ireland history magazine 1

BRUTAL IRISH MURDERSHead Severed During Execution • Mass Murder in Sligo

Killer Doctor From Cork • The Child ‘Born of Shame’

Ireland History Magazine

There is perhaps no more fruitful form of education than toarouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings

The Ireland History Magazine is a bimonthly publicationcompiled by the Glenravel Local History Project. It is just oneof several of our titles which aims to promote an interest in thesubject of local history. It has always been claimed that historybelongs of the higher classes and looking at the way it has beenpresented for decades then this would seem to be the case. Weare not interested in the history of lords and earls, their estates andtitles, instead we are interested in the history of every day life.

The Glenravel Local History Project is a local historical schemebased in the North Belfast area. It’s activities are centred aroundthe educational promotion and restoration of the areas historicburying ground at Clifton Street and is named after the nearbyGlenravel Street which was destroyed to make way for thedisastrous Westlink road system.

The Ireland History Magazine is not funded by any grant makingbody and is entirely funded by you - the reader. Its profits arenot used for personal gain but for the continuing work of theoverall scheme. We welcome advertising from tourist attractionsand tour companies so if you run one of these you could beadvertising here with a full colour advertisement costing as littleas €150 and no that is not a typing error! E-Mail us the addressbelow for details.

Our members are fully committed to the promotion of our localand factual history. Quite regularly we travel the country visitinghistorical sites and collecting stories of a local historical interest.Because of this we often use material which is the public domainand go to great lengths to acknowledge those who own it so if wehave missed you - sorry. We also welcome stories from otherhistorians from throughout the country and pay up to €50 per story.

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COVER PICTURE Carrowmore. See page 23

Welcome to the very first issue ofIreland History Magazine. Needless to saydue to its title we do not need to tell you whatits content is going to be or even that the over-all theme of the publication is the promotionof our Irish history. There is no doubt thatIreland is one of the most historic places onthe planet and due to this we attract countlessvisitors every year. It’s not hard to work outwhy when you consider that there are morecastles in Ireland than in England, Scotland orWales combined and then we have ancientburial places, round towers, high crosses, fortsand lets not forget the oldest man madestructure in the world. For the first few issuesthe magazine will be every two months but itis our aim to have it as a monthly publicationfrom around May 2012. In order to get startedand make sure we are doing everything rightwe more than welcome your views - good orbad. We especially welcome the views oflocal historians and historical groups through-out Ireland because this magazine is really foryou and all articles and features are more thanwelcome.


TITANIC’S FORGOTTEN SISTER

The BritannicBritannic was the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line. It was thesister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, and was intended to enter service as a transatlanticpassenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was quickly putto use as a hospital ship. In that role she struck a mine off the Greek island of Kea on the 21st ofNovember 1916, and sank with the loss of 30 lives.

F ollowing the loss of theTitanic and the subsequent

inquiries, several design changeswere made to the remainingOlympic-class liners. WithBritannic, these changes weremade before launching (Olympicwas refitted on her return toHarland and Wolff). The mainchanges included the introductionof a double hull along the engineand boiler rooms and raising sixout of the 15 watertight bulkheadsup to 'B' Deck. A more obviousexternal change was the fitting oflarge crane-like davits, eachcapable of holding six lifeboats.Additional lifeboats could bestored within reach of the davitson the deckhouse roof, and in anemergency the davits could evenreach lifeboats on the other sideof the vessel. The aim of thisdesign was to enable all thelifeboats to be launched, even ifthe ship developed a list thatwould normally prevent lifeboatsbeing launched on the sideopposite to the list. These davitswere not fitted to Olympic.Britannic's hull was also 2 feet(0.61 m) wider than her

predecessors due to the redesignafter the loss of Titanic. To keepto a 21 knots (39 km/h) servicespeed, the shipyard installed alarger turbine rated for 18,000horsepower (13,000 kW)—versusOlympic's and Titanic's 16,000horsepower (12,000 kW)—tocompensate for the vessel's extrawidth.Although the White Star Linealways denied it, most sources saythat the ship was supposed to benamed RMS Gigantic.

ConstructionBritannic was launched on the26th of February 1914 at theHarland and Wolff shipyard inBelfast and fitting out began. Shehad been constructed in the samegantry slip used to build RMSOlympic. So by reusing Olympic'sspace saved the shipyard time and

money in clearing out a third likesize slip as had been used forOlympic and Titanic. In August1914, before Britannic couldcommence transatlantic servicebetween New York andSouthampton, World War I began.Immediately, all shipyards withAdmiralty contracts were giventop priority to use available rawmaterials. All civil contracts(including the Britannic) wereslowed down. The militaryauthorities requisitioned a large

number of ships as armedmerchant cruisers or for trooptransport. The Admiralty waspaying the companies for the useof their vessels but the risk oflosing a ship during militaryoperations was high. However,the big ocean liners were nottaken for military use.


RMS Olympic returned to Belfaston 3 November 1914, while workon her sister continued slowly. Allthis would change in 1915.

RequisitioningThe need for increased tonnagegrew critical as militaryoperations extended to theEastern Mediterranean. In May1915, Britannic completedmooring trials of her engines, andwas prepared for emergencyentrance into service with as littleas four weeks notice. The samemonth also saw the first majorloss of a civilian ocean vesselwhen the Cunard liner RMSLusitania was torpedoed near theIrish coast by SM U-20.

The following month, the BritishAdmiralty decided to use recentlyrequisitioned passenger liners astroop transports during theGallipoli campaign (also calledthe Dardanelles service). The firstto sail were Cunard's RMSMauretania and RMS Aquitania.As the Gallipoli landings provedto be disastrous and the casualtiesmounted, the need for largehospital ships for treatment andevacuation of wounded becameevident.

RMS Aquitania was diverted tohospital ship duties in August (herplace as a troop transport wouldbe taken by the RMS Olympic inSeptember) and on the 13th ofNovember 1915, Britannic wasrequisitioned as a hospital shipfrom her storage location atBelfast. Repainted white with

Launch of the Britannic at the Belfast Shipyard

This was how the Britannic’s cabin smoking room was to look

large red crosses and a horizontalgreen stripe, she was renamedHMHS (His Majesty's HospitalShip) Britannic and placed underthe command of Captain CharlesA. Bartlett (1868–1945).

Last voyageAfter completing five successfulvoyages to the Middle Easterntheatre and back to the UnitedKingdom transporting the sickand wounded, Britannic departedSouthampton for Lemnos at14:23 on the 12th of November

1916, her sixth voyage to theMediterranean Sea. TheBritannic passed Gibraltararound midnight on the 15th ofNovember and arrived at Napleson the morning of 17thNovember for her usual coalingand water refuelling stop,completing the first stage of hermission.A storm kept the ship at Naplesuntil Sunday afternoon, whenCaptain Bartlett decided to takeadvantage of a brief break in theweather and continue on.


The seas rose once again just asBritannic left the port but by nextmorning the storms died and theship passed the Strait of Messinawithout problems. Cape Matapanwas rounded during the first hoursof Tuesday, 21st November. Bythe morning Britannic wassteaming at full speed into the KeaChannel, between Cape Sounion(the southernmost point of Attica,the prefecture that includesAthens) and the island of Kea.

ExplosionAt 08:12 on the 21st of November1916, a loud explosion shook theship. The cause, whether it was atorpedo from an enemy submarineor a mine, was not apparent. Thereaction in the dining room wasimmediate; doctors and nurses leftinstantly for their posts. Noteverybody reacted the same way,as further aft the power of theexplosion was less felt and manythought the ship had hit a smallerboat. Captain Bartlett and ChiefOfficer Hume were on the bridgeat the time, and the gravity of thesituation was soon evident. Thefirst reports were frightening. Theexplosion had taken place on thestarboard side between holds twoand three, but the force of theexplosion had damaged thewatertight bulkhead between holdone and the forepeak. That meantthat the first four watertightcompartments were filling rapidlywith water. To make things worse,the firemen's tunnel connectingthe firemen's quarters in the bowwith boiler room six had also beenseriously damaged and water was

flowing into that boiler room.Bartlett ordered the watertightdoors closed, sent a distress signaland ordered the crew to preparethe lifeboats. Unfortunately,another surprise was waiting.Along with the damagedwatertight door of the firemen'stunnel, the watertight doorbetween boiler rooms six and fivealso failed to close properly foran unknown reason. Now waterwas flowing further aft into boilerroom five. The Britannic hadreached her flooding limit. Shecould stay afloat (motionless)with her first six watertightcompartments flooded and hadfive watertight bulkheads risingall the way up to B-deck. Thosemeasures were taken after theTitanic disaster (Titanic couldfloat with her first fourcompartments flooded but thebulkheads only rose as high as E-

deck). Luckily, the next crucialbulkhead between boiler roomsfive and four and its door wereundamaged and should haveguaranteed the survival of theship. However, there wassomething else that probablysealed Britannic's fate: the openportholes of the lower decks. Thenurses had opened most of thoseportholes to ventilate the wards.As the ship's list increased, waterreached this level and began toenter aft from the bulkheadbetween boiler rooms five andfour. With more than sixcompartments flooded, theBritannic could not stay afloat.

EvacuationOn the bridge, Captain Bartlettwas trying to save his vessel. Onlytwo minutes after the blast, boilerrooms five and six had to beevacuated. In about ten minutes


the Britannic was roughly in thesame condition the Titanic wasone hour after the collision withthe iceberg. Fifteen minutes afterthe ship was struck the openportholes on E-deck wereunderwater. Water also enteredthe ship's aft section from thebulkhead between boiler roomsfive and four. The Britannicquickly developed a serious list tostarboard. To his right Bartlett sawthe shores of Kea, about threemiles away. He decided to makea last desperate effort to beach theship. This was not an easy taskbecause of the combined effect ofthe list and the weight of the

rudder. The steering gear wasunable to respond properly but byusing the propeller (giving morepower to the port shaft) Britannicslowly started to turn right.Simultaneously, on the boat deckthe crewmembers were preparingthe lifeboats. Some of the boatswere immediately rushed by agroup of stewards and somesailors, who had started to panic.An unknown officer kept his nerveand persuaded his sailors to get outand stand by their positions nearthe boat stations. He decided toleave the stewards on the lifeboatsas they were responsible forstarting the panic and he did not

want them in his way during theevacuation. However, he left oneof the crew with them in order totake charge of the lifeboat afterleaving the ship. After thisepisode, all the sailors under hiscommand remained at their postsuntil the last moment. As noRAMC personnel were near thisboat station at that time, theOfficer started to lower the boats,but when he saw that the ship'sengines were still running, hestopped them within six feet (2 m)of the water and waited for ordersfrom the bridge. The occupants ofthe lifeboats did not take thisdecision very well and startedcursing. Shortly after this, ordersfinally arrived: no lifeboatsshould be launched, as theCaptain had decided to beach theBritannic.Assistant Commander HarryWilliam Dyke was making thearrangements for the lowering ofthe lifeboats from the aft davitsof the starboard boat deck whenhe spotted a group of firemen whohad taken a lifeboat from the poopdeck without authorisation andhad not filled it to maximumcapacity. Dyke ordered them topick up some of the men who hadalready jumped into the water.At 08:30, two lifeboats from theboat station assigned to ThirdOfficer David Laws were loweredwithout his knowledge throughthe use of the automatic releasegear. Those two lifeboats droppedsome 6 feet into the water and hitthe water violently. The twolifeboats soon drifted into the still-turning propellers, which were


almost out of the water by now.As the first one reached theturning blades, both lifeboats,together with their occupants,were torn to pieces. By then theword of the massacre arrived onthe bridge. Captain Bartlett,seeing that water was enteringmore rapidly as Britannic wasmoving and that there was a riskof more victims, gave the orderto stop the engines. The propellersstopped turning the moment athird lifeboat was about to bereduced to splinters. RAMCoccupants of this boat pushedagainst the blades and got awayfrom them safely.

