IN IRELAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1920, Page 1

IN IRELAND.

~ (Reucor’s Teleg/am.)DETAILS OF SHOOTING. LONDON, Nov 21. Further details of the morning shootings at Dublin state fourteen were killed. After two were shot in Greshams Hotel, military reinforcements sprrounded the hotel and fighting was renewed. A civilian and two soldiers wore killed. All trains from Dublin are now held up. The Central Hotel has been commandeered by the staff and guests were given two hours notice. While travelling to Limerick from Dublin after acquittal by the courtmartial concerning a constable’s death, two man, Blake and O’Neill, were held up by armed men who asked for Blake. The latter’s brother answered and was shot dead. O’Neill’s body was subsequently found riddled with bullets. At Croke Park there were fifteen thousand spectators. The game had been in progress a quarter of an hour when the armed forces appeared. Ten were killed and seventy wounded. LONDON, Nov 21.

The Gaelic football match was being played in Croke Park, Dublin, when armed forces with armoured cars and mounted machine guns entered. The crowd tried to escape and became panic stricken, as shots were fired in all directions. The hospitals are full of wounded. The body of Father Griffen was found in a cavity on the mountain side near Galway with a. bullet mark in the left temple. Griffin, though a Sinn Feiner strongly denounced Sinn Fein methods in his sermons.

THE DUBLIN SHOOTINGS. official version. LONDON, Nov. 22. Regarding the shootings of the people on the sports ground and the shooting of military officers connected with the C Burt niartials which replace courts in Ireland, an official statement / lias been issued by Dublin Castle. This message states twelve officers and two civilians were killed and Hhree officers and one civilian wounded by- a murder gang before the football shootings. These were all people associated with the court niartials. The official theory is stated to be that the object was to paralyse the court martiajl legal machinery. It is explained there were many recent arrests by the military. These arrests were of persons alleged to belong to an inner circle of a murder gang. Other arrests were impending. The authorities state they learned some Sinn Fein gunmen had come to Dublin, ostensibly to attend a hurling match, but really to commit murder. The authorities say they decided therefore, to surround the football grounds and to search for gunmen. It is claimed that Sinn Fein pickets fired oil the troops after their entering the football ground and that troops returned the fire. The troops killed ton people, wounding many others. A woman and A man were killed in a stampede. Three thousand people were searched Thirty discarded revolvers were found.-

The paper reports say the murder began in Dublin, about nine on Sunday, when the city was enjoying customary Sunday morning repose. Most people were sfrjll in bed. The whole was accomplished in half an hour. Several gangs operated simultaneously and chose a time when they were well able to find the majority of officers and

' othors coniioclod with tho court niartials m bed. Fourteen were killed altogether. Two were shot in the streets, while hurrying to their barracks to obtain assistance. ", Four men believed to be implicated have been arrested. One was wounded. , Several other officers had miraculous escapes. Reprisals were at once feared by the people and the apprehension felt previously was heightened by the news ( about the shootings at'Crok Park, which is believed to be only the first outcome of the murders.

FURTHER REPORTS. ' LONDON, November 22. Captain Crawford owed his life in Dublin to the coolness of his wife, who was iu bed. He was dressing in tho bedroom, and heard a knock at • the door. Three revolvers were aimed at him. The men refused to believe he was connected only with the army service corps, and accused him of being a secret service agent; The men searched the room. Crawford said his wife was not very well. He said: “If you are going to shoot me, take me downstairs, as it would be unpleasant for

my wife.” The* leader of the gang realised he was .spending over-much time. The gang then quitted in hurry, warning Crawford to leave the country in twenty-four hours. In another house, four men entered the house and ordered the maid to show the way to Capt. Fitzgerald's room. Two remained on guard, while the leader and another followed the maid. Fitz- | gerald was shot dead. Twenty men rushed into a hall in Lower Mount . Street, when the door was opened, j they followed a servant .into Lieut. ■ Mahon’s rooms, and fired five shots, j which proved fatal. When they dc J manded another officer's room, this officer refused to open tho door which was

