Galway in Days Gone By
Galway in Days Gone By
1914
The Spy Scare
No one will dispute that to have a camera nowadays is sufficient to get one labelled a spy. The extraordinary lengths to which this scare has extended are nicely illustrated by the following amusing incident which took place at the residence of a prominent gentleman on Wednesday evening.
American tourists are fairly “hustled” at this side of the water, but it is the womenfolk who feel the discomfort of being accosted here and there by police officers.
A party of Americans who had been touring through Connemara and taking snapshots during the week were “held up” at Clifden, and at every village, hamlet and railway station till they arrived in Galway, where they confidently hoped the worries of officialdom would cease.
In the meantime, it appears that the party lost some articles on the Clifden train, and notified the railway authorities. On Wednesday night a gentleman representing the company knocked at the residence of the excursionists with a view to getting a description of the missing articles, and his official appearance so terrified the lady, who looked from behind her husband’s back, that she fainted, thinking the courteous railway official was a detective.
German spy arrested
Cleggan, Monday night:
A sensation was caused at Cleggan on Monday morning by the arrest of a gentleman who is suspected of being German spy. The traveller, who has all the appearance of being a foreigner, arrived in Cleggan by the mail car from Clifden on Monday.
He partook of breakfast at Mrs. King’s, and afterwards proceeded through Mr McEvilly’s fields, where he was apparently photographing the bay and its approaches. His movements were closely watched by the police, who, shortly after, effected his arrest, on his failing to give a satisfactory account of himself.
When taken into custody, the startling find was made of a number of maps and drawings of different parts of the coastline.
Cleggan, Wednesday:
The gentleman who was arrested as a German suspect here on Sunday, has been released, and is at present staying at the Renvyle Hotel. Suspicion rested on him owing to his foreign appearance and dress. He was asking much information regarding the Marconi works, etc, and was, it is alleged, taking photographs of the bay and its surroundings. However, he was able to give a satisfactory account of himself being an American traveller touring Ireland.
For more from the archives from 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago, see this week’s Tribune
1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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