Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1921
Clifden shooting
Constable Cornelius Reynolds was shot dead while on patrol duty in Clifden at ten p.m. on Wednesday night, and Constable Thomas Sweeney was seriously wounded. Subsequently, a young man named John J. MacDonnell was shot dead, as alleged, attempting to escape from the custody of Crown forces which were rushed to the district by special train.
Houses from which it was asserted shots were discharged at the police were set on fire and are still burning. The full story of the shooting has not yet been received, but it would appear that four members of the R.I.C. were on town duty as usual on Wednesday night.
Notwithstanding that feeling had been aroused by the execution of Thomas Whelan, there was no anticipation of any trouble, and the little town was as peaceable as usual.
At ten p.m. fire was suddenly opened on the town patrol. Constable Reynolds fell dead, and Constable Sweeney fell severely wounded. Constable Reynolds was thirty years of age and leaves a wife and family. He came to County Galway on transfer from Longford about a year-and-a-half ago, and had been in the City from Clifden two days ago on escort duty. He was a fine specimen of manhood, and was very popular amongst his comrades.
Immediately after the news of the fatal affray had reached Galway, a force of thirty constabulary was rushed to Clifden by a special train from Galway which left at 12.30 a.m. Dr. Sandys and Dr. O’ Malley were taken on the train to attend Const. Sweeney, whose life, it is thought, can be saved.
Military reinforcements, which travelled by road, arrived in Clifden before the police. It was in the early hours of this morning that the tragedy by which McDonnell lost his life took place. There was considerable activity of Crown forces throughout the district following the shooting, and early this morning houses from which the police allege they were fired at were found ablaze.
Following the shooting of Constable Reynolds and the wounding of Constable Sweeney at Clifden last night, panic reigned in the town and nine of the principal houses were burned. Mr. John J. McDonnell, whose dead body was found in an archway near the principal street in the early hours of this morning, was an ex-army man who had served as a sergeant-major during the war. He is described as a quiet, inoffensive young man.
The hotel owned by his father, Mr. Alex McDonnell, has been burned. It is thought that young MacDonnell may have come across the street during the burning to aid in putting out the fire when he was shot.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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