UNHAPPY IRELAND.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3504, 5 June 1920, Page 7

UNHAPPY IRELAND.

J X LIFE FULL on DANGERS. DUBLIN CASTLE PRISONERS. . l , .___._. ‘MURDERS CAREFULLY PLANNED. LONDON, March 30. A Dublin COl‘l'GS])ondent sends some account of conditions in Ireland, which country he has seen in many moods, but in none so bad as now. He regards the present conspiracy as probably the worst with which Ireland has been ccnfr-onted_ It is not merely that it is ruthless, but it is perfectly organised, so perfectly that the authorities have found gr-eat"El'i'liicult.y in discovering the centre from where the murderers operate. “I have tried to elicit the reason why the authorities are so poorly in’formed, and I am told it is due to the fact that din-ing the Aberdeen-Birrell regime the whole Irish secret service systenfwas destroyed. Those wellmeaning statesmen thought they were going to create an ‘XI-cadia, but they have created an inferno instead. Now, when the police authorities try to get an inside look at the crime organisation they find almost every door barred against them. “The moment one reaches Kingstown,” he says,““it is easy to feel that there is something mysterious going on. In the Land League days there were plenty of police detectives about the picr and the -appreaches to it, but to-"day their places are taken by the Sinn Fein emissary Even the most casual question creates suspicion. Men who were volublc ,years ago are taciturn now. The only safe subject is abuse of the English Government. That stalwart’ force, the D.1\1.P., is still there, as tall as ever, but every man goes about. with a service revolver in his belt. Before the present outburst of i-awlessness it was not usual to see two policement together, but to-day they are compelled to go out in groups of five or ten, all armed to the teeth. The black record of recent months shows that they carry their lives in their hands. It is rare for the criminals to operate during the day time. They work on most methodical lines, and the sltlil with which they do their deadly work shows that a master mind plans the murders.” HOW THE MURDERERS WORK. The writer says he has given some little study to the methods employed, and they are developed on very effective lines. A police officer is efficient in the discharge of his duty, and "he gets a mysterious note warning him to prepare for his death. The unfortunate man is carefully watched for a time -and then the moment comes for striking him, and one of the desperadoes walks close up to him and lodges several bullets in his body. In. one case a detective was shot at the door of his police station. In another, the victim, an officer was wea.l'ihg -:1 protective overcoat, ranld, strange to say, he was first shot througli the neck, proving that they were fully informed of his habits. The murdel'ers appeal‘ to work in gang»: of ten. The crack shots are

sent to pick off the victims, while the others protect "them from :Itt:u:k. E~‘houl<l zznyonc attempt to follow the man who fires the shots he is immediately hrippcd up so that the guilty rnmv m‘.'_\' have time ‘to make their ‘escape. The murderk are carefuilly planned. and as carefully currieefiuut, and, as no one has the courage to give any information, the mwhorities .':U’(‘

baffled, and the conspirators go un-1 punished. A b‘fl’llu‘H h‘()l_.'Nl) THE CASTLE. V l)nhlin (.':l.~:t,le is not an Irish .\Tecca. to-day. “It you go there you :v.2':'* :L= znurketl man. a The ol‘(lill:.Ll'_y' visitor walking from the Bank of Ireland to] the Castle miglit notice nothing 1111-l usual, but a closer examination will! reveal that the approaches to the Castle are carefully watched by Sinn Fein spies. This spy system. is one of the masterpieces of the conspiracy. Even lligh ofiicials inside the Castle walls are high in their praise of the Sinn Fein intelligence service. Of course, it is easy to run such :1. serVice where the majority of the people‘ are sympathetic, and ‘where those in.‘ charge of it have plenty of nu)lie'_x,-'t‘ to spend. 'l, am assured the (;‘rovern—! ment has inforinntion })l'()\'lll_£__;‘ that‘; 1:11-_ge__ xahnost inc‘i'edib'§e, sunus have been paid to murtlcr gangs. To one who has had an opportnnit_\f of meeting many of the high oficials in Dublin Castle it seems strange to hear some people abusing them. 'l‘here are no men in the l.’nit,ed Kinrgtloni more ‘zinxious for petlee, in Ireland. Do the i<_:ener-al public realise that -the high iiO\'(?l'lllllPlIl' ollinials in Dublin are intermed in the Castle, that they dare not go out for :1 w:1‘ll<, or even to visit their .I":nn'llie.-«"‘.°" IN A. S'l.‘.»\'l‘E 01*‘ SIIIIGE. To-day St‘. l’:Ltriek'.~' Hall is titled with arnxerl soldiers waiting to repel the pttaek which the Sinn Feiiiers 11121)’ deliver at any lnonient. The military allthol‘itie.~' fnll__\’ realise the danger which (?ont'ront.< them. They know that the Sinn Feiners are much bet.ter equipped than they were during the iltlaster rebellion. l'.arge quantities of 11l'lllH and (‘_‘{plOSl\-’(‘>‘ liave been I brought. into the country, and .a spark inay ‘set the powder ablaze at any moment. l;’ublic feeling runs high, and it, has been intensified by the happenings in Cork. “Those who were inclined at first to think that. the Lord Mayor of Cork was murdered by policemen. in retaliation are beginning to revise their judgment. This conspiracy, like all

other conspiracies, is beginning to split up, ::lI1(l :1. spirit. of suspicion is abroad which is having its effect. on the extremists. In the past twelve months several Sinu Feiners have been murdered for no other reason than that some '01” "their InlOl’C advlztmted comrades have become suspicious. A Deportation Order is issued by fhe Gov. ernnlent, but not. acted. upon, and from t-11211: moinent there is a suspicion, perhaps unjustified, that the xnanv is in 1-elatitnis with Dnblin Castle. Hence-.t‘o'l-\v.:lr'd' his movements are dogged_. and he is in the end nlurdel'ed.” Certuiiily life is as full of’ d:lllgCl‘.~_‘ here {[s in Darkest. Africa. ’