Final momentsThe Captain officially ordered thecrew to lower the boats and at08:35, he gave the order toabandon ship. The forward set ofport side davits soon becameuseless. The unknown officer hadalready launched his two lifeboatsand managed to launch rapidlyone more boat from the set ofportside davits. He then started toprepare the motor launch whenFirst Officer Oliver came withorders from the Captain. Bartletthad ordered Oliver to get in themotor launch and use its speed topick up survivors from thesmashed lifeboats. Then he wasto take charge of the small fleetof lifeboats formed around thesinking Britannic. After launchingthe motor launch with Oliver, theunknown officer filled anotherlifeboat with seventy-five menand launched it with greatdifficulty because the port side

was now very high from thesurface due to the list to starboard.By 08:45, the list to starboard wasso great that no davits wereoperable. The unknown officerwith six sailors decided to moveto mid-ship on the boat deck tothrow overboard-collapsible raftsand deck chairs from the starboardside. About thirty RAMCpersonnel who were still left onthe ship followed them. As he wasabout to order these men to jumpthen give his final report to theCaptain, the unknown officerspotted Sixth officer Welch and afew sailors near one of the smallerlifeboats on the starboard side.They were trying to lift the boatbut they had not enough men.Quickly, the unknown officerordered his group of forty men toassist the Sixth officer. Togetherthey managed to lift it, load it withmen, then launch it safely.At 09:00, Bartlett sounded onelast blast on the whistle then justwalked into the water, which hadalready reached the bridge. Heswam to a collapsible boat andbegan to co-ordinate the rescueoperations. The whistle blow was

the final signal for the ship'sengineers (commanded by ChiefEngineer Robert Fleming) who,like their heroic colleagues on theTitanic, had remained at theirposts until the last possiblemoment. They escaped via thestaircase into funnel No.4, whichventilated the engine room.The Britannic rolled over onto herstarboard side and the funnelsbegan collapsing. Violet Jessop(who was also one of thesurvivors of Britannic's sister-ship Titanic, as well as the thirdsister, Olympic, when she collidedwith the HMS Hawke), describedthe last seconds: "She dipped herhead a little, then a little lower andstill lower. All the deck machineryfell into the sea like a child's toys.Then she took a fearful plunge,her stern rearing hundreds of feetinto the air until with a final roar,she disappeared into the depths,the noise of her going resoundingthough the water with undreamt-of violence...." It was 09:07, onlyfifty-five minutes after theexplosion. The Britannic was thelargest ship lost during World WarOne.


RescueThe first to arrive on the scenewere the Greek fishermen fromKea on their Caïque, who pickedup many men from the water. Oneof them, Francesco Psilas, waslater paid £4 by the Admiralty forhis services. At 10:00, HMSScourge sighted the first lifeboatsand ten minutes later stopped andpicked up 339 survivors. HMSHeroic had arrived some minutesearlier and picked up 494. Some150 had made it to Korissia (acommunity on Kea), wheresurviving doctors and nurses fromthe Britannic were trying to savethe horribly mutilated men, usingaprons and pieces of lifebelts tomake dressings. A little barrenquayside served as their operatingroom. Although the motorlaunches were quick to transportthe wounded to Korissia, the firstlifeboat arrived there some twohours later due to the strongcurrent and their heavy load. Itwas the lifeboat of Sixth OfficerWelch and the unknown Officer.The latter was able to speak someFrench and managed to talk withone of the local villagers,obtaining some bottles of brandyand some bread for the injured.The inhabitants of Korissia weredeeply moved by the suffering ofthe wounded. They offered allpossible assistance to thesurvivors and hosted many ofthem in their houses while waitingfor the rescue ships. Violet Jessopapproached one of the wounded."An elderly man, in an RAMCuniform with a row of ribbons onhis breast, lay motionless on the

ground. Part of his thigh was goneand one foot missing; the grey-green hue of his face contrastedwith his fine physique. I took hishand and looked at him. After along time, he opened his eyes andsaid: 'I'm dying'. There seemednothing to disprove him yet Iinvoluntarily replied: 'No, you arenot going to die, because I've justbeen praying for you to live'. Hegave me a beautiful smile . . . Thatman lived and sang jolly songs forus on Christmas Day."The Scourge and Heroic had nodeck space for more survivors andthey left for Pireaus signalling thepresence of those left at Korissia.Luckily, HMS Foxhound arrivedat 11:45 and, after sweeping thearea, anchored in the small port at13:00 to offer medical assistanceand take onboard the remainingsurvivors. At 14:00 arrived thelight cruiser HMS Foresight. TheFoxhound departed for Pireaus at14:15 while the Foresightremained to arrange the burial onKea of Sergeant W. Sharpe, whohad died of his injuries. Anothertwo men died on the Heroic andone on the French tug Goliath.The three were buried withmilitary honours in the Britishcemetery at Pireaus. The lastfatality was G. Honeycott, whodied at the Russian Hospital atPireaus shortly after the funerals.1,036 people were saved. Thirtymen lost their lives in the disasterbut only five were buried. Theothers were left in the water andtheir memory is honoured inmemorials in Thessaloniki andLondon. Another twenty-four men

were injured. The ship carried nopatients. The survivors were hostedin the warships that were anchoredat the port of Pireaus. However, thenurses and the officers were hostedin separate hotels at Phaleron.Many Greek citizens and officialsattended the funerals. One survivor,nurse Violet Jessop was notable ashaving also survived the sinking ofthe RMS Titanic in 1912, and hadalso been on board RMS Olympic,when it collided with the HMSHawke in 1911.

WreckThe wreck of HMHS Britannic isat 37°42_05_N 24°17_02_E inabout 400 ft (120 m) of water. Itwas first discovered and exploredby Jacques Cousteau in 1975. Thegiant liner lies on her starboard sidehiding the zone of impact with themine. There is a huge hole justbeneath the forward well deck. Thebow is attached to the rest of thehull only by some pieces of the B-deck. This is the result of themassive explosion that destroyedthe entire part of the keel betweenbulkheads two and three and of theforce of impact with the seabed.The bow is heavily deformed as theship hit the seabed before the totallength of the 882 feet 9 inches (269m) liner was completelysubmerged, as she sank in a depthof only 400 feet of water. Despitethis, the crew's quarters in theforecastle were found to be in goodshape with many details stillvisible. The holds were foundempty. The forecastle machineryand the two cargo cranes in theforward well deck are still there


and are well preserved. Theforemast is bent and lies on the seafloor near the wreck with thecrow's nest still attached on it. Thebell was not found. Funnel #1 wasfound a few metres from the BoatDeck. The other three funnels werefound in the debris field (locatedoff the stern). The wreck lies inshallow enough water that scubadivers trained in technical divingcan explore it, but it is listed as aBritish war grave and anyexpedition must be approved byboth the British and Greekgovernments.In mid-1995, during an expeditionfilmed by NOVA, Dr. RobertBallard visited the wreck, usingadvanced side-scan sonar. Imageswere obtained from remotely

controlled vehicles, but the wreckwas not penetrated. Ballardsucceeded in locating all the ship'sfunnels, which proved to be insurprisingly good condition.Attempts to find mine anchorsfailed.In August 1996, the wreck of theHMHS Britannic becameavailable for sale and was boughtby maritime historian Simon Millswho has written two books aboutthe ship: Britannic - The LastTitan, and Hostage To Fortune.When Simon Mills was asked ifhe had all the money and supportneeded, what would his idealvision be for the wreck ofBritannic be, he replied: "That'ssimple - to leave it as it is!"In November 1997, an

international team of divers leadby Kevin Gurr used open circuitTrimix diving techniques to visitand film the wreck in the newlyavailable Digital Video format(mini-DV). Kevin Gurr, AlanWright, John Thornton, DanBurton, Uffe Eriksson, IngemarLundgren, Richard Lundgren,Dave Thompson, AlexanderSotiriou, Kirk Kavalaris, KevinDenlay, Tristan Cope, MiriaDenlay, Gary Sharp, Ian Fuller,Manthos Sotiriou participated inthe project. Vangelis Sotiriouprovided general support.In 1999, GUE, divers typicallyacclimated to cave diving andOcean Discovery led the first diveexpedition to include extensivepenetration into the Britannic.


Video of the expedition wasbroadcast by NationalGeographic, BBC, HistoryChannel, and the DiscoveryChannel.In 2003, an expedition led by CarlSpencer used advanced divingtechnology to send scuba diversinto the wreck. Their mostsignificant finding was thatseveral watertight doors wereopen. It has been suggested thatthis was because the mine strikecoincided with the change ofwatches. Alternatively, theexplosion may have distorted thedoorframes. A number of mineanchors were located, confirmingthe German records of U-73 thatBritannic was sunk by a singlemine and the damage wascompounded by open portholesand watertight doors.In 2006, an expedition, fundedand filmed by the HistoryChannel, brought together thirteenof the world's best wreck diversto help determine what caused thequick sinking of the Britannic.Setting sail on the 17th ofSeptember in a diving boat,converted from a fishing boat forthis mission, the crew dived andexplored the sunken ship. Afterdays of preparation, the wreck wasexplored by divers JohnChatterton and Richie Kohler.However, time was cut short whensilt was kicked-up, causing zerovisibility conditions, and the twodivers narrowly escaped with theirlives. John Chatterton's rebreatherfamously failed whilst he was stilldeep inside the wreck. One lastdive was to be attempted on

Britannic's boiler room, but it wasdiscovered that photographingthis far inside the wreck wouldlead to breaking the rules of apermit issued by the Ephorate ofUnderwater Antiquities, adepartment within the GreekMinistry of Culture. Due partly toa barrier in languages, a lastminute plea was turned down bythe department. The expeditionwas unable to determine the causeof the rapid sinking, but hours offootage were filmed and importantdata was documented.Underwater Antiquities laterrecognized the importance of thismission and has since extended aninvitation to revisit the wreckunder less stringent rules.During this expedition, Chattertonand Kohler found a bulb shape inher expansion joint. This provedthat her design was changedfollowing the loss of Titanic.On the 24th of May 2009, a diver,Carl Spencer, 37, died in Greecefrom a suspected case of

decompression sickness,commonly known as the bends,which is caused by surfacing tooquickly from a dive, while filmingthe wreck of HMHS Britannic forNational Geographic. He isreported to have "begunconvulsing" at depth which is asymptom of oxygen poisoning. Hewas diving with an Ouroborosrebreather. Carl Spencer, fromBurton-on-Trent, Staffordshire,was part of a 17-member crew.Spencer, father-of-two, was anexperienced mixed gas and closedcircuit rebreather diver who hadbeen on three previous missionsto film the Britannic. He was inthe team during the exploration ofthe Titanic wreckage as part of aDiscovery Channel expedition ledby filmmaker James Cameron,who directed the blockbusterTitanic.

The Britannic’s more famous sister ship Titanic

FACING PAGEAdvertisements from

September 1926


BRUTAL IRISH MURDERS

Andrew Carr was from Kildare and whenhe was a young man he enlisted in the 87th

regiment. He received an excellent educationfor a person of his station in life, his conductwas exemplary and he quickly rose through theranks from a private to a colour sergeant. Hewas also described as being a very good-lookingyoung man who paid great attention to himselfand his duties.

