice were presented to the Commission.

These killings would seem to take place indifferently, sometimes in the presence of the family, sometimes more remotely. We would be glad to think that the latter are governed more by the dictates of humanity than other considerations. t There was no allegation of crime made against any of these deceased, so far as the testimony reveals. John A. Lynch was a member of the legal department of the Government of the Irish Republic. Thomas Dwyer was a recognised Republican; Patrick Lynch was mistaken for a Republican namesake. None of them was alleged to have done any injury to the Imperial British forces, or to have held a position of authority in the Irish Republic such as to make him in any sense personally responsible for the direction of activities against the Imperial British forces.

The deceased James McCarthy was the brother of

*Thurles was partly destroyed January 20, 1920, following the killing of a policeman in the town. i

Republican Urban Councillor. The wages of a Republican would appear to be the portion of his kin.

Hunchback Boy.—Mrs. King, of Ironton, Ohio, talked in Bantry with the mother of a hunchback youth who had been killed in his home a few nights before (August, 1920). The woman had two sons, one a Volunteer, who was "on the run."

"There were no lights at night on the streets of Bantry, and the "Black-and-Tans" or the R.l.C.—they are disguised so that one could not tell to which body they belonged—they knocked at the door. She answered the knock with a candle in her hand. The soldiers knocked the candle from her, using an electric light to light them up the stairs. The Volunteer boy was not at home. The little hunchback boy ran from his own room into his brother's room. The mother rushed up the stairs after them, and was in sight of the tragedy when it occurred. 'My boy's hands we're raised in prayer,' she said. ' They shot him through his uplifted bands.' "

Having accomplished such a murder, the soldiers or police disappeared. Their individual identity was not established; and they were under no necessity to justify the killing. Their motive can be inferred only from the character and political connections of the intended victim. But cases have been presented to us in which specific individuals of Republican affiliations, having been sought and found by the Imperial forces, were slain not in their homes but while in custody. The case of Patrick Lynch, of Hospital, would appear to indicate that the killing of an untried prisoner in Ireland may require and evoke an explanation.

Le de Fuga

"Shot trying to Escape".—Lord Mayor O'Callaghan testified that "this practice of shooting men while prisoners and then alleging that they were shot in an effort to escape" had become much more frequent since the coroners' inquests had been done away with by British authority.

Buckley Brothers.—A case to point is that of the Buckley brothers, two young Republicans of Midleton, County Cork, arrested together on August 27, 1920. Mrs. Michael Mohan, of Corona, New York, testified that she saw them removed from the barracks in Midleton, handcuffed, in a lorry, accompanied by soldiers. When they reached Cork in that lorry both brothers had been shot and one of them was dying. Here is the sworn deposition of the surviving brother, as presented to the Commission by Lord Mayor O'Callaghan:

"On Friday morning, August 27, 1920, at the hour of la.m., I was awakened by very loud knocking at the door. My brother Sean and myself were sleeping in the one room; we got up and dressed, then came downstairs. My father had come down before us and had the door opened. Two policemen, one of whom was Constable Clancy, of Midleton police barracks, and a Cameron officer, entered. About twenty-five Cameron soldiers who accompanied them surrounded the house outside.

"A thorough search of the house was proceeded with for about an hour and ten minutes by the officers and a sergeant of the Camerons. The officer then placed my brother and myself under arrest, without charging us with any offence. We were taken on foot by the entire party to the military headquarters at Midleton, which is occupied by Camerons. We were handcuffed there and left in the guardroom until evening, when we were removed about 6 p.m. During-the interval we were at the military barracks the handcuffs were kept on us for ten hours, but our treatment otherwise while in the barracks was quite normal.

"At 6 p.m. we were placed in a military motor-lorry in charge of a Cameron officer, and about ten Cameron soldiers, and the lorry proceeded along the main road leading to Cork. We were both handcuffed separately and were sitting on the floor of the lorry. I was at the rear of the lorry and my brother Sean was at the front, both of us facing in the direction from which we had come. About half a mile outside . the town I heard my brother cry out, and immediately a x sharp revolver shot 'rang out. The shout from my brother was in all probability occasioned by his seeing his assailant levelling the revolver

at him. A second shot followed almost instantly, ' and I fell in the lorry, shot through the right shoulder. I gave no provocation whatsoever for this shot, and my brother gave none either. We were both sitting quite still, and were making no effort to escape, as is alleged by the military.

