Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1917
6-year-old witness
At Ballinasloe Petty Sessions, Mr. W. Hastings summoned Mr. J.A. Butler for taking a “Western News” from his premises on the 1st inst.
Complainant: I would very respectfully ask, before proceeding with the case, that the defendant be put in the dock, as is done with all parties charged with a mean offence.
Chairman: Well, go on.
Complainant: My case is: I was going down the town on the evening in question on business when I met defendant and a small boy. Defendant made some remark to me, but I did not mind him, and passed on down Main-street. On coming back to Dunlo-st., my attention was attracted to the boy, who had a paper in his hand. I asked him if he was selling papers. It was a “Western News” he had, and I asked him where he got it. He said Butler gave it to him.
Chairman: Have you your witness here.
Denis Delaney (father of the boy) said he would not allow his son to give evidence, and the summons was wrongly served. The mother brought forward the little fellow of about six years of age.
Chairman: I have no hesitation in refusing informations. It is scandalous to bring a child so young into Court.
Same complainant charged the same defendant with writing, posting and causing to be delivered to complainant letters of a libellous character. Complainant produced a bundle of letters, and handed one to the bench, and described them as “infamous documents”. The magistrates, having perused the letter, the Chairman said it was a case for a civil action.
1942
Sent to prison
John Collins (19), of no fixed abode, who was charged with the larceny of linoleum valued at 10s. 6d., was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment as from the date of his arrest. Mr. Murphy, who defended, said that Collins wanted to get married but his uncle – a man named Maguire, with whom he travelled – objected and in a fit of pique, Collins took the piece of linoleum from Maguire, who now did not want to press the charge.
Bicycle thefts
During the last twelve months, eighty-eight bicycles were stolen in Galway and approximately sixty per cent of these were recovered by the Garda Síochána. Our representative, who interviewed members of the Garda regarding cycle thefts, was surprised to discover how very little some owners know about their machines.
Many visit the Garda barracks to report the loss of a bicycle and do not even know the make of their machine, not to mention the number. They are irritatingly vague when asked to describe the machine and cannot even say if they had a pump on it.
Nailer’s House demolition
The centuries-old “House of the Nailer” at O’Brien’s Bridge where seventy-years-old Michael Curran – with his niece, Miss Kathleen Dalton, who keeps house for him, he has now been provided with alternative accommodation at Shantalla – and his ancestors have made nails in the same small forge and lived in the apartments overhead for more than 200 years, is to be demolished. Mr. J.S. Carroll, Borough Surveyor, who inspected the premises, said that in his opinion the premises were in dangerous condition and quite beyond repair.
For more, read this week’s Connacht 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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