Monthly Archives: January 2014

Fermanagh in WW1 – February.

Impartial Reporter, February 5th 1914. The spring birds are to be protected in Europe, and indeed in America, as they have never been protected before. The French Minister of Agriculture is organising a thoroughgoing system of bird protection and a very drastic Bird Protection Act has been passed in Italy making an absolute close season for January 1st to September 30, and our own Home Office has appointed a committee to make bird protection more effective, and a plumage bill has been drafted.

The bird most specifically protected of all is the swallow. The French Minister of Agriculture is to stop the usual slaughter of swallows in the south of France, and the Italian law absolutely prohibits the catching of swallows, swifts and nightingales.

The outbreak of bird protection is largely due to the gathering of absolute evidence that birds, even so called destructive birds, are necessary to the balance of nature. When they diminish, insect and blight plagues follow.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 7th 1914. PETTIGO. A SAD CASE. A committee has been established in Pettigo to raise and administer a fund for the widow and orphans of the late Michael McGrath, of Croagh. The sad circumstances of his death the result of a quarry accident while he was at his day’s work have excited the pity of everybody in the locality, and all classes are combining to show some practical sympathy. The need for something such will be at once apparent when it is pointed out that Mrs. McGrath is now left with, six helpless children of varying ages from ten years, to about six weeks, and this poor family has no means of support except what their own efforts will be worth on a small bare piece of mountain farm. The committee hope to raise sufficient to give a little annual help to tide this sadly bereaved family over a few years. Collectors have been appointed for the various districts of the Pettigo parish, and so far are meeting with a generous response. Messrs. D.J. Flood J.P., Pettigo and William Robinson, of Carne, are treasurers of this fund. Subscriptions from those on whom collectors do not call will be gratefully received and acknowledged by either of these treasurers, or by Fr. McCarvill, C.C. president of the committee.

 

Impartial Reporter, February 12th 1914. INFANTILE PARALYSIS. TWELVE CASES REPORTED. SERIOUS OUTBREAK IN IRVINESTOWN. A serious outbreak of infantile paralysis has taken place in Irvinestown Union. The affection is very rare and Dr. Aiken has reported the outbreak to the Irvinestown Board of Guardians. The children get a headache at night  and next morning their legs and arms are paralyzed and they lie helpless in bed. Some children never get over the attack. The course of the disease is strange and Dr. Aiken is not aware of the cause nor did he know if the disease was contagious.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 14th 1914. FLOATING MAILBOX. The last mailbox sent from St. Kilda before the instillation of wireless telegraphy on the island, is at present exhibited at the Scotch House, Knightsbridge. For several months boats, cannot approach the island, and the only means of communication has been the precarious one of the floating mail-box, a small boat-shaped receptacle, which was cast into the sea with the letters to be carried to the mainland by the current. Sometimes the floating mail was never heard of again. Sometimes it drifted to far-off lands – to Labrador and even to the coast of South America.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 14th 1914. HE, SHE, AND IT.—Commenting on the

fact that the most recent statistics on the French birth-rate show that families with only one child are in the majority, a writer in the Paris “Matin” somewhat bitterly remarks that the French family outside of monsieur and madam may be said to consist of:—A dog, a piano, a child. Monsieur plays with the dog (says this critic), Madame plays the piano, and the baby is left to either the grand-mother, the aunt, or the maid servant.

TANGO IN THE TRAIN.—Tango dancing in express trains is the latest American social novelty.- The honour of inventing this new relief from the tedium of travel belongs to a number of wealthy Chicago people, who are planning to attend the festival of Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) at New Orleans. They have invited 250 of their friends to accompany them  in a .special train to which a ballroom car will be attached for the 922 mile journey. The train has been christened “The Tango Special.”

