'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......on 11th July 1921 a 'Truce' between the IRA and the British was signed ; then , on 6th December 1921 , Michael Collins accepted 'Dominion' status and an 'oath' which gave 'allegiance' to the new Irish Free State and 'fidelity' to the British Crown . He knew it was a mistake .......
Walking through the foggy London streets after signing the British document , Michael Collins stated -
- " When you have sweated , toiled , had mad dreams , hopeless nightmares , you find yourself in London's streets , cold and dank in the night air . Think - what have I got for Ireland ? Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years ? Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain ? Will anyone ? I tell you this ; early this morning I signed my death warrant . I thought at the time how odd , how ridiculous - a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago . " That 'Treaty' ripped Irish society asunder ; within six months a Civil War had erupted and , to this day , the issue remains unsolved . Other 'Treaty's ' , such as those entered into at Sunningdale , Hillsborough , Stormont and now Leeds Castle in Kent , England , will also fail , and for the same reason - the British claim of jurisdiction over any part of this island .
However - (Tangents aside ...!) - the 'An tOglach' newspaper , 'The Official Organ of The Irish Volunteers' , was not re-published after the 'Treaty of Surrender' in 1921 ; its first and last Editor , Piaras Beaslai , unfortunately followed the example of a previous Editor of 'An tOglach' , Ernest Blythe - he 'jumped ship ...' .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
".......the 'Truce' was on ; ten feet apart stood four armed British Auxies and four armed IRA men - a Model T. Ford car was parked between them . The car used to belong to the Brits , but was now in the employ of the IRA . One of the British Auxies was adament that the car should be returned ; he squared-up to us and asked his colleagues to back him up ....... "
" "Sorry , old bean ," one of his colleagues replied , "there's a Truce you know . We were just going in across the way . Will you come ? " So saying , they turned away and , without looking back , made straight for the hotel . We stood motionless ; the British gunman held his ground for a few moments only then , putting his pride in his pocket , he started after his colleagues . As he passed by the front of the car on his way across the street , I passed by the rear of it . I could not forbear to fling at him a taunt - " Well , what about it ? " I said to him . " Some other time , " was the reply , as he continued on his way .
We resumed our journey ; again , we wondered how the next enemy group would receive us - a few miles to the west of Ballincollig we met them ; it was a lorry of British Auxiliaries , coming towards Macroom . They slowed down to have a look at the car - realising what we were , they waived gaily and shouted to us ! We waived back - that particular crowd was in good humour at any rate . At Ballincollig we got another friendly reception from the Brit Tommies ; every group and individual saluted us good humouredly , even the sentry at the gate . Arriving in Cork , we got a great ovation from the ordinary people who recognised us as IRA men , but the "shawlies" and "Echo" boys were especially embarrassing to us .
Wherever we stopped they gathered around us , and the " shawlies" would shout to their friends across the street - " Look at 'em , Mary Ann , look at 'em ! Ah, dere the lads dat knocked de stuffing outa d'ould Royal Irish and de Black-and-Tans . More power to ye , boys , more power to ye ! " The "Echo" boys examined our Model T. Ford , pointing out the scars of battle and weaving tales about its adventures ; it had dashed through enemy-occupied towns , overturned barricades and knocked out armoured cars ... !
Spoofers all , no-where to be seen when the fight was on ......."
(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 .
(9 of 11.)
Just how many of the various British 'initiatives' in Ireland were 'sired' by Maurice Oldfield is uncertain , but he was certainly behind the two sets of 'truce talks' with the Provos , in 1972 , when Sean MacStiophan , Gerry Adams ('1169...' comment - Gerry was only there to fetch drinking water for the participants - he must have been as , according to himself , he was never a 'member' ...) and others were flown to London to meet British politicians in an MI6 'safe house' and in the 1976 'incident centre' ceasefire .
Talks on that occasion were held in the MI6 Station at Laneside , conducted largely by Maurice Oldfield's people , led by James Allan . Ironically , the pick-up point for the two IRA representatives at some of those talks was at an MI6 house on Old Hollywood Road , Belfast , which, it later emerged, was also used for homosexual orgies , although not while the Provos were visiting . (!)