While stationed at Tullamore he becameacquainted with a Margaret Murphy, one of fivedaughters of a farmer who lived in theneighbourhood. Their relationship at the timewas described as ‘improper intimacy’ and bythe time he was ordered for foreign serviceMargaret found she was disgraced and rejectedby her family. She moved to Dublin where shebecame an outcast on the streets.

Everyday she sank lower and lower in vice andinfamy, she became an inmate of one of themany dens in Bull Lane near the Four Courts.The whole area had quite a reputation in thenineteenth century. By 1862 Andrew Carrreturned from India, and went to live withMargaret in a hovel kept by a woman namedBrien and stayed there for one week. Thecouple argued all week and Margaret ended upin hospital and Carr returned to duty in the army.He was heard by many at the time to swear thathe would "get" Margaret. His behaviour atwork changed and he soon was reduced in rankand remained in his demoted position until May1870 when he was discharged on a pension after

HEAD SEVERED DURING EXECUTION

a service of twenty five years. He returned toDublin and found Margaret Murphy, who wasby now living in rented accommodation, in theBull Lane area, owned by the infamous EllenHynes. Andrew Carr and Margaret lived forthree weeks among the vice and dissipation untilCarr’s pension ran out.

They began to argue all day while under theinfluence of drink and by evening the wordsturned to threats. One evening they returned totheir home after drinking all day. Carr left fora short time and went for another drink, returnedand then left a short time later to look for apoliceman. He eventually found one and told


him that he had committed a murder andshowed him his hands that were covered inblood and he had a cut on his wrist. The policewent to Bull Lane and discovered lying beneathan open back window the lifeless corpse ofMargaret Murphy. The wound in her throatgaped open, so much so that it appeared asthough the head had been sliced from her body.Her clothes were saturated in blood and she layin a room with broken windows.

The walls were covered in filth and all the doorsin the house were falling off their hinges. Thedoor panels were broken and the stench ofsewage rotting in the back yard was unbearable.The crime scene appeared to have been the siteof a great deal of violence. The house occupiedby Margaret Murphy and Andrew Carrcontained no furniture, two heaps of dirty strawand a black mattress was all that was found.

Six days after the murder Carr was tried andconvicted of the brutal murder of MargaretMurphy. The jury recommended him to mercybut despite a petition handed to the LordLieutenant in London signed by manyprominent Dublin citizens his execution wasset for three weeks. Carr’s execution was to bethe first that the city of Dublin had witnessedin thirty years and the first execution in theRichmond Bridewell. In accordance with therequirements of the new act of Parliament allexecution were to be carried out within the wallsof prisons and not in public.

Around twenty people attended the executionof Andrew Carr. The Chaplin bid him a finalfarewell and as the noisy bell of the prison wasringing, the executioner drew the bolt and thedrop fell. Carr’s body fell and when the ropestretched with a burning sound, the headless

body of Carr landed with a thud on the shinglebelow followed soon afterwards by his headencased in the blood saturated hood.

The press present at the execution reported theunspeakable horror depicted in every face inthe room and so quick and appalling was theevent that for a long time no person moved fromthe place they had been standing. The emptynoose swung to and fro in the morning breezeand Andrew Carr passed away forever for hiscrimes. All present left the buildingimmediately and such was the shock and horrorof the proceedings that calls were made for theimmediate end of all hangings and an alternativemethod put in place to deter serious crimes. Oneof the first suggestions was the demolition ofBull Lane, which had been the scene of severalmurders and various other crimes from vice,assault and robbery.

Everyday Margaret Murphy sank lower andlower in vice and infamy


A t a special court held by Mr J CGardiner on February 23rd 1909

in County Galway two brothers,Michael and Bartley Coyne, werecharged with the wilful murder ofJames Bailey on February 2nd. Bothmen insisted that the body that had beenfound in the Bailey house atLettermore, was not that of JamesBailey. He, it was claimed, had beentaken away by the fairies. Today sucha claim would be laughed out of courtbut in 1909 it made headline newsthroughout the country.

TOLD SON WAS DEADA Constable Sullivan gave evidencethat he had arrested Michael Coyne andMichael gave a statement to the policenoting that he had nothing to do withBailey’s death. A statement noting thesame was also given by Bartley Coyneto the police and was read out in court.Depositions taken were then read. Inthem, James Bailey, the father of thedead man, stated that the prisoners andothers were in his house and had left togo to a dance. On the followingmorning he was told his son was dead.He found him outside Daly’s house andMichael Coyne, who was standing atthe gate said, "Do not mind your son.He is gone. It is not he who is there atall. He is gone away."John Daly, a neighbour, did not speak

Taken Away by the Fairiesto Bailey about the death of his son ortell him what had happened except thatthere had been a row that started in thehouse, continued outside, and that hisson had been carried home on a shutter.

CRIED AND WAILEDBridget Bailey gave evidence that whenshe saw her brother dead she had criedand wailed and that when MichaelCoyne had seen her distress had saidto her; "Don’t cry. James is gone awaysince last night, and I know that he isgone." Miss Bailey then rememberedthat Michael, the elder of the twobrothers, tried to persuade her that herbrother had been taken away by thefairies and that it was not her brotherlying there dead.

WRESTLING MATCHRichard Bailey, the brother of thedeceased gave evidence, which broughtsome light to the situation. He told thecourt that a crowd had been in Daly’shouse after the dance and that somewhisky was taken. About half-an-hourlater his brother James left Dalys withBartley Coyne. This was the last timethat Richard saw his brother alive.Mary Daly also gave evidence thatMichael Coyne had challenged anyman who would wrestle him wouldreceive a half gallon of whisky. JamesBailey asked him to shake hands but


Michael refused and the two men wentoutside to wrestle. Michael Coyne gotthe better of his opponent very quicklyand struck James Bailey hard and hefell, with Michael falling on top of him,continually striking him with his fists.Bailey managed to scramble to his feeta couple of times until Bartley came tohelp his brother. James Bailey wasthrown over a wall and then the twobrothers knocked down the wall on topof him. James Bailey fell silent and itwas alleged that Michael Coyne stoodover the body of James Bailey and said"My soul to the devil, but if anyone tellswhat has happened tonight I will havetheir lives. Twenty-one years is a longtime, but I will remember it if anyperson says anything about it. Let yesay it was the wall fell on him."

FRATURED SKULLThe brothers Coyne were remanded incustody to appear in court at theGalway Assizes in March 1909. At thetrial the Crown representative MrFethertonhaugh addressed the juryinforming them he did not believe thatit would be necessary for them to finda verdict other than one ofmanslaughter. Mr Fethertonhaughclaimed he believed that the tragicoccurrence was the result of an overindulgence of poteen and that theparties had all been on the best of terms.Medical evidence was produced to thecourt detailing how James Bailey met

his death. The evidence showed thatthe deceased had sustained a fractureof the skull and that a stone might havecaused the injuries by coming in violentcontact with his head.

PEACEMAKERMr Price who appeared for MichaelCoyne said the awful whisky that theymade in Connemara was the cause ofthe whole affair. They all appeared tobe drunk at the time of the occurrenceand counsel suggested that way reallyhappened was that in the wrestlingmatch the men fell and Bailey got hurt.Mr McDermott who appeared on behalfof Bartley stated that he had acted asthe peacemaker throughout the entirerow. It was clearly and unmistakablystated that they fell back over the walland that was how the injuries werecaused to the deceased.The jury after twenty minutesdeliberation returned with a verdict ofacquittal in the case of Bartley Coyneand a verdict of manslaughter in thecase of Michael Coyne.The judge sentenced the prisoner to fiveyears’ penal servitude.

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In early 1861 a brutal and shockingmurder took place in Ballymote in

County Sligo. The bodies of threepeople, a man and two women werefound with their throats cut.Immediately suspicion fell on a localman Matthew Phibbs and he was laterarrested and charged with the triplemurder of William Callaghan, his wifeand their servant.

At the inquest to ascertain thecircumstances of the crime evidencewas gathered from many local people.Thomas Scanlan gave evidence thatPhibbs had come to him on the day ofthe murders and asked him for money,which he did not give him. LukeFeehely and Owen Cawley stated thatthey were working in the fields aroundthe Callaghan house when they sawPhibbs coming out of small gap at theback of the Callaghan garden. Thesesightings were all on the morning of themurder and by lunchtime Phibbs wasseen drinking in Mrs Mary Flaherty’shouse where he announced that he wason his way to Sligo. By one o’clockPhibbs was seen in Ballymote with acut face and part of his right handbandaged.

A short time later Phibbs was arrestedand Mounted Constable Patrick Fogartytold the court of what happened next.

Mass Murder in SligoPhibbs was arrested at the door of PatConway’s, a publican in Riverstown.He was taken to the police barrackswhere he was searched and a large sumof money was found concealed in hisclothing. Over twelve pounds in cashand a number of gold sovereigns werefound and three razors. One of therazors was a Morrison razor and the heelof it was red with blood and there wasblood inside the haft. A watch key, aparcel of neck collars and a matchboxcovered in blood was also recovered.Phibbs clothing was also covered inblood but it would have been impossiblefor the court to identify the blood asbelonging to any of the deceasedhowever the courts at the time wouldhave taken account of circumstantialevidence.

Phibbs stood charged with murder androbbery but the robbery charges weredropped, as there was not enoughevidence to support the charge. TheJudge proceeded to charge the jury andwent through the evidence in greatdetail. He carefully analysed the entireevidence putting the inconsistencies inthe evidence of each witness to the juryand he clearly and forcibly expiatedupon such portions of the evidence,which were calculated to show the guiltof the prisoner. After four hours of thesumming up the jury retired to return


two and a half hours later with a verdictof guilty. The death sentence was thenhanded down and the execution wasaffixed for August 19th.On this day Matthew Phibbs was ledout to hang for the murder of 80-year-old William Callaghan, his wife Maryand their servant Anne Jane Mooney. Itwas the first public execution in Sligofor 26 years and although people werediscouraged from attending hundredsgathered outside the jail. Phibbs wasled out only to be returned to jail, asthere was some problem with thearrangements. Finally he was led outand within two minutes of his hangingPhibbs was dead.

After his death the followingconfession, dated 18th August 1861 wasreleased by Sligo Jail:Matthew Phibbs aged about 25 wasborn in the town of Ballymote…I mustsay I had honest parents, and often didget good advice from them when ayouth to mind my Sunday school andto go to church, the house of God. ThatI did prefer going with bad companyelsewhere – perhaps into a whiskyhouse. Young lad or young men….I dosay to thee to take care and beware ofwhat brought Matthew Phibbs to this,his untimely end…I must bid you afarewell, heartily forgiving all who haveinjured me and asking forgiveness fromall whom I have injured. I do trust andhope, though my sins have been verymany that my Saviour has washed them

all away and that I am going to Thathappy land of pure delight, Where saintsimmortal reign Infinite day excludes thenight, And pleasures banish pain.

After my trial I have acknowledged myguilt to the Rev Mr Shore and MrGarrett, but asked them not to make itpublic until after I was executed. I nowadmit the justice of my sentence and gowillingly to suffer what I deservelooking to my Blessed Saviour whosuffered for me.Again, young me, beware of what hasbrought me to this, my untimely end.Matthew Phibbs.

The body of Matthew Phibbs hung inpublic for three quarters of an hourcausing fainting amongst the police andpublic who watched. His body was thenlowered into a coffin and buried withinthe prison.