locked. The gang fired seventeen shots through the door. Occupants of a neighbouring house beckoned on the passing military auxiliaries, who opened a fusilado on the house. The gang rushed through the back doors. One was captured. . The officer who locked himself in was not harmed. Fifteen men entered the Gresham Hotel, and it is said they held up the staff with revolvers, and examined the register and compelled a porter, at the point of the revolver to lead the wav to Captain McCormack’s room. He was sitting up in lied, reading a newspaper, and received four bullets fatally. Wilde a, j'Mvilniii, in another roexm, hearing filing, jumped from bed, and rushed to lock the door, but fell dead before lie reached the door. While this gang escaped through Upper Mount Street, they encountered more military auxiliaries. A brisk exchange of shots occurred. One man was wounded, three others captured. Three men rushed into a house occupied by a civilian named Smith, and ordered Captain McLean and a civilian, Galdow, out of bed. They took them to a spare bedroom at tho top of the house, Smith being ordered to accompany them, and shot the three, McLean and Smith died, Caldow being grievously wounded. Ten men called at a house in lower Bagshott Street, and proceeded to Captain NewImrry’s flat v They knocked and his wife answered. When she saw the men she slammed and locked the doors in their faces. The gang later burst the sitting room door, then forced the bedroom. Nowbarry and his wife re- j sisted without avail. The gang only wounded Newbarry, however, and he

fled through the window. His wife vainly clung to the assassins arm. Seven shots were fired, Nowbarry being killed. ' j DUBLIN UNDER !SE|IGE. LONDON, November 22. Considerable promiscuous shooting has occurred in various parts of Dublin city during the day. There has been extraordinary military activity. Aeroplanes are flying over the city. It is behoved in official quarters the policy of tho gunmen was to murder officers connected with the military machine and those engaged in preparing the evidence for the numerous court martinis. The authoriteis state about a score of men were arrested owing to evidence in captured documents. They apparently belonged to an inner circle of a republican murder gang. This view is confirmed by official circles in London.

Nearly all the 14 officers and civilians killed were engaged in the courts martial and the military side of the Castle administration. It is pointed out that assassins searched premises in all cases hoping to find papers and thus arrest the military machine. The official list shows a major, six captains three lieutenants, and a civilian wounded.

In one instance seventeen cadets of the Auxiliary military division welrc passing Mount Street on a lorry when a woman shouted from a window that an officer had been murdered. The officer in charge sent two men to get ' help. The Remainder surrounded or entered the house, and' arrested a man j within ; also two others in the neigfii botirhood. All were armed with re- ; volvers. The soldiers found two offij cers whom the assassins in their haste j had failed- to injure. A woman said tho gang had obtained admission saying they had a letter to deliver and proceeded to a bedroom where two officers were in bed. They fired four shots,, killing Lieut. Mahon, of tho Tank Corps They missed another officer, who was i warned by firing, and hid behind a door . When the men entered lie dropped on ; his knees. The men fired about a dozen 'shots and fled. All the shots missed. : Some auxiliaries who went to his help j were shot dead in the street, evidently ■ by men who saw the lorry stop. | Dublin Castle, in its statement, further says: The all used revolvers and operated in gangs of four to twenty. The Gresham Hotel and seven dwellings were visited, with om or more murders in every case. Tin procedure was the same in almost every instance. It would seem the gang were greatly concerned lately owing to ineloases in pressure of the military machinery of justice, they being acutely conscious that the Crown recently gained intimate knowledge of methods anc plans, also names and whereabouts and history of criminals and the prospects of dispersing the gang were greater than ever. They launched this attack on the oosrt martial. It is also officially stated the murderers succeeded in destroying, a quantity of valuable documentary evidence. Only one assanlant was captured. He was severely wounded by an officer, who immediately fell dead, being shot by others of flic gang, There was no news until a nurse arrived at Gne barracks, announcing two officers lay dead in her. garden. MANNEX’S VIEW. LONDON, 'November 22. Archbishop Mannix, in a speech at Bolton, stated that no outrages occurred in Ireland until the troops were sent tlivre. He pointed out there was not any murder gang in Ireland that he knew of. If one existed, lie said, the Sinn Fein alone were ablo to suppress it

MORE ARMED FORCES LONDON, November 21. The military authorities have arranged to despatch large military reinforcements to Ireland if considered necessary. ]\fr Lloyd George was spending the week end iu the country. Mr Churchill (War Minister) remained in telephonic communication with Dublin Castle during the whole of Sunday.-