'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
....... Ernest Blythe , one-time Editor of 'An tOglach' , the Irish Republican newspaper , accepted the 1921 Treaty of Surrender ; in his new position within the Free State Cabinet he cut the old-age pension by one shilling and discussed , with his Free State Cabinet colleagues , which IRA prisoners should be executed next .......
At one such Free State Cabinet meeting it was agreed that IRA leaders Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows , Richard Barrett and Joe McKelvey should be executed immediately ; at 3.30 AM on the morning of the 8th of December 1922 , the four men were told that they were to be placed in front of a Free State firing squad in a few hours time - no trial , no jury .
Indeed , in one month alone - January 1923 - 34 IRA members were executed by Free State firing squads in nine different towns in the new Free State . However - one of the Free State Cabinet Ministers that had condemned to death the four IRA men named above , Kevin O'Higgins , was only a couple of months in his new position as Free State 'Minister for Home Affairs' - effectively the 'hard man' of the new Administration .
But ordering the death of those four IRA prisoners gave O'Higgins a troubled mind ; and with good reason .......
(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.......
" .......one of our supporters , Sean , lived off the beaten track , and was not accustomed to having his house raided ......."
" Sean was past middle age - stout , humorous and excitable . On this particular day he worked in a field at a good distance from his house and uphill from it ; his neighbour , a young man , came running downhill to him . " Sean , " he said , " have you anything in the house ? If you have , tell me , quickly , and I'll dump it . The Tans are coming ! "
" Oh ! H'anam an diol , na bitcheanna , " shouted Sean , as a prelude to a quick mental survey of all the rooms in his house . " No ! No ! No ! " he added . Then , an inspiration struck him : " H'anam an diol ! The picture of Archbishop Mannix ! Put out Mannix ! Put him out ! For the Tans hate him ...." Then , to ensure beyond a doubt the safety of the picture , he said - "....but put him under a stone , carefully ! "
The neighbour , trying to hide his laughter , was already speeding down the hill .
[END of 'RAIDS.......'].
(Next - 'THE TRUCE' : "...one regrets that it ever came about.....")
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(4 of 11.)
The British Secret Intelligence Service , under Maurice Oldfield , its de facto chief , began preparing briefings on Ireland in the autumn of 1969 using two Officers sent from London to set up an intelligence network aimed at keeping " a watching brief " . By early 1970 , Maurice Oldfield had set up an MI6 station on the first floor of the Conway House Hotel at Dunmurray , Belfast : with secure , independent communications links to Secret Service HQ at Century House , London , the station became co-ordinating centre for MI6 Offices at Lisburn Army HQ and Stormont , where British Secret Service men served as ' political Officers ."
Ironically , it was Harold Wilson , who , according to Maurice Oldfield , would cross the street rather than speak to him, who sent MI6 into Northern Ireland (sic) , reportedly because he distrusted MI5 even more - with good reason as recent revelations by ex-MI5 man Peter Wright in Australia have shown .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, September 16, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Ernest Blythe TD , and Minister for Trade and Commerce in the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann , was Editor of the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper for a period in 1919 ; he probably regretted it later on , after he 'jumped-ship'.......
In 1933 , Ernest Blythe was the Editor of the (right-wing) 'Cumann na nGaedheal' party newspaper , which they called 'The United Irishman' (!) - this group was also known as 'the Blueshirts' , due to a coloured shirt their members wore in solidarity with the shirted fascist movements on the continent . Or you could believe the explanation given by the Blueshirts themselves for their dress-code -
- they claimed that they wore a blue shirt to prevent members from hitting each other should a fight break-out at a meeting they were at ! ('1169...' comment : colour- blindness must not have been 'invented' at the time .......!) But Ernest Blythe had 'changed sides' : he accepted the 1921 Treaty of Surrender and , by the following year , was to be found sitting at a Free State Cabinet table with , amongst others , William Cosgrave and Kevin O'Higgins , discussing which Irish Republican prisoners were next for execution .
Incidentally , it was at one such Free State Cabinet meeting that Ernest Blythe made a decision which was to haunt him for the rest of his political life - he cut one shilling from the old-age pension.......
(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.......
".......the Irish were proud to display pictures of executed hero's , and almost every house had them - this , of course , was a great help to the British , as they immediately knew which side of the fence you were on , depending on the pictures hanging on the walls of your house ....... "
" Later on , as the resurgent spirit increased , the pictures of other patriotic Irish men and women were added ; among them was that of Most Rev. Dr. Mannix , Archbishop of Melbourne . When a British raiding party entered a house , the sight of a picture of Irish patriots did not tend to improve their goodwill towards its occupants ; very often the picture was torn down and trampled upon . This , in turn, did not help to soften the feelings of the householders for the British raiders .
As the Freedom struggle was intensified , most of the people removed their pictures to a place of safety - they would only be broken by the enemy , and their display would only incite the British to further effort and research which might perhaps reveal an arms dump in the vicinity or , worse still, a wanted man .
Our friend Sean lived on his farm off the beaten track between Kilnamartyra and Ballingeary ; it was not often , therefore, that the enemy paid him a visit . The year was 1920 , and most people had got accustomed to raids and searches . But not Sean ....... "
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(3 of 11.)
Nominally , 'Sir' John Rennie was in charge of MI6 ; he had been given the post in 1968 by the British Labour Government to keep Oldfield , bitterly disliked by both George Brown and Michael Stewart , out of the job after 'Sir' Dick White retired . Rennie , a 'black propagandist' with the misleadingly named ' Information Research Department' , had little knowledge of the bizarre world which Maurice Oldfield controlled .
Like many others who crossed the little fat man with the florid face and mincing step , Rennie met his 'Waterloo' quite quickly , falling victim to character assassination less than three years after his appointment , when his son and daughter-in-law were arrested with a huge haul of heroin .
When Rennie was forced to resign , after news of the heroin bust had been 'leaked' to Fleet Street , along with details of his sensitive and secret job , Maurice Oldfield was his only possible successor .......
(MORE LATER).
.......Ernest Blythe TD , and Minister for Trade and Commerce in the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann , was Editor of the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper for a period in 1919 ; he probably regretted it later on , after he 'jumped-ship'.......
In 1933 , Ernest Blythe was the Editor of the (right-wing) 'Cumann na nGaedheal' party newspaper , which they called 'The United Irishman' (!) - this group was also known as 'the Blueshirts' , due to a coloured shirt their members wore in solidarity with the shirted fascist movements on the continent . Or you could believe the explanation given by the Blueshirts themselves for their dress-code -
- they claimed that they wore a blue shirt to prevent members from hitting each other should a fight break-out at a meeting they were at ! ('1169...' comment : colour- blindness must not have been 'invented' at the time .......!) But Ernest Blythe had 'changed sides' : he accepted the 1921 Treaty of Surrender and , by the following year , was to be found sitting at a Free State Cabinet table with , amongst others , William Cosgrave and Kevin O'Higgins , discussing which Irish Republican prisoners were next for execution .
Incidentally , it was at one such Free State Cabinet meeting that Ernest Blythe made a decision which was to haunt him for the rest of his political life - he cut one shilling from the old-age pension.......
(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.......
".......the Irish were proud to display pictures of executed hero's , and almost every house had them - this , of course , was a great help to the British , as they immediately knew which side of the fence you were on , depending on the pictures hanging on the walls of your house ....... "
" Later on , as the resurgent spirit increased , the pictures of other patriotic Irish men and women were added ; among them was that of Most Rev. Dr. Mannix , Archbishop of Melbourne . When a British raiding party entered a house , the sight of a picture of Irish patriots did not tend to improve their goodwill towards its occupants ; very often the picture was torn down and trampled upon . This , in turn, did not help to soften the feelings of the householders for the British raiders .
As the Freedom struggle was intensified , most of the people removed their pictures to a place of safety - they would only be broken by the enemy , and their display would only incite the British to further effort and research which might perhaps reveal an arms dump in the vicinity or , worse still, a wanted man .
Our friend Sean lived on his farm off the beaten track between Kilnamartyra and Ballingeary ; it was not often , therefore, that the enemy paid him a visit . The year was 1920 , and most people had got accustomed to raids and searches . But not Sean ....... "
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(3 of 11.)
Nominally , 'Sir' John Rennie was in charge of MI6 ; he had been given the post in 1968 by the British Labour Government to keep Oldfield , bitterly disliked by both George Brown and Michael Stewart , out of the job after 'Sir' Dick White retired . Rennie , a 'black propagandist' with the misleadingly named ' Information Research Department' , had little knowledge of the bizarre world which Maurice Oldfield controlled .
Like many others who crossed the little fat man with the florid face and mincing step , Rennie met his 'Waterloo' quite quickly , falling victim to character assassination less than three years after his appointment , when his son and daughter-in-law were arrested with a huge haul of heroin .
When Rennie was forced to resign , after news of the heroin bust had been 'leaked' to Fleet Street , along with details of his sensitive and secret job , Maurice Oldfield was his only possible successor .......
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......when ' An tOglach' Editor , Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits in March 1919 , he was succeeded in that position by Ernest Blythe , a TD and Minister for Trade and Commerce in the First (All-Ireland) Dail (32-County Irish Parliament).......
Ernest Blythe had some experience in editing a newspaper - two years previously (ie in 1917) he assisted in re-organising ' The Southern Star' newspaper in Skibbereen , West Cork - that was in January 1917 , and Michael Collins ( still an Irish Rebel at the time) came in as a shareholder . Then , in February that year (1917) Ernest Blythe was appointed Editor of 'The Southern Star' .
In November 1916 , 'The Southern Star' newspaper had been suppressed by the British , as its "...increasingly nationalistic tone " did not meet with the approval of the 'authorities' . The real authorities , meanwhile , were left to read the other Skibbereen-based newspaper , ' The Skibbereen Eagle' , and IT did not " meet with their approval " ; so they raided the premises - again ! At the time , ' The Skibbereen Eagle' was being run by local solicitor and (British) MP for West Cork , Jasper Wolfe ; a Mr. Eldon Potter had founded the newspaper in 1907 , but it never quite 'clicked' with the nationalist population . Thus the 'visits' it received from the then real authorities , the IRA .
However - (mini-tangent , that ...!) - Ernest Blythe was to go on to have even more experience in the Editor's chair : this time from the 'opposite side of the house .....'
(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.......
".......my uncle and Jerrick Sheehan were a few feet in front of us , leaning against a fence - they were not aware that myself and 'Mick the Soldier' were there ; we were all watching for enemy trucks , hoping to avoid them . Jerrick had taken his pint of stout with him ......."
" Suddenly , I saw something gleam in Mick's hand - it was Jerrick's pint of stout being carefully withdrawn from its resting place ; he brought it back safely , turned towards me and , bowing gravely , raised it to his lips . I saw it tilt slowly and thought of its previous owners care for its safe transport . I judged that a third of it had gone when it was again lowered . Then it was raised and lowered a few times until finally it was empty , and raised for my inspection !
Gently , it was replaced on the flat stone and the 'operation' was complete ; although taking no active part in the 'operation' , I must get credit for not jeopardising it , for the struggle I had to make to smother laughter was indeed a hard one . We resumed our positions and waited , and soon we heard the noise of the departing British lorries . Then my uncle spoke - " They are going up Ard a' Bhona , Jerrick , I think we can adjourn . " " All right , Dan , wait 'till I get my pint . " A clink of glass on stone and then - " H'anam an Diol , Farmer , 'tis empty ! "
" You must have spilled it , Jerrick . " " No , no , I put it down on that stone there and there was not a drop spilled out of it . Someone must have drank it - it bate the devil . Or who could do that ? " A voice from the other side of the fence answered him : " Another ould soldier ! "
When British forces raided the homes of our people they naturally looked for some indication as to where the peoples' sympathies lay ; in many houses , prior to 1916 , a large picture of Robert Emmet hung on the wall on one side of the fireplace and was sometimes balanced , symmetrically , by a picture of Daniel O'Connell on the other side . A very poor balance it was , in my opinion . After 1916 , however , equilibrium was restored , for a picture of the executed leaders was substituted for that of the politician ....... "
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(2 of 11.)
Maurice Oldfield was a regular visitor to 'The Highwayman Lounge Bar' in Comber , County Down , and to Balloo House , a pub/restaurant several miles away at Killinchey , where his favourite drink was vodka and tomato juice , which he refused to call a 'Bloody Mary' . Maurice was still 'flashing' when two uniformed RUC men from 'Golf' Division walked into the toilets and arrested him , bringing an end not only to the career of the Ulster Security Co-ordinator (sic) but to an era in Irish history .
For 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was not just a retired Secret Intelligence Service Chief (MI6) turned Mrs Thatcher's 'special crusader against the IRA ' , he was without doubt the most influential Briton in Ireland since 1971 . Oldfield's association with 'John Bull's other island' began in 1969 after British troops were put onto the streets by Harold Wilson . Oldfield was then Deputy Chief of MI6 in name , but in reality was the man who ran the spy service .......
(MORE LATER).
.......when ' An tOglach' Editor , Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits in March 1919 , he was succeeded in that position by Ernest Blythe , a TD and Minister for Trade and Commerce in the First (All-Ireland) Dail (32-County Irish Parliament).......
Ernest Blythe had some experience in editing a newspaper - two years previously (ie in 1917) he assisted in re-organising ' The Southern Star' newspaper in Skibbereen , West Cork - that was in January 1917 , and Michael Collins ( still an Irish Rebel at the time) came in as a shareholder . Then , in February that year (1917) Ernest Blythe was appointed Editor of 'The Southern Star' .