Matthew Phibbs was soon arrested andcharged with the horrific murders

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Killer Doctor from CorkShandy Hall was situated between Macroom

and Cork in a town named Dripsey, and wasthe home of 63 year old Dr Philip Henry EustaceCross, a retired British Army Officer. SurgeonMajor Cross was a gentleman of means whohad married a lady of what was regarded in 1887as a good social position. She was Mary LauraMarriott, a lady from a well-known Englishfamily and they were married in 1869 at StJames’ Church, Piccadilly in London.

On June 2nd 1887 Mrs Mary Laura Cross wasfound dead at her home in Shandy Hall.Suspicions were aroused when on June 9th1887, only 5 days after her burial, Dr Cross leftfor England. At the time he claimed that hewas going to break the news to his two sons atschool there but it later transpired that he metup with a young girl who at one time wasemployed by him as a governess at Shandy Hall.This girl was called Effie Skinner and both sheand Dr Cross continued to London togetherwhere they were married at St James’ Church,Piccadilly on 17th June 1887.

The body of Mrs Mary Laura Cross wasexhumed and strychnine and arsenic were foundin her remains. A murder enquiry had begun.

Miss Effie Skinner came to work at Shandy Hallin October 1886 and stayed there for threemonths in the capacity of governess. After thatshe went to Carlow to take up the same position.She was next reported to have been at the NorthWestern Hotel in Dublin on the 29th March withDr Cross. Three weeks later they were bothbooked into the same hotel going by the nameof Mr and Mrs Osborne and on the 22nd April

the intrigue ended and Dr Cross returned home.At this time Mrs Cross wasn’t suffering fromany illness but on April 29th an old friend ofMrs Cross stayed at Shandy Hall and her diarywas used as evidence at the trial. The journalshowed how Mrs Cross suffered and describedthe fatal symptoms of slow arsenic poisoning.It was proved at the trail that Mrs Cross used tovomit for hours at a time and that the vomitwas a yellowish green and there was no nursewith her at any time during her illness. Whenher body was exhumed there was no solid foodin her stomach.On the night Mrs Cross died, Mary Buckley,the kitchenmaid, was awakened from her sleep,and for a few minutes she heard her mistress’sscreams. She had never heard her scream beforeand Mary went off to sleep again. Next morningat 6 o’clock, Dr Cross went to the servants and

St James’s Church in London’s Piccadilly


told them that Mrs Cross had died at 1.30 am.He had remained for five hours alone with thedeceased and did not call on anyone after herdeath. The doctor then proceeded to registerher death, and he himself filled out the deathcertificate, stating that the cause of death wastyphoid fever and the number of days of herillness was fourteen. She died at 1.30 am onJune 2nd and was buried at 6.00 am June 4th.None of her servants were at the funeral and akitchenmaid reported that on the morning of thefuneral she looked out the window and saw onlythree persons present; Dr Cross, the husband,Griffen, the publican and the driver of thehearse.

Directly after the funeral Dr Cross left forLondon to break the news to his two sons butinstead he went to renew his intimacy with MissSkinner. By the time they were married on the17th June she was already pregnant. At firstDr Cross did not introduce her as his new wifeto Cork Society and it was noted that on June19th, two days after their marriage, they wereregistered at the North Western Hotel in Dublinunder the name of Mr and Mrs Onslow. DrCross was eventually arrested and charged withthe wilful murder of his wife. He was broughtto trial and found guilty and sentenced to death.

Dr Philip Cross was hanged at Cork Gaol onthe Morning of Wednesday January 11th 1888pleading his innocence and denying hemurdered his wife by administering poison toher. It was reported that he ‘walked erectwithout faltering’ to the gallows. When thenoose was adjusted around his neck he turnedto face the clergyman who was reading theservice for the dead. He said nothing to thehangman, whom he classed as his socialinferior, and when the bolt was drawn at a few

minutes past eight, death appeared to beinstantaneous. At shortly after 8.00 am thereporters were admitted and at 9.30 am theinquest was opened. The inquest wascomplicated by some technicalities and thehangman was called to give evidence but hehad already returned to England. The inquestwas adjourned to enable his to return but herefused.

The inquest on Dr Philip Henry Eustace Crosstherefore remains technically adjourned to thisday and he is therefore not officially dead – yet.

Cork Gaol where Dr Cross was executed


Dr Houston Q.C. was theprosecutor during the

murder case of Mary Toner,who died aged only threemonths, in Cookstown in July1893. He opened his case witha very emotional statement;

Mary Toner was an infant ofthree months old, and was anillegitimate child. The life ofan infant was in the eye of thelaw as sacred as the life of agrown-up human being; and alittle child born of shame wasas much entitled to theprotection of society, andperhaps more so, than anyindividual in the wholecommunity.

So began the court case ofMargaret Burton who wasindicted for wilfully killing andmurdering little Mary Toner.

Mary Toner was the child ofEllen McDonagh, a millworker and who had been awidow for many years. WhileEllen worked at the local millin Cookstown, MargaretBurton looked after Mary. Shehad looked after her since she

The case of the child‘born of shame’

was six weeks old, and by allaccounts Mary was a wellcared for and healthy baby.When she was a few weeks oldshe suffered some convulsionsbut this had only occurred onceand she seemed well enoughfor a child in hercircumstances.

Margaret Burton was paidbetween nine pence andeighteen pence each week tocare for Mary, depending onwhether she had to buy herfood. Mary was left atMargaret’s house each dayaround six o’clock and she was

collected at around five o’clockagain by her mother.Margaret’s only day off wasSunday, when Ellen didn’twork. At five o’clock onSaturday the 1st July 1893Ellen collected Mary as usualand the child was in goodhealth but a little more fretful

than normal.According to Ellen she spentthe night at home with Maryas the child had a disturbednight and didn’t sleep. OnSunday she recovered well andslept as normal on Sundaynight. Ellen left


Mary at Margaret’s as usual onMonday the 3rd July, butMargaret was still asleep, andher daughter took Mary andplaced her in a small box tosleep.Ellen returned to Margaret’s ataround nine o’clock and gaveher some breakfast of a bottleof milk and then returned towork.The next thing she heard abouther child was when aneighbour came to the mill andtold her to go quickly toMargaret Burton’s housebecause Mary was dead.

When she got to the houseEllen found her baby daughterMary choking on milk, a bottleof milk was on the side tableand Margaret was in anagitated state. She had notcalled a doctor but when thedoctor got to the house Marywas dead.

Ellen was distraught andaccused Margaret of killing herdaughter and being drunk incharge of her. Margaret rushedoff to the police where she then

accused Ellen of droppingMary over the weekend and ofbeing out at a public house overthe weekend with the childwith her.

Margaret Burton was arrestedand charged with the murder ofMary and medical evidencesuggested that Mary had diedas a result of injuries whichcould have been caused by afall. She was bruised and hadreceived a blow to her head, orhad fallen and struck her head.Whatever had happened hadhappened over the previouscouple of days according to thedoctors.

As the trial progressed therewere many witnesses whotalked about the kind of motherEllen was, many said she wasa heavy drinker, other said shewas a committed andresponsible parent. Witnessestalked of Margaret’s devotionto the child but also that shewas a heavy drinker and shehad complained about howlittle money Ellen gave her tofeed the child.

The last witness called was ayoung neighbour of Ellen’swho shockingly told the courtthat on the evening of the 1stJuly he had seen Ellen withMary outside her house verylate at night and that Ellen wasdrunk and arguing with hismother. He saw Ellen lose hertemper and then throw Marydown in anger into a woodenbox just inside her house. Thecourtroom was shocked andthe judge questioned thiswitness closely as he suggestedthat Mary had been killed byher mother.

The witnesses account wasdenied by his mother andevidence was heard that he hadgone to bed early on thatSaturday night and couldn’thave seen his mother and Marytalking. He was discredited butenough doubt had been put inthe minds of the jury.

The judge summed up and thejury retired for only a shorttime returning with a verdict of"not guilty" and MargaretBurton was freed from custody.

One of the great gaffes in social history took place at Stormont in the1920s. During an important function, Northern Ireland ministerDawson Bates - who was in attendance with his wife and son - enteredthe main hall. As the party made their way towards the gathereddignitaries, a flunky grandly announced 'the honourable DawsonBates, his wife Lady Bates and their son Master Bates'.


Workmen clearing the site of the Hamman Hotel, O’Connell Street. The newGresham Hotel, in the course of erection, is to be seen in the background. 1926

Dundalk FC, September 1926 (Sorry no names)


THIS IS IRELAND

Carrowmore, (Irish: AnCheathrú Mhór, meaningGreat Quarter) is one ofthe four major passagetomb cemeteries inIreland. It is located atthe centre of a prehistoricritual landscape on theCúil Irra Peninsula inCounty Sligo in Ireland.Around 30 megalithictombs can be seen inCarrowmore today. Thetombs (in their originalstate) were almostuniversally 'dolmencircles'; small dolmenseach enclosed by aboulder ring of 12 to 15

CARROWMORE

meters. Each monumenthad a small levellingplatform of earth andstone. One of the secretsof the dolmens longevitywas the well executedstone packing set aroundthe base of the uprightstones. The combinationof 5 of these orthostatsand a capstone encloseda pentagonal burialchamber. The bouldercircles contain 30 - 40boulders, usually ofgneiss, the material ofchoice for the satellitetombs. Sometimes an

inner boulder circle ispresent. Entrance stones,or passage stones, crudedouble rows of standingstones, emphasise thedirection of the smallmonuments; theygenerally face towardsthe area of the centraltomb. The 'satellitetombs' or dolmens aredistributed in a roughlyoval shape about 1 km x.6 km, with the largestmonument at the highestpoint at the centre, acairn (now restored)called Listoghil.

Radiocarbon dates fromthe survey andexcavation project in the1970s, 80s and 90s byProfessor GöranBürenhult has causedcontroversy amongsta r c h a e o l o g i s t s ,particularly dates fromone of the tombs of 5,400BC (before the perceivedadvent of agriculture inIreland). But were thetombs we see today builthere this early?Objections include 'oldwood' theories, earlierdepositions of material,and simply inadequatenumbers of dates. Theidea of Mesolithic tombbuilders is still advocatedby Burenhult, althoughthis runs in the face of theprevailing view, whichgenerally associatesNeolithic farmingsocieties with megalithicsites. Supporters of theearly dates sometimes


point to similarly ancientdates attributed tochamber tombs inBrittany whereMesolithic microlithshave been found inassociation with at leastone passage grave, andsome other very earlydates in the Sligo area.Perhaps the key point isthat Burenhults work andthe work of laterresearchers places thebulk of the megalithbuilding in Carrowmoreat between 4300 and3500 BC, more inkeeping with Neolithicdating but still unusuallyearly. It also upturned theidea that Irish prehistoricsites such as Knowth andNewgrange were theearliest in Ireland.Excavation of othertombs in the Cuil Irraarea has indicated thatalthough they employeddifferent architecturalstyles, many co-existedcontemporaneously withCarrowmore. Recent

archaeology by theNational RoadsAuthority for the InnerRelief Road route inMagheraboy near Sligohas shown that a hugecausewayed enclosureexisted at the same timeas Carrowmore.Listoghil (The Central Tomb,aka. Tomb 51) has been datedto about 3600 BC.Because of theassemblage of materialfound within themonuments, theclustering, and the layoutof the structures,Carrowmore - likeNewgrange and Lough

Crew - is classified asbeing part of the IrishPassage Tomb Tradition.There has long beendebate about how thedifferent tomb types -'passage tombs', 'courttombs', 'portal dolmens,'and 'wedge tombs' - allof which occur in CountySligo - should beinterpreted. Are theyindicative of different'cultures,' or peoples? Ofdifferent functions for asingle community?Perhaps research intoDNA or other techniquesof the future will finallyresolve these questions.

