SINN FEINERS CAPTURED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3456, 9 April 1920, Page 5

SINN FEINERS CAPTURED.

“ROUND UP-"’ IN IRELAND. DRAMATIC ARREST OF M.P. Early yesterday morning the Government carried out a. raid on members of the Sinn Fein Party in Dublin and other towns in Ireland, writes a, correspondent from London, under date February 1. ' . Many members of Parlia.ment were arrested,- )preparatory to deportation to English prisons. ' ' On this occasion the raids were carried out by the military, only one policeman being present with each p:il'ty, for the purpose of identification. Soldiers visited various points on motor lorries. They were in field kit, with rifles and ammunition. In some cases searchlights were used to prevent an attempt to escape in the darkness, and oificers carried electric torches. As usuallyhappens in these cases, many of those wanted =h;ld_l'e--ceixfed warnings, and were “not ht honie.” .\_\fihen the military called zit their houses. A _ _ _'- .. In Limerick ztnd the-_ surroiunpding‘ district, in Counties Clare and Tipperary, 25 men; were ..arl'estcd and taken by special train to Cork Prison. At Thurles six men were taken, after {L widespread raid by the military round the town and neighbourhood.

Two "Sim: Feiners were arrested near Bantry. - In some cases the nlilitary\arrested men who were afterwards /released, with apologies, owing to a. mistake in names or identity. Raids in Dublin began soon after four in the morning, when heavily built lorries began to pass through the streets in various directions. The streets were empty atthe time, and the whole thing was over before Dublin awoke from its morning slumbers. Mr R. C. Barton, M.P., who was arrested in Dublin, now visits prison for the second time. He was arrested in -March last, and on March 17 he made it during escape from Mountjoy Prison. When his cell was opened in the morning _he had vanished, and the only thing left was a dummy figure in the bed, placed there ‘to deceive the war-~ der during the night. ' The arrest of Mr Barton was effected in an unexpected manner. He had been “on the run” since his sensa~ tional escape from Mountjoy Prison. Between three and four o’clock the military made a swoop on some houses in Oakley Road, in search of Mr Mulcahy, "ALP. Fzriling to find him in the first house, -they proceeded to another, in which Mr Barton happened to be staying. .He was in bed when the military came thundering at the door, and guessing the nature of the visit, he left; the bedroom in his pyjamas and proceeded to make his escape through the back -way. On scaling a. garden wall, he dropped to the other side, only to find himself in the hands of another body of military} who {had been guarding the back entrances to the houses. The military did not know their man, and were at the time innocent of the importance of the arrest they had made.