But it was in the long-term strategy which Maurice Oldfield and his colleagues in the 'Foreign Office' applied to Ireland that he left his mark .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, September 23, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......when he was 'released' from Strangeways Prison in Manchester by the IRA on 20th October 1919 , Piaras Beaslai took over again as Editor of 'An tOglach' , and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA .......
Under his stewardship , that Irish Republican newspaper which , since its inception in August 1918 had been published twice monthly , became a weekly publication . Each issue contained a leading article , Editorial notes and a 'War News' column , highlighting the activities carried out since its last issue .
It was a useful propaganda tool and a morale booster for all IRA Units throughout the island . The 'An tOglach' newspaper was published , at first, twice a month and then weekly , between August (15th) 1918 and July 1921 , when it was deemed, by the powers that were , that its job was done ; negotiations between the Irish Republicans and Westminster were underway .
Those negotiations were to lead to the 'Treaty of Surrender' being signed ; a 'Truce' between both sides was signed on 11th July 1921 and , on 6th December 1921 , at ten minutes past two in the morning , by signing the British document, the 'Free State' came into being - as did its minders (tenants?) , the Free Staters .
However , as he walked through the foggy streets of London having signed the 'Treaty' , Michael Collins had an inkling of what was to come.......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
".......I was the only one at the car when an armed British Auxie approached ; he looked at me , then at the Model T. Ford - " That car belongs to us ...." he said ......."
" " Belonged , would be more correct , " I said . " It will be ours again ," came his reply . " That depends on your ability to take it , " I answered . The Auxie looked me up and down ; his hands rested on his hips, the palms outwards . I watched him carefully - his guns were quite convenient in open holsters , and it would take him little time to get them out . But I had the advantage , for mine were already in my hands .
Suddenly he raised his right hand and beckoned - three more Auxiliaries crossed the street towards us : I waited until they came to him . They looked at him questioningly , and he started to explain what had been said between us . With this advantage I turned my head and shoulders quickly - my brother Pat was just coming out of a doorway , and I beckoned to him with my head ; he came quickly , the others behind him .
" What's this about ? " Pat asked , as he drew up in line with me . " That fellow " , I said , indicating the elite gunman , " wants the car back . " The four British Auxies now faced the four IRA men , ten feet apart . They heard Pat's question to me , and my reply . " Oh , well , " said Pat , generously , " you are welcome to it , " but then added " ...if you can take it . "
" Well , chaps , " said the first Auxie , loosening up , " will you stand by me ? " His colleagues looked at each other ......."
(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 .
(8 of 11.)
The Littlejohn brothers who bombed and robbed in the 'Irish Republic' ('1169 ...' comment - the Irish Republic has been declared but not yet established ; the author is referring to the Free State) in 1971 and 1972 had Maurice Oldfield as their ultimate boss . It was not their idea but his that Jack Lynch's Government (ie the then Fianna Fail FS Administration) should be pressurised into introducing internment by a series of phoney IRA incidents .
Oldfield was in charge also of the spying in Garda HQ which led to the Crinnion/Wyman Case , and was probably the man who arranged the deal that allowed both of them to walk free . While he had to complete with Martin Furnival Jones , the Director General of the British Security Services (MI5) until 1972 , and his successor , Michael Hanley , until 1978 , Maurice Oldfield still managed to retain his key position as ' Senior Advisor on Irish Affairs '.
In Whitehall , 'Irish Affairs' were regarded as largely a 'security matter.......'
(MORE LATER).
.......when he was 'released' from Strangeways Prison in Manchester by the IRA on 20th October 1919 , Piaras Beaslai took over again as Editor of 'An tOglach' , and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA .......
Under his stewardship , that Irish Republican newspaper which , since its inception in August 1918 had been published twice monthly , became a weekly publication . Each issue contained a leading article , Editorial notes and a 'War News' column , highlighting the activities carried out since its last issue .
It was a useful propaganda tool and a morale booster for all IRA Units throughout the island . The 'An tOglach' newspaper was published , at first, twice a month and then weekly , between August (15th) 1918 and July 1921 , when it was deemed, by the powers that were , that its job was done ; negotiations between the Irish Republicans and Westminster were underway .