In November 1916 , 'The Southern Star' newspaper had been suppressed by the British , as its "...increasingly nationalistic tone " did not meet with the approval of the 'authorities' . The real authorities , meanwhile , were left to read the other Skibbereen-based newspaper , ' The Skibbereen Eagle' , and IT did not " meet with their approval " ; so they raided the premises - again ! At the time , ' The Skibbereen Eagle' was being run by local solicitor and (British) MP for West Cork , Jasper Wolfe ; a Mr. Eldon Potter had founded the newspaper in 1907 , but it never quite 'clicked' with the nationalist population . Thus the 'visits' it received from the then real authorities , the IRA .
However - (mini-tangent , that ...!) - Ernest Blythe was to go on to have even more experience in the Editor's chair : this time from the 'opposite side of the house .....'
(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.......
".......my uncle and Jerrick Sheehan were a few feet in front of us , leaning against a fence - they were not aware that myself and 'Mick the Soldier' were there ; we were all watching for enemy trucks , hoping to avoid them . Jerrick had taken his pint of stout with him ......."
" Suddenly , I saw something gleam in Mick's hand - it was Jerrick's pint of stout being carefully withdrawn from its resting place ; he brought it back safely , turned towards me and , bowing gravely , raised it to his lips . I saw it tilt slowly and thought of its previous owners care for its safe transport . I judged that a third of it had gone when it was again lowered . Then it was raised and lowered a few times until finally it was empty , and raised for my inspection !
Gently , it was replaced on the flat stone and the 'operation' was complete ; although taking no active part in the 'operation' , I must get credit for not jeopardising it , for the struggle I had to make to smother laughter was indeed a hard one . We resumed our positions and waited , and soon we heard the noise of the departing British lorries . Then my uncle spoke - " They are going up Ard a' Bhona , Jerrick , I think we can adjourn . " " All right , Dan , wait 'till I get my pint . " A clink of glass on stone and then - " H'anam an Diol , Farmer , 'tis empty ! "
" You must have spilled it , Jerrick . " " No , no , I put it down on that stone there and there was not a drop spilled out of it . Someone must have drank it - it bate the devil . Or who could do that ? " A voice from the other side of the fence answered him : " Another ould soldier ! "
When British forces raided the homes of our people they naturally looked for some indication as to where the peoples' sympathies lay ; in many houses , prior to 1916 , a large picture of Robert Emmet hung on the wall on one side of the fireplace and was sometimes balanced , symmetrically , by a picture of Daniel O'Connell on the other side . A very poor balance it was , in my opinion . After 1916 , however , equilibrium was restored , for a picture of the executed leaders was substituted for that of the politician ....... "
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(2 of 11.)
Maurice Oldfield was a regular visitor to 'The Highwayman Lounge Bar' in Comber , County Down , and to Balloo House , a pub/restaurant several miles away at Killinchey , where his favourite drink was vodka and tomato juice , which he refused to call a 'Bloody Mary' . Maurice was still 'flashing' when two uniformed RUC men from 'Golf' Division walked into the toilets and arrested him , bringing an end not only to the career of the Ulster Security Co-ordinator (sic) but to an era in Irish history .
For 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was not just a retired Secret Intelligence Service Chief (MI6) turned Mrs Thatcher's 'special crusader against the IRA ' , he was without doubt the most influential Briton in Ireland since 1971 . Oldfield's association with 'John Bull's other island' began in 1969 after British troops were put onto the streets by Harold Wilson . Oldfield was then Deputy Chief of MI6 in name , but in reality was the man who ran the spy service .......
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......once again , this time in March 1919 , 'An tOglach' Editor Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits (under the 'DORA' legislation) ; but he did'nt stay locked-up in Dublin's Mountjoy Jail for long .......
In early April 1919 , eighteen Irish Republican POW's escaped from the 'Joy , one of whom was Piaras Beaslai but , unfortunately for him , this time freedom did'nt stay long - the Brits caught up with him on May 1st , 1919 but , this time , they sent him out of the country - back to Strangeways Prison in Manchester , England . However , again - he did'nt stay long !
The IRA organised a 'jailbreak' from Strangeways Prison on 20th October 1919 - six prisoners , including Piaras Beaslai and Austin Stack , were free again . Incidentally (another 'tangent...' !) , when Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits for the first time in 1919 (ie in March) , he was succeeded as Editor of 'An tOglach' by Ernest Blythe , TD (in the First Dail , 32-County body) for North Monaghan , and Minister for Trade and Commerce .
Blythe , a Northern Protestant , had some experience in editing a newspaper - with Michael Collins .......
(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.......
".......two lorries of British Auxiliaries were on their way ; 'Mick the Soldier' and myself were knocking on doors , warning our friends and comrades to make themselves scarce . Dannie Sheehan's shop was open , and his wife was sitting by the fire ...... "
" Tadhg Buckley had just entered as we reached the shop doorway - " How are you Tadhg , " said Mrs. Sheehan . " I am the happiest man in the world , " said Tadhg , " until I hear the sound of a lorry ! " " Tadhg , " I spoke sharply , " get out now . "
He turned quickly and made a dash through the doorway ; just outside was a large polished limestone slab and Tadhg's heels , to use a local expressive saying , " went from under him " on the polished surface and he came down with a crash . ' Mick the Soldier ' found time for a burst of immoderate laughter , while poor Tadhg quickly regained his feet and , crossing the road, disappeared over the meadow fence .
We hastened along past Johnson's Forge until we reached the point where the fence of the Brewery Field joined that of the road at right angles . Here we left the road and slipped along by that fence on the side remote from the village . Reaching a certain point , we stopped to reconnoitre ; we heard a noise on the other side of the fence - my uncle and Jerrick Sheehan were just taking up a position with their backs to the fence , and to us : Jerrick spoke - " Do bheirim o'n diol , Dan , I brought my pint with me . Ould soldier , boy ! " he said in triumph .
A row of strong furze bushes grew along the top of the fence ; raising our heads cautiously , we were just in time to see Jerrick place his pint on a flat stone between two of the thick stems of the bushes then , turning his back on it , he leaned against the fence with my uncle . Both remained silent as they gazed towards the village , listening for sounds of enemy activity , not realising we were only feet away from them . Behind them we stood motionless , leaning slightly forward on the fence . My companion , 'Mick the Soldier' had his eyes firmly fixed on Jerrick's pint ......."
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(1 of 11.)
It was mid-afternoon , late March . A small , fat man with thick spectacles and darting eyes swayed back from the urinal in The Highwayman Lounge Bar , in Comber , County Down , nodding , smiling , flashing at each lone customer who arrived to relieve his bladder . His breathlessness was due as much to excitement as to his chain-smoking and asthma , for he was playing a game as dangerous as it was 'exciting' : Maurice Oldfield was engaged in what the homosexual fraternity call " cottaging " - and what police call " importuning " .
It was a game which he played regularly ; several times a week he would climb into his official car at Stormont Castle , where he had an apartment and office , and be driven four miles to The Culloden Hotel outside Hollywood and , having dismissed his driver/bodyguard , he would order a taxi to take him to Bangor , five miles away , from there he would pick up another cab to take him on one of his excursions into the Ards Peninsula or East Down .......
(MORE LATER).
.......once again , this time in March 1919 , 'An tOglach' Editor Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits (under the 'DORA' legislation) ; but he did'nt stay locked-up in Dublin's Mountjoy Jail for long .......
In early April 1919 , eighteen Irish Republican POW's escaped from the 'Joy , one of whom was Piaras Beaslai but , unfortunately for him , this time freedom did'nt stay long - the Brits caught up with him on May 1st , 1919 but , this time , they sent him out of the country - back to Strangeways Prison in Manchester , England . However , again - he did'nt stay long !
The IRA organised a 'jailbreak' from Strangeways Prison on 20th October 1919 - six prisoners , including Piaras Beaslai and Austin Stack , were free again . Incidentally (another 'tangent...' !) , when Piaras Beaslai was 'arrested' by the Brits for the first time in 1919 (ie in March) , he was succeeded as Editor of 'An tOglach' by Ernest Blythe , TD (in the First Dail , 32-County body) for North Monaghan , and Minister for Trade and Commerce .
Blythe , a Northern Protestant , had some experience in editing a newspaper - with Michael Collins .......
(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.......
".......two lorries of British Auxiliaries were on their way ; 'Mick the Soldier' and myself were knocking on doors , warning our friends and comrades to make themselves scarce . Dannie Sheehan's shop was open , and his wife was sitting by the fire ...... "
" Tadhg Buckley had just entered as we reached the shop doorway - " How are you Tadhg , " said Mrs. Sheehan . " I am the happiest man in the world , " said Tadhg , " until I hear the sound of a lorry ! " " Tadhg , " I spoke sharply , " get out now . "
He turned quickly and made a dash through the doorway ; just outside was a large polished limestone slab and Tadhg's heels , to use a local expressive saying , " went from under him " on the polished surface and he came down with a crash . ' Mick the Soldier ' found time for a burst of immoderate laughter , while poor Tadhg quickly regained his feet and , crossing the road, disappeared over the meadow fence .
We hastened along past Johnson's Forge until we reached the point where the fence of the Brewery Field joined that of the road at right angles . Here we left the road and slipped along by that fence on the side remote from the village . Reaching a certain point , we stopped to reconnoitre ; we heard a noise on the other side of the fence - my uncle and Jerrick Sheehan were just taking up a position with their backs to the fence , and to us : Jerrick spoke - " Do bheirim o'n diol , Dan , I brought my pint with me . Ould soldier , boy ! " he said in triumph .
A row of strong furze bushes grew along the top of the fence ; raising our heads cautiously , we were just in time to see Jerrick place his pint on a flat stone between two of the thick stems of the bushes then , turning his back on it , he leaned against the fence with my uncle . Both remained silent as they gazed towards the village , listening for sounds of enemy activity , not realising we were only feet away from them . Behind them we stood motionless , leaning slightly forward on the fence . My companion , 'Mick the Soldier' had his eyes firmly fixed on Jerrick's pint ......."
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(1 of 11.)
It was mid-afternoon , late March . A small , fat man with thick spectacles and darting eyes swayed back from the urinal in The Highwayman Lounge Bar , in Comber , County Down , nodding , smiling , flashing at each lone customer who arrived to relieve his bladder . His breathlessness was due as much to excitement as to his chain-smoking and asthma , for he was playing a game as dangerous as it was 'exciting' : Maurice Oldfield was engaged in what the homosexual fraternity call " cottaging " - and what police call " importuning " .
It was a game which he played regularly ; several times a week he would climb into his official car at Stormont Castle , where he had an apartment and office , and be driven four miles to The Culloden Hotel outside Hollywood and , having dismissed his driver/bodyguard , he would order a taxi to take him to Bangor , five miles away , from there he would pick up another cab to take him on one of his excursions into the Ards Peninsula or East Down .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, September 13, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......a commemorative pamphlet was issued in memory of Austin Stack (with whom 'An tOglach' Editor , Piaras Beaslai , had shared prison space with in Strangeways Prison in Manchester) who died on 27th April , 1929 .......
' Fittingly , the question - 'What is a Republican? ' fails to be answered in our memorial number for Austin Stack , a man who bore and dared and suffered , remaining through it all and at the worst , the captain of his own soul . What then was Austin Stack , Republican ? A great lover of his country . A man without a crooked twist in him . One who thought straight , acted straight , walked the straight road unflinchingly and expected of others that they should walk it with him , as simply as he did himself .
No man could say or write of him - " He had to do it ..." . That plea of the slave was not his . His duty , as conscience and love dictated , he did . The force of England , of the English Slave State , might try coercion , as they tried it many times : it made no difference . He went his way , suffered their will , and stood his ground doggedly , smiling now and again . His determination out-stood theirs , because it had a deeper foundation and a higher aim .
Compromise , submission , the slave marks , did not and could not exist for him as touching himself , or the Cause for which he worked and fought , lived and died . '
However , I digress ('tangents' again !) - the Editor of 'An tOglach' , Piaras Beaslai , was once again 'arrested' by the Brits , in March 1919 (under the 'DORA' legislation) and locked-up in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin ; but he did'nt stay long .......
(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.......
".......it was a harvest evening in 1920 - a dangerous time for us , as the British Auxiliaries went raiding and searching local villages ......."
" Myself and 'Mick the Soldier' had just finished our tea when the furious gallop of a horse sent us running out of doors ; my mother stood at the gate , and the three of us saw a rider on a heavy awkward horse down the steep hill from Caherdaha . Stones and sparks flew from under his thick hairy fetlocks - his hooves tore the road as he was pulled up . The rider was Jim Lehane of Coolierach , an IRA Volunteer , and he told us he was bringing the horse to the forge when two British Army lorries began to climb the long steep hill of Caherdaha behind him .
Jim had urged the horse to the utmost , first uphill , next for two hundred yards on the level , and finally downhill steeply for two hundred yards to our gate . He quickly told us the news and galloped off ; my mother went into the house while we went down to the Cross , to warn anyone who might be in Den's pub at the corner or in Dannie Sheehan's shop . We first looked into the bar - it was empty , and we ran out again and , as we passed along the front of the pub , I got a notion : running to the kitchen window , I seized the lower sash and, raising it , put in my head and shoulders . In the dim light I could see my uncle Dan and Jerrick Sheehan , an ex-British soldier , sitting at the fire . Two full pints stood near them ; Jerrick had been working with my uncle , and both had just come for a drink after the day's labour .
" Clear out the back , and through the Brewery field - now ! " They did not question my unceremonious order , but got busy - I noticed that while my uncle left his pint , Jerrick brought his swiftly but very carefully along . He did not catch the glass by the middle , but from above, with all his fingers around the top .
Dannie Sheehan's shop-door stood wide open ; his wife sat by the fire ......."
(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 .
[6 of 6].
