MURDERED IRISH MINISTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 94, 12 July 1927, Page 11

MURDERED IRISH MINISTER

NINE REPUBLICANS ARRESTED BODY LYING IN STATE, THE body of the assassinated vice-president of the Irish 1 Free State (Mr. Kevin O’Higgins) lies in state at Dublin. The Republican Army has denied complicity in the crime, but reports state that nine senior officers of the organisation have been arrested and charged with conspiracy. _^ n g' George has sent a message of sympathy to Mrs. O Hie:sins.

£l/ Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 11.22 a.m. LONDON, Monday. body of the Minister was moved from his home, to the Mansion House, where he lies in state in the dim light of six candles, with his hands clasped across his breast, and surmounted by a gold crucifix. An army guard will protect the body till Wednesday. The President of the Irish Free State, Mr. W. T. Cosgrave, was the first to pass his old colleague. King George sent the following message to the Governor of Ireland: “I learned with horror of the death of Mr. O’Higgins. Please convey to Mrs. O’Higgins the very deep sympathy of the Queen and myself in the cruel loss which she and her children have suffered.” The Dublin correspondent of the "Daily Mail” says that arising from the death of the Vice-Presi-dent, the Government has arrested nine senior officers of the Republican organisation, charged with conspiracy. SYMPATHY AT GENEVA CONFERENCE POSTPONED By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 9.55 a.m. GENEVA, Monday. The plenary sitting of the naval limitation conference was postponed on the suggestion of Mr. Hugh Gibson, United States delegate, in consequence of the assassination of Mr. O’Higgins. The murdered vice-presi-dent of the Irish Free State represented his country at the conference. —A. and N.Z. HIGH SENSE OF DUTY ORDERED FRIEND’S DEATH By Cable.—Press Association.-—Copyright LONDON, Monday. It is most significant that Mr. O’Higgins, as Minister of Justice, was responsible for the administration of the law in 1922-23, when there were 77 executions of irregulars. It is generally believed that this is the explanation of the murder. Apropos of Mr. O’Higgins’s sense of duty, Mr. J. H. Thomas tells how Mr. O’Higgins had a close friend, Rory O’Connor, who was charged in connection with the siege of the Pour Courts. Every effort was made to obtain a respite from the death sentence passed on O’Connor, as he had been Mr. O’Higgins’s best man less than six months before and Mr. O’Higgins was responsible for executions. Mr. O’Higgins only replied: “He must die to-morrow morning.” Mr. Thomas added that Mr. O’Higgins sat up throughout the night and when’ a message came that his friend had been shot Mr. O’Higgins collapsed. The climax came when O’Connor's will was read. He had left everything to Mr. O’Higgins’s family. —A. and N.Z. TWO ATTACKS MADE FIVE MEN INVOLVED By Cable.—Press Association. —Copyright LONDON, Monday. An official account of the assassination of Mr. O’Higgins says the motorcar containing the murderers was driven from the Black Rock Road to Boterstown Avenue. Five men were engaged in the crime. Two of them acted as scouts and they signalled to the others when Mr. O’Higgins was observed coming down the road.

Three of the men fired when Mr. O’Higgins turned the corner. He fell on the footpath beside a lamp-post, whereupon the assassins ran toward the motor-car, assuming that their victim was dead. Mr. O’Higgins raised a hand slightly, whereupon the men returned and each fired a further shot. One penetrated Mr. O’Higgins’s head through the ear, another struck above the heart and a third pierced the abdomen.-—A. and N.Z. MOTOR-CAR ABANDONED ARMY DENIES COMPLICITY By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Monday. The three men who murdered Mr. O’Higgins have not been captured. The motor-car in which the men drove away has been found abandoned at Milltown. The Republican Army has announced that it repudiates responsibility for the outrage. The car used by the assassins was a Morris Cowley, which had been stolen, but it had a fictitious number, suggesting that it belonged to the Government. In other ways the car was well disguised. The owner of the car is Captain McDonnell, of Dublin. It was stolen from his garage on Saturday night.—A. and N.Z. “GHOST OF EVIL DAYS” LEGACIES OF HATRED By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Monday. "The Times,” in a leader, says: “The cold-blooded shooting of the Vice-President of the Irish Free State was a ghost of €;vil days returning. It rudely shattered the illusion that the legacies of hatred have been paid. It proclaimed to Ireland that time has still much healing work to accomplish. "Mr. O’Higgins, repeatedly risked his life for his country’s cause as he saw it, first as a foe of Britain, and then as a foremost champion of the treaty. He lived and wrought powerfully and set the country on the lines he thought best, and, when dying, he could regard a large measure of achievement. While Mr. Cosgrave and his colleagues will have difficulty in finding a substitute, their hands are likely to be strengthened in the eyes of their countrymen.”—A. and N.Z. YOUTHS ARRESTED STATEMENT BY DE VALERA “MURDER INEXCUSABLE” By Cable.—Press Association Copyright Reed. 12.10 p.m. DUBLIN, Monday. The police have arrested nine youths on suspicion in connection with the murder o£ Mr. O’Higgins. At the inquest, Professor McNeill gave evidence that the murderers were not masked. A verdict o£ murder by three unknown men was returned, the jury adding a rider that with this cruel outrage, it was hoped that the murderers would soon be brought to justice. The coroner, Dr. Brennan, said it was a horrible tragedy, and a sad commentary on the mentality of the inhabitants of the island of saints and scholars. Mr. Eamonn de Valera, interviewed, said: “The assassination of Mr. O’Higgins is a murder not excusable from any standpoint, and I am confident that no Republican organisation will give any countenance to the crime, which cuts the root of all responsible government.”-—A. and N.Z. The nine arrested were:—Frank Kevlin, M. Fitzpatrick, George Plunkett, Brendan O’Carroll, Henry Hunt, Aubrey Hunt, Owen Donnelly, Joseph Reynolds, Kevin O’Carroll.