CHRISTMAS DISORDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1922, Page 5

CHRISTMAS DISORDER.

LAWLESSNESS IN IRELAND. ATTEMPT TO WRECK TRAIN. TRAGEDY AT A DANCE. By Telegraph— Press Association—Copyright LONDON, Dec. 27. Though there were no serious crimes against persons, lawlessness continued at Christmastide in Southern Ireland. A feature of the rebel activities was attacks on mail carts. Hundreds of Christmas parcels were not delivered. A number of bridges around Athlone were blown up and an attempt was made to wreck a Kerry train by means of another burning train which was sent along the line. The flames, however, died down before serious damage was done.

A meeting of Sinn Fein clubs in the Dublin Mansion House adopted a resolution in favour of convening a conference in the hope of securing a just and permanent peace. The Sinn Feiners meet for their first conference on January 7.

A shocking tragedy occurred at a Christmas dance in Lisburn, County Down. A patrol of four constables who were passing were invited to join the festivities. Constable Patterson thought he had carefully emptied his rifle magazine and placed the rifle in the porch. A guest, seizing the weapon, playfully pointed it at the midst of the dancers and pulled the trigger. The cartridge exploded and the bullet passed through two men, badly wounding them, and killed a third. A number of women fainted, believing that a rebel attack hall commenced.

Mr. de Valera, secretly interviewed by an American correspondent, reiterated his defiance of the Free State Government. He said the aim of the Republican army was the presevation of the Republic’s independence and integrity and to assure that the disestablishment of the Republic would not be presented to the people at next elections as an accomplished fact. “Myi Government,” he said, “has been established by the second Dail, which is the sovereign authority of the nation. We will surrender that authority when the second Dail is permitted to meet.” Mr. Joseph Donagh. Republican member? of the Dail for Tipperary, who was arrested three months ago, was removed from Mountjoy Gaol last week suffering from appendicitis and died in a nursing home in Dublin. His brother was executed in 1916. WIDOW AND CHILDREN PERISH. IN INCENDIARY FIRE. LONDON, Dec. 27. A widow and seven out of eight children, aged one to ten, were burnt to death on a Wexford farm owing to a hay rick catching fire. No cries were heard. The victims were suffocated in their sleep and their bodies incinerated. The Coroner said he believed the fire was due to incendiaries. One girl, aged eight, escaped, as she was spending Christmas with an aunt. PARTY OF REBELS CAPTURED. Received Dec. 28, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 27. The Free State Government is re-naming the barracks vacated by the British troops. The Royal Barracks will be known as the Collins Barracks, in honor of the late Mr. Michael Collins, and the Richmond Barracks as the Keogh Barracks, after General Tom l Keogh, who was killed in County Cork. National troops captured 22 irregulars hiding under the altar of the Curraheea Roman Catholic Church, near Tralee.