THRILL OF HORROR.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1922, Page 5

THRILL OF HORROR.

MURDER OF BELFAST FAMILY, l_ COLD-BLOODED TRAGEDY. REPRISAL FOR MURDER OF POLICE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received March-26, 5.5 p.m. London, March 24. Not since the murder of sixteen officers in Dublin on “Black Sunday” has such a thrill of horror stricken Ireland. Protestants and Catholics alike condemn the murder, which clearly is a reprisal for the assassination of two constables in Belfast yesterday. MacMahon was a Nationalist in politics, a keen sportsman, and very popular with all classes. The murderers gained admission by smashing the glass in the hall door and lifting the latch. An inner door, which barred the way, was smashed in with a sledge hammer. The house was in darkness at the time.

Mrs. MacMahon, hearing a noise, said it was a bomb. The wife and husband got up at the same time and went downstairs, and met masked men on the stairway.

The murderers then collected the women, Mrs. MacMahon, her niece, a daughter (14 years of age) and maid servants, and put them in a back room on the first floor.

The murderers then went upstairs and awakened seven men at the revolver’s point, and compelled them to come downstairs in tbeir shirts and join their father. The masked men were carrying candles, which they brought with them. When all were gathered in the parlor there was a pause. The leader told the terror-stricken men to use a few moments to pray for their souls.

They were then lined up against the wall. On one side of the fireplace whs McMahon, then his son and barman. On the other side were two of the other sons, and on a chair near the door was a fourth son. All were then shot, one by one. Jeremiah, aged 15, died immediately, but the others lingered on. The masked men missed a boy of eleven, who, shrieking with fright, ran round the table. Two other shots at the boy ricochetted off the surface of the table into the walls. The boy was finally found under a sofa, petrified with fear.

All was over in six minutes. The murderers then climbed over a paling fence into a garden and disappeared into the darkness.

The police, hearing Mrs. MacMahon’s screams from a window, entered at the front door. On a chair in the hall they found a young man in his night shirt gasping out his life. The scene in the parlor was even more horrible. McMahon, was writhing in agony. On the floor were five dead or dying. Before they left the murderers unlocked the door of the upstairs room, and when the wife came downstairs and saw the horrifying spectacle she collapsed, and is still unconscious. One boy is expected to

GRAVITY OF EVENTS. CONFERENCE IN LONDON. ULSTER PREMIER SUMMONED. Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. London, March 24. Owing to the gravity of recent events in Ireland, the British Government has telegraphed requesting Sir James Craig and Mr. Collins to come to London with any colleagues they wish, in order that the Government may examine with them every aspect of the situation. There were three murders in Tyrone today. The victims are all Catholics, and presumably the acts are reprisals for the murder of loyalists. A police patrol of fifty was ambushed near Pomeroy. Fighting lasted six hours, several members of the patrol being wounded and one captured. William Campbell, City Corporation inspector, Belfast, was shot dead in the street.