Those negotiations were to lead to the 'Treaty of Surrender' being signed ; a 'Truce' between both sides was signed on 11th July 1921 and , on 6th December 1921 , at ten minutes past two in the morning , by signing the British document, the 'Free State' came into being - as did its minders (tenants?) , the Free Staters .
However , as he walked through the foggy streets of London having signed the 'Treaty' , Michael Collins had an inkling of what was to come.......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
".......I was the only one at the car when an armed British Auxie approached ; he looked at me , then at the Model T. Ford - " That car belongs to us ...." he said ......."
" " Belonged , would be more correct , " I said . " It will be ours again ," came his reply . " That depends on your ability to take it , " I answered . The Auxie looked me up and down ; his hands rested on his hips, the palms outwards . I watched him carefully - his guns were quite convenient in open holsters , and it would take him little time to get them out . But I had the advantage , for mine were already in my hands .
Suddenly he raised his right hand and beckoned - three more Auxiliaries crossed the street towards us : I waited until they came to him . They looked at him questioningly , and he started to explain what had been said between us . With this advantage I turned my head and shoulders quickly - my brother Pat was just coming out of a doorway , and I beckoned to him with my head ; he came quickly , the others behind him .
" What's this about ? " Pat asked , as he drew up in line with me . " That fellow " , I said , indicating the elite gunman , " wants the car back . " The four British Auxies now faced the four IRA men , ten feet apart . They heard Pat's question to me , and my reply . " Oh , well , " said Pat , generously , " you are welcome to it , " but then added " ...if you can take it . "
" Well , chaps , " said the first Auxie , loosening up , " will you stand by me ? " His colleagues looked at each other ......."
(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 .
(8 of 11.)
The Littlejohn brothers who bombed and robbed in the 'Irish Republic' ('1169 ...' comment - the Irish Republic has been declared but not yet established ; the author is referring to the Free State) in 1971 and 1972 had Maurice Oldfield as their ultimate boss . It was not their idea but his that Jack Lynch's Government (ie the then Fianna Fail FS Administration) should be pressurised into introducing internment by a series of phoney IRA incidents .
Oldfield was in charge also of the spying in Garda HQ which led to the Crinnion/Wyman Case , and was probably the man who arranged the deal that allowed both of them to walk free . While he had to complete with Martin Furnival Jones , the Director General of the British Security Services (MI5) until 1972 , and his successor , Michael Hanley , until 1978 , Maurice Oldfield still managed to retain his key position as ' Senior Advisor on Irish Affairs '.
In Whitehall , 'Irish Affairs' were regarded as largely a 'security matter.......'
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Liam Mellows wrote his last letter (to his mother) on December 8th , 1922 - he was then executed by a Free State Army firing squad . However , forty-six years after that execution (ie in 1968) more information regarding that deed was made public .......
In a letter to the media forty-six years after the execution of Liam Mellows (ie on April 24th , 1968) a Free State Army Captain , Ignatius O'Rourke , who was present at the execution of Liam Mellows and the other three men - Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor and Joe McKelvey - wrote that , a few minutes before Mellows was shot dead he [Mellows] sent for the prison chaplain , a Father McMahon .
Captain O'Rourke wrote that "... a few minutes later .." he saw Father McMahon leaving the room (cell) "...accompanied by Liam Mellows , with his right arm around Liam's shoulders , and they walked along together leading the group as we all walked to the sandbags . Liam and Father McMahon appeared to be in deep , friendly conversation , with no sign of discord , disagreement or argument , just like two men discussing some point in a friendly fashion . They continued to talk until Father McMahon left Liam in the number one position at the sandbags ...."
However - (tangents ..!) - back to the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper ; when he was 'released' from Strangeways Prison in Manchester by the IRA on 20th October 1919 , Piaras Beaslai took over again as Editor of 'An tOglach' and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
"...we drove into Cork City in a Model T. Ford , which we had previously taken from the enemy , and parked in Main Street . Three of us got out of the car and went into a shop , while I stood beside the car - the 'Truce' was on , we were in the uniform of the IRA , and an armed British Auxie stood yards away from me , staring at me and the car ......."
