On the 6th of May, 1921, IRA Commandant Michael J. Marren, who was in command of at least forty Volunteers (with Thady McGowan as second-in-command ; incidentally, both men were carpenters by trade and, in May 1920, they had made a coffin for use in an IRA operation, during which 60 IRA Volunteers acted as a funeral party...but that's another story...!), placed his men along both sides of the railway line near Seefin ((Suí Finn), in County Sligo. The group were armed with between ten and fifteen rifles and various other firearms.
On one side a hilly bank about 35 feet high and some 125 yards long was occupied by some of the Volunteers and one of them, a scout (possibly Volunteer Edward Doherty, who had carried out operations like this before), had been sent ahead to a near-by train station (in Kilfree) where he was to board a train containing enemy forces travelling in the direction of Seefin ; a train arrived in that train station on which British forces were travelling in the direction of the ambush position and the IRA scout got onboard.
When the train was approaching the IRA ambush position, at about 2pm, the scout gave the signal that there were armed enemy forces on board and Michael Marren and Thady McGowan stood on the line and stopped it at Seefin level crossing (between Kilfree Junction and Ballymote) with a red flag, after signalling to the engine-driver to stop.
The train pulled up to a halt, and a few Volunteers took control of the engine compartment : Michael Marren (carrying a 'Peter the Painter' handgun on him) and Thady McGowan (carrying a revolver in his pocket) boarded the train at one end and slowly made their way through the carriages, while two other armed Volunteers, Frank Higgins (from Culfadda) and Pa Coleman (from Ballymote) made their way, slowly, through the carriages, from the other end of the train. All civilians on board were ordered to leave the train, which they did.
When they came near the carriage where the British Auxiliaries and RIC men were, the British invaders opened fire on the IRA men, who immediately took cover between the carriages.
The IRA Volunteers on the railway bank then opened heavy fire on the carriages occupied by the British forces, and the gun battle lasted for approximately thirty minutes, but then the eleven British Auxiliaries and their two RIC colleagues surrendered ; they were disarmed, and any ammunition and paperwork they were carrying was taken from them and the train was allowed to proceed on its journey until it arrived at a point between Kilfree and Boyle where the IRA men stopped the train and got off it.
During the earlier gunfight, a calf grazing in a nearby field was killed, but there were no IRA casualties in the operation.
'The Freemans Journal' newspaper of May 9th, 1921, reported - "It is stated that the Auxiliaries thanked the Republicans on parting for the courteous treatment they received and that the latter expressed a wish to meet them in an open fight soon..."
"All off! Everybody off the train! Everybody off the train, and hurry up!
I found myself looking at the bank of a high cutting, over the top of which projected a varied assortment of rifle barrels. I crossed quickly to the other side of the carriage and, looking out of the window, saw a number of men standing with their various weapons at the 'ready position' along the full length of the train.
The guard of the train next came bolting along the corridor, and asked, 'Are you armed?' but he was too agitated to wait for a reply.
I was handed over to the man who appeared to me to be the leader of the raiding party. A small notebook which had been taken away from me unluckily contained an old visiting card of mine. I was asked if the name on the card was mine, and as my name was on the back of my collar, I thought it best to agree.
I was then asked what I was doing, and I replied that I was just going into Boyle for the afternoon. I was asked if I was travelling on duty, and replied in the negative, and that I was going in for a dance that evening.
There were about fifty or sixty men employed on the raid. Both sides of the train had been picqueted, some were removing the mailbags, sentries were posted on the engine and on the brake van. A number of others were visible on the horizon, with flags, watching the roads.
Before leaving, Marron (sic) said 'good-bye' and asked me to take a message to one of his pals who was a prisoner in Boyle Barracks. He then left the train, and I noticed a number of young women on the platform whom I suspected of receiving the arms of the raiders for safe custody..."
The Sligo RIC County Inspector's report for the month of May 1921 reported 39 'outrages', including 26 robberies of arms, mails etc, and two attacks on RIC men and British Auxiliaries. It mentioned in particular the 6th May train hold-up and the Keash ambush on the 23rd May, but not the 26th May incident. It was reported in 'The Daily Railway Situation' reports as follows :
'27/5/21 : On 26th inst between Ballymote and Kilfree the 13.40 hrs mail train Sligo to Dublin was held up and boarded by armed men at 14.05. These men travelled on the train to a point between Kilfree and Boyle where they stopped the train and detrained...'
On the 12th July 1921 - 102 years ago on this date - IRA Commandant Michael J. ('Sonny') Marren (32), Officer Commanding of the Ballymote Battalion IRA, was drowned accidently at Strandhill, in County Sligo. After his body had been recovered from the sea and buried in Mount Irwin Cemetery, near Gurteen, Canon O'Connor officiated at the graveside.
In his eulogy he said -
"...a brave soldier or a more fearless companion of the Irish cause never breathed the breath of life ; a man universally beloved by his own people and by everyone within the circle of his acquaintance..."
Thousands of IRA men march behind his coffin at his funeral and the local newspapers reported that, as the funeral cortege left Sligo, it was met by a lorry of British military. The officer in charge of the British soldiers had his men dismount and stand to attention, with arms reversed, along the road.
We have no idea who that officer was. It is very unlikely to have been British Army Major Edward Sidney C. Grune, but the soldiers were members of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, which had been in constant conflict with IRA Commandant Michael J. Marren and his rebel fighters.
The Lament for Commandant Marren (composed by Tom Lavin of Coolboy, Ballyrush, Co. Sligo).
