Breen, Dan, 1894-1969; Ireland -- History -- 1910-1921; Revolutionaries -- Ireland -- Biography
This time, I concluded, there was no chance for me. I was to be caught
like a rat in a trap. I went to the front window again. Outside was a
line of khaki and steel. Beyond that was a throng of curious sightseers.
Some, I suppose, were full of anxiety and fear lest any soldier of
Ireland should be caught in the trap. Others no doubt were proud of the
Empire’s Army, and hoping it would gain another little laurel.
As my eyes travelled along the line of spectators I saw the figure of
Mick Collins. Later I learned why he was there. He had seen the troops
moving in the direction of the district in which I was being nursed, and
had actually collected a few of the boys to be ready to attempt a rescue.
Their services were not needed. The soldiers raided almost every house
in the locality, including the house next door, but never came into
the place where I was. All the same I felt grateful to Mick. As I have
already explained, he was the only member of G.H.Q. who stood by us
consistently.
It was considered advisable to remove me again. I was taken to Dun
Laoghaire to the house of Mrs. Barry early in November, 1920. Miss
O’Connor and Miss Mason were both constant nurses of mine while I was
there and my recovery became rapid. I had been there only three or four
days when almost every house in the avenue was raided, except that of
Mrs. Barry. Evidently the British spies were hitting the trail but losing
the scent.
I was in Dun Laoghaire on “Bloody Sunday,” November 21st. On that morning
fourteen British Intelligence officers were shot dead in their lodgings
in Dublin by our men. These officers, living the lives of ordinary
civilians in private houses, were really spies, and the brains of the
British Intelligence Department at that time. In every land spies pay
the death penalty during war, and even the British Ministers of the time
justified all their actions by saying they were “at war with Ireland.”
But there could not be one set of war rules for their men and another for
ours.
The operation was one of the most successful carried out in Dublin. The
I.R.A., however, suffered some losses. Frank Teeling was captured and
sentenced to death, but escaped from Kilmainham Jail before the sentence
was carried out. Paddy Moran was later captured and tried for taking part
in one of these executions although he was four miles from the scene. He
was hanged in Mountjoy early in 1921. I knew poor Paddy well. I first met
him at the home of my friend Mrs. O’Doherty in Connaught Street, Dublin.
He was a lovable character, and a faithful soldier of Ireland.
There were two terrible reprisals that day for the execution of the
fourteen spies.
In broad daylight the same afternoon hundreds of soldiers and Black and
Tans drove to Croke Park where 10,000 people, who had not even heard of
the shootings that morning, were witnessing a football match between
Tipperary and Dublin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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