DUBLIN OUTRAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1921, Page 5

DUBLIN OUTRAGE.

GREAT FIRE IN CITY. REBELS DESTROY CUSTOMHOUSE. DESPERATE FIGHT FOLLOWS. GENERAL RISING FEARED, By Telegraph.—Press Assn.— Copyright. London, May 25.

A serious outbreak occurred in Dublin. The Custom-house and Liberty Hall are in flames. The crowd attacked the military with bombs, the latter replying with machine-gun fire. Flames were observed in the Dublin Custom-house simultaneously throughout the building. The clerical and other staffs fled. Bombs were flung at the military, who came in lorries, and the soldiers replied with machine-guns, rifles and revolvers. A battle ensued, and there were several dead and wounded. The building was destroyed. It cost 009,000, and was one of the finest structures in the city. Circumstances indicate that the affair was elaborately organised. Armed rebels guarded all the approaches to the building and posted armed sentries at street corners to prevent attempts to save the structure. Among the rebels’ casualties were men seen running from the building. Shortly afterwards Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the Irish transport workers, was destroyed.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

A GRAPHIC STORY. SWIFT ACTION BY THE REBELS. HEAVY CASUALTIES. Received May 27, 12.45 a.m. London, May 25. At least two hundred Sinn Feiners were engaged in the attack on the Dublin Customhouse, of whom it is believed 139 were killed, wounded or captured.

The first intimation of the trouble was a rush of about fifty strange men in civilian attire armed with automatic revolvers, who carried in twenty-two cases, each containing four tins of petrol, and also bales of cotton waste, which were quickly distributed all over the buildings. The Customhouse wa-s one of the finest buildings in Ireland, built in 1785, and there was much wood in its construction, so the task of the Sinn Feiners was not difficult. The clerical and other staffs Were quickly overpowered, but not before a telephone message was sent to the troops and police, and four trollies, with auxiliaries, guarded by an armoured ear, quickly reached the Customhouse at one o’clock, not knowing exactly what was afoot. They were met by a fusillade of bombs from the railway bridge and volleys of revolver bullets from the windows of the Customhouse. The cadets immediately dismounted and tried to surround the building, while a machine-gun in the armoured car poured in fire into the windows, whence the rebels replied vigorously.

HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTS. Desperate ‘hand-to-hand fights followed, when parties of six and seven Sinn Feiners, who had finished the in*! cendiarism, tried to break a weak coribn of cadets. The first party to emerge consisted of three, of whom one was killed and two wounded. None of the auxiliaries knew from which door the rebels would come next, so some Sinn Feiners’ wild rushes for liberty were successful. They dashed out, firing revolvers as they ran. The last sortie of rebels consisted of seven men, and only one escaped, the rest being killed and wounded.

The fire now had a big hold on the building, and smoke and flame were pouring out of the windows. An the last party of Sinn Feiners rushed out girls and maid clerks who had been held prisoners flocked out, holding their hands above their heads and waving white handkerchiefs as indications to the auxiliaries not to shoot. This greatly assisted the escape of the Sinn Feiners. Some auxiliaries pluckily stormed the blazing building, where many rebels surrendered. Apparently they feared to rush the cordon after the fate of the last party, and would certainly have been burned to death if the cadets had not rescued them. DOCUMENTS DESTROYED. At the conclusion of the fight there were dead and wounded rebels at all the doors of the. Customhouse. When the fire engines arrived the fire had a good hold of the entire block. The destruction includes the books of the Income Tax, Estates’ Duty, and Company Registration Departments. The destruction of the books was a feature of the outrage. The first thing the raiders did when they had driven three hundred clerks and other officials at the revolver point into a large central hall, was to throw all books and documents on the floors, saturate them with petrol, and sjgt them alight, thus assisting the general conflagration. A dramatic episode occurred when the fire was at its worst. A Union Jack was seen flying above the doomed buildings, and despite the smoke and flames, a cadet officer climbed the roof, hauled down the flag, and brought it safely to the ground, amidst the cheers of his comrades.

For a time the Dublin Castle authorities feared a general rising, and many precautions were taken. Large bodies of troops were called up, and special guards were sent to the Bank of Ireland and other danger points. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

TEN KILLED AT DUBLIN. LIBERTY HALL NOT BURNED. Received May 26, 11.45 p.m. London, May 25. In. the Custom-house battle in Dublin, ten were killed, including an auxiliary police officer, and upwards of twenty were wounded. Liberty Hall was not burnt, but bears marks of severe fusiHadingu— Aua-N.Z. Oft W® Asaa.