MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .
" How do we know how long Wolfe Tone took to die ? It could very well have been eight minutes , not eight days . The only evidence ever produced to support the suicide verdict is an account from a French royalist , a Doctor Lentaigne , of whom little is known .
This same doctor was by his being a royalist first , and working for the British Army , doubly opposed to all Wolfe Tone would stand for . How anyone with the remotest feeling for justice or truth could accept the word of such a man under the circumstances at the time is an insult to ordinary intelligence .
But then as the old cliche says - " where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise . " The secrets of a state prison at that period in history are seldom penetrated and even today would be virtually impossible .
Abundant proof is available even today if a thorough search was to take place but we who wish to know the truth have only to know the man : he had dedicated himself to his principles and had seen his friends and compatriots , including his brother , hanged , and he would not let them or his country down by taking his own life ....... "
(MORE LATER).
LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(18 of 20).
A person who once worked closely with Ronald Reagan told me recently -
- " Reagan does'nt understand the politics of all these problems . Nor does he understand the business of politics . It's something I like about him ; on the other hand , it's a weakness because he has no internal measuring mechanism , and it makes it difficult for him to assess the political advice he invariably gets as a presidential candidate and as a president . He is subject to being battered around , to never being quite confident enough about the quality and character and sagacity of the advice he's given . "
(MORE LATER).
DEATH LIST 1989 .......
Two RUC Officers and two British soldiers , one based in West Germany , were killed by the IRA since mid-May , while a Catholic barman was shot by the UFF bringing the total death toll to 39 this year .
No by-line.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1989 , pages 22 and 23 .
Re-published here in 14 parts .
[14 of 14].
1st July : RUC Constable Norman Annett (56) died when two men shot him as he sat with his elderly mother , who was grazed by a bullet , in the living room of her home at Carhill Road , between Maghera and Garvagh , County Derry . Constable Annett , who was based at Antrim Road RUC Station in Belfast was the fifth RUC man to die this year and was due to retire at the end of the month after 34 years in the force . In 1971 , he survived an attack in a Belfast bar . The South Derry Brigade of the IRA claimed responsibility for the killing .
2nd July : British Corporal Steve Smith (43) was killed at Kaiserallee , a residential area of Hanover , West Germany when a bomb exploded underneath his Mercedes car . A native of Yorkshire , the dead soldier was based with the Royal Tank Regiment in the city .
[END of ' DEATH LIST 1989 ....... '].
(Tomorrow : 'INCITEMENT TO COERCION - DEMOCRACY IN DANGER' ; from 'The United Irishman' newspaper , 1957 ).
