Gun running for Casement in the Easter rebellion, 1916Spindler, Karl
History
Gun running for Casement in the Easter rebellion, 1916
Spindler, Karl
Casement, Roger, 1864-1916; Ireland -- History -- Easter Rising, 1916
We had expected something of this sort, and were therefore not surprised
to see this hue-and-cry notice on the wall. What did surprise us was the
fact that we had been given a companion. I certainly knew that my friend
Arpad Horn, H.M. Austro-Hungarian Honved-Husar Lieutenant, and at the
same time director of our officer's band, had been thinking of escaping.
But how and when did he get away? The notice said 'Saturday evening.'
Surely our escape had been discovered before then! It was a mystery to
us. But we were glad that the notice mentioned three, for it gave us a
better chance of escaping suspicion.
We followed the tram lines, and were getting near the centre of the
town. It was about seven o'clock, and the streets were showing signs of
life. It was getting easier now to efface ourselves in the crowds. When
the first shops were opened I bought a few cigarettes and asked how far
it was to the bridge. I was told we were only two minutes from it. We
hastened on in order to get on the other side of the Trent as soon as
possible. A few steps brought us to the bridge. It was almost deserted.
On the left of the entrance, which was closed by a barrier, was a
toll-keeper's house which had to be passed by means of a turnstile. Near
it several bridge-officials and two policemen were standing. Who could
tell but that they were posted there for our benefit? In any case it
appeared inadvisable to cross at that moment. As we walked on we agreed
that it would be better to wait for the great crowd that would be
crossing at eight o'clock, as we should then have a better chance of
getting across unnoticed. We therefore turned down a neighbouring avenue
and sat down on a seat.
It was a glorious fresh morning. I must say that this avenue, with its
rich green grass and the birds twittering in the trees, was the only
thing, so far, that had appealed to me in Nottingham. The appeal did not
last long.
We had sat for about ten minutes and not a living thing had appeared in
the avenue, when a policeman appeared round a corner on the right with
two rascally looking scoundrels on each side of him. It looked as if he
had all four of them manacled together.
I had pulled out a notebook and was reading out figures to my companion
in order to look as if the five men did not interest us in the least.
They, too, appeared to be taking no notice of us. We thought they were
passing by all right. Then the unexpected happened. Just as they got
abreast of us they did a sudden 'Left wheel! March!' hurled themselves
on us, and held us down. It all happened so quickly that we had no time
to think of escaping. Moreover, it would have been useless to try. The
amusing feature about the business was that we recognised one of the
rascally-looking scoundrels as the tiny old man whom we had been pitying
a few hours previously.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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