The Sinn Fein Rebellion as I Saw It.Norway, Hamilton, Mrs.
History
The Sinn Fein Rebellion as I Saw It.
Norway, Hamilton, Mrs.
Ireland -- History -- Easter Rising, 1916 -- Personal narratives
People are appalled at the utter unpreparedness of the Government.
In the face of a huge body of trained and armed men, openly
revolutionary, they had taken no precautions whatever for the defence
of the city in the event of an outbreak. At the beginning of the war H.
obtained a military guard, armed, for the G.P.O., and they have always
been there. When the outbreak occurred yesterday the armed guard were
there, but with no ammunition! The sergeant was wounded in two places
and the rest overpowered.
All night the firing continued. Between 1 and 2 a.m. it was awful, and
I lay and quaked. It was all in the direction of the Castle.
This morning we hear the military are pouring into the city, and are in
the Shelbourne Hotel and Trinity College.
The rebels have barricaded Sackville Street, and it is expected to be
very fierce fighting over the G.P.O. It is terrible!
All our valuables were stored in H.'s safe and cupboard when we
gave up our house, and all our dear F.'s books, sword, and all his
possessions, which we value more than anything else in the world. We
would not trust them with the stored furniture.
[Illustration]
Yesterday afternoon the mob broke all the windows in various streets
and looted all the shops. The streets were strewn with clothes, boots,
furniture, tram cushions, and everything you can imagine.
While I am writing now there is incessant firing in St. Stephen's
Green, and we fear there may be street fighting in this street.
In case you have forgotten, I will put a little plan here (see p. 14).
_Tuesday, 5 p.m._
This morning martial law was proclaimed (I will try and get a copy of
the proclamation) at 11.30 and the rebels given four hours to surrender.
A cruiser and two transports are said to have arrived at Kingstown,
with troops from England. At 3.30 p.m., as there had been no surrender,
the troops started to clear St. Stephen's Green, and raked it with
machine-guns from the top of the Shelbourne Hotel and the United
Service Club. We hear there are many casualties. N. has just come
in, and says a big fire is raging in Sackville Street in the shops
opposite the G.P.O., supposed to have been caused by the mob finding
fireworks in a toy shop. The fire brigade arrived almost at once and
could easily have overcome the fire, but the brigade was fired on by
the Sinn Feiners, making it impossible for them to bring the engines
into action, and they had to beat a retreat and leave the shops to burn
themselves out. N. says the troops are clearing the houses of rebels
behind Dame Street and the region of the Castle, and there is a lot of
firing. It has turned to rain, which has cleared the streets of people.
A telegram has just come from the Admiralty stopping the mail boat from
crossing. No boat has gone to-day, and we are absolutely cut off.
All the roads leading out of Dublin are in the hands of the rebels.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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