WILLIAM ROONEY , poet and journalist ; 1872-1901 .......
....... William Rooney was mixing in Irish Republican 'dissident' circles (ie with the Fenians , IRB etc) , hoping to increase membership to the 'Gaelic League' , GAA and other similar organisations . He could understand where those 'dissidents' were coming from .......
When he was 28 years of age , William Rooney was in chronic bad health , but still politically active - he was openly condemning the very-limited 'offer' of so-called 'Home Rule' with which the British hoped to placate those opposed to their interference in this country and , both verbally and in his writing , took every opportunity to argue his point with those who would settle for 'Home Rule' or less . He was still travelling the country even though he was weak and sick...
...but the workload proved too much for him ; on the 6th May , 1901 , at only 29 years of age , William Rooney died in Dublin - he was physically and mentally worn out . Had he chosen a different path , he could have lived longer - but it was not in his structure to do so . His friend Arthur Griffith was later to collate un-seen material left behind by William Rooney , some of which were published in the year following his death (ie 1902).
Seven years later (1909) , the last of his material was published under the title 'Prose Writings'.......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
COOLNACAHERA and COOMNACLOHY .......
".......It was obvious to us that the force of British Auxiliaries had been 'tipped-off' about our intention to ambush them ; a member of our IRA Column , "X" , was thought to be responsible ......."
" "X" was involved , a few weeks later , in an incident which led to the murder of six of his comrades at Clogheen . That the creature who brought the murder-and-torture-gang to fall on his sleeping comrades did so to save himself is the most just and charitable thing I can say about him . For some argue that he had already started on his fiendish work as an informer . Certainly he had been over inquisitive about the names of people and places while with this IRA Column , but that proves nothing .
The poor wretch has enough to his account anyway , without adding to it , and I pray God that his like may not be there again . A few weeks before this day , Jim Grey and I , after considerable labour with indifferent tools , had fitted out and tested another Lewis-Gun . We had hoped to be allowed to use it in action against the enemy , and were astonished when "X" got charge of it ; nearly all of us doubted his integrity . So it was that , when the first shots were fired , "X" , stationed near the extreme end , was in a position to wreak the utmost destruction on the enemy massed under him ........
(MORE LATER).
THE CONVICTION OF WILLIAM QUINN .
' William Quinn was recently jailed for life in Britain having been convicted of the murder of a London policeman on the basis of evidence and an identification which has given rise to considerable controversy . '
BY MICHAEL FARRELL .
(First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , April 1988 , page 18).
Reproduced here in 9 parts.
(1 of 9).
" It must have been the worst ever identification anywhere in the whole world , " London lawyer Gareth Peirce says about the evidence that convicted American-born IRA supporter William Quinn of the murder of a London policeman in 1975 . Quinn was jailed for life at the Old Bailey .
William Quinn made legal history in October 1986 when he was extradited from the U.S. to face a charge of murdering British Police Constable Stephen Tibble in West London in February 1975 - a charge he denies . He was the first person ever extradited from the U.S. on an IRA-related charge .
Quinn also set something of a record for pre-trial detention . He had spent five years in jail in California fighting extradition and another seventeen months in custody in England before his trial .......
(MORE LATER).