Immediately on his release in August 1982 , having served six years of a twelve-year sentence (with full remission) , Lennie Murphy set about regaining control of the UVF and reforming a murder gang on the lines of the ' Shankill Butchers ' . Between August 1982 and his execution in November 1982 , Murphy was known to have been behind the killing of Brian Smith , a UVF dissident , on September 5th , 1982.
He was also involved in the brutal murder of a west-Belfast Catholic , Joseph Donegan , who was kidnapped on October 22nd 1982 . The killing of Donegan , however , was probably Lennie Murphy's last ; for , on November 16th , 1982 , the IRA caught up with him , and then , for him , as for his unfortunate victims - there was no escape .
[END of ' DEATH OF A BUTCHER....... '].
(Tomorrow - ' TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY ' : 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield .)
.......a commemorative pamphlet was issued in memory of Austin Stack (with whom 'An tOglach' Editor , Piaras Beaslai , had shared prison space with in Strangeways Prison in Manchester) who died on 27th April , 1929 .......
' Fittingly , the question - 'What is a Republican? ' fails to be answered in our memorial number for Austin Stack , a man who bore and dared and suffered , remaining through it all and at the worst , the captain of his own soul . What then was Austin Stack , Republican ? A great lover of his country . A man without a crooked twist in him . One who thought straight , acted straight , walked the straight road unflinchingly and expected of others that they should walk it with him , as simply as he did himself .
No man could say or write of him - " He had to do it ..." . That plea of the slave was not his . His duty , as conscience and love dictated , he did . The force of England , of the English Slave State , might try coercion , as they tried it many times : it made no difference . He went his way , suffered their will , and stood his ground doggedly , smiling now and again . His determination out-stood theirs , because it had a deeper foundation and a higher aim .
Compromise , submission , the slave marks , did not and could not exist for him as touching himself , or the Cause for which he worked and fought , lived and died . '
However , I digress ('tangents' again !) - the Editor of 'An tOglach' , Piaras Beaslai , was once again 'arrested' by the Brits , in March 1919 (under the 'DORA' legislation) and locked-up in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin ; but he did'nt stay long .......
(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.......
".......it was a harvest evening in 1920 - a dangerous time for us , as the British Auxiliaries went raiding and searching local villages ......."
" Myself and 'Mick the Soldier' had just finished our tea when the furious gallop of a horse sent us running out of doors ; my mother stood at the gate , and the three of us saw a rider on a heavy awkward horse down the steep hill from Caherdaha . Stones and sparks flew from under his thick hairy fetlocks - his hooves tore the road as he was pulled up . The rider was Jim Lehane of Coolierach , an IRA Volunteer , and he told us he was bringing the horse to the forge when two British Army lorries began to climb the long steep hill of Caherdaha behind him .
Jim had urged the horse to the utmost , first uphill , next for two hundred yards on the level , and finally downhill steeply for two hundred yards to our gate . He quickly told us the news and galloped off ; my mother went into the house while we went down to the Cross , to warn anyone who might be in Den's pub at the corner or in Dannie Sheehan's shop . We first looked into the bar - it was empty , and we ran out again and , as we passed along the front of the pub , I got a notion : running to the kitchen window , I seized the lower sash and, raising it , put in my head and shoulders . In the dim light I could see my uncle Dan and Jerrick Sheehan , an ex-British soldier , sitting at the fire . Two full pints stood near them ; Jerrick had been working with my uncle , and both had just come for a drink after the day's labour .
" Clear out the back , and through the Brewery field - now ! " They did not question my unceremonious order , but got busy - I noticed that while my uncle left his pint , Jerrick brought his swiftly but very carefully along . He did not catch the glass by the middle , but from above, with all his fingers around the top .
Dannie Sheehan's shop-door stood wide open ; his wife sat by the fire ......."
(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 .
[6 of 6].
Immediately on his release in August 1982 , having served six years of a twelve-year sentence (with full remission) , Lennie Murphy set about regaining control of the UVF and reforming a murder gang on the lines of the ' Shankill Butchers ' . Between August 1982 and his execution in November 1982 , Murphy was known to have been behind the killing of Brian Smith , a UVF dissident , on September 5th , 1982.
He was also involved in the brutal murder of a west-Belfast Catholic , Joseph Donegan , who was kidnapped on October 22nd 1982 . The killing of Donegan , however , was probably Lennie Murphy's last ; for , on November 16th , 1982 , the IRA caught up with him , and then , for him , as for his unfortunate victims - there was no escape .
[END of ' DEATH OF A BUTCHER....... '].
(Tomorrow - ' TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY ' : 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield .)
Friday, September 10, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Piaras Beaslai ('An tOglach' Editor) was in Strangeways Prison in Manchester with a staunch Irish Republican - Austin Stack . During the debate on the 1921 Treaty of Surrender , Stack laid his cards on the table .......
" Has any man here the hardihood to stand up and say that it was for this our fathers suffered , that it was for this our comrades have died in the field and in the barrack yard ..." ('1169...' comment - a question that Austin Stack would now no doubt put to those supporters of the 1998 Stormont Treaty ['GFA'] ; those people should consider themselves blessed that Stack , amongst others, is resting in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin : and they should also recognise and admit that men and women like Austin Stack did not sacrifice their all to gain the equivalent of what was on offer to , and rejected by , them , in their time .)
Austin Stack died on 27th April 1929 , at only 50 years of age , from a weakness brought on by an earlier stomach operation - the hunger-strikes he endured had taken their toll . A commemorative pamphlet , entitled ' What Exactly is a Republican ? ' was issued in memory of Austin Stack -
' The name Republican in Ireland , as used amongst Republicans , bears no political meaning . It stands for the devout lover of his country , trying with might and main for his country's Freedom . Such a man cannot be a slave . And if not a slave in heart or in act , he cannot be guilty of the slave vices. No coercion can breed these in the freeman .......'
(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.......
"....... the British Army Captain was walking around our house , searching it , with my father following him , with a lit candle ; the back of the Englishman's uniform was criss-crossed with dry wax designs , which the Captain knew nothing about . However , the two armed British sentries had now noticed my fathers handiwork ......."
" The two British soldiers looked at each other - simultaneously , both smiled happily ; it was not often such a blissful vision appeared to poor soldiers . Their Captain was not a favourite . In the room across the hallway was a sideboard - while the Captain searched its lower recesses , possibly for a bottle (!) , my father finished his parallels of latitude . The sideboard yielding nothing , he stood up , walked out to the hall , looked up the stairs and, grunting an order to his men , stumbled out into the night . My father returned to the kitchen with his much depleted candle , to find my sisters laughing heartily . " What's wrong ? " he asked with forced gravity : " Oh , nothing , " was the reply , " but that fellow will come back and burn the house when he sees his uniform . " " He's lucky if he does not go on fire himself ! " said my father .
The dusk of evening , in the harvest of 1920 , was a favourite time for a raid with the Auxiliaries of Macroom Castle ; two Crossley tenders invariably were their means of transport . You might think that eighteen men venturing out thus could easily be dealt with , and that was true enough - but the trouble was to catch them ! There was no such thing as regularity about their movements ; if they left Macroom in a certain direction the only clue to their return was that it would not be by the same road . Every kind of a passable bye-road as well as the main roads would have to be manned to ensure their capture , and passages thought to be impassible to motor-cars were used by them . It was not for want of attempts to intercept them that they escaped so long .
It was one such harvest evening when the Auxiliaries came calling ....... "
(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 .
(5 of 6).
By November 1975 , Lennie Murphy had formed a UVF gang that came to be known as the 'Shankill Butchers' because of its preference for ritually torturing and mutiliating its victims with , among other implements , a number of butcher's knives . After Murphy's imprisonment in March 1976 for possession of weapons (although his involvement in several sectarian slayings was well known) , he continued to direct other gang members - including William Moore , Robert 'Basher' Bates and a serving UDR (British) soldier , Eddie McIlwaine - to continue the catalogue of death .
At least 21 victims , mostly Catholics , were to meet grisly deaths at the hands of these maniacs before they were eventually arrested in 1978 . At their trial they were given a total of 2,000 years' imprisonment , including 42 life sentences .
However , although they had implicated Lennie Murphy in statements , they refused to testify against him .......
(MORE LATER).
.......Piaras Beaslai ('An tOglach' Editor) was in Strangeways Prison in Manchester with a staunch Irish Republican - Austin Stack . During the debate on the 1921 Treaty of Surrender , Stack laid his cards on the table .......
" Has any man here the hardihood to stand up and say that it was for this our fathers suffered , that it was for this our comrades have died in the field and in the barrack yard ..." ('1169...' comment - a question that Austin Stack would now no doubt put to those supporters of the 1998 Stormont Treaty ['GFA'] ; those people should consider themselves blessed that Stack , amongst others, is resting in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin : and they should also recognise and admit that men and women like Austin Stack did not sacrifice their all to gain the equivalent of what was on offer to , and rejected by , them , in their time .)
Austin Stack died on 27th April 1929 , at only 50 years of age , from a weakness brought on by an earlier stomach operation - the hunger-strikes he endured had taken their toll . A commemorative pamphlet , entitled ' What Exactly is a Republican ? ' was issued in memory of Austin Stack -
' The name Republican in Ireland , as used amongst Republicans , bears no political meaning . It stands for the devout lover of his country , trying with might and main for his country's Freedom . Such a man cannot be a slave . And if not a slave in heart or in act , he cannot be guilty of the slave vices. No coercion can breed these in the freeman .......'
(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.......
"....... the British Army Captain was walking around our house , searching it , with my father following him , with a lit candle ; the back of the Englishman's uniform was criss-crossed with dry wax designs , which the Captain knew nothing about . However , the two armed British sentries had now noticed my fathers handiwork ......."
" The two British soldiers looked at each other - simultaneously , both smiled happily ; it was not often such a blissful vision appeared to poor soldiers . Their Captain was not a favourite . In the room across the hallway was a sideboard - while the Captain searched its lower recesses , possibly for a bottle (!) , my father finished his parallels of latitude . The sideboard yielding nothing , he stood up , walked out to the hall , looked up the stairs and, grunting an order to his men , stumbled out into the night . My father returned to the kitchen with his much depleted candle , to find my sisters laughing heartily . " What's wrong ? " he asked with forced gravity : " Oh , nothing , " was the reply , " but that fellow will come back and burn the house when he sees his uniform . " " He's lucky if he does not go on fire himself ! " said my father .
The dusk of evening , in the harvest of 1920 , was a favourite time for a raid with the Auxiliaries of Macroom Castle ; two Crossley tenders invariably were their means of transport . You might think that eighteen men venturing out thus could easily be dealt with , and that was true enough - but the trouble was to catch them ! There was no such thing as regularity about their movements ; if they left Macroom in a certain direction the only clue to their return was that it would not be by the same road . Every kind of a passable bye-road as well as the main roads would have to be manned to ensure their capture , and passages thought to be impassible to motor-cars were used by them . It was not for want of attempts to intercept them that they escaped so long .
It was one such harvest evening when the Auxiliaries came calling ....... "
(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 .
(5 of 6).
By November 1975 , Lennie Murphy had formed a UVF gang that came to be known as the 'Shankill Butchers' because of its preference for ritually torturing and mutiliating its victims with , among other implements , a number of butcher's knives . After Murphy's imprisonment in March 1976 for possession of weapons (although his involvement in several sectarian slayings was well known) , he continued to direct other gang members - including William Moore , Robert 'Basher' Bates and a serving UDR (British) soldier , Eddie McIlwaine - to continue the catalogue of death .
At least 21 victims , mostly Catholics , were to meet grisly deaths at the hands of these maniacs before they were eventually arrested in 1978 . At their trial they were given a total of 2,000 years' imprisonment , including 42 life sentences .
However , although they had implicated Lennie Murphy in statements , they refused to testify against him .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, September 09, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the (first) Editor of the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper , Liverpool-born Piaras Beaslai , was imprisoned by the Brits for his part in the 1916 Rising ; he shared prison-space with an Irish Republican legend .......
In Strangeways Prison , in Manchester , England , Piaras Beaslai met an Irish Republican who had been condemned to death by the British for his role in the 1916 Rising - Austin Stack . The death sentence on Austin Stack was later commuted to penal servitude . Stack was an out-and-out Irish Rebel , who had practically spent as much time in prison as he had out of it , and was no stranger to that one Irish Republican prison weapon that the 'authorities' could do nothing about - the hunger-strike .
He was in command of the Irish Republican POW's in Belfast Jail in November 1918 when same was smashed-up by the prisoners and , during the Civil War , was Deputy Chief of Staff to Frank Aiken . Austin Stack was born in Tralee , in County Kerry , in 1879 , and never knew the meaning of the word ' compromise ' ;
- his position on the British occupation of Ireland was made clear to all during the debate on the 1921 Treaty of Surrender .......
(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.......
".......the drunken British Army Captain , Moss , was searching our house , and my father accompanied him from room to room , carrying a lighted candle . Moss was hunkered down searching a drawer - my father looked at him , then looked at the candle in his hand ....... "
" My father tilted the candle and deliberately ran a streak of grease from it to the back of the neck of the British Captain's tunic almost to the tail of it ; the tunic was spotless clean and new , and the candle-grease certainly appeared out of place on it , but my father regarded it as an artist would a successful stroke of the brush !
My sisters looked on in astonishment at what they first believed to be an accident , or an involuntary lapse on my father's part . They soon discovered that his employment was not merely temporary - well versed in the mechanics of geography , my father quickly added the line of the Equator to the 'Prime Meridian' , with the Englishman's portly figure helping him to a great extent ! The Captain's manner also proved useful , for while he intermittently lectured my father , a fresh supply of candle-grease was formimg ...