Houses of the dead -or something more?

Almost all the burials atCarrowmore werecremations withinhumations being onlyfound at Listoghil. It isapparent that the deadunderwent a complexsequence of treatments,including excarnationand reburial. Gravegoods include antler pinswith mushroom-shapedheads and stone or clayballs, a fairly typicalassemblage of the Irishelement of the passagetomb tradition. Some ofthe tombs and pitsnearby contained shellsfrom shellfish, echoingthe finds of shellmiddens along the coastof Cuil Irra. TheCarrowmore megalithswere sometimes re-usedand re-shaped by thepeople of Bronze Ageand Iron Age times. Theyremained focal points onthe landscape for longafter they were built. Therole of megaliths asmonuments and foci ofceremony andcelebration, as well asmarkers on the landscapeis emphasised byarchaeologists such asRichard Bradley. Earliercommentators - whocalled the monuments'tombs' - saw themsimply as a repository for


the dead, or as markerserected over fallenwarriors.Early unrecordedantiquarian digsdisturbed theCarrowmore tombs. Thesites were surveyed byGeorge Petrie in 1837,who numbered them all.William Gregory Wood-Martin made the firstrecorded excavations inthe 1880s. The smallCarrowmore dolmensare unlikely to have everbeen covered by stonecairns. Although suchideas were once popular

among antiquarians, thediscovery of 'settings' ofstone and finds close tothe chambers, of Viking,Roman and Bronze Ageartefacts make it unlikely- according to Burenhult- that such cairns everexisted. One of thesatellite tombs, Tomb 27,has a cruciform passagetomb shape, a featureseen in later tombs likeNewgrange orCarrowkeel. The roof -now gone - may havebeen of stone slabs orcorbelled.The building of cairns

such as Listoghil orQueen Maeves tomb (onKnocknarea) orNewgrange mayrepresent a new phase ofmegalith-building ofgreater scale andambition than thedolmen circles. Theyprobably required theinvolvement of moreworkers and greaterorganisation. The area ofthe Cuil Irra peninsulaand its hinterlands isdotted with such tombs,often on hilltops, whichinspired Professor StefanBergh to style it 'the

Landscape of theMonuments'.

Visitor CentreSince 1990 a smallfarmhouse close to theR292, 2k east ofRansboro crossroads,has been used as a VisitorCentre by the Office ofPublic Works. It housesan exhibition, andbetween the months ofMarch to October(inclusive) providesguided tours and multi-lingual self guide optionsfor the Carrowmoremegaliths. Admission is€3.00 for adults, thereare discounts for seniors,groups, students andfamilies. Most of thetombs can be accessedfrom there. The centreopens from 10.00 a.m. to5.00 p.m.

Ireland History Magazine200 YEARS OF BELFAST HISTORY

Visit the most historic site in Belfast

CLIFTON STREET GRAVEYARDSEE THE OLD BELFAST POORHOUSE

Not a pleasant place to be in Victorian times!

VISIT THE GRAVES OF THE FOUNDERS OF IRISH REPUBLICANISMDid you know that they were all Presbyterians and Freemasons!

THE CHOLERA PITSWhere the remains of thousands of victims of this horrific disease lie buried

THE GRAVE ROBBERSDiscover why corpses were stolen from this very cemetery and sold

THE FAMINE GRAVESee Belfast’s largest remaining grave from the period of the Great Hunger

And lots, lots more ranging from the founders of the worlds oldest newspaper to the inventor of Christmas cards

200 YEARS OF BELFAST HISTORY

MEET OUTSIDE St ANNE’S CATHEDRALEVERY SUNDAY AT 11am

Cost £7£10 tour includes local history booklets and DVD of the Belfast Prison tour


FIRE OVER BELFASTThe day the Dublin Fire Brigade went North

J. O. Leet

Seventy years ago , the York StreetFlax Spinning Mill, the site of the

present Yorkgate, was a smoulderingheap of rubble for the most part, someof the factory still stood burning andlittle streets of workers two storeyhouses that flanked the mill looked asif some gaint imbecile child hadwreaked on them every conceivablemischief. Making their way slowly,tortuously and often painfully throughthe heat and the dirt were a small groupof men dragging after them the longlines of hose bringing cooling andquenching water into the inferno.They were red helmeted auxiliaryfiremen from Dublin, and this is thestory of one of them.Returning consciousness made himaware of the hammering on the front

Seventy years ago, bombs rained down on Belfast, and the DublinFire Brigade was ordered to rush northwards to help in fightingthe flames. J. O. Leet gives here a personal account of thatexciting morning when the border was forgotten …

door. Slowly at first he got out of bed,and then, as the urgency of theknocking banished the last residue ofsleep, he thrust his head through theopen window into the bright sunlight.Below stood a man still beating at thedoor. It was the station officer in hisarea, his face a little red from hisexertions."The Chief’s just phoned me: he wantsyou to ring him as soon as possible toTara Street.""What about?" said the man at thewindow."I’ve no idea," was the reply.Hastily he pulled on his clothes andmade his way to the nearest phone boxat the top of the road. Dailing "0" andone word "fire" put him through to FireBrigade Headquarters, and in seconds,

he heard the familiar voice of theChief."I want you to go to Belfast," he said."I have two pumps and crews, and Ineed a District Officer to go in charge.Can you manage it?""Yes Sir," said the District Officer."I’ll be with you in ten minutes. Yousure you have all the men you want?""Yes" came the answer, and the phoneclicked. He walked back in thesunshine, thoughts racing through hishead.

Bicycle To Tara StreetBelfast: must have been a blitz there,where’s our neutrality now?Back at the house, after a momentshesitation he changed into his oldestclothes. Grabbing his red steel helmet


with it white bar at the side denotinghis rank, he rammed it on his head,jumped on his old bicycle and startedpeddling furiously to Tara Street. Hisold but serviceable car wasimmobilised for lack of petrol. Theywere supposed to have eighty pumpsin Dublin for the Auxiliary FireService, and only three of these wereself propelled, the other seventy sevenhad to be towed. He knew there wereprecisely three vehicles available totow them, the staff car and a lorrydown in Tara Street and finally his ownold Morris.He was speeding down Westland Row,now he had taken off the heavy helmetand it hung from the handlebarsclanking against the frame. They saidif Dublin was bombed they’drequisition taxis to tow the pumps. Ithad taken four hours to fit the tow barto enable his car to pull a pump, hecouldn’t just see them getting the taxis,let alone fitting them with tow barswhen bombs were falling.

PreparationsHe was at Tara Street now and he couldsee that preparations were well ahead.One of the three big Tangye self-propelled pumps with a heavy trailerpump attached stood in the middle ofthe yard. Regular firemen in theirnavy uniforms were loading thelockers with rolls of hose and a sub-officers was checking over the engineof the pump. A number of auxiliariesstood ready waiting, clad in oilskinjackets and trousers, rubber gumboots, belts and axes and of course theinevitable red helmets. One of theregulars directed the District Officerto a storeroom where he too couldcollect his oilskin boots and belted axe.

He put them on and went back intothe yard. Things had changed now –a regular fire pump had arrived, its redcolour contrasting vividly with thebattleship grey of the auxiliary pumps.Its firemen too with their big but lightplastic helmets, their waterproof coatscovering their uniforms, looked verydifferent to the almost comicappearance of the men that were to bein charge. He found out quickly thatthe new arrivals were from DunLaoghaire, and they too were boundfor Belfast. Then he saw a familiarface, a station officer of the auxiliariesin the next area to his, obviously to behis second in command. None of theother auxiliary firemen came from hisarea, a few he vaguely recognised, therest he did not know."John," he said, "fall in the men, andallocate them to two pumps, you’dbetter be number one on the Tangye."The Station Officer was giving hisorders while the District Officerwalked around the Tangye and theheavy trailer, checking the equipment.

He realised that the Chief was comingtowards him, speaking to the DunLaoghaire officer, to all the men."Belfast has been bombed; they haveasked us for assistance. A regularpump and crew left four hours ago,followed by the second officer in thestaff car drawing a light trailer; wehave since had a further appeal forhelp. I suggest that the Dublin andDun Laogaire pumps should travel inconvoy, in case of trouble on the road.You are to report to the Fire BrigadeHeadquarters in Belfast. I have animportant final instruction – you mustreturn to Dublin tonight, no matterwhat may happen, and," here a faintsmile passed over his face, "with yourtanks full of petrol from the North.Good luck to you."The engines started simultaneously,the Dun Loaghaire pump leadingthrough the archway into Tara Street;the Tangye and the tow in closepursuit. They were off. The DistrictOfficer glanced at his watch; it wasnearly a quarter past seven. He was


sitting in the Tangye, John at his rightat the wheel, and a sub-officer fromanother area on his left. Spread overthe rest of the Tangye were nine men,the rest of his crews, no doubt hangingon grimly at first, but they would getused to it. He didn’t expect that anyof them had been for a ride on a pumpbefore. Even now he was feelingsticky in the oilskins they had beenintended for decontamination squadswho were supposed to deal withattacks of poison gas, andconsequently they had no ventilation.The instructions issued with them saidthey were on no account to be wornfor more than four hours. Apart fromthe undoubted fact that they were gasproof, and consequently water proof,they were not exactly suited for firefighting.His station officer was saying: "Areyou sure you wouldn’t like to drive?""No," he answered. "You’re drivingfine; I never handeled anything thissize."

Bell RingingAs they turned around MountjoySquare, he was conscious of thefeeling of riding in a breeze on a kitewith a peculiarly cumbersome tail.They were out on the Santry Roadnow, green hedges were taking theplace of suburban garden walls. Apartfrom the time of day, the petrolshortage ensured there was no trafficon the road. Suddenly the DistrictOfficer became aware of a clangingwith the realisation that it had beengoing on for a long time.He turned to the sub-officer. "Tellwhoever is ringing that bell to stop it."The sub-officer leant out of the sidewindow, but his exhortations werefollowed by no lessening of the noise.They were well out in the country now,and whatever reasons there might befor bell ringing in the city, there wasnone here. He leant across the sub-officer and thrust his head through thewindow and roared;"If that bloody bell-ringing doesn’t

stop, I’ll come round and crucifywhoever is doing it."With a final peal, the ringing ceased,and now the roar of the enginedominated.On straight stretches the DunLoaghaire pump could be seen farahead. It was going surprisingly fastbut then of course it had nothing totow. By the time they had reachedBalbriggan it was out of sight, but tohis surprise it had halted at Drogheda;he told John to stop. He hopped outof the cab to find out from the laconicDun Loaghaire Officer what had happened. It wasquite simple, standard city pumps werenot designed for long distance and thisone couldn’t rekon on going more thanforty or fifty miles on its tankful. Theywere consequently waiting for thetown clerk of Drogheda to producepetrol without either cash or the muchmore important coupons.

The BorderPerhaps ten minutes passed beforethey got away. It seemed a lot more.The District Officer and his menwrithed with impatience, but he feltthat the orders to keep the convoy hadbetter not be disregarded. Again inDundalk came the same dismal waitwhile Dun Laoghaire negotiated forgas. They were off at last, the redpumps effortlessly taking the lead asthe road rose to meet the comingchallenge of the Mourne Mountains.Then he saw uniformed men on theroad excitedly beckoning them on, heturned to John, "Even the CustomsBarriers are down," he said.They roared over the border at a steadysixty, it might as well not exist, hereflected, on this occasion anyhow.


