WILSON MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 June 1922, Page 5

WILSON MURDER.

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR? denial by rebels. “THE DEATH DEPLORED. ” By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, June 24The Irish Republican Army headquarters in Dublin has issued a statement: ‘The shooting of Sir Henry Wilson was not done at the instance of the Irish Republican Army. If it had been, the I.R.A. would acknowledge the fact.” The statement added: “The death is to be deplored, not because it occurred apparently at the hands of Irishmen, but because Sir Henry Wilson was the victim of the Imperial policy pursued by the British Government in Ireland. There is no use in trying to saddle the responsibility on Ireland, or any other group of Irish people. It would be hypocritical to condemn such actions as the shooting of Sir Henry Wilson while the causes that provoke these deeds remain.” DAILY MAIL’S WARNING. The Daily Mail, referring to the burial of Sir Henry Wilson in St. Paul’s, says that while the nation will approve, the Mail warns the public that the last has probably not yet been heard of the murder gang. It seems clear that there is an organised conspiracy, but no effort to terrorise the British people has the slightest prospect of success. The Mail states that the outrage is expected materially to affect the Government’s position- Nothing since the general election has so weakened party allegiance. There is a possibility that the resignation of Mr. Shortt (Home Secretary) will be demanded. Sir Henry Wilson will be interred iu the north transept, beside Field-Marshal Earl Roberts. The Times states that the burial is the only act of reparation that the outraged nation can offer. No event has evoked such indignation, anger and grief. POLICEMAN NOT DEAD. The previous report that one of the constable who was shot by Sir H. Wilson’s assassins was dead, arose through his sinking into unconsciousness. He is not dead. It is reported that Customs officers in London, searching the steamer Foyner, on Scotland Yard instructions, discovered a quantity of revolver ammunition. Two of the crew have been arrested. The Foyner was bound from Hamburg to Limerick and put into the Thames to discharge a portion of her cargoMarshal Foch and General Weygand (Marshal Foch’s chief of staff) visited Sir Henry Wilson’s house, knelt by the body and recited prayers for the dead. Thousands made a pilgrimage to the house on the Sunday and stood in silence and men uncovered. Among those detained is a man sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in 1921 for shooting at a London policeman. He was released at the Irish armistice. A mass meeting of railwaymen at Edinburgh loudly cheered Mr. Thomas’s statement in reference to Sir Henry Wilson: “It is our duty to remember that the bullet must not be a substitute for the ballot in this country, in which no party can stand up more fearlessly against outrages of this kind than Laborites.” “OUTRAGE TO DECENCY.” STATEMENT OF DE VALERA Received June 26, 5.5 p.m. London, June 26. The Ulster Association, replying to Mr. de Valera, describes his statement as an outrage to decency and foreign to the instincts of British and Irish chivalry. It might have been thought that ou such an occasion, when the whole world was stunned by such a murder, that the voice of de Valera would have kept silent, but instead he has chosen a most solemn occasion to make statements which are not only a travesty of the truth, but are maliciously designed to excuse a crime unparalleled in the tragic history of Irish af-fairs.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.