By the time the searching of the kitchen was completed the meridians of longitude on the Englishman's back gave him a zebra-like appearance . As he passed from the kitchen into the hallway , two British Tommies with fixed bayonets stood , one on either side of the doorway ; my father , with the candle, followed close behind . With wooden faces , the two British soldiers faced each other standing to attention while their Captain passed between them . Suddenly , both turned their heads and stared after him .
Astonishment was written largely on their faces ; turning eyes front again , they looked at each other ......."
(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 .
(4 of 6).
Who , then, was Lennie Murphy , the 'Master Butcher' ? His first known victim was Francis Arthurs , from Fallswater Street , whose body was found in July 1972 , almost unrecognisable from stab wounds and bullet holes . A month later , Thomas Madden , from Cliftonville Avenue , was found dead - strangled , and with approximately 150 stab wounds .
In September 1972 , William Pavis , a 32-year old Protestant suspected of befriending nationalists , was shot dead at his home ; Lennie Murphy and another loyalist , Mervyn Connor , were arrested and charged with the killing . Connor agreed to testify against Murphy but in April 1973 he died in his cell of cyanide poisoning , having first been forced to leave a letter withdrawing his statements against Lennie Murphy .
Murphy was subsequently acquitted of the murder of William Pavis .......
(MORE LATER).
.......the (first) Editor of the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper , Liverpool-born Piaras Beaslai , was imprisoned by the Brits for his part in the 1916 Rising ; he shared prison-space with an Irish Republican legend .......
In Strangeways Prison , in Manchester , England , Piaras Beaslai met an Irish Republican who had been condemned to death by the British for his role in the 1916 Rising - Austin Stack . The death sentence on Austin Stack was later commuted to penal servitude . Stack was an out-and-out Irish Rebel , who had practically spent as much time in prison as he had out of it , and was no stranger to that one Irish Republican prison weapon that the 'authorities' could do nothing about - the hunger-strike .
He was in command of the Irish Republican POW's in Belfast Jail in November 1918 when same was smashed-up by the prisoners and , during the Civil War , was Deputy Chief of Staff to Frank Aiken . Austin Stack was born in Tralee , in County Kerry , in 1879 , and never knew the meaning of the word ' compromise ' ;
- his position on the British occupation of Ireland was made clear to all during the debate on the 1921 Treaty of Surrender .......
(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.......
".......the drunken British Army Captain , Moss , was searching our house , and my father accompanied him from room to room , carrying a lighted candle . Moss was hunkered down searching a drawer - my father looked at him , then looked at the candle in his hand ....... "
" My father tilted the candle and deliberately ran a streak of grease from it to the back of the neck of the British Captain's tunic almost to the tail of it ; the tunic was spotless clean and new , and the candle-grease certainly appeared out of place on it , but my father regarded it as an artist would a successful stroke of the brush !
My sisters looked on in astonishment at what they first believed to be an accident , or an involuntary lapse on my father's part . They soon discovered that his employment was not merely temporary - well versed in the mechanics of geography , my father quickly added the line of the Equator to the 'Prime Meridian' , with the Englishman's portly figure helping him to a great extent ! The Captain's manner also proved useful , for while he intermittently lectured my father , a fresh supply of candle-grease was formimg ...
By the time the searching of the kitchen was completed the meridians of longitude on the Englishman's back gave him a zebra-like appearance . As he passed from the kitchen into the hallway , two British Tommies with fixed bayonets stood , one on either side of the doorway ; my father , with the candle, followed close behind . With wooden faces , the two British soldiers faced each other standing to attention while their Captain passed between them . Suddenly , both turned their heads and stared after him .
Astonishment was written largely on their faces ; turning eyes front again , they looked at each other ......."
(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 .
(4 of 6).
Who , then, was Lennie Murphy , the 'Master Butcher' ? His first known victim was Francis Arthurs , from Fallswater Street , whose body was found in July 1972 , almost unrecognisable from stab wounds and bullet holes . A month later , Thomas Madden , from Cliftonville Avenue , was found dead - strangled , and with approximately 150 stab wounds .
In September 1972 , William Pavis , a 32-year old Protestant suspected of befriending nationalists , was shot dead at his home ; Lennie Murphy and another loyalist , Mervyn Connor , were arrested and charged with the killing . Connor agreed to testify against Murphy but in April 1973 he died in his cell of cyanide poisoning , having first been forced to leave a letter withdrawing his statements against Lennie Murphy .
Murphy was subsequently acquitted of the murder of William Pavis .......
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' was used against Irish Republicans , and Irish and British workers ; it was a 'catch-all' piece of legislation used shamelessly by Westminster to secure and maintain the position in society obtained by the 'Establishment' .......
Westminster used the 'DORA' legislation to trample over ordinary workers as well as Irish Republicans - by the middle of 1942 , at least 1,563 workers had been convicted of 'offences' under the 'Defence of the Realm Act' and fined a total of £4,025 (Sterling). In 1943 , trolley-bus operators , dockers and carters found themselves facing armed British troops, in Belfast , on the picket-line as , once again , 'DORA' was enforced and the striking workers were fined .
The Westminster Parliament had now turned 'DORA' on 'An tOglach' , the Irish Republican newspaper ; it was now an " illegal publication " , according to Westminster , and anyone found in possession of a copy of same would be "....charged and imprisoned under the Defence of The Realm Act ..." . An tOglach's first Editor , Piaras Beaslai , born in Liverpool in 1881 was , at the young age of 23 , the Editor of 'The Catholic Times' newspaper in England before coming to Ireland , where he joined the 'Gaelic League' .
Piaras Beaslai fought with the Irish Rebels in 1916 , at 35 years of age , in the North King Street area of Dublin , and was subsequently jailed by the British in Strangeways Prison in Manchester where he shared prison space with an Irish Republican legend .......
(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.......
".......the drunken British Army Captain , Moss , was arguing with my father - he told us that if any more of his "pals" were shot by the IRA , the British Army would burn our village ......."
" My father told Captain Moss that he would have to find another method to save his men - that he (my father) was powerless to keep the IRA from shooting his men . Moss walked up to my father and shouted - " I'll try every method ; I'll search your house for a start ." " Do, " said my father , " I cannot prevent you , but I'll watch you while you search ." Captain Moss glared again at my father but said nothing , while my father picked up a lighted candle in a candlestick . Muttering to himself , Moss first selected a linen press in the kitchen .
My father stood behind him while he searched the shelves carefully , starting at the top . He took plenty of time , and every now and then stopped to lecture my father , who was entirely engrossed in a study of the combustion of the candle , and ceased to pay serious attention to the Englishman's fulminations . My sisters were glad to see that his anger had given place to some other feeling which might be something like a grim humour . But they never could have forecast his change of tactics . Little did they think that the " man severe and stern to view " whom they knew so well and whom " every truant knew " could be guilty of the childlike and reprehensible conduct to come !
Captain Moss finished with the shelves and , muttering "Not much there ..." stooped to pull out a drawer underneath the shelves ; " You will find that even less profitable ," said my father , as he turned the candle into a 'weapon' of sorts ......."
(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 .
(3 of 6).
Although the authenticity of the IRA's claim that it had killed Lennie Murphy , issued through the 'Republican Press Centre' in Belfast some sixteen hours after the execution , was accepted by the RUC , and by loyalist paramilitaries and the media , the hysterically anti-Republican 'Irish News' newspaper was so irked by the idea that the IRA had carried out an operation that was so extremely popular among virtually all shades of nationalist opinion , that it subsequently concocted a clumsy 'exclusive' story alleging that loyalists had killed Lennie Murphy with weapons supplied by the IRA (see 'Irish News' , 6th December 1982) !
This squalid attempt , reminiscent of British Army ' black propaganda' , to link the IRA with loyalist sectarian killers , was strenuously denied by the IRA and rejected by nationalists .......
(MORE LATER).
Apologises for the enforced delay with today's post : the 'BLOGGER' 'Publish ' Link has been 'down' since at least 7.30am this morning - Sharon .
.......the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' was used against Irish Republicans , and Irish and British workers ; it was a 'catch-all' piece of legislation used shamelessly by Westminster to secure and maintain the position in society obtained by the 'Establishment' .......
Westminster used the 'DORA' legislation to trample over ordinary workers as well as Irish Republicans - by the middle of 1942 , at least 1,563 workers had been convicted of 'offences' under the 'Defence of the Realm Act' and fined a total of £4,025 (Sterling). In 1943 , trolley-bus operators , dockers and carters found themselves facing armed British troops, in Belfast , on the picket-line as , once again , 'DORA' was enforced and the striking workers were fined .
The Westminster Parliament had now turned 'DORA' on 'An tOglach' , the Irish Republican newspaper ; it was now an " illegal publication " , according to Westminster , and anyone found in possession of a copy of same would be "....charged and imprisoned under the Defence of The Realm Act ..." . An tOglach's first Editor , Piaras Beaslai , born in Liverpool in 1881 was , at the young age of 23 , the Editor of 'The Catholic Times' newspaper in England before coming to Ireland , where he joined the 'Gaelic League' .
Piaras Beaslai fought with the Irish Rebels in 1916 , at 35 years of age , in the North King Street area of Dublin , and was subsequently jailed by the British in Strangeways Prison in Manchester where he shared prison space with an Irish Republican legend .......
(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.......
".......the drunken British Army Captain , Moss , was arguing with my father - he told us that if any more of his "pals" were shot by the IRA , the British Army would burn our village ......."
" My father told Captain Moss that he would have to find another method to save his men - that he (my father) was powerless to keep the IRA from shooting his men . Moss walked up to my father and shouted - " I'll try every method ; I'll search your house for a start ." " Do, " said my father , " I cannot prevent you , but I'll watch you while you search ." Captain Moss glared again at my father but said nothing , while my father picked up a lighted candle in a candlestick . Muttering to himself , Moss first selected a linen press in the kitchen .
My father stood behind him while he searched the shelves carefully , starting at the top . He took plenty of time , and every now and then stopped to lecture my father , who was entirely engrossed in a study of the combustion of the candle , and ceased to pay serious attention to the Englishman's fulminations . My sisters were glad to see that his anger had given place to some other feeling which might be something like a grim humour . But they never could have forecast his change of tactics . Little did they think that the " man severe and stern to view " whom they knew so well and whom " every truant knew " could be guilty of the childlike and reprehensible conduct to come !
Captain Moss finished with the shelves and , muttering "Not much there ..." stooped to pull out a drawer underneath the shelves ; " You will find that even less profitable ," said my father , as he turned the candle into a 'weapon' of sorts ......."
(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 .
(3 of 6).
Although the authenticity of the IRA's claim that it had killed Lennie Murphy , issued through the 'Republican Press Centre' in Belfast some sixteen hours after the execution , was accepted by the RUC , and by loyalist paramilitaries and the media , the hysterically anti-Republican 'Irish News' newspaper was so irked by the idea that the IRA had carried out an operation that was so extremely popular among virtually all shades of nationalist opinion , that it subsequently concocted a clumsy 'exclusive' story alleging that loyalists had killed Lennie Murphy with weapons supplied by the IRA (see 'Irish News' , 6th December 1982) !
This squalid attempt , reminiscent of British Army ' black propaganda' , to link the IRA with loyalist sectarian killers , was strenuously denied by the IRA and rejected by nationalists .......
(MORE LATER).
Apologises for the enforced delay with today's post : the 'BLOGGER' 'Publish ' Link has been 'down' since at least 7.30am this morning - Sharon .
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the British used the 'Defence of The Realm Act' to suppress not only Irish Republicans , but its own people , too . Then in 1941 , they focused their attention on Ireland again .......
In 1941 , 'DORA' was used against Cahir Healy , an ex-Sinn Fein member of Fermanagh Council ; Healy was a 'mixed-bag' , politically speaking - he was dead-set against what he termed " street politics " yet was constantly frustrated by the 'workings' of the Stormont Administration ; he wanted to sit in Leinster House (in the early 1950's) as an 'Anti Partition League' ('APL') MP (!) (shades of the Provos here ...) and he denounced the policies of "physical force" and abstentionism (in 1955) despite his own (sometimes) abstention from both Stormont and Westminster .
Cahir Healy was also a known supporter of the 'Blueshirts' in the Free State (a fascist organisation) , being a friend of that group's leader , General O'Duffy , and an admirer of 'Sir' Oswald Mosley , the British Fascist leader . Cahir Healy died in 1970 , at 93 years of age . However , the British also continued to use the 'Defence of The Realm Act' against workers in Ireland and England.......
(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.......
".......at fifteen minutes before midnight , the Brits raided our house ; they were led by a Captain Moss , who asked my father if he was loyal to King George of England - my father told him he was loyal to no man ......."
" My father was no fool and , so far, had never shown his hand to the enemy . While he never bowed to them , he never enlightened them about his feelings towards them ; he liked to see a good blow struck , but did not believe in giving them the slightest indication of where it came from ! In that , of course, he was only being wise - now , whether it was the mounting British oppression or the rising tide of opposition to it that affected him , he appeared to have lost some of his usual caution .
To my sisters , his attitude caused some little alarm , as they judged that the half-drunken and truculent Captain Moss meant to pursue his tactics further , which he did : " Now ," the British Captain said to my father , " you have influence in this district around you , and I have lost some of my best pals here . It is up to you to use your influence to stop attacks on crown forces . And you , " he said , turning to my sisters , " tell your brothers and your sweethearts that if a single British soldier is shot about here again , this house and every house in the village is going up . You understand that ? " he said , as he turned and glared at my father .
" I do not , " said my father . " You do not , " shouted Captain Moss , " did I not make the matter clear ? " " Oh , I heard you ," said my father , " but if I had said I understood , it would have made no difference . It would not make you immune from attack on your way home tonight , or tomorrow or any other day . You must try some other method . "
The drunken British Army Captain walked up to my father ......."