" Quite naturally , my hands slipped through the slip-pockets of my trench coat and closed on the butts of my Smith and Wessons ; he came striding up the roadway , straight towards the car . I knew , even at a distance , that he came looking for trouble . As the picture of a gunman he was the real thing - very tall , well built and sporting a moustache , which achieved the slightly sinister and military appearance he doubtless fancied .
His armament left nothing to be desired ; he was a two-gun man , with his holsters swung far below his waistbelt and strapped half way down his thighs , in 'cowboy' parlance , tied low . The riding breeches , putties and tunic he wore were well fitting , and the tasselled beret set off a handsome bravo . He halted in front of the car and gave it a general survey , then he leaned over the bonnet and examined the bullet holes around the wind-screen . Next he walked around it twice and , finally , stood up on the footpath straight in front of me .
" That car belongs to us ," he said . I said nothing . " I said that car belongs to us ," he repeated . I looked him in the eye ....... "
(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 .
(7 of 11.)
And on top of Maurice Oldfield being a child-molesting homosexual sadist , he was a disaster as a spy chief - for example , in attempting to crush the IRA (*) he introduced the 'Supergrass' system , a variation of the 'converted terrorist' idea used when he was fighting Communists in Malaya . As the present (ie 1987) upsurge in IRA activity ( (*) '1169...' comment - please note that in late 1986 the Provisional IRA had been disowned , and rightly so, by IRA Comdt. General Tom Maguire , from Cross , Claremorris , in County Mayo , who was then the last and faithful survivor of the Second (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann 1921 . This action was taken against the Provos because they had agreed to take seats in a British-imposed Administration in Ireland ie Leinster House ) has shown , the 'Supergrass' system backfired .
Court cases revealed enough information to the Provos about British security forces' intelligence gathering methods and sources to allow them to successfully purge their ranks and re-group in a manner which may take years to penetrate as far again . But perhaps the most misleading myth about Maurice Oldfield is that his influence on Ireland only began when he was made 'Security Co-ordinator' .
In fact , as the real head of MI6 from 1969 to 1978 (he was formally given the 'top job' in 1973 by Ted Heath whose Common Market negotiations were made easier by Oldfield's spying !) he was the master-planner of much that went on .......
(MORE LATER).
.......Liam Mellows wrote his last letter (to his mother) on December 8th , 1922 - he was then executed by a Free State Army firing squad . However , forty-six years after that execution (ie in 1968) more information regarding that deed was made public .......
In a letter to the media forty-six years after the execution of Liam Mellows (ie on April 24th , 1968) a Free State Army Captain , Ignatius O'Rourke , who was present at the execution of Liam Mellows and the other three men - Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor and Joe McKelvey - wrote that , a few minutes before Mellows was shot dead he [Mellows] sent for the prison chaplain , a Father McMahon .
Captain O'Rourke wrote that "... a few minutes later .." he saw Father McMahon leaving the room (cell) "...accompanied by Liam Mellows , with his right arm around Liam's shoulders , and they walked along together leading the group as we all walked to the sandbags . Liam and Father McMahon appeared to be in deep , friendly conversation , with no sign of discord , disagreement or argument , just like two men discussing some point in a friendly fashion . They continued to talk until Father McMahon left Liam in the number one position at the sandbags ...."
However - (tangents ..!) - back to the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper ; when he was 'released' from Strangeways Prison in Manchester by the IRA on 20th October 1919 , Piaras Beaslai took over again as Editor of 'An tOglach' and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
"...we drove into Cork City in a Model T. Ford , which we had previously taken from the enemy , and parked in Main Street . Three of us got out of the car and went into a shop , while I stood beside the car - the 'Truce' was on , we were in the uniform of the IRA , and an armed British Auxie stood yards away from me , staring at me and the car ......."
" Quite naturally , my hands slipped through the slip-pockets of my trench coat and closed on the butts of my Smith and Wessons ; he came striding up the roadway , straight towards the car . I knew , even at a distance , that he came looking for trouble . As the picture of a gunman he was the real thing - very tall , well built and sporting a moustache , which achieved the slightly sinister and military appearance he doubtless fancied .