'The West is now eclipsed in the mourning,
for the bravest is laid in the tomb,
the death of Commandant Marren,
has cast o’er Connaught a gloom.
He fought for the cause of old Ireland,
and evaded arrest for five years,
beloved by all his companions,
and the pride of the bold Volunteers.
Young Marren he loved his dear country,
with a love that can ne’er be surpassed,
a hero and also a brave leader,
he was true to the cause till the last.
When oft times out-numbered in action,
he fought with a verdure so bold,
that he captured those vicious brown-foxes,
by the men of the Green, White and Gold.
The Green, White and Gold were his colours,
by their aid he would fight night and day,
it was woe to the man who would tempt him,
by the cause of those colours betrayed.
The brown-foxes anxiously sought him,
but needless to say ‘twas in vain,
he was hid from those tyrant traitors,
by the invisible band of Sinn Fein.
As a leader no man could surpass him,
for he acted with judgement and skill,
in the ranks a place is left vacant,
that no man ever can fill.
In conflict he was a brave soldier,
and no cowardice did ever show,
in planning he could not be equalled,
for he always out-numbered his foe.
When the truce of old Ireland was called on,
as a free man for Strandhill he was bound,
and when out for a dip in the ocean alas :
young Marren was drowned.
When the news of his fate circulated,
it filled every heart with dismay,
for to think that a brave noble leader,
could be cold ‘neath the depth of the sea.
Volunteers sure they came from all over,
when they heard this companion was drowned,
night and day they kept searching the ocean,
'till at length his dead body was found.
The grief of his parents and comrades,
as they stood on the strand on that day,
when his remains were washed in by a springtide,
they all bent down for to pray.
The day of the funeral was touching,
when 6,000 marched four men deep,
the dead march was played on the brass band,
t'would make the hardest heart weep.
Many friends as they stood by the grave-side,
requested the people to pray,
when relating the tragic occurrence,
to 'Sonny' a tribute did pay.
High masses were offered in many a place,
from Sligo to his native Gurteen,
and the numbers that attended those masses,
will forever remember the scene.
Three volleys were filled 'mid the silence,
and the last part were sounded 'mid tears,
the Rosary was recited in Irish,
for the rest of young Marren the brave.
IRA Commandant Michael J. ('Sonny') Marren, 12th July 1921 - 102 years ago on this date.
RIP.
'NORTHERN IRELAND' FLAG ACT...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
The 'Northern Ireland' entity was an expedient creation of the British Government ; it has been, and is, subsidised by them (inadequately) to maintain a defensive perimeter.
The second paragraph is the essence of sound common sense. The differences between Northern Protestants (I assume that the majority of the members of the USDAW trade union are Protestants) are very, very slight.
If, once the fear fostered alike by English and some Irish politicians, that a free Ireland would mean victimisation for Protestants, was dispelled, a free, united and prosperous Ireland would be very close to reality.
(END of ' 'Northern Ireland' Flag Act' ; NEXT - 'Westminster Elections', from the same source.)
'LAW AND SOCIETY :
IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?
We have always been a society with a facility for the creation of myths. However, not even the most dewy-eyed devotee of the dreams of the Celtic Twilight could have invented the present status of the legal profession in Ireland.'
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill Magazine', November 2001.
Against a backdrop such as this, the relationship of utter thralldom between the Dail (sic - Leinster House) and the law library was epitomised by the call by Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens for a tribunal of inquiry into the McBrearty affair. Perhaps the same people should read up on the transcripts of the 'Kerry Babies Inquiry'.
These calls represent another example of how the principle of the separation of powers, in which a healthy democracy gives equal rights to the parliament, the government and the courts, has been abrogated to the point where attorney generals are now more powerful than ministers.
The legal profession directs, and ministers duly sue Brigid McCole or Kathryn Sinnott, and ignore the plight of HIV-positive haemophiliacs.
After all, it is much easier to follow legal advice than to make tough decisions oneself, especially when those decisions pose a difficult choice between social morality and tempting political expediency...
(MORE LATER.)
'WAITING TO FALL...'
If this year sees the end of the 'Age of Tribunals', it won't be a moment too soon.
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
If Frank Dunlop's house of cards begin to sway, or the sort of lawyers who cost €25,000 rather than €2,500 a day start issuing writs over the revelations in the Moriarty Tribunal, or the public start to ask where the charge sheets are, or a brave opposition (admittedly that's unlikely!) start to ask questions, we may yet discover that the glow surrounding our tribunals is that of a twilight rather than the dawn.
Like a pre-Good-Friday-Agreement North of Ireland, tribunals are a flawed entity. Just as the fissures in the North meant the collapse of that statelet was inevitable, at some stage our tribunals will collapse under the weight of their internal contradictions.
This alone justifies our optimism that 2003 may yet be the year where we witness the death* of the 'Age of Tribunals'.
(* '1169' comment - unfortunately not : let the new Tribunal begin...!)
(END of 'Waiting To Fall' ; NEXT - 'In Answer To Church And State And In Defence Of Irish Republicanism', from 1987.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon and the team.
We won't be here next Wednesday, 19th July 2023 : the childer are on their holliers but that doesn't mean that we can all relax. The opposite, indeed - the three of us that run this blog all have young children or grandchildren (enough, between us, to practically fill a football stadium, never mind field a team!) and there's a right gang of us heading off on a road-trip on Sunday 16th for about a week.
We'll be back on Wednesday, 26th July 2023 with, among other pieces, a few paragraphs to do with seaside weapons and some other implements which were used, with deadly force, on the Quays in Dublin.
Keep the Faith, and please check back with us on the 26th!
GRMA!