"An hour and a-half later we were both admitted to the military hospital, Victoria Barracks, Cork. During our journey to Cork, the military left us lying in the lorry and never approached us to ascertain the extent of our injuries or to succor us in any way; neither did they speak —even among themselves —after firing the shots, until we reached the hospital. As my brother . uttered no sound during the journey to Cork, I believe he was unconscious all the time. I suffered great agony from the wound in my shoulder, but did not speak."

"When we reached the hospital we were placed in a ward and our wounds attended to. My brother died almost immediately on being admitted.

“On November 10, 1920, I was released from the hospital without any charge being preferred against me, oxbeing tried in any way way. My right arm from the elbow down is still lifeless, and I am unable to move my fingers.” #

If a charge existed against the deceased, he was not tried for it and it was not mentioned. He was a Republican ; it would appear to us that he was murdered without provocation by soldiers wearing his Majesty's uniform while he was unarmed and handcuffed in a vehicle in the custody of an officer of His Majesty's Cameron High* landers.

Miss Louie Bennett testified to another application of this Ley de Fuga, and several more instances were presented to us. It would seem that "Shot trying to escape" is sometimes used officially to connote the assassination of an Irish citizen, an unarmed prisoner of the Imperial British forces.

"Refusal to Halt,"—The "refusal to halt" variant of this Ley de Fuga was called to our attention in the depositions from Patrick Nunan, a farmer at Buttevant, Co. Cork, and his son Patrick, jun., the latter shot by soldiers in a raid on their home, September 28, 1920. The young man was out until late that evening, getting in some hay, and when he returned the raid was already in progress. The father deposed:

"Then" I heard the order of 'Hands up!' and I saw my son coming in the door with his hands above his head. The soldiers gathered about him, and before putting any question to him, one hit him with the butt-end of the rifle, while others hit him with their fists about the face. They searched him, and then they asked him his name, and he said: 'Paddy Nunan.' They stopped when they heard his name. He went from the kitchen to the bedroom, and sat down on the bed beside his mother. He was not there more than two minutes when the soldier who had already threatened me said: "Take that young fellow outside the door and shoot him !" This order was hardly given when three or four others approached him and told him to come on. I was in the room at the time this order was given, and when they were leading him out I attempted to follow, but was told to remain where I was. He was not far from the door when I heard the' reports of shots."

At this point the son's deposition takes up the narrative:

"When I went outside the door I was shot in the right hand. The soldiers were standing around in a semi-circle, and I had walked only five or six yards from the door when I received several shots in the back and front of my body. I fell forward on my face and hands. I was then hit on the jaw with something hard. They turned me over on my back, and opened my coat and waistcoat. One of them said: 'We needn't bother with him any more.' They then went away, and my father and family came to me and I was carried in home."

•: Mr. Nunan, sen., further deposed that when the shooting occurred some soldiers who were searching the house called out: "Oh, King, we are in the wrong house." They then departed. Patrick, jun., included in his deposition a report issued from military headquarters stating that

he was shot for refusing to obey the command of "Halt!"* from soldiers already: under fije, and that he was found in possession of ammunition. The deponent swears this statement is untrue.

* Sir Hamar Greenwood stated: "In reference to the Dublin affair, I have received a telegraphic report to the effect that on Saturday evening, at about a quarter past five, two military lorries were passing down Charlemont Street, near Charlemont Avenue, in Dublin, when a group of five or six young men was observed to run away. They were ordered to halt, and on failing to do so three shots were fired. I deeply regret to have to say that, as a result of the firing, a young girl named Annie O'Neill, aged eight years, was killed, and another girl, named Teresa Kavanagh, was slightly wounded. The loss of this young innocent life is deplorable, but I hope the House will agree with me in the view that the responsibility does not rest upon the soldiers."

Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck: Is it the practice to fire on men who are running away?

Sir Hamar Greenwood: Men who are ordered to halt and do not halt are fired at. November 15, 1920. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, Series V., Session 1920, vol. 134, col." 1506.)

(To be continued.)