His armament left nothing to be desired ; he was a two-gun man , with his holsters swung far below his waistbelt and strapped half way down his thighs , in 'cowboy' parlance , tied low . The riding breeches , putties and tunic he wore were well fitting , and the tasselled beret set off a handsome bravo . He halted in front of the car and gave it a general survey , then he leaned over the bonnet and examined the bullet holes around the wind-screen . Next he walked around it twice and , finally , stood up on the footpath straight in front of me .
" That car belongs to us ," he said . I said nothing . " I said that car belongs to us ," he repeated . I looked him in the eye ....... "
(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 .
(7 of 11.)
And on top of Maurice Oldfield being a child-molesting homosexual sadist , he was a disaster as a spy chief - for example , in attempting to crush the IRA (*) he introduced the 'Supergrass' system , a variation of the 'converted terrorist' idea used when he was fighting Communists in Malaya . As the present (ie 1987) upsurge in IRA activity ( (*) '1169...' comment - please note that in late 1986 the Provisional IRA had been disowned , and rightly so, by IRA Comdt. General Tom Maguire , from Cross , Claremorris , in County Mayo , who was then the last and faithful survivor of the Second (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann 1921 . This action was taken against the Provos because they had agreed to take seats in a British-imposed Administration in Ireland ie Leinster House ) has shown , the 'Supergrass' system backfired .
Court cases revealed enough information to the Provos about British security forces' intelligence gathering methods and sources to allow them to successfully purge their ranks and re-group in a manner which may take years to penetrate as far again . But perhaps the most misleading myth about Maurice Oldfield is that his influence on Ireland only began when he was made 'Security Co-ordinator' .
In fact , as the real head of MI6 from 1969 to 1978 (he was formally given the 'top job' in 1973 by Ted Heath whose Common Market negotiations were made easier by Oldfield's spying !) he was the master-planner of much that went on .......
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......December 8th , 1922 - Liam Mellows , an IRA leader , was in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin , and was shortly to be shot dead by a Free State firing squad . He was writing his last letter , to his mother .......
' Through you , I also send another message ; it is this - let no thought of reprisal or revenge dominate Republicans because of our deaths . We die for the truth , vindication will come, the mist will be cleared away , and brothers in blood will before long be brothers in arms , against the oppression of our country and imperialist England .
In this belief I die happy forgiving all , as I hope myself to be forgiven . The path the people of Ireland must thread is straight and hard and true , though narrow ; only be following it can they be men . It is a hard road , but it's the road our Saviour followed - the road of Sacrifice . The Republic lives , our deaths make that a certainty .
I have had the Chaplain to see me . It is sad but I cannot agree to accept the Bishops' Pastoral , my conscience is quite clear , Thank God , with the old Gaels . I believe that those who die for Ireland have no need for prayer .
God Bless and Protect you ,
Your Loving Son Willie . '
That was the last letter that Liam Mellows , IRA leader , wrote . That was in 1922 ; however , 46 years later (ie in 1968) , a Free State Army Captain , an Ignatius O'Rourke , spoke of what happened next .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
"...mid-year , 1921 ; an uneasy time . We were glad to be home , no need to 'duck and dive' , for now, anyway . We were summoned to an IRA Brigade meeting in Cork City ......."
" Paddy Donncha , our IRA Vice-Commandant , and Patsy Lynch , IRA Company Captain of Ballyvourney , had come over on a visit to us ; the four of us uncovered a Model T. Ford , once the property of the enemy . We found that , like 'Kempenfelt's ship' , " ...her timbers they were sound , and she would float again ! " She bore the marks of some of our bullets but none had penetrated her vitals ; we started her up and found her quite roadworthy .
About four o'clock in the evening we were on the road to Cork . We had read something about no ' provocative display of arms ' in the Truce terms , but we felt that it would be a very uncomfortable sensation travelling unarmed amongst the enemy and we therefore carried our revolvers inside our trench coats . We wore our brown gaiters and boots and so were complete in the uniform of the IRA . As we approached Macroom we wondered how the Brits and especially the Auxies would take to us .