(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 .
(2 of 6).
Two IRA Volunteers , armed with a 9mm sub-machine gun and a .38 Special , quickly jumped from the van and opened fire , hitting Lennie Murphy at least twenty times and killing him instantly . They then drove off , abandoning and setting fire to the van in nearby Glenside Park before making a safe escape in a car commandeered earlier in West Belfast .
Initial RUC and media speculation focussed on the belief that the death of Lennie Murphy was the result of an internal loyalist power struggle . Since his release from the H-Blocks (where he had been 'Officer Commanding' of the UVF prisoners) in August 1982 , Lennie Murphy had been ruthlessly engaged in winning back control of the UVF , and, in one incident in September had ambushed and shot dead a dissident UVF paramilitary .......
(MORE LATER).
.......the British used the 'Defence of The Realm Act' to suppress not only Irish Republicans , but its own people , too . Then in 1941 , they focused their attention on Ireland again .......
In 1941 , 'DORA' was used against Cahir Healy , an ex-Sinn Fein member of Fermanagh Council ; Healy was a 'mixed-bag' , politically speaking - he was dead-set against what he termed " street politics " yet was constantly frustrated by the 'workings' of the Stormont Administration ; he wanted to sit in Leinster House (in the early 1950's) as an 'Anti Partition League' ('APL') MP (!) (shades of the Provos here ...) and he denounced the policies of "physical force" and abstentionism (in 1955) despite his own (sometimes) abstention from both Stormont and Westminster .
Cahir Healy was also a known supporter of the 'Blueshirts' in the Free State (a fascist organisation) , being a friend of that group's leader , General O'Duffy , and an admirer of 'Sir' Oswald Mosley , the British Fascist leader . Cahir Healy died in 1970 , at 93 years of age . However , the British also continued to use the 'Defence of The Realm Act' against workers in Ireland and England.......
(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.......
".......at fifteen minutes before midnight , the Brits raided our house ; they were led by a Captain Moss , who asked my father if he was loyal to King George of England - my father told him he was loyal to no man ......."
" My father was no fool and , so far, had never shown his hand to the enemy . While he never bowed to them , he never enlightened them about his feelings towards them ; he liked to see a good blow struck , but did not believe in giving them the slightest indication of where it came from ! In that , of course, he was only being wise - now , whether it was the mounting British oppression or the rising tide of opposition to it that affected him , he appeared to have lost some of his usual caution .
To my sisters , his attitude caused some little alarm , as they judged that the half-drunken and truculent Captain Moss meant to pursue his tactics further , which he did : " Now ," the British Captain said to my father , " you have influence in this district around you , and I have lost some of my best pals here . It is up to you to use your influence to stop attacks on crown forces . And you , " he said , turning to my sisters , " tell your brothers and your sweethearts that if a single British soldier is shot about here again , this house and every house in the village is going up . You understand that ? " he said , as he turned and glared at my father .
" I do not , " said my father . " You do not , " shouted Captain Moss , " did I not make the matter clear ? " " Oh , I heard you ," said my father , " but if I had said I understood , it would have made no difference . It would not make you immune from attack on your way home tonight , or tomorrow or any other day . You must try some other method . "
The drunken British Army Captain walked up to my father ......."
(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 .
(2 of 6).
Two IRA Volunteers , armed with a 9mm sub-machine gun and a .38 Special , quickly jumped from the van and opened fire , hitting Lennie Murphy at least twenty times and killing him instantly . They then drove off , abandoning and setting fire to the van in nearby Glenside Park before making a safe escape in a car commandeered earlier in West Belfast .
Initial RUC and media speculation focussed on the belief that the death of Lennie Murphy was the result of an internal loyalist power struggle . Since his release from the H-Blocks (where he had been 'Officer Commanding' of the UVF prisoners) in August 1982 , Lennie Murphy had been ruthlessly engaged in winning back control of the UVF , and, in one incident in September had ambushed and shot dead a dissident UVF paramilitary .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, September 06, 2004
'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).
.......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).
Friday, September 03, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the train transporting the " illegal " copies of 'The Kerryman' newspaper had been stopped and searched by the RIC and British soldiers - the RIC had been ordered by the Brits to move , by hand , a small mountain of coal , but no newspapers were found . The train was allowed to proceed .......
That same night , Tom Nolan's ('Kerryman' Editor) father , Dan , was in a pub in Tralee when he overheard a group of British soldiers laughing and joking about what they had ordered " the Paddy's " (ie the RIC) to do that day and how they were delighted that the " coalmen " had not found anything after moving the small mountain of coal ! (Actually , the British soldiers called the RIC their "ni**ers" , a reference to not ONLY the colour of the RIC after moving the coal).
Even back then , the Brits had no respect or time for their native allies ! However - the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' ('DORA') , which was a 'catch-all' 'law' used by Westminster to 'justify' and solidify its own hold on power , was used to suppress the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper .
The 'DORA' legislation was also to be used a few months later by the British politicians in Westminster against their own workers , who were to go out on strike over their demands for a shorter working week .......
(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.
" By raids I mean the sudden descent of the British forces on the homes of the Irish people . It should be quite unnecessary to explain that our people had vast experience of these 'visits' , in our own time, and in every generation since the English first set foot in this country . The objective was always the same - the subjugation of our race .
The immediate objective of a localised raid generally varied with the times ; for instance , just prior to 1916 , the RIC would appear with a warrant to search a house for " seditious literature " - after 1916 , a strong force of RIC accompanied by the British military , would ransack suspected houses and lands for arms . Later on , Irish Volunteers would be arrested and imprisoned on charges of drilling and possession of arms .
Finally , for the two years before the 'Truce' of July 1921 , the object of a raid might mean anything , even torture and murder . So common did murder , brutal ill-treatment and destruction of property become , that the people would not have been surprised at any form of terrorism . In the midst of it all , the people saw the humour in any of these raids that did not have dire consequences for themselves or their neighbours .
Enough has been told of the tale of blood - let us look at the bright side ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
[6 of 6].
It is more important for a British Army Officer to use civilians to protect 'his men' than it is for him to use , or sacrifice , those men to protect civilians . Belfast has taught many lessons and this is one of the most startling of them .
As a sidelight on all this , it is becoming more and more clear that in a highly charged political situation neither police nor military catch their enemies by sleuthing or cleverness . Most of the damage they do to their enemies is through informers and agents who give information or create events which will compromise the opposing guerrilla army .
Again , it is the civilians who really do the job of the military or police for them ; but that is a story for another day ...
If living in Belfast these times does nothing else for you , at least it sets your interpretations upside down . Or right side up ...?
[END of 'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE .......'].
(Next - 'DEATH OF A BUTCHER' - from March 1983.)
.......the train transporting the " illegal " copies of 'The Kerryman' newspaper had been stopped and searched by the RIC and British soldiers - the RIC had been ordered by the Brits to move , by hand , a small mountain of coal , but no newspapers were found . The train was allowed to proceed .......
That same night , Tom Nolan's ('Kerryman' Editor) father , Dan , was in a pub in Tralee when he overheard a group of British soldiers laughing and joking about what they had ordered " the Paddy's " (ie the RIC) to do that day and how they were delighted that the " coalmen " had not found anything after moving the small mountain of coal ! (Actually , the British soldiers called the RIC their "ni**ers" , a reference to not ONLY the colour of the RIC after moving the coal).
Even back then , the Brits had no respect or time for their native allies ! However - the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' ('DORA') , which was a 'catch-all' 'law' used by Westminster to 'justify' and solidify its own hold on power , was used to suppress the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper .
The 'DORA' legislation was also to be used a few months later by the British politicians in Westminster against their own workers , who were to go out on strike over their demands for a shorter working week .......
(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.
" By raids I mean the sudden descent of the British forces on the homes of the Irish people . It should be quite unnecessary to explain that our people had vast experience of these 'visits' , in our own time, and in every generation since the English first set foot in this country . The objective was always the same - the subjugation of our race .
The immediate objective of a localised raid generally varied with the times ; for instance , just prior to 1916 , the RIC would appear with a warrant to search a house for " seditious literature " - after 1916 , a strong force of RIC accompanied by the British military , would ransack suspected houses and lands for arms . Later on , Irish Volunteers would be arrested and imprisoned on charges of drilling and possession of arms .
Finally , for the two years before the 'Truce' of July 1921 , the object of a raid might mean anything , even torture and murder . So common did murder , brutal ill-treatment and destruction of property become , that the people would not have been surprised at any form of terrorism . In the midst of it all , the people saw the humour in any of these raids that did not have dire consequences for themselves or their neighbours .
Enough has been told of the tale of blood - let us look at the bright side ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
[6 of 6].
It is more important for a British Army Officer to use civilians to protect 'his men' than it is for him to use , or sacrifice , those men to protect civilians . Belfast has taught many lessons and this is one of the most startling of them .
As a sidelight on all this , it is becoming more and more clear that in a highly charged political situation neither police nor military catch their enemies by sleuthing or cleverness . Most of the damage they do to their enemies is through informers and agents who give information or create events which will compromise the opposing guerrilla army .
Again , it is the civilians who really do the job of the military or police for them ; but that is a story for another day ...
If living in Belfast these times does nothing else for you , at least it sets your interpretations upside down . Or right side up ...?
[END of 'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE .......'].
(Next - 'DEATH OF A BUTCHER' - from March 1983.)
Thursday, September 02, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the 'Gaelic Press' , which printed the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper had , in 1916 , printed 'The Kerryman' newspaper , which had been declared an " illegal publication " by the Brits . One of the train drivers who transported the " illegal" 'The Kerryman' newspaper , a Mr. 'Bolger' O'Donoghue , told the following story re one such trip .......
'Bolger' was driving the train , as usual, when what he described as a " premonition " made him stop and unload the " illegal " newspapers at a small station just outside of Tralee . Having done so , the train carried on and , minutes later , as they steamed into Tralee Station , they were boarded by search parties from the British Army and the RIC .
The train driver , 'Bolger' O'Donoghue , and his helper (who were known on the trains as 'firemen') were ordered to unload the coal (under which the 'illegal' newspapers had been hidden) which they refused to do , so the British soldiers ordered the RIC to do it - which , reluctantly , they did . It was a dirty job which , once finished , yielded no result . Both search parties left the train , with the RIC men a bit the worst for wear !
The 'dumped' copies of 'The Kerryman' newspaper had by then been recovered and distributed in the usual fashion . The episode was raised in a local pub that same night .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" ....... Dannie Casey's brother , Jeremiah , had been shot dead by the British Auxiliaries , and Dannie was himself a prisoner in Macroom Castle ; he was under interrogation , and felt he would not leave the Castle alive ......."
" The questions circled like a point on a roulette ; all were based on the assumption that Dannie was a member of the IRA and that he had that morning been on duty on the hill . Dannie Casey replied that he had been on the hill on his own business , looking after his sheep . It was evident that the Auxies sought to weary him by incessant questioning until , through mental and physical exhaustion , he should capitulate . But they failed to shake him .
It is likely that , were it not for a diversion , Dannie would not have got off so easily ; a prisoner was brought in , a young man on whose farm an old rusty gun had been discovered . On him , like mad dogs, the Auxies now turned their fury . Peeping through a chink in a door , Dannie saw and heard most of the horror . The British 'authorities' announced another 'official' execution - it was a foul and midnight murder .
Dannie Casey was released on the following day . Just in time to attend his brother's funeral . "
[END of ' SHOOTINGS.....'].
(Tomorrow - 'RAIDS' .)
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(5 of 6).
One British Army military base in Belfast which had to be abandoned was surrounded on three sides by rows of houses and on the fourth by a cemetary . Thus , if anyone was rash enough to attack by , say, rocket fire , then a miscalculation would send the missile to civilian houses or the cemetary . In either case , 'bonus points' for the British Army !
If the rocket hit its target that was just too bad , but the risks to civilian lives could be stressed nevertheless . In time the base was abandoned because , in spite of the nearness of civilians (both alive and dead!) the aim of the attackers was being tried out too often with disastrous effect .
All this means that while the role of an army as a 'peacekeeping force' has to be questioned at the highest political level - is not a 'military peace-keeping force' a contradiction in terms ? - the role of an army as that of " protecting citizens " has to be questioned at ground level as well .......
(MORE LATER).
.......the 'Gaelic Press' , which printed the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper had , in 1916 , printed 'The Kerryman' newspaper , which had been declared an " illegal publication " by the Brits . One of the train drivers who transported the " illegal" 'The Kerryman' newspaper , a Mr. 'Bolger' O'Donoghue , told the following story re one such trip .......
'Bolger' was driving the train , as usual, when what he described as a " premonition " made him stop and unload the " illegal " newspapers at a small station just outside of Tralee . Having done so , the train carried on and , minutes later , as they steamed into Tralee Station , they were boarded by search parties from the British Army and the RIC .
The train driver , 'Bolger' O'Donoghue , and his helper (who were known on the trains as 'firemen') were ordered to unload the coal (under which the 'illegal' newspapers had been hidden) which they refused to do , so the British soldiers ordered the RIC to do it - which , reluctantly , they did . It was a dirty job which , once finished , yielded no result . Both search parties left the train , with the RIC men a bit the worst for wear !
The 'dumped' copies of 'The Kerryman' newspaper had by then been recovered and distributed in the usual fashion . The episode was raised in a local pub that same night .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" ....... Dannie Casey's brother , Jeremiah , had been shot dead by the British Auxiliaries , and Dannie was himself a prisoner in Macroom Castle ; he was under interrogation , and felt he would not leave the Castle alive ......."
