'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the British used the 'Defence of The Realm Act' ('DORA') to suppress the Irish Republican newspaper 'An tOglach' ('The Volunteer') ; within a few months , the 'DORA' legislation was also used by the British against their own people .......
A 'Defence of The Realm Act' directive issued by Westminster made it 'illegal' " ....to deprive (the) community of electricity ..." and British troops , fully armed and in battle gear , were deployed to keep striking workers in Glasgow and Belfast away from power stations . The striking workers were looking for a 44-hour working week instead of the 54-hour working week that was their lot then !
After a four-week strike , and with the threat of being 'named' under the 'Defence of The Realm Act' , the Trade Unions and the workers reluctantly accepted a 47-hour working week and returned to work . And , later still , (ie in 1941) the 'DORA' legislation was used on Cahir Healy , an ex-Sinn Fein member of Fermanagh Council .
Healy was a 'mixed bag' , politically speaking .......
(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.
RAIDS.......
".......we had the RIC and the British Army to contend with before 1916 - a house was never safe from a 'visit' by them . Then , from 1919 , we had the Black and Tans as well ; they were all vicious in their treatment of us , but we kept our sense of humour ....... "
" It wanted a quarter of an hour to be midnight , in the late August of 1920 . My father was reading at the head of the kitchen table , facing an open door from the hallway , while three of my sisters sat by the fire talking . One of them had just closed a book and had carelessly thrown it on the table ; Captain Moss of the Manchester Regiment of the British Army walked a trifle unsteadily through the doorway and picked up the book .
" Married in May ," he read , and added , "... regret in June ." At his heels came a number of British soldiers - Captain Moss and his 'flying column' of two hundred and fifty men had surrounded and occupied our village , the 'Cross' , for the time being . My father continued reading while my sisters studied the fire ; Captain Moss studied my father with owlish concentration - then he spoke : " Mister Schoolmaster ," he asked , " are you loyal ? " My father looked at him over his glasses .
" You might have knocked ," my father replied . " Are you loyal ? " the question was repeated . My father removed his glasses , folded them , put them in their case and put the case in his pocket . He got to his feet , moved back his chair and , moving clear of the table , stood in front of his questioner - " Loyal to whom ? " he asked . " Loyal to His Majesty King George V of England , " came the answer . " I am loyal to no man , " said my father .
Now my father was no fool and , so far , had never shown his hand to the enemy ......."
(MORE LATER).
DEATH OF A BUTCHER .
(No By-Line)
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 , Number 5 , page 42.
Re-published here in six parts .
(1 of 6).
Of all the operations carried out by the IRA (ie the pre-1986 IRA) the one which undoubtedly best illustrates the planning and expertise of its Volunteers - and also the one which brought the greatest sense of relief to the Belfast nationalist community - was the dramatic execution of the 'Master Butcher' Lennie Murphy , who led the notorious 'Shankill Butcher' sectarian gang responsible for at least 21 killings during the 1970's , and who just three weeks before the IRA caught up with him had ritually murdered a 48-year-old Catholic , Joseph Donegan .
Shortly before 7pm on November 16th , 1982 , three IRA Volunteers drew up alongside Lennie Murphy as he climbed out of his distinctive Rover saloon car to enter his girlfriends house in the loyalist Forthriver Park area .
The IRA's vehicle was a blue Marina van which had been bought in east Belfast some time earlier for such an operation ; two armed IRA Volunteers jumped from the van .......
(MORE LATER).