It would be a new departure to meet and pass them by as non-belligerents ; our Model T. Ford rattled bravely down Pound Lane , and we would soon know what the enemy made of us now . We drove gallantly up Castle Street past the 'home' of the British Auxiliaries , and across the Square into the Main Street . Here we stopped .
Three of the lads went into a draper's shop a few doors away , while I stood on the kerb a few yards from the rear of the car . A few yards down the road stood a British Auxie - he was staring , looking for trouble ....... "
(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 .
(6 of 11.)
Only now (ie 1987) have British newspapers started to reveal , for example in 'The Observer' , that Maurice Oldfield liked to recall his days as an interrogator in the infamous Maadi Camp , in Cairo , when he "...talked cheerfully about beating (the Jews) up and pushing their heads under buckets of water ..."
Another of the myths about Oldfield is that his homosexuality was unknown - he was as notorious around Whitehall as his friend and fellow spy , Tom Driberg MP , who combined his political career with work for both MI5 and the KGB .
But 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was not simply a homosexual ; he was a child molester and sadist . That is what the so-called 'rough trade' is all about ; he liked to pick up helpless youngsters and subject them to indignities and sexual assaults .......
(MORE LATER).
.......December 8th , 1922 - Liam Mellows , an IRA leader , was in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin , and was shortly to be shot dead by a Free State firing squad . He was writing his last letter , to his mother .......
' Through you , I also send another message ; it is this - let no thought of reprisal or revenge dominate Republicans because of our deaths . We die for the truth , vindication will come, the mist will be cleared away , and brothers in blood will before long be brothers in arms , against the oppression of our country and imperialist England .
In this belief I die happy forgiving all , as I hope myself to be forgiven . The path the people of Ireland must thread is straight and hard and true , though narrow ; only be following it can they be men . It is a hard road , but it's the road our Saviour followed - the road of Sacrifice . The Republic lives , our deaths make that a certainty .
I have had the Chaplain to see me . It is sad but I cannot agree to accept the Bishops' Pastoral , my conscience is quite clear , Thank God , with the old Gaels . I believe that those who die for Ireland have no need for prayer .
God Bless and Protect you ,
Your Loving Son Willie . '
That was the last letter that Liam Mellows , IRA leader , wrote . That was in 1922 ; however , 46 years later (ie in 1968) , a Free State Army Captain , an Ignatius O'Rourke , spoke of what happened next .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.......
"...mid-year , 1921 ; an uneasy time . We were glad to be home , no need to 'duck and dive' , for now, anyway . We were summoned to an IRA Brigade meeting in Cork City ......."
" Paddy Donncha , our IRA Vice-Commandant , and Patsy Lynch , IRA Company Captain of Ballyvourney , had come over on a visit to us ; the four of us uncovered a Model T. Ford , once the property of the enemy . We found that , like 'Kempenfelt's ship' , " ...her timbers they were sound , and she would float again ! " She bore the marks of some of our bullets but none had penetrated her vitals ; we started her up and found her quite roadworthy .
About four o'clock in the evening we were on the road to Cork . We had read something about no ' provocative display of arms ' in the Truce terms , but we felt that it would be a very uncomfortable sensation travelling unarmed amongst the enemy and we therefore carried our revolvers inside our trench coats . We wore our brown gaiters and boots and so were complete in the uniform of the IRA . As we approached Macroom we wondered how the Brits and especially the Auxies would take to us .
It would be a new departure to meet and pass them by as non-belligerents ; our Model T. Ford rattled bravely down Pound Lane , and we would soon know what the enemy made of us now . We drove gallantly up Castle Street past the 'home' of the British Auxiliaries , and across the Square into the Main Street . Here we stopped .
Three of the lads went into a draper's shop a few doors away , while I stood on the kerb a few yards from the rear of the car . A few yards down the road stood a British Auxie - he was staring , looking for trouble ....... "
(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 .
(6 of 11.)
Only now (ie 1987) have British newspapers started to reveal , for example in 'The Observer' , that Maurice Oldfield liked to recall his days as an interrogator in the infamous Maadi Camp , in Cairo , when he "...talked cheerfully about beating (the Jews) up and pushing their heads under buckets of water ..."