" The questions circled like a point on a roulette ; all were based on the assumption that Dannie was a member of the IRA and that he had that morning been on duty on the hill . Dannie Casey replied that he had been on the hill on his own business , looking after his sheep . It was evident that the Auxies sought to weary him by incessant questioning until , through mental and physical exhaustion , he should capitulate . But they failed to shake him .
It is likely that , were it not for a diversion , Dannie would not have got off so easily ; a prisoner was brought in , a young man on whose farm an old rusty gun had been discovered . On him , like mad dogs, the Auxies now turned their fury . Peeping through a chink in a door , Dannie saw and heard most of the horror . The British 'authorities' announced another 'official' execution - it was a foul and midnight murder .
Dannie Casey was released on the following day . Just in time to attend his brother's funeral . "
[END of ' SHOOTINGS.....'].
(Tomorrow - 'RAIDS' .)
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(5 of 6).
One British Army military base in Belfast which had to be abandoned was surrounded on three sides by rows of houses and on the fourth by a cemetary . Thus , if anyone was rash enough to attack by , say, rocket fire , then a miscalculation would send the missile to civilian houses or the cemetary . In either case , 'bonus points' for the British Army !
If the rocket hit its target that was just too bad , but the risks to civilian lives could be stressed nevertheless . In time the base was abandoned because , in spite of the nearness of civilians (both alive and dead!) the aim of the attackers was being tried out too often with disastrous effect .
All this means that while the role of an army as a 'peacekeeping force' has to be questioned at the highest political level - is not a 'military peace-keeping force' a contradiction in terms ? - the role of an army as that of " protecting citizens " has to be questioned at ground level as well .......
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper , founded in August 1918 , was printed by the 'Gaelic Press' in Dublin , which had a record of pro-Republican activity ; on the strength of its first issue alone , Westminster declared 'An tOglach' an 'illegal publication.......'
The 'Gaelic Press' operated out of premises in Probys Lane in Dublin and , two years earlier (ie in 1916) had come to the rescue of 'The Kerryman' newspaper , which had its printing press 'dismantled' by British soldiers - the (first) Editor of 'The Kerryman' newspaper , Tom Nolan , refused to let the Brits put him out of business and a deal was struck with the 'Gaelic Press' in Dublin .
For about two months , the 'illegal' newspaper 'The Kerryman' was printed , in secret , in Probys Lane and was transported to Tralee by sympathetic railwaymen who worked on the locomotives ; the newspaper was then sold over the counter of the Nolan family public house ('Bar') in Tralee !
A story is told by one of those train drivers , 'Bolger' O' Donoghue , about the time he was carrying the usual 'illicit' load of 'The Kerryman' newspaper from Dublin to Tralee .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... IRA Volunteer Dannie Casey was being held captive by the British Auxiliaries in the yard of his house - his younger brother , Jeremiah , was in the house , dying ; he had been shot three times by the Brits . Then an Auxie Officer came on the scene - a diversion to escape ...?"
" The Auxie Officer called away all his men , save one ; he was instructed to hold Dannie Casey a close prisoner until they returned . They marched away and , scarcely had they turned the corner of the house when the Auxie spoke - " Listen " , he said , " slip in and say good-bye to your brother . Promise me that you will not stay long . "
Amongst the ruins of humanity , the kindly deed of a good man shines brightly . It is a great pleasure to record it ; Dannie willingly gave his promise and saw his brother . He found him cheerful and only concerned for Dannie's safety . He lived to see his father and mother who had been away from home and who returned an hour later . Meanwhile Dannie had been taken to Macroom , to the Castle . The ordeal he had endured since morning had been a heavy one , and it did not end with the close of day .
It continued until after midnight , and even then his hopes of leaving Macroom Castle alive were indeed small - every now and then he was taken to a room where a number of British Auxies sat around a table . Each of them , in turn , asked a question to which he expected an immediate answer......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(4 of 6).
This , it seems , is the way armies behave - using the civilian population , including children , as 'cover' ; it appears that one of the things a British Army Officer must see to is that he arrives back in Britain with precisely the same number of soldiers as he arrived in Ireland with .
The anger expressed by military Officers at the loss of men is not just anger at the fact that lives have been lost - which would be a matter of grief to anyone with any wit - it is also an expression of shame that the expected duty of an Officer to save 'his men' has been unfulfilled . He will therefore do a lot to make sure that 'his men' are not unnecessarily endangered .
Protective devices are welcome and in a city like Belfast quite easy to come by ; after all , there are plenty of easily available civilians . In most cases , however , the civilians do not realise that they are providing such a necessary military service .......
(MORE LATER).
.......the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper , founded in August 1918 , was printed by the 'Gaelic Press' in Dublin , which had a record of pro-Republican activity ; on the strength of its first issue alone , Westminster declared 'An tOglach' an 'illegal publication.......'
The 'Gaelic Press' operated out of premises in Probys Lane in Dublin and , two years earlier (ie in 1916) had come to the rescue of 'The Kerryman' newspaper , which had its printing press 'dismantled' by British soldiers - the (first) Editor of 'The Kerryman' newspaper , Tom Nolan , refused to let the Brits put him out of business and a deal was struck with the 'Gaelic Press' in Dublin .
For about two months , the 'illegal' newspaper 'The Kerryman' was printed , in secret , in Probys Lane and was transported to Tralee by sympathetic railwaymen who worked on the locomotives ; the newspaper was then sold over the counter of the Nolan family public house ('Bar') in Tralee !
A story is told by one of those train drivers , 'Bolger' O' Donoghue , about the time he was carrying the usual 'illicit' load of 'The Kerryman' newspaper from Dublin to Tralee .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... IRA Volunteer Dannie Casey was being held captive by the British Auxiliaries in the yard of his house - his younger brother , Jeremiah , was in the house , dying ; he had been shot three times by the Brits . Then an Auxie Officer came on the scene - a diversion to escape ...?"
" The Auxie Officer called away all his men , save one ; he was instructed to hold Dannie Casey a close prisoner until they returned . They marched away and , scarcely had they turned the corner of the house when the Auxie spoke - " Listen " , he said , " slip in and say good-bye to your brother . Promise me that you will not stay long . "
Amongst the ruins of humanity , the kindly deed of a good man shines brightly . It is a great pleasure to record it ; Dannie willingly gave his promise and saw his brother . He found him cheerful and only concerned for Dannie's safety . He lived to see his father and mother who had been away from home and who returned an hour later . Meanwhile Dannie had been taken to Macroom , to the Castle . The ordeal he had endured since morning had been a heavy one , and it did not end with the close of day .
It continued until after midnight , and even then his hopes of leaving Macroom Castle alive were indeed small - every now and then he was taken to a room where a number of British Auxies sat around a table . Each of them , in turn , asked a question to which he expected an immediate answer......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(4 of 6).
This , it seems , is the way armies behave - using the civilian population , including children , as 'cover' ; it appears that one of the things a British Army Officer must see to is that he arrives back in Britain with precisely the same number of soldiers as he arrived in Ireland with .
The anger expressed by military Officers at the loss of men is not just anger at the fact that lives have been lost - which would be a matter of grief to anyone with any wit - it is also an expression of shame that the expected duty of an Officer to save 'his men' has been unfulfilled . He will therefore do a lot to make sure that 'his men' are not unnecessarily endangered .
Protective devices are welcome and in a city like Belfast quite easy to come by ; after all , there are plenty of easily available civilians . In most cases , however , the civilians do not realise that they are providing such a necessary military service .......
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the three men 'arrested' by the British had been shot dead - either in the guardroom of Portobello Barracks on the Wednesday night (April 26th 1916) or by firing squad on the Thursday (April 27th) - either way , the deed was done .......
The fact that the British had shot dead two journalists and an author was not lost on the Irish media ; ' toe the line , or else ...'. The executions were noted , too , by the Irish Volunteers , who knew from past experience the value of a newspaper in the propaganda war . One of the then leaders of the Irish Volunteers (Oglaigh na hEireann) , Michael Collins , helped to found an Irish Republican newspaper in August 1918 - 'An tOglach' ('The Volunteer') .
The 'An tOglach' newspaper published an issue every two weeks , comprising four pages , and sold for twopence an issue ; its masthead declared it to be ' The Official Organ of The Irish Volunteers'. Piaras Beaslai , its Editor , was a 37 years young Liverpool-born Volunteer , who had fought the British in 1916 , and was to become the Director of Publicity for the IRA .
The newspaper was printed by the 'Gaelic Press' , in Dublin , which had a record of pro-Republican activity . It did not bother the Irish Volunteers nor the management /owners of the 'Gaelic Press' that , immediately upon publication of its first issue , the Brits declared 'An tOglach' to be "...an illegal publication .".......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
".......Dannie Casey had managed to hide the box of ammunition and gelignite from the British Auxiliaries who were questioning him and slapping him around a bit - they had earlier shot at Dannie's brother , Jeremiah , when he was hiding from them with two of his friends ......."
" Jeremiah Casey had been borne down-hill to his home by his two companions , who had escaped the leaden blast ; he had been struck by three bullets and was mortally wounded . An escort of British Auxiliaries had accompanied the wounded youth and his bearers . By this time Dannie had been driven to desperation by repeated questionings punctuated by blows - he had made up his mind to snatch at a rifle and die fighting , but was always forestalled by the Auxie with the revolver .
It was that particular Auxie's job to kill the prisoner by shooting him through the back should he show resistance to the tormentors in front of him . Eventually , they marched him down to the yard of his house where they kept him under a strong guard . Knowing that his young brother was lying inside fatally injured , Dannie asked to be permitted to see him ; he was brutally refused and the Auxie who replied to his request thrust savagely at him with his rifle-butt . The blow struck him on the chest , throwing him backwards off some steps .
It is hard to have to record that a member of the human race should have been guilty of such conduct under such circumstances ; it would be hard to describe Dannie Casey's feelings while he waited for the order to march off as a prisoner while his brother lay dying within a few yards of him . Then a British Auxie Officer came on the scene ; this caused a diversion ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(3 of 6).
For years the British military were secure in their Belfast City Centre fortress while civilians formed a circle around them and searched and prevented , arrested and harassed anyone coming next or near them . Civilian protection of the military is , one soon learned , one of the tricks of the game ...
Eventually , however , the bombers managed to penetrate the outer defences and when this happened often enough to show that the game was up , the Brits went off from the Grand Central and found a new base somewhere else .
In one case they found a base by the simple expedient of chasing workers and managers out of four factories in the poorest neighbourhood of the city and holeing up there ; needless to say there was a secondary school within a few hundred yards of the new 'base' .......
(MORE LATER).
.......the three men 'arrested' by the British had been shot dead - either in the guardroom of Portobello Barracks on the Wednesday night (April 26th 1916) or by firing squad on the Thursday (April 27th) - either way , the deed was done .......
The fact that the British had shot dead two journalists and an author was not lost on the Irish media ; ' toe the line , or else ...'. The executions were noted , too , by the Irish Volunteers , who knew from past experience the value of a newspaper in the propaganda war . One of the then leaders of the Irish Volunteers (Oglaigh na hEireann) , Michael Collins , helped to found an Irish Republican newspaper in August 1918 - 'An tOglach' ('The Volunteer') .
The 'An tOglach' newspaper published an issue every two weeks , comprising four pages , and sold for twopence an issue ; its masthead declared it to be ' The Official Organ of The Irish Volunteers'. Piaras Beaslai , its Editor , was a 37 years young Liverpool-born Volunteer , who had fought the British in 1916 , and was to become the Director of Publicity for the IRA .
The newspaper was printed by the 'Gaelic Press' , in Dublin , which had a record of pro-Republican activity . It did not bother the Irish Volunteers nor the management /owners of the 'Gaelic Press' that , immediately upon publication of its first issue , the Brits declared 'An tOglach' to be "...an illegal publication .".......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
".......Dannie Casey had managed to hide the box of ammunition and gelignite from the British Auxiliaries who were questioning him and slapping him around a bit - they had earlier shot at Dannie's brother , Jeremiah , when he was hiding from them with two of his friends ......."
" Jeremiah Casey had been borne down-hill to his home by his two companions , who had escaped the leaden blast ; he had been struck by three bullets and was mortally wounded . An escort of British Auxiliaries had accompanied the wounded youth and his bearers . By this time Dannie had been driven to desperation by repeated questionings punctuated by blows - he had made up his mind to snatch at a rifle and die fighting , but was always forestalled by the Auxie with the revolver .
It was that particular Auxie's job to kill the prisoner by shooting him through the back should he show resistance to the tormentors in front of him . Eventually , they marched him down to the yard of his house where they kept him under a strong guard . Knowing that his young brother was lying inside fatally injured , Dannie asked to be permitted to see him ; he was brutally refused and the Auxie who replied to his request thrust savagely at him with his rifle-butt . The blow struck him on the chest , throwing him backwards off some steps .
It is hard to have to record that a member of the human race should have been guilty of such conduct under such circumstances ; it would be hard to describe Dannie Casey's feelings while he waited for the order to march off as a prisoner while his brother lay dying within a few yards of him . Then a British Auxie Officer came on the scene ; this caused a diversion ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(3 of 6).
For years the British military were secure in their Belfast City Centre fortress while civilians formed a circle around them and searched and prevented , arrested and harassed anyone coming next or near them . Civilian protection of the military is , one soon learned , one of the tricks of the game ...
Eventually , however , the bombers managed to penetrate the outer defences and when this happened often enough to show that the game was up , the Brits went off from the Grand Central and found a new base somewhere else .
In one case they found a base by the simple expedient of chasing workers and managers out of four factories in the poorest neighbourhood of the city and holeing up there ; needless to say there was a secondary school within a few hundred yards of the new 'base' .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, August 30, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Dublin , Thursday , April 27th , 1916 - three men 'arrested' by the British the previous day were shot dead by a British Army firing squad ; the British Army Captain who organised the executions , Bowen Colthurst , was 'tried' for the offence . He was found "guilty but insane ..." - but a different account of what had happened began to emerge .......