Up the hills they were slowing down,the heavy trailer dragging them back,and once over the crest, a maddownhill rush, the pump behindstraining at its low bar in an effort toovertake the Tangye. It seemed toricochet from once side of the road tothe other, at times narrowly missingthe ditch. The Station Officer drovegrimly, everyone else was probably alittle frightened, certainly the DistrictOfficer, though used to fast driving,could but wonder occasionally if theywould ever reach Belfast. The levelroad after the hills brought them easiergoing and the town of Lisburn, wherea burly big R.U.C. sergeant stoodwaiting in the main street his hand up-

held. The station officer pulled upalongside him."You’re to proceed to the RoyalAgricultural Buildings; they’re onyour right hand as you’re driving intoBelfast; you can’t miss them. They’llgive you directions there as to whereyou’re to go," said the sergeant.The Station Officer let in the clutchand accelerated until at last they wereon the crest of the straight LisburnRoad that leads into the heart ofBelfast city. Immediately on the rightwas the Royal Agricultural Buildings,and at the main gates they stopped.The District Officer jumped out andran in to the door of the main building,his rubber boots ringing hallowly on

the cement. The door was shut, andknocking brought no response. He ranround to see if there was a sideentrance; a small man was walkingtowards him."Have you any instructions for the fireservice from Dublin?" he almostshouted."I have not," came the reply." But ifyou take the third turn on your left asyou pass down the road, they’ll be ablemaybe to direct you in the hotel there."The District Officer turned to run backto the pump. He told the other twowhat had happened. They were in theouter suburbs now, and seemed to belooking down at the city. There wasno sign from here of smoke, much lessof fire over Belfast.

Small HotelAt the turn to the left they swervedsharply into a narrow road. To hiscomplete amazement, the DistrictOfficer saw three fire pumps parkedoutside a small hotel, while some oftheir crews hung around outside. Hewas into the hotel like a flash. Theentrance lounge seemed full offiremen with red helmets. From DunLaoghaire, Drogheda and Dundalkthey told him."And their officers?""Up in the office," they pointed. Hewas up the stairs, a quick look : thereception office, a girl trying totelephone, the three officers standingby the desk."Come on to Central," he said, "andlets waste no more time."Now the Tangye took the lead into thecity, its bell ringing once again and inher wake followed the other brigadesfrom the South."Anyone know their way to Central


Station?" he asked. Officers and men,of the twelve of them, none of themknew Belfast. Something else to thankthe border for, he reflected.By the simple expedient of shoutingat a crossroad the one word ‘Central’no furthur time was lost. There wasstill no sign of any blitz until, just asCentral Station came into sight, he sawa bombed out building, with dust andsmoke still rising from the ruins. Asthe Tangye pulled up at CentralStation, a small square built man, nolonger young, came out of thedoorway. The District Officer got out,saluted and reported: "Auxiliary FireService from Dublin, sir, with twopumps."

Exhausted WorkersThe Belfast Chief Officer looked athim for a moment, "I expect you andyour men have had no breakfast, justover there across the street in the hall

you can get something to eat beforeyou start work."As the Chief turned to meet the crewsof the other pumps the District Officersaid, "I would like to report back toDublin that we have arrived.""Aye, you can try and phone through,"

said the chief, "go in there to thecontrol room."Instead of the usual two firemen therewas no one in the control room but agirl. The District Officer wrote quicklyon a pad beside the phone. "FireBrigade Headquarters, Tara Street,Dublin, auxiliaries have arrivedsafely."He said to the girl, "Get that messagethrough to Dublin.""Oh I couldn’t do that," she said andthen as an afterthought, "unless itspriority.""Of course it’s priority," he snappedand strode back to his waiting men.The meal was a quick one, remarkablefor the sparkling white bread. Itseemed a long time since he had seenwhite bread – a contrast to the greywar time bread in the neutral South.Scattered here and there in the bigroom at trestle tables were a few dirtytired looking Belfast A.R.P. workersfrom the different services. One hadfallen asleep, his head on the tablebeside his half finished food. TheDistrict Officer hurried the men back


to Central Station. There was no signof the Chief now, but the girl said shehad sent the message to Dublin, andout in the yard was a tall youngNational Fire Service Officer, his facepale with exhaustion under the dirt, hisuniform grey with dust.

Wrong Pipes"I have been told to pilot you," he said."Before we go, what type of standpipes do you have?"The District Officer answered"Bayonet." A horrible suspicion wasgrowing in his mind. The stand pipeswere the only way you could get waterfrom the main’s hydrants into yourpumps. If the Dublin stand pipesdidn’t fit the Belfast hydrants, theyweren’t going to pump much water."They’re no use," he heard the Belfastofficer saying. "Ours are all screw in.We’ll see if there are any around theyard."They looked in vain, the DistrictOfficer cursing the lack ofstandardisation in fire fighting

equipment and the apparent ignoranceof Dublin’s headquarters as to whatwas the practice in the North, butmainly his own inability to think of asoloution.The Belfast officer went ahead in whatwas obviously his own old car and theTangye and its tow lumbered after him.The after effects of the bombing werebecoming more apparent. Here andthere whole blocks were flattened, andbricks and rubble littered the streets.In places, where they had beenblocked, a way through had been

bulldozed in the main thoroughfares,but the side turns in many cases werechoked with fallen debris. The Belfastofficer pulled up beside what remainedof a great factory. He got out and cameback to the Tangye. The DistrictOfficer noticed for the first time hewas limping badly."That was the York Street Flax Mills."Said the Belfast officer. "You canmake it your main objective, but I can’tsee you getting at it from this side. I’llbring you round to the York Streetend."

Back in the car he turned round in thewide street. As the Tangye followedslowly, the District Officer looked overthe expanse of smoking andsmouldering ruins. Suddenly therewas a commotion. From a side lane asmall group of women came running."There’s a house on fire," they cried.The District Officer stopped theTangye and told the sub-officer to takehis crew and the heavy trailer to dealwith it. They detached the trailerpump and hand hauled it across thelane from where the women had come."When you’re through take that turnto the left and follow me down to YorkStreet," he shouted.

York Street Mill

York Street Mill


Out of the corner of his eye he hadseen the Belfast men take the turn, andnow the Tangye relieved of thedragging trailer jumped brisklyforward. He found the Belfast officerat a passage way off York Street thatseemed to lead to the heart of the mill.Beside him was a hydrant, which hadall the water they wanted, but whichthey could not use. He went over tothe Belfast officer."Have you a river or pond anywherehandy?""Yes there’s a river down there, but it’sabout three or four hundred yardsaway. If you don’t mind I’ll get offnow. I ran a six inch nail through myfoot during the night and I’m peggedout." The Belfast man gave a tiredsmile and drove away.

Getting WaterThe District Officer looked acrossYork Street, down the narrow lanewhich presumably led to the river.Four hundred yards would use up allthe hose and at that he could only hopeto get a trickle of water at the fire. The

Station Officer was looking roundhim."I remember a tip I got in London, toplace a barrel without a bottom in itover the hydrant and then turn thevalve on and the barrel will fill up."The D.O. was frankly sceptical. "Wehaven’t got a barrel," he said. "We’llhave a look," said the Station Officer.And a short distance up the street thereit was – a fruit barrel still intact, lyingamong the rubble of a bombed out

shop. The men gathered roundexpectantly.Planks angling from a nearby wallpushed on top of the barrel, now sittingover the hydrant, pressing it downfirmly on the pathway. The StationOfficer turned on the hydrant valve.Water gushed out through the crevicebetween the base of the funnel and thepath, but the pressue of the mains wasfilling the barrel quickly."Make down suction," ordered theD.O. and in a minute the thickcorrugated suction hose wasassembled, the engine of the pump wasroaring into action and a thin line ofcanvas hose was being quickly run outby the branch men, who, once they hadwater, would direct their branch ornozzle on the fire."Good work, John," said the DistrictOfficer.He saw that the pump could not beworked at anything like full force or itwould empty the barrel quicker thanit could fill. But still there was enoughwater to give reasonable pressure inone line of hose. He went forward tothe two men on the branch. Ahead of

British troops fighting a fire on the New Lodge Road

A Tangye FirePump trailer


them for countless yards lay an unevenheap of smoking hot rubble, to theirleft a portion of the mills still stood.Here there were signs of firespreading, and this must be theirobjective. The only approach was overthe smouldering debris on which theywere working.

Academy StreetA call from the Station Officer broughthim back. The heavy trailer hadrejoined them, the alarm that haddiverted them had been the next bestthing to a false one. There was nopoint keeping them there, there wasn’tenough water for one pump. Helooked down York Street. A gooddistance away another trailer pumpappeared to be in action. Calling theheavy trailer crew to follow him, heset of at a trot. He could see now thatsoldiers were working the pump andas he approached an N.C.O. came tomeet him. He explained the difficultyabout his stand pipe. Fortunately, thesoldiers’ pump carried a spare and not

far away was another hydrant. Thetwo pumps could both tackle the veryconsiderable fire here."Academy Street," said the N.C.O.,"there was a A.R.P. Depot ‘ere."The heavy trailer was making downnow, getting their water running outof their hose."The firemen told us," said the N.C.O.,"when they were knocking off, thatthere was an unexploded bomb inthere. I thought you ought to know."He pointed to the middle of thesmoking ruins.The District Officer saw the twobranch men running out their hose inprecisely that direction. His men, hisresponsibility, his decision. Well, hebelieved that a fireman should shouldgo for his fire whatever the dangersmight lie in his way. But the fact thatit wasn’t his own skin he was riskingbut somebody else’s , made thedecision less easy. Then heremembered hearing that about elevenout of twelve so-called unexplodedbombs were phoney. After all if you

heard a large lump of masonry fall inyour back garden during a raid, whatmore natural than to think it was abomb that had failed to explode, butmight do at any time? He came to hisdecision. Let the men fight the fireand better on the whole not to tellthem.He went back to the Tangye, all wasgoing well as far as the limitations ofthe barrel allowed. He went on to themen at the branch and saw the waterturning into clouds of steam as it duginto heaps of red hot rubble. Therewas a side turning leading up to wherethe terraces of workmen’s little twostoried houses were. The first tworows had been flattened. The next wasmysteriously untouched, and it wasfollowed by another with the wholefront removed, like looking into a rowof dolls houses. The furniture in therooms, the wallpaper. It had a strangeunreal effect – like something seen ina dream.