Another of the myths about Oldfield is that his homosexuality was unknown - he was as notorious around Whitehall as his friend and fellow spy , Tom Driberg MP , who combined his political career with work for both MI5 and the KGB .
But 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was not simply a homosexual ; he was a child molester and sadist . That is what the so-called 'rough trade' is all about ; he liked to pick up helpless youngsters and subject them to indignities and sexual assaults .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, September 20, 2004
'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Ireland , 1922 - the Free State 'Minister for Home Affairs' , Kevin O'Higgins , had agreed with his Free State Cabinet colleagues that four IRA prisoners - Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows , Richard Barrett and Joe McKelvey - should be executed immediately . O'Higgins had a troubled mind because of that decision .......
At that Free State Cabinet meeting , which condemned the four IRA prisoners to death , Kevin O'Higgins interrupted proceedings and asked - " Is there no other way ...? " And well he may have felt guilty ; O'Higgins was the 'best man' at Rory O'Connor's wedding ...
At 5 AM on the morning of December 8th , 1922 , one of the men soon to be shot by the Staters , Liam Mellows , sat in his cell and wrote his last letter :
Mountjoy Prison , Dublin . December 8th 1922 , 5 AM.
My Dear Mother ,
The time is short and much I would like to say must go unsaid but you will understand in such moments heart speaks to heart . At 3.30 AM this morning , we (Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Joe McKelvey and I) were informed that we were to be executed as a reprisal .
Welcome be the will of God , for Irelad is in His keeping despite foreign monarchs and treaties . Though unworthy of the greatest human honour that can be paid an Irishman or woman , I go to join Tone and Emmet , the Fenians , Tom Clarke , Connolly , Pearse , Kevin Barry and Childers . My last thoughts will be on God , and Ireland , and on you .
You must not grieve , Mother Darling . Once before you thought you had given me to Ireland . The reality has now come . You will bear this as you have borne all the afflictions the cause of Ireland brought you - nobly and bravely . It is a sore trial for you , but that great courageous soul of yours will rejoice for I die for the truth ; life is only for a little while , and we shall be returned hereafter .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.
" Looking back on the Truce with the British in July 1921 , one regrets that it ever came about . For it was but the prelude to the Civil War in which we lost the best of our men , on both sides . That the Truce was brought about for that very motive I have no doubt . That the Civil War happened as a sequel to the Truce no one can deny , not even the 'wise men' - the 'statesmen and politicians' . I heard a prophecy made on May eve , 1921 , by a member of the IRA Flying Column , as we sat on a big stone near Paddy Sheehan's house at Inchamore , Ballyvourney : he foretold the coming of the Truce , the return of the politician and a civil war .
We welcomed the Truce for its immediate benefits ; it eased the strain on our people , especially on parents and old people who waited nightly for the loud knock at the door , that forerunner perhaps of murder . Now they could sleep soundly , happy in the knowledge that their children were safe with them also . It was a great joy to us to return home to our people and stay with them , not for a hurried and fearful half-hour , but indefinitely . I well remember the first evening at home , the joy of my mother , father and sisters , and the neighbours who rushed in to welcome us back .
For a few days we forgot everything in the delights of home ; then a dispatch came summoning my brother , our IRA Commandant , to an IRA Brigade meeting in Cork City . To get there , we had to travel through areas held by the British ; however , the 'Truce' was active....... "
(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 .
(5 of 11.)
Since he first came to the public eye in 1979 on his appointment by Mrs. Margaret Thatcher as 'Northern Ireland (sic) Security Co-ordinator ' , Maurice Oldfield had been surrounded by myths , almost all projected by himself ! In the British media he was represented as a dedicated bureaucrat , superbly efficient , apolitical ; the epitome of the 'noble spy' .
The reality is that 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was a drunken old pervert , ruthless and vicious , who used his position as the man who knew where everybody's 'skeletons' were buried to manipulate people in much the way J Edgar Hoover used his job as FBI head to spy on generations of American politicians and keep himself in power . Oldfield was frequently drunk , as he was when arrested in Comber by the RUC.