....... it was during the court-martial of Bowen Colthurst that a different version of the events surrounding the executions of Francis Sheehy Skeffington , Patrick mcIntyre and Thomas Dickson was spoke of - a British Army Officer in Portobello Barracks stated that he heard a number of shots on Wednesday (ie April 26th , 1916) and went to investigate ; he claimed to have seen three stretchers being carried out of the porch of the guardroom on which were three dead bodies -
- one of those bodies had a blanket thrown over it and a bowler hat placed across the face and , from either side of the stretcher , an arm hung down , dripping blood ; this (un-named) British Army Officer claimed that the body with the bowler hat on the face was that of Francis Sheehy Skeffington - the 'witness' stated , apparently in a jovial manner , that the firing party had done its work so badly that a second one had had to be summoned to finish Skeffington off ...
.... Were the three men shot dead in the guardroom on the Wednesday night by a vengeful British enemy and then , in order to cover-up the deed , were their corpses 'wheeled out' the following day for an 'official' British Army 'execution' .......?
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... Dannie Casey , an IRA Volunteer , was in hiding from the British Auxiliaries - he had in his possession a box of ammunition and gelignite . He was heading uphill when he met his brother with two other young lads , and he told them to get away from him - as they were leaving , the Auxies shot at the three lads , who fell down . Dannie grabbed the box ....... "
"... he threw himself into a hollow , a shallow depression , and he ran crouching in its poor shelter ; luck came to him in the shape of a mossy patch of ground under his feet . Parting the long moss , he found a hole just the size of the box and quickly inserted it . He re-arranged the ground swiftly , but carefully , and it was well that he did so - for he had barely straightened up and walked a few paces forward when three Auxiliaries appeared immediately in front of him , and ordered him to raise his hands , which he did .
Approaching , they searched him but found nothing ; they questioned him , emphasising each question with a blow from a rifle butt . One of the British Auxies kept prodding his back with a revolver muzzle , several times asking him what his business was on the hillside . He replied that he was looking after his sheep . Tiring of the questioning , they started to search the hollow where the box was hidden - they diligently poked and kicked the moss that covered it but , fortunately for their prisoner , they did not find it . Disappointed , they resumed their interrogation . Dannie did not know it yet , but his brother , Jeremiah , was in trouble ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(2 of 6).
Whether the contempt for children's lives has been shown by placing the British military installations beside schools in the first place was not a 'live' question ; indeed , the situation was so weird that it would have been virtually impossible to attack a military installation without endangering a school , and if there were an old people's home nearby , then this was, from the British military point of view , a welcome bonus !
Soon after the crisis in 1969 the British military established headquarters in the centre of Belfast ; to those who believed the propaganda of the time , the British military were there in order to protect the city traders and shoppers . However , those with eyes in their heads knew better ...
The British military base (in Belfast) - previously a relatively large and rather posh hotel - was in one of the principal city centre streets . All around the area , the British erected security barriers which could only be properly passed at specific points . These points were manned - and 'wommaned' - by civilian search teams . In other words , in the circle of protection round the British Army base it was civilians who were protecting the British Army , not the other way round .......
(MORE LATER).
.......Dublin , Thursday , April 27th , 1916 - three men 'arrested' by the British the previous day were shot dead by a British Army firing squad ; the British Army Captain who organised the executions , Bowen Colthurst , was 'tried' for the offence . He was found "guilty but insane ..." - but a different account of what had happened began to emerge .......
....... it was during the court-martial of Bowen Colthurst that a different version of the events surrounding the executions of Francis Sheehy Skeffington , Patrick mcIntyre and Thomas Dickson was spoke of - a British Army Officer in Portobello Barracks stated that he heard a number of shots on Wednesday (ie April 26th , 1916) and went to investigate ; he claimed to have seen three stretchers being carried out of the porch of the guardroom on which were three dead bodies -
- one of those bodies had a blanket thrown over it and a bowler hat placed across the face and , from either side of the stretcher , an arm hung down , dripping blood ; this (un-named) British Army Officer claimed that the body with the bowler hat on the face was that of Francis Sheehy Skeffington - the 'witness' stated , apparently in a jovial manner , that the firing party had done its work so badly that a second one had had to be summoned to finish Skeffington off ...
.... Were the three men shot dead in the guardroom on the Wednesday night by a vengeful British enemy and then , in order to cover-up the deed , were their corpses 'wheeled out' the following day for an 'official' British Army 'execution' .......?
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... Dannie Casey , an IRA Volunteer , was in hiding from the British Auxiliaries - he had in his possession a box of ammunition and gelignite . He was heading uphill when he met his brother with two other young lads , and he told them to get away from him - as they were leaving , the Auxies shot at the three lads , who fell down . Dannie grabbed the box ....... "
"... he threw himself into a hollow , a shallow depression , and he ran crouching in its poor shelter ; luck came to him in the shape of a mossy patch of ground under his feet . Parting the long moss , he found a hole just the size of the box and quickly inserted it . He re-arranged the ground swiftly , but carefully , and it was well that he did so - for he had barely straightened up and walked a few paces forward when three Auxiliaries appeared immediately in front of him , and ordered him to raise his hands , which he did .
Approaching , they searched him but found nothing ; they questioned him , emphasising each question with a blow from a rifle butt . One of the British Auxies kept prodding his back with a revolver muzzle , several times asking him what his business was on the hillside . He replied that he was looking after his sheep . Tiring of the questioning , they started to search the hollow where the box was hidden - they diligently poked and kicked the moss that covered it but , fortunately for their prisoner , they did not find it . Disappointed , they resumed their interrogation . Dannie did not know it yet , but his brother , Jeremiah , was in trouble ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .......
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(2 of 6).
Whether the contempt for children's lives has been shown by placing the British military installations beside schools in the first place was not a 'live' question ; indeed , the situation was so weird that it would have been virtually impossible to attack a military installation without endangering a school , and if there were an old people's home nearby , then this was, from the British military point of view , a welcome bonus !
Soon after the crisis in 1969 the British military established headquarters in the centre of Belfast ; to those who believed the propaganda of the time , the British military were there in order to protect the city traders and shoppers . However , those with eyes in their heads knew better ...
The British military base (in Belfast) - previously a relatively large and rather posh hotel - was in one of the principal city centre streets . All around the area , the British erected security barriers which could only be properly passed at specific points . These points were manned - and 'wommaned' - by civilian search teams . In other words , in the circle of protection round the British Army base it was civilians who were protecting the British Army , not the other way round .......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, August 27, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Dublin , April 1916 - the Rising was on ; British re-inforcements were on the way , 'martial law' had been imposed by Westminster and the centre of Dublin was in chaos . Francis Sheehy Skeffington , a writer and pacifist , was in the city centre trying to deter the looters who were out in force .......
On his way home (to Rathmines) that Wednesday evening , Francis Sheehy Skeffington was 'arrested' by British troops from Portobello Barracks , as were two other civilians - Dublin journalist's Patrick McIntyre , then Editor of the 'Labour' newspaper , 'Searchlight' , and Thomas Dickson , then 'Editor' of a pro-Republican weekly newspaper , 'The Eye-Opener' .
On Thursday morning , April 27th , 1916 , the three men were shot dead in the barrack square by a British Army firing squad , without any 'formal' charges having been brought against any of them . Later , the British Army Captain in charge of the firing squad , a Bowen Colthurst , was 'tried' by court-martial regarding the order he issued to the firing squad ; he was found "guilty but insane...."
But a different account re the shooting of the three men was beginning to emerge .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... IRA Volunteer Dannie Casey was in his house at Doire Finin , Renanirree , with his younger brother , Jeremiah , when British Auxiliaries began a raid on the village . There was a box of ammunition and gelignite in the Casey house - Dannie grabbed it , making for the door , and Jeremiah insisted that he go , too ......."
" Dannie told his younger brother that it would be foolish to risk running away without necessity , but Jeremiah replied that he had already met with the Brit Auxies and that they had beaten him with rifle butts and otherwise ill-treated him , which was perfectly true - he was shouting that he was not going to give them the chance to do so again , if he could avoid it . Seeing that he could not dissuade him , Dannie told him to go on ahead so that , if captured , it would not be in the company of a man carrying ammunition .
Jeremiah left , and Dannie with the box soon followed ; his direction was roughly north . A quarter of a mile uphill over rough ground brought him to a point where he had a view of the ground which fell away in front of him to the east and north . Here he put down the box to reconnoitre and to rest a little . Hardly had he laid the box on the ground when his brother and two other youths came down a short slope from the west . He spoke to them , pointing out the danger of thus exposing themselves on high ground , and advised them to avoid himself until he could dispose of the box . The three young lads decided to drop into the low ground to the north .
Scarcely had they gone twenty yards from him when a group of British Auxiliaries rose from the ground to the north-east and fired a volley at them ; the three immediately fell - Dannie concluded that all three had been hit . He grabbed the box ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(1 of 6).
One of the striking things about British military bases in Belfast is how near so many of them are to schools . In the early seventies , some of them actually were in schools , the British military seizing part of the school premises and allowing the children to do the best they could with the rest .
Charitable observers might believe that this arrangement was made in order to protect the children from the 'terrorists' in a situation where , as the world has been told , the 'terrorists' are "evil" and the 'Territorials' (a Six-County British militia) are "good" , the Irish are "violent" and the British are , as in everything else , "best" . But not so ...
Placing military installations in schools meant that the soldiers were literally being protected by the children - it would be unlikely , so the theory went , that anyone would attack a military installation if there was a danger of hitting a school . Further , if an attack was mounted , then BBC , RTE etc and all right thinking people could point out in their first bulletins that the attack was launched within yards of an adjoining school , thus showing the disregard for children's lives that the 'terrorist's' have .......
(MORE LATER).
.......Dublin , April 1916 - the Rising was on ; British re-inforcements were on the way , 'martial law' had been imposed by Westminster and the centre of Dublin was in chaos . Francis Sheehy Skeffington , a writer and pacifist , was in the city centre trying to deter the looters who were out in force .......
On his way home (to Rathmines) that Wednesday evening , Francis Sheehy Skeffington was 'arrested' by British troops from Portobello Barracks , as were two other civilians - Dublin journalist's Patrick McIntyre , then Editor of the 'Labour' newspaper , 'Searchlight' , and Thomas Dickson , then 'Editor' of a pro-Republican weekly newspaper , 'The Eye-Opener' .
On Thursday morning , April 27th , 1916 , the three men were shot dead in the barrack square by a British Army firing squad , without any 'formal' charges having been brought against any of them . Later , the British Army Captain in charge of the firing squad , a Bowen Colthurst , was 'tried' by court-martial regarding the order he issued to the firing squad ; he was found "guilty but insane...."
But a different account re the shooting of the three men was beginning to emerge .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
"....... IRA Volunteer Dannie Casey was in his house at Doire Finin , Renanirree , with his younger brother , Jeremiah , when British Auxiliaries began a raid on the village . There was a box of ammunition and gelignite in the Casey house - Dannie grabbed it , making for the door , and Jeremiah insisted that he go , too ......."
" Dannie told his younger brother that it would be foolish to risk running away without necessity , but Jeremiah replied that he had already met with the Brit Auxies and that they had beaten him with rifle butts and otherwise ill-treated him , which was perfectly true - he was shouting that he was not going to give them the chance to do so again , if he could avoid it . Seeing that he could not dissuade him , Dannie told him to go on ahead so that , if captured , it would not be in the company of a man carrying ammunition .
Jeremiah left , and Dannie with the box soon followed ; his direction was roughly north . A quarter of a mile uphill over rough ground brought him to a point where he had a view of the ground which fell away in front of him to the east and north . Here he put down the box to reconnoitre and to rest a little . Hardly had he laid the box on the ground when his brother and two other youths came down a short slope from the west . He spoke to them , pointing out the danger of thus exposing themselves on high ground , and advised them to avoid himself until he could dispose of the box . The three young lads decided to drop into the low ground to the north .
Scarcely had they gone twenty yards from him when a group of British Auxiliaries rose from the ground to the north-east and fired a volley at them ; the three immediately fell - Dannie concluded that all three had been hit . He grabbed the box ......."
(MORE LATER).
'SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE' .
BY DES WILSON .
First published in ' Dublin Diary ' magazine , Vol. 1 , No. 3 , May 1989 , page 21 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(1 of 6).
One of the striking things about British military bases in Belfast is how near so many of them are to schools . In the early seventies , some of them actually were in schools , the British military seizing part of the school premises and allowing the children to do the best they could with the rest .
Charitable observers might believe that this arrangement was made in order to protect the children from the 'terrorists' in a situation where , as the world has been told , the 'terrorists' are "evil" and the 'Territorials' (a Six-County British militia) are "good" , the Irish are "violent" and the British are , as in everything else , "best" . But not so ...
Placing military installations in schools meant that the soldiers were literally being protected by the children - it would be unlikely , so the theory went , that anyone would attack a military installation if there was a danger of hitting a school . Further , if an attack was mounted , then BBC , RTE etc and all right thinking people could point out in their first bulletins that the attack was launched within yards of an adjoining school , thus showing the disregard for children's lives that the 'terrorist's' have .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, August 26, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
....... a British 'Proclamation' had been posted on walls and lamp-posts etc in Dublin on Tuesday , 25th April 1916 , concerning the Rising which was then underway ; amongst other things , the British had introduced 'martial law'.......
....that British 'Proclamation' was only in circulation for a few hours when three men were 'arrested' : Francis Sheehy Skeffington , Patrick McIntyre and Thomas Dickson .
