Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Time Gone By
1913
Clever ruse
An interesting story of how the police outwitted poteen makers in Connemara was disclosed at a Special Court in Connemara, when Tom Carter, Mucknigh, was fined £6 for being concerned in illicit distillation.
It appears that for some time Sergeant Gilleese, Costello, had suspected that poteen was being made in the district, but so vigilant were the makers that the police could not discover the illicit still.
At length, the police succeeded by means of a ruse. The sergeant dressed as a woman, and was rowed in a boat by two constables in plain clothes to Mucknigh. The “woman” then proceeded towards an imminence and looked round as though uncertain of the right way.
A stone wall was in the way and Carter emerged from his hiding place to assist the “woman” over. His chivalry proved his undoing. The sergeant seized him, and discovered his hiding place and complete still. Carter’s two sons were on the lookout, but had actually gone down to the boat to talk to the two policemen before discovering their identity.
The strike
The City during the week has been extremely quiet. There has been little to denote that a strike has been in progress, save groups of listless labourers on the streets and the passing of occasional carts driven by an employer or one of his relatives.
Helmeted constabulary men patrol the streets and guard the various factories and establishments night and day, but there has been no attempt at sabotage. The pervading stillness conveys no outward sign of the paralysed trade of the City, that means the loss of hundreds of pounds to the merchants.
The conduct of the labourers has been exemplary, and there has not been the slightest trace of anything approaching organised violence.
1938
Can Irish girls cook?
“When Irish cooks are good cooks, you can’t beat them, because they have instinctive knowledge of the value of food. They appreciate that Irish meat is the best in the world, and that its flavour is not to be disguised by sauces, but brought out by proper methods.
“Owing to the circumstances of our history, and the ignoring of the importance of domestic training and cooking in former times, girls did not get the proper chance of learning, but when the opportunity did come their way, they made the utmost use of it.”
This statement was made by Senator Mrs. Helena Concannon, D.Litt., Lios na Mara, Salthill, who said that domestic economy should be an essential part of every girl’s education and no girl could call herself educated unless she was competent in the management of a home.
Boxing tourney
Irish, Scottish, international and provincial champions were on view at the Salthill tourney on Friday night, when a record attendance of two thousand five hundred people thronged the Pavilion to see some of the best boxing ever staged west of the Shannon.
Stowaways on liner
When the Hamburg-American North-German liner, St. Louis, arrived in Galway Harbour on Friday it had on board two stowaways named Hugh Boyle, of Annaghgree, County Donegal, and Albert Ansberry, who is stated to be an American citizen.
They were taken into custody by the Emigration Officers, and Boyle was discharged after questioning, but Ansberry was detained. They were discovered by a steward when the boat was two days out from New York, and the passengers held a collection for them.
Boyle, who emigrated to New York less than twelve months ago, worked as a porter in the Royal Hotel, Galway. Ansberry is still in Galway jail pending enquiries as to his citizenship. If he is found to be an American citizen, he will be deported back to America.
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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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.
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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