He had been a heavy drinker since his days as a spy in the Middle East during the War ; he was an advocate of torture or " robust methods " as he preferred to call it , and of " terminating people with extreme prejudice " , as the British Secret Service calls assassination.......
(MORE LATER).
.......Ireland , 1922 - the Free State 'Minister for Home Affairs' , Kevin O'Higgins , had agreed with his Free State Cabinet colleagues that four IRA prisoners - Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows , Richard Barrett and Joe McKelvey - should be executed immediately . O'Higgins had a troubled mind because of that decision .......
At that Free State Cabinet meeting , which condemned the four IRA prisoners to death , Kevin O'Higgins interrupted proceedings and asked - " Is there no other way ...? " And well he may have felt guilty ; O'Higgins was the 'best man' at Rory O'Connor's wedding ...
At 5 AM on the morning of December 8th , 1922 , one of the men soon to be shot by the Staters , Liam Mellows , sat in his cell and wrote his last letter :
Mountjoy Prison , Dublin . December 8th 1922 , 5 AM.
My Dear Mother ,
The time is short and much I would like to say must go unsaid but you will understand in such moments heart speaks to heart . At 3.30 AM this morning , we (Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Joe McKelvey and I) were informed that we were to be executed as a reprisal .
Welcome be the will of God , for Irelad is in His keeping despite foreign monarchs and treaties . Though unworthy of the greatest human honour that can be paid an Irishman or woman , I go to join Tone and Emmet , the Fenians , Tom Clarke , Connolly , Pearse , Kevin Barry and Childers . My last thoughts will be on God , and Ireland , and on you .
You must not grieve , Mother Darling . Once before you thought you had given me to Ireland . The reality has now come . You will bear this as you have borne all the afflictions the cause of Ireland brought you - nobly and bravely . It is a sore trial for you , but that great courageous soul of yours will rejoice for I die for the truth ; life is only for a little while , and we shall be returned hereafter .......
(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.
THE TRUCE.
" Looking back on the Truce with the British in July 1921 , one regrets that it ever came about . For it was but the prelude to the Civil War in which we lost the best of our men , on both sides . That the Truce was brought about for that very motive I have no doubt . That the Civil War happened as a sequel to the Truce no one can deny , not even the 'wise men' - the 'statesmen and politicians' . I heard a prophecy made on May eve , 1921 , by a member of the IRA Flying Column , as we sat on a big stone near Paddy Sheehan's house at Inchamore , Ballyvourney : he foretold the coming of the Truce , the return of the politician and a civil war .
We welcomed the Truce for its immediate benefits ; it eased the strain on our people , especially on parents and old people who waited nightly for the loud knock at the door , that forerunner perhaps of murder . Now they could sleep soundly , happy in the knowledge that their children were safe with them also . It was a great joy to us to return home to our people and stay with them , not for a hurried and fearful half-hour , but indefinitely . I well remember the first evening at home , the joy of my mother , father and sisters , and the neighbours who rushed in to welcome us back .
For a few days we forgot everything in the delights of home ; then a dispatch came summoning my brother , our IRA Commandant , to an IRA Brigade meeting in Cork City . To get there , we had to travel through areas held by the British ; however , the 'Truce' was active....... "
(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 .
(5 of 11.)
Since he first came to the public eye in 1979 on his appointment by Mrs. Margaret Thatcher as 'Northern Ireland (sic) Security Co-ordinator ' , Maurice Oldfield had been surrounded by myths , almost all projected by himself ! In the British media he was represented as a dedicated bureaucrat , superbly efficient , apolitical ; the epitome of the 'noble spy' .
The reality is that 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield was a drunken old pervert , ruthless and vicious , who used his position as the man who knew where everybody's 'skeletons' were buried to manipulate people in much the way J Edgar Hoover used his job as FBI head to spy on generations of American politicians and keep himself in power . Oldfield was frequently drunk , as he was when arrested in Comber by the RUC.
He had been a heavy drinker since his days as a spy in the Middle East during the War ; he was an advocate of torture or " robust methods " as he preferred to call it , and of " terminating people with extreme prejudice " , as the British Secret Service calls assassination.......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, September 17, 2004
'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).
....... 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).
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