CasualtiesFurther on a squad of soldiers dugamong the ruins. There was no firehere. Two of them were carrying thedusty body of a little girl. He wasdistracted momentarily by the sight ofa line of hose. Following it eagerlyhe had come to what he had mosthoped for, a Belfast stand pipe.Quickly he wrenched it out of thehydrant and bearing it in triumph inhis arms ran with it to the Tangye. Itwas then that he realised how far hehad come, the stand pipe was prettyheavy. He greeted the Station Officertriumphantly."A stand pipe, John, we can really getgoing now."Quicky the change over was madeA lucky escape for St Anne’s Cathedral with Academy Street arrowed


from barrel to standpipe and quicklytoo, a second line of hose made its wayinto the heart of the York Street Mills.There was water in plenty now at asmuch pressure as the men on bothbranches could hold. Along desertedYork Street came three women and apram, he barely saw them out of thecorner of his eye. One of them hadcome up to him."May we offer you and your men sometea?" she said.He thanked her noticing now that herpram held in fact a large urn and not achild. John, the two men at the pumpand himself had their cups and hearranged for the men at the branchesto be relieved so that they, too, couldshare in this unexpected manna. Hepaid a visit to the heavy trailer whereall appeared well and told them that

they, too, might shortly expect awelcome cup of tea.On his return to the Tangye one of themen reported with a hand badly cutby broken glass. The pumps did notcarry any First Aid equipment, whichno doubt would have been consideredan interference by the Fire Servicewith the sole rights of the casualtyservice. He brought the man with himdown the street, having a vague ideaof having noticed among the ruins, achemist’s shop. He had, and thechemist was there, one of the fewremaining inhabitants in the street.The fireman’s cut was professionalbandaged.Back at the fire at the spinning mill,progress was being steadily made andanother obstacle was becomingapparent. The smouldering heap of

rubble fell steeply down to the side ofwhat looked like a small canal. Onthe other side of this, rising from theedge of the water, rose the walls of thatpart of the mill that had not beenflattened. To cross this canal - whichwas perhaps eight feet wide - was yetanother problem. Well, it could wait,he reflected, they still had quite a wayto go. The day was wearing on,though, and he had quite lost count ofthe number of times he had travelledthe quarter of a mile that divided histwo pumps. He saw no one on hisjourneys, only the soldiers among theruins. What had happened to all theBelfast A.R.P. services? Then theobvious solution came to him. Theblitz had happened shortly aftermidnight. The Belfast Fire Service,demolition, casualty and wardens had

Troops search for survivors and bodiesamong the bombed rubble


all got to work at once. But before hearrived they had just dropped fromexhaustion, left their equipment andgone; they had no second shift to taketheir place. Soon he established thisis what had, in fact, happened. In theirsurrounding neighbourhood therewere pumps, hose and above all standpipes galore, abandoned by their spentcrews. When he got back to the menat the branches, he found to hissurprise that they had already crossedinto the mill buildings where the hoseswere now playing. One man alone hadgot over first somehow, and with theaid of a rope had brought the hoseacross.Back again at the Tangye, he foundsome members of the Drogheda outfitlooking for directions. This wasquickly solved by the arrival of aBelfast boy who announced that therailway station at the end of YorkStreet was ablaze.Not long after another respite came inthe shape of a travelling army canteen,

with a variety of hot drinks andsandwiches. The whole crew fell toeagerly by turns. They were not yettoo tired not to be hungry. He madeanother trip to Academy Street. Thebomb, if it was one, though still alivein his thoughts, lay dormant. Whenhe arrived back, it was to find a dappercivilian who seemed filled withcuriosity at the Tangye. The DistrictOfficer was very short in his answers,and probably rude.He was feeling very tired by now, dirtyand sweaty. The quarter mile betweenthe two pumps in those infernaloilskins was becoming endless. Whenthe civilian had at last gone, the stationofficer looked at him quizzically.“Know who that was?” he said.“No, you tell me.”“He’s an Irish Army Major,” said thestation officer, “the one who acts asliaison officer between the A.R.P. andthe military in Dublin.”“Oh well,” said the D.O., “I expect herealised we were busy.”

Daylight fadingThe brightness of the spring day wasbeginning to fade, and the question ofgetting back to Dublin that night, inkeeping with instructions, had begunto occupy his mind. As if in answer tohis thoughts a car appeared drivingslowly down the length of York Street.He stepped out and hailed it. The carwas new, its occupant a young officerof the N.F.S. looking equally smart andpolished. Without ceremony the D.O.got in beside him, with one word“Central.”Silently they drove through theblasted, littered streets. At central hefound to his relief that the Dublinregular firemen had just checked inand were preparing to have a meal. Hefound the second officer who agreedthat the auxiliaries had better bebrought in now and suggested goingback with him to York Street.The second, no doubt tired likehimself, as they drove back first toAcademy Street, where the fire wasstill going, and then to York Streetwhere it was out at last. Orders weregiven to “make up.” The secondofficer drove back to Central, and theDistrict Officer watched the menlaboriously rolling up the dirty lengthsof hose. He went to help them when,providentially, some of the Dundalkmen arrived to give welcomeassistance. Between the two lines ofhose, at least five hundred yards musthave been used.The Station Officer had been at the motorof the pump all day, maintaining the supplyof water and keeping the pressure delicatelyat the highest possible maximum. TheDistrict Officer called to him.“Come on John, we’ll have a look roundbefore we go.”

York Street Railway Station


SouvenirsThey walked over to the mounds ofrubble as the D.O. told him what themen had done. Even now, when thefire was out, it seemed a miracle thatthey had succeeded in getting theirhose into the mill building. Suddenlythe station officer stopped. At his feetlay a tattered piece of thick greencanvas.“Bit of the parachute of the bomb thatprobably did most of the damageround here,” he said, hacking off apiece with his axe. “Like a bit?”The District Officer nodded, it wouldbe a souvenir of his trip to Belfast.John handed it to him and they walkedover the debris, Again the stationofficer halted. This time he found thetail fin of a kilo incendiary. TheDistrict Officer felt a pang of jealously.Why hadn’t he seen it first? That wassomething really worth bringing back.But a minute or two later John foundanother one and presented it to theD.O. who took it gratefully.

Refugees and homeCompletely soothed he walked backwith the Station Officer to the pumpswhere the make up was now finished.

The bombed area between York Street andAcademy Street

They took their place on the Tangyeand went down York Street to collectthe heavy trailer and its crew. Onarrival at Central Station, his crewswent up to get some food. Along withthe Station Officer he crossed the roadto have a drink with some of theregulars. He felt very tired now, therewas no doubt that sitting in an officewas no training for fire fighting. TheSecond Officer suggested he shouldtravel with him back to Dublin in thestaff car. He felt that he should notdesert his crews but he knew howeverhe travelled he would sleep most ofthe way. The staff car was morecomfortable and in leaving the pumpsin John's care he knew they'd be safe.A little later they started, as the sunwas setting. At the Lisburn Road theirpace became slower and slower. Amass of walking humanity seemed tofill the road from one side to the other.All seemed to be carrying bundles orsmall children and some were pushingprams or go-cars. All had obviouslybrought whatever valuables they couldmanage. He saw china teapots, fryingpans, a bundle of books, clothes andblankets among the assortment. Thecar would make little headway through

the closely packed throng.The District Officer watched them.Their faces seemed grey andexpressionless in the fading light.They must think, he thought, thatBelfast will be bombed again tonight.There is no chance of their findingshelter, but if the weather holds theywill come to no harm in the fields andat least they will feel safe. The carstopped, they were nearing a roadblock, and coming against themseemed an endless file of taxis, whichwere obviously returning to the cityto look for more fares they would takeout to the refuge of the country towns.What was it he had been told aboutthe Dublin taxis, he wondered. Yes,they were to tow the trailer pumps. Helaughed mirthlessly.As the last of the taxis passed throughthe road block, they moved slowlyforward again. They could go a littlefaster now, the road was widening alittle. He settled down in his seat, sayingto the Second that he was going to sleep,and closed his eyes. He seemed at onceto be looking at the Stillorgan Roadleading out of Dublin to the South. Itwas tightly packed with people, theirfaces grey and expressionless. Somewere people that he knew, they were allcarrying bundles or little children, hetried to speak to them, they could nothear him, he tried to touch them, theywere too far away. They were all onlyintent in making their escape from thecity of death and destruction and hecould do nothing to help them. He wokefrom his nightmare as they stoppedbriefly at the Customs and then dozedfitfully for the rest of the journey. AtFire Brigade Headquarters he was givena cup of Bovril and then he cycledslowly home. It was after midnight.


The remains in coffins lying in the ruins of the cinema awaiting identification

The burnt out cinema at Drumcolliher


THE GHOSTS OFDROMCOLLIHER

A lmost every tragic event throughoutthe world has its own tale of ghosts

connected with it. Most of these storiesare as a result of ‘active imaginations’ byauthors and numerous story tellers, but notthem all. Incidents surrounding painfuldeaths such as burning always seem to bethe main focus of these tales and in Irelandthere is no exception. The tragic eventsusually have a number of different storiesconnected with them and that whichoccurred in the small village ofDromcolliher in 1926 is no different.

Dromcolliher (also knows asDrumcollogher) is a small village inCo. Limerick close to the borders of NorthCork. It derives its name from DromCollachair, which is a corruption of Drom-Coll-Choille meaning Ridge of the HazelWood, and at the turn of the last centurythe population of the village was around1,000. On Sunday 5th of September 1926,local man William ‘Baby’ Forde hired anupstairs room in Patrick Brennan’s twostorey shed at Church Street in order to useit as a make-shift cinema. This building


was mainly a wooden structure and in orderto use upstairs William Forde had toconstruct a make-shift stairway. The filmswere brought from Cork and were TheWhite Outlaw and Baby Be Good. Justunder 200 people showed up to watch thesefilms. As there was no electricity in thebuilding the projector was run by a lorryengine converted for the purpose andlighting was supplied by a large numberof candles.

Everything was going to plan and thegathered audience were enjoying the show.At around 9.30 pm one of the candles fellon to a roll of film and it caught fire. Theprojector operator then attempted to put itout but instead made matters worse. Thewhole thing then erupted into a mass offlames and panic broke out. All thosebehind the projector managed to scrambleout of the building but those in front weretrapped by the flames. Most of thesepeople then ran down to the back of thebuilding as there were two windowssituated there but when they removed theheavy curtains they discovered that the twowindows, their only way of escape, wereheavily barred. The audience made a wildrush for the only exit which the buildingafforded, and in the struggle to get throughthe flames many people were trampledupon, including women and children. Bythis stage it was too late for all those stillinside the building to escape. Almostinstantaneously the makeshift cinema hadbecome a raging inferno, and amidstterrible scenes those inside were forced toawait painful and agonising deaths. Heartrendering cries were heard by those outsidefrom within the burning building as the

ABOVE & BELOW - View of the interior ofthe ruins with relatives attempting to identify

the bodies

The first of the funerals


victims one by one succumbed to the attackof the awful element, and those outsidewere rendered powerless to give anyassistance. Some who were fortunateenough to escape endeavoured to return tothe rescue, and one at least who made thisbrave endeavour died in the attempt. Whenthe fire brigade arrived the whole buildingwas completely ablaze and there was verylittle they could do. When they eventuallyquelled the flames the military were calledin from the city of Limerick to search forthe remains of those trapped. Forty sixcharred bodies were found and a furthertwo died later in hospital as a result ofinjuries.

After each body was discovered it wasplaced inside a coffin, all of which weretaken to the scene by a number of differentundertakers. When all the bodies werediscovered all the coffins were laid outinside the remains of the building and thosewho had family members missing werethen asked to look at each one foridentification purposes. The first to do thisterrible task were two sisters aged 10 and8 who were trying to identify the remainsof their parents. When all the bodies wereeventually identified they were taken to thelocal Catholic church and after a numberof services were buried in a communalgrave in the local churchyard.

Drumcollogher was devastated and thevillage bitterly turned against WilliamForde who had organised the event andwho was now in police custody. Manypeople in the village had lost loved onesand in a number of cases whole familieswere wiped out.