It was on this same Wednesday (26th April 1916) that 1,600 British soldiers from the 'Third Cavalry Brigade' , artillery from Athlone and the 176th and 178th Infantry Brigades of the 59th North Midland Division of the British Army were preparing themselves for the march from 'Kingstown' Harbour (Dun Laoighaire) to Dublin city centre .
Tension was high in the city ; Francis Sheehy Skeffington , a leading writer and well-known pacifist , was in Dublin city centre attempting to turn back the looters that were out in force , taking advantage of the dis-organised situation in the capital .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" .......3rd January , 1921 ; Doire Finin , Renanirree - five lorry-loads of British Auxiliaries drove into the village ......."
" ...the time selected was quite an unusual one - nine in the morning . Their method of approach was clever ; the main road from Macroom ran past the hamlet to Beal a' Ghleanna and Ballingeary . Another , the Leac Road , converged on the former and joined it when about four hundred yards past the houses . The British Army lorries could pass unnoticed on the Leac Road for , although near , it was under the level of the main road .
That was exactly what they did - then , having passed by the houses , they stopped the lorries , dismounted and came back on foot . While some converged on the houses , others crossed the main road and pushed on rapidly uphill to the north-east to gain the heights behind the houses . The Auxies approaching from the front were seen and the alarm was given ; in nearly every house there lived an IRA Volunteer , but some were absent and the few at home were unarmed . Dannie Casey , a good Volunteer , whose house stood a hundred yards back from the main road , happened to be at home . With him was his young brother , Jeremiah , seventeen years of age .
A box filled with ammunition and gelignite was now Dannie's concern : he grasped the box to take it uphill with him - Jeremiah said that he would also go ......."
(MORE LATER).
THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......
Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .
Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .
First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.
Re-produced here in 21 parts .
[21 of 21].
John Ranelagh (author of this book) argues that the CIA's power declined as it grew older ; it has , he says , less influence today (ie 1986) than ever . Partly this is because of the nature of the Reagan regime - Kennedy , Johnson and Nixon wanted "plausible deniability" if covert operations screwed up ; they wanted to be able to say they did'nt know about them . This created risks for the CIA , but it also gave the Agency a measure of independence and flexibility .
But when Ronald Reagan wanted Grenada's government overthrown he did'nt involve the CIA - he sent in the Marines . And his popularity rose . Similarly , in attempting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government , Reagan is less concerned with stealth . As America went steadily to the right he could get consensus for overt action - there is now little need to slip millions of dollars 'under the counter' to guerrilla groups ; Ronald Reagan was able to get his $100 million dollar support to the Central American Contras legislated by the U S Senate . Whatever works ...
In the 1960's and 1970's the presence of the CIA on a college campus would have led to outrage and demonstrations ; today (1986) the CIA openly recruits on campus . In 1984 , they had a record 150,000 applications .......
[END of ' THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......'].
(Tomorrow - ' SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE ' : From 1989 - British Army bases and schools.......).
....... a British 'Proclamation' had been posted on walls and lamp-posts etc in Dublin on Tuesday , 25th April 1916 , concerning the Rising which was then underway ; amongst other things , the British had introduced 'martial law'.......
....that British 'Proclamation' was only in circulation for a few hours when three men were 'arrested' : Francis Sheehy Skeffington , Patrick McIntyre and Thomas Dickson .
It was on this same Wednesday (26th April 1916) that 1,600 British soldiers from the 'Third Cavalry Brigade' , artillery from Athlone and the 176th and 178th Infantry Brigades of the 59th North Midland Division of the British Army were preparing themselves for the march from 'Kingstown' Harbour (Dun Laoighaire) to Dublin city centre .
Tension was high in the city ; Francis Sheehy Skeffington , a leading writer and well-known pacifist , was in Dublin city centre attempting to turn back the looters that were out in force , taking advantage of the dis-organised situation in the capital .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" .......3rd January , 1921 ; Doire Finin , Renanirree - five lorry-loads of British Auxiliaries drove into the village ......."
" ...the time selected was quite an unusual one - nine in the morning . Their method of approach was clever ; the main road from Macroom ran past the hamlet to Beal a' Ghleanna and Ballingeary . Another , the Leac Road , converged on the former and joined it when about four hundred yards past the houses . The British Army lorries could pass unnoticed on the Leac Road for , although near , it was under the level of the main road .
That was exactly what they did - then , having passed by the houses , they stopped the lorries , dismounted and came back on foot . While some converged on the houses , others crossed the main road and pushed on rapidly uphill to the north-east to gain the heights behind the houses . The Auxies approaching from the front were seen and the alarm was given ; in nearly every house there lived an IRA Volunteer , but some were absent and the few at home were unarmed . Dannie Casey , a good Volunteer , whose house stood a hundred yards back from the main road , happened to be at home . With him was his young brother , Jeremiah , seventeen years of age .
A box filled with ammunition and gelignite was now Dannie's concern : he grasped the box to take it uphill with him - Jeremiah said that he would also go ......."
(MORE LATER).
THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......
Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .
Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .
First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.
Re-produced here in 21 parts .
[21 of 21].
John Ranelagh (author of this book) argues that the CIA's power declined as it grew older ; it has , he says , less influence today (ie 1986) than ever . Partly this is because of the nature of the Reagan regime - Kennedy , Johnson and Nixon wanted "plausible deniability" if covert operations screwed up ; they wanted to be able to say they did'nt know about them . This created risks for the CIA , but it also gave the Agency a measure of independence and flexibility .
But when Ronald Reagan wanted Grenada's government overthrown he did'nt involve the CIA - he sent in the Marines . And his popularity rose . Similarly , in attempting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government , Reagan is less concerned with stealth . As America went steadily to the right he could get consensus for overt action - there is now little need to slip millions of dollars 'under the counter' to guerrilla groups ; Ronald Reagan was able to get his $100 million dollar support to the Central American Contras legislated by the U S Senate . Whatever works ...
In the 1960's and 1970's the presence of the CIA on a college campus would have led to outrage and demonstrations ; today (1986) the CIA openly recruits on campus . In 1984 , they had a record 150,000 applications .......
[END of ' THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......'].
(Tomorrow - ' SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE FRONT LINE ' : From 1989 - British Army bases and schools.......).
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.
Dublin , Tuesday , April 25 , 1916 :
' A PROCLAMATION -
WHEREAS , in the City of Dublin and County of Dublin , certain evil disposed persons and Associations , with the intention of subverting the supremacy of the Crown in Ireland , have committed diverse acts of violence , and have with deadly weapons attacked the forces of the Crown , and have resisted by armed force the lawful authority of His Majesty's Police and Military forces ; and WHEREAS by reason thereof several of His Majesty's liege subjects have been killed and many others severely injured , and much damage to property has been caused ; and WHEREAS such armed resistance to His Majesty's Authority still continues :
NOW WE , Ivor Churchill Baron Wimborne , Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland , by virture of all the powers thereunto enabling us , do hereby proclaim that from and after the date of this Proclamation , and for the period of one month thereafter , unless otherwise ordered , the City of Dublin and County of Dublin are under and subject to Martial Law ; and WE do hereby call on all loyal and well-affected subjects of the Crown to aid in upholding and maintaining the peace of the Realm and the supremacy , and authority of the Crown ; and WE warn all peaceable and law-abiding subjects within such area of the danger of frequenting or being in any place in or in the vicinity of which His Majesty's forces are engaged in the suppression of disorder :
AND WE do hereby enjoin upon such subjects the duty and necessity , so far as practicable , of remaining within their own homes so long as these dangerous conditions prevail ; and WE do hereby proclaim that all persons found carrying arms without lawful authority are liable to be dealt with by virture of this Proclamation.
Given at Dublin ,
This 25th day of April , 1916.
WIMBORNE.
GOD SAVE THE KING . '
The above is a British Government 'Proclamation' , circulated in Dublin (on the above-mentioned date ie Tuesday 25/4/1916) in reply to THE Proclamation previously distributed by Irish Republicans and actions taken by same to enforce said document .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" .......Christy Lucey , one of our best Volunteers , was to die at the hands of the British nine days after an innocent man , Jim Lehane , was taken from his house and shot dead by them ....... "
" As Christy Lucey descended the hill , his view of the road in the valley became more limited ; he had actually crossed the road when the British Auxiliaries arrived and , seeing him, immediately opened fire - he gained the shelter of the house , and had ill-fortune not intervened would have got away from them ...
...immediately behind the house a mass of rock rose vertically ; to provide for such an emergency , as was now Christy's , a ladder always stood in place against the rock . It had been temporarily removed and he had no option but to make a detour of the rock . This brought him again into the view of his enemies who shot him down . He was not armed - and it was a pity , for it was a remarkable fact that even a shot or two exchanged with these 'warriors' disturbed their aim unduly . A few weeks later these marauding Auxiliaries were trapped at Kilmichael , a few miles to the south of our area : seventeen of them were killed . The IRA lost three men .
On 3rd January , 1921 , five lorries of British Auxiliaries from Macroom made a descent on a cluster of houses at Doire Finin , Renanirree ; their raid was cunningly planned and viciously operated ......."
(MORE LATER).
THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......
Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .
Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .
First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.
Re-produced here in 21 parts .
(20 of 21).
On the whole , the CIA came well out of Vietnam - their analysis was more realistic than that of other agencies and they were far from the most 'hawklike' . They took the heat for the 'Phoenix Programme', although it originated in the 'National Security Council' . They took the heat for making a mess of the 'Bay of Pigs' operation , although it was John Kennedy who was responsible .
In the mid-1970's , William Colby (CIA Director) attempted to clear-up the CIA's reputation by admitting it had over-stepped the mark in the past ; by then , the CIA had ceased being the 'derring-do' outfit of the 1950's and had settled into being a bureaucracy like many others near the centre of government .
John Ranelagh , Author of this book , argues that the CIA's power declined as it grew older . It has less influence today (ie 1986) than ever .......
(MORE LATER).
Dublin , Tuesday , April 25 , 1916 :
' A PROCLAMATION -
WHEREAS , in the City of Dublin and County of Dublin , certain evil disposed persons and Associations , with the intention of subverting the supremacy of the Crown in Ireland , have committed diverse acts of violence , and have with deadly weapons attacked the forces of the Crown , and have resisted by armed force the lawful authority of His Majesty's Police and Military forces ; and WHEREAS by reason thereof several of His Majesty's liege subjects have been killed and many others severely injured , and much damage to property has been caused ; and WHEREAS such armed resistance to His Majesty's Authority still continues :
NOW WE , Ivor Churchill Baron Wimborne , Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland , by virture of all the powers thereunto enabling us , do hereby proclaim that from and after the date of this Proclamation , and for the period of one month thereafter , unless otherwise ordered , the City of Dublin and County of Dublin are under and subject to Martial Law ; and WE do hereby call on all loyal and well-affected subjects of the Crown to aid in upholding and maintaining the peace of the Realm and the supremacy , and authority of the Crown ; and WE warn all peaceable and law-abiding subjects within such area of the danger of frequenting or being in any place in or in the vicinity of which His Majesty's forces are engaged in the suppression of disorder :
AND WE do hereby enjoin upon such subjects the duty and necessity , so far as practicable , of remaining within their own homes so long as these dangerous conditions prevail ; and WE do hereby proclaim that all persons found carrying arms without lawful authority are liable to be dealt with by virture of this Proclamation.
Given at Dublin ,
This 25th day of April , 1916.
WIMBORNE.
GOD SAVE THE KING . '
The above is a British Government 'Proclamation' , circulated in Dublin (on the above-mentioned date ie Tuesday 25/4/1916) in reply to THE Proclamation previously distributed by Irish Republicans and actions taken by same to enforce said document .......
(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.
SHOOTINGS.......
" .......Christy Lucey , one of our best Volunteers , was to die at the hands of the British nine days after an innocent man , Jim Lehane , was taken from his house and shot dead by them ....... "
" As Christy Lucey descended the hill , his view of the road in the valley became more limited ; he had actually crossed the road when the British Auxiliaries arrived and , seeing him, immediately opened fire - he gained the shelter of the house , and had ill-fortune not intervened would have got away from them ...
...immediately behind the house a mass of rock rose vertically ; to provide for such an emergency , as was now Christy's , a ladder always stood in place against the rock . It had been temporarily removed and he had no option but to make a detour of the rock . This brought him again into the view of his enemies who shot him down . He was not armed - and it was a pity , for it was a remarkable fact that even a shot or two exchanged with these 'warriors' disturbed their aim unduly . A few weeks later these marauding Auxiliaries were trapped at Kilmichael , a few miles to the south of our area : seventeen of them were killed . The IRA lost three men .
On 3rd January , 1921 , five lorries of British Auxiliaries from Macroom made a descent on a cluster of houses at Doire Finin , Renanirree ; their raid was cunningly planned and viciously operated ......."
(MORE LATER).
THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......
Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .
Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .
First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.
Re-produced here in 21 parts .
(20 of 21).
On the whole , the CIA came well out of Vietnam - their analysis was more realistic than that of other agencies and they were far from the most 'hawklike' . They took the heat for the 'Phoenix Programme', although it originated in the 'National Security Council' . They took the heat for making a mess of the 'Bay of Pigs' operation , although it was John Kennedy who was responsible .
In the mid-1970's , William Colby (CIA Director) attempted to clear-up the CIA's reputation by admitting it had over-stepped the mark in the past ; by then , the CIA had ceased being the 'derring-do' outfit of the 1950's and had settled into being a bureaucracy like many others near the centre of government .
John Ranelagh , Author of this book , argues that the CIA's power declined as it grew older . It has less influence today (ie 1986) than ever .......
(MORE LATER).
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