Mary O’Callaghan (60),William Ahern (31),William Savage (55),

Mrs F. McAuliffe (45),May McAuliffe (45),

Miss M. McAuliffe (16),John McAuliffe (14),May O’Brien (24),

Jeremiah Buckley (45),Ellie Buckley (40),

Bridie Buckley (11),Kate Wall (42),

Nora Kirwan (17),James Quaide (36),John Barnett (40),

- Barnett (8),- Barnett (6),

Thomas Buckley (60),Ita Noonan (17),- Noonan (13),

Eugene Sullivan (9),Daniel Horan (9),

Anthony McCartney (32),

The dead were as follows:-Jeremiah O’Brien (53),

Nellie O’Brien (19),Pat O’Donnell (50),Dan Fitzgerald (42),

- Fitzgerald (3 children),Mr Walsh (50),

Violet Irwin (15),Noran Hannigan (10),William Quirke (19),

John Egan (46),Margaret Kirwan (15),

Nora Long (60),Bridget Sheehan (13),

Mrs Madden (45),Mrs Turner (73),

Bridie Sullivan (21),Nora Sullivan (19),James Kenny (13),

John Kenny (8),Maurice Harnett (8),

Dan Collins (50),Kate Collins (20),

Maurice Collins (45).

Mr and Mrs Jermiah Buckley

Patrick O’Donnell, 50 Bridie Buckley, 11


As previously stated the person who thevillage blamed for this tragedy wasWilliam Forde. Local people went to hishome and after smashing all the windowsintimidated his family into leaving. Thefamily fled and the house lay empty but afew days later a number of incidents wereto occur which not only scared those wholived around the house but almost terrifiedthe entire village.

The first reports of any incidents occurredtwo days after the tragedy when those who

All the victims but one were buried in a massgrave in the local cemetery

The Bishop of Limerick blessing the remains

The square in which there is scarcelya house that has not suffered

bereavement

lived next to the Forde home began to bedisturbed by loud banging noises.Believing that local people were againtaking their vengeance out on the housethe neighbours went outside to investigatebut were shocked to discover that there wasno one around and that no one was in thehouse. At this stage the banging noise hadstopped but when the neighbours returnedto their homes it again resumed. Theneighbours on both sides told the followingday how the banging continued for overan hour even though no one was in thehouse. The following night a large crowdof people assembled in front of the Forde’shouse to hear this banging noise but whennothing was heard a number of theassembled audience began to throw stonesthrough the windows before leaving,dismissing the incident as a sick prank. Thenext day, in case someone set it on fire,one of the neighbours secured the houseand boarded up all the windows, but overthe next few weeks he had claimed that anumber of strange sounds were heardcoming from the house. These soundsincluded banging and thumping but themost terrifying was a loud long scrapingsound as though someone, or something,was trying to claw its way through thewalls. The neighbours knew that nobodycould have been doing this as the entirehouse was well secured and when localpeople heard about the incidents they nolonger dismissed them. No one wentanywhere near the house and one of theneighbours moved out and stayed withrelatives outside the village. The soundscontinued as well as a number of otherincidents which would now be known as‘Poltergeist activity.’


Church Street with the arrow pointing out the ill fated cinemaThe local church entirely dismissed thewhole incident as superstitious nonsense,however, one local Catholic priest held adifferent view. This priest was a friend ofthe man who lived next door and also knewthe family who had moved out. Knowingthat there was no way these people weregoing to make all this up the priest offeredto stay in his friend's home. After stayinga few nights the sounds returned and thepriest heard every one of them. Thefollowing day he decided to hold a small

religious service in the home of the Fordefamily (pictured below left) and after this,all the incidents within the house stopped.

There were also a number of different othersupernatural incidents being reported butmany of them were believed to have beenuntrue. A number of sightings were thenreported by many respectable local peopleand as could be expected most of themwere around the ruins of the burnt outbuilding. However, there were othersightings which were more distressing asthose who claimed to have seen them knewwho it was they were looking at.One of the most pitiful aspects of the wholetragedy was the fact that entire familieswere killed. One of these was the Buckleyfamily. Some time after the tragedy someyoung people began to state that they hadseen a ghost at an upstairs window of theBuckley home. The youths claimed that theapparition was that of a young girl and thatthey believed that it had been the family'seleven years-old daughter Bridie. Whenlater asked about what exactly they hadseen they claimed that it was definitely a


young girl and that the sighting only lastedfor a few seconds. At the beginning theirstories went unbelieved but after a numberof different people claimed to have seenthe same thing the people of the villagetook a different attitude towards it. Onceagain the same priest carried out a religiousservice in the dead family’s home(Pictured below) but after all his efforts theapparition continued to be seen for anumber of years afterwards.Another apparition, again that of a younggirl, was also claimed to have been seen inthe ruins of the building. Once again a largenumber of locals claimed to have seen theghost of a little girl. It appeared to havebeen standing in the one area and, afterlasting for a number of seconds, suddenly

disappeared. After a number of sightingssome of those who seen it stated that it wasthe apparition of one of the girls killed inthe fire, eleven-year old Norah Hannigan.This little girl was over from Englandstaying with relatives when she was killedin the tragedy. This sighting also lasted anumber of years and both this and theprevious sightings were believed by manypeople throughout the village. Why theyappeared and what was the purpose couldnever be explained, however, they areextremely similar to many ghost storiesthroughout the world. Maybe if thepurpose of these are ever explained thenwe will know the reason why the ghostsof the two young girls who were tragicallykilled in this fire returned.


Truly has the poet boasted:

With wonderful deathless dittiesWe build up the world's great cities,

And out of a fabulous storyWe fashion an empires glory

One man with a dream at pleasureShall go forth and conquer a crown

And three with a new song's measureCan trample an empire down.

for, great, indeed, is the powerof a song, especially in Ireland,where, be it noted, the art ofpoetry was born, and where, inolden days, verse. And in thatfar off time a poet whoconsidered himself wronged,had his revenge by satirisingwith a biting poetic satire theone who had rashly offendedhim, and so gifted in thismalicious art were some of thepoets that, tradition has it, theycould raise blisters on the faceof an enemy by their satires.Be that as it may, in morerecent days it will be seen thata poet could bestow lastingfame with a 'deathless ditty,' asin the case of Moore, whosesong 'She is Far from the Land,'immortalised for all timeRobert Emmet’s sweetheartSarah Curran as an Irishheroine.One would not grudge thepoor, unhappy girl her fame butheroine she was not. Pretty,

Robert Emmet’s Faithful Servant

gentle, sweet, and notparticularly strong minded, shewas a creature made for thelighter side of life, and it washer tragedy that she loved andwas loved by a revolutionary.

The real heroine of Emmet'sbrave bid for Ireland's freedomis 'unwept, unhonoured andunsung,' which is a blot on thepages of Irish history. Moorewas too much of a snob to writeverses about a mere servantgirl, and so Anne Devlin wentthrough life in poverty andneglect, her heroic conductunrecognised by the Irishpeople, while Sarah Curran'smemory was kept green by themagic of song.When Robert Emmet wasliving at Butterfield Lane,Rathfarnham, under the nameof Robert Ellis, Anne Devlinwas his housekeeper, and hetrusted her implicitly. It isbelieved that she was the niece

of Michael Dwyer, thedauntless leader and fighterfrom Wicklow, and she wasable to tell Emmet how to getin touch with him and theothers who were to join in hisenterprise.

It was a dull life for a younggirl in that unfurnished houseat Rathfarnham, where menwere coming and going at alltimes, sleeping on mattresseslaid on the floor; nor was Anneany more comfortably fixed.She knew all the men whoattended the meetings whichEmmet held there, and she itwas who carried his letters toSarah Curran. She was loyaltyitself, and bitterly she paid forit.When Emmett was "on hiskeeping" after the failure of theRising of 1803, and theyeomen arrived to search thehouse in Butterfield Lane, theyfound Anne there andproceeded to question her, inno gentle manner, as to thetenant, Robert Ellis. Sherefused to give them anyinformation, and the braveyeomen tried to persuade herto speak by prodding her withtheir bayonets until she wasstreaming with blood. But stillshe would not answer their


questions. They then resortedto one of their favouritetortures - half hanging.A cart was tilted up, a rope tiedto one of the shafts, with oneend around Anne's neck; as thecart was titled the poor girl waslifted off the ground by theneck and half strangled ; thenshe was lowered andquestioned again. Her replywas: "You may murder me,you villains, but not one wordabout him will you ever getfrom me."Again they tightened the rope,and as she swung in the air shegasped : "Lord Jesus, have mysoul." Again and again thetorture was applied until shewas unconscious. As soon asshe recovered they questionedher afresh, but her reply wasalways the same : "I havenothing to tell ; I will tell younothing."So they left her, bleeding, halfchoked, but dauntless still.

Then she was arrested, and inprison Major Sirr, finding thatforce availed nothing againstthe girl's heroic determination,tried what guile could do toextract the desired information.Speaking gently to her, hepointed out that Mr Ellis, notbeing a relation, there was noreason for her sufferingbecause of him. Why not saveyourself? he asked - and therewould be £500 for her, just asa present!It was useless - she would tellnothing.They released her, and the restof her life is - a blank.

Shortly before her death DrMadden, who was writing alife of Robert Emmet, searcheduntil he found her - an oldwoman, living in poverty andobscurity. She went with himto the house in ButterfieldLane, and from the recesses ofher memory brought forth thestory of those days of terror ;drew for him a glowing pictureof the tragic young hero whoshe had served so faithfully,and spoke of the lovely faceand gentle manner of poorSarah Curran.

Dr. Madden made Anne's lastdays easier for her, and whenshe died he placed over hergrave a monument with thisinscription :

To the memory of Anne Devlin(Campbell)

The faithful servant of Robert Emmet

Who possessed some rare, andmany noble qualities

Who lived in obscurityand poverty

And so died on the18th day of September, 1851

Aged 70 yearsMay she rest in peace

Sarah Curran was luckier, forshe died young - though herdeath was not just as the poetand succeeding writerspictured it.Washington Irving, theAmerican author, in his essay,'The Broken Heart,' writes ofher last days, after the marriageto the English officer who hadgained her hand, with the

Robert Emmet

Monument to Anne Devlin atRathmines


understanding that her heartcould not go with it. He writesthus:-

She was an amiable andexemplary wife, and made aneffort to be a happy one; butnothing could cure the silentand devouring melancholy thatshe entered into her very soul.She wasted away, in a slow buthopeless decline, and at lengthsunk into the grave, the victimof a broken heart.'Broken-hearted she was surely,but she died in child-birth.

Let us, by all means, continueto sing of poor Sarah Curran,but there is not a poet amongus to hymn the praises of theheroic, the dauntless girl whosuffered torture rather thanbetray the gallant lad who hadfought and lost? Is an epitaphon a tombstone to be the onlyrecognition of one whoseheroic conduct is something towonder at - heroism which mayhave been equalled, but hasnever been surpassed by allthose who suffered for thecause of freedom?

Sarah Curran (1782 – May 5, 1808) wasthe youngest daughter of John Philpot Curran, aneminent Irish lawyer. She lived in the priory inRathfarnham and was Robert Emmet's great love.She met Robert through her brother Richard. Ri-chard Curran was a fellow student with RobertEmmet at Trinity College. Sarah's father consid-ered Robert unsuitable, and their courtship wasconducted through letters and clandestine meetings.Robert and Sarah were secretly engaged in 1803.When her father discovered that Sarah was en-gaged, he disowned her and then treated her soharshly that she had to take refuge with friends inCork, where she met and married Captain RobertSturgeon in November 1805. The two had a childwho died in infancy. Sarah died of consumption(tuberculosis) and was laid to rest in the birthplaceof her father at Newmarket, County Cork.

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