ACTRESS DOG-WHIPS EDITOR.—According to telegrams from Vancouver Miss Marie Lloyd brought off a sensational coup at the offices of the ‘‘Vancouver World” a newspaper which published what the artist considered insulting criticisms of her songs. Armed with a dog-whip Miss Marie Lloyd presented herself at the newspaper office, and before anyone could intervene inflicted several blows with the whip upon the editor, Mr. Louis Taylor, a former Mayor.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 14th 1914. JOTTINGS. The salary of the Clerk to be appointed by the Bundoran Town Commissioners has been fixed at £10 annum. The appointment will be made at the next monthly meeting.

Several of the business establishments and private residences in Lisnaskea are now lighted by electricity.

Over two hundred pounds is expended annually on outdoor relief in Lisnaskea Union. Last week R. O. Maguire expended £3 0s 6d, and R. O. McCorry expended £1 on outdoor relief.

The Ballyshannon Catholic Club Dance, which will be held in the Rock Hall, Ballyshannon, on Wednesday night next, the 18th inst., promises to be a huge success. Already numerous replies accepting invitations and promising to be present have been received from ladies and gentlemen in all the neighbouring towns. A notable feature of the dance will be the appearance for the first time in Ballyshannon of a local amateur orchestra, which will supply music quite as attractive and up-to-date as well-known expensive combinations from a distance. The Dance Committee is leaving nothing undone to make the dance an unprecedented success. It is therefore to be hoped that ladies and gentlemen to whom invitations have been sent will show their appreciation in the only possible way by attending the dance.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 14th 1914. STRUCK WITH STAIR ROD. CORONER’S JURY FIND THAT OCCURRENCE WAS ACCIDENTAL CHARGE OF WOUNDING. ACCUSED DISCHARGED.

The circumstances attending the sad death of a boy aged ten years, named Michael Donnelly, son of Mr. James Donnelly, Assistant-County Surveyor for Fermanagh, were inquired into by Mr. G. A. Atkinson, Coroner, and a Jury, in the County Hospital, Enniskillen, on Saturday evening.

Mr H. E. Richie present on behalf of Patrick Mallon, a boy aged 14 years, who resides with his parents at Orchard Terrace.

FATHER’S EVIDENCE.

James Donnelly, father of deceased, gave evidence of identification and said that after his son received the injuries, that resulted, in his death he was taken to Mr W. S. Taylor’s establishment, “The Medical Hall,” where they were temporarily dressed, and the assistant advised him to consult a doctor. Accordingly Dr. Donnelly was visited, Said he ordered the boy’s removal to the County Hospital. Answering Mr. Ritchie, witness said his son and Mr Mallon’s boy had always been on good friends and there was no ill feeling.

BOYS’ PLAY.

Charles Harte, a lad of ten years told how deceased was injured. He stated that he and deceased and. two other boys were playing at the back of Orchard Terrace when some stones  were thrown in fun, and Paddy Mallon fired an old stair rod at the back of deceased’s head. It flew round, and went into his head there, added witness, pointing to his temple. He fell to the ground, and told me to catch him by the arm, and I brought him into his grandfather’s house.

In reply to a question, witness said the stair rod stuck in deceased’s head. .Witness tried to pull it out, but failed, and then Paddy Mallon pulled it out. Donnelly threw a stone at Mallon before he fired the rod.

Mr. Ritchie — Were you playing cowboys?

Witness — No; we were playing that the day before.

Were you not all playing together? Yes.

 

Impartial Reporter, February 19th 1914. WOMEN POLICE. NEW SUCCESS IN AMERICA. New York is to follow the example of Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities in different parts of America by creating a force of women police. The Police Commissioner is to be empowered to appoint twenty patrol women immediately, and as many more as he deems advisable later on. The police woman has come to stay in America and they have been such a success in Chicago, which was the first city to take the experiment seriously that the Chief of police has asked for fifteen more women to reinforce the squad of ten which were appointed last August.

Women are assigned to do duty at public parks, dance halls, places of amusement, or in patrol duty in the streets, and in Chicago they have done excellent work in protecting young girls and women from annoyance, insult and the machinations of while slavers.

The New York Bill stipulates the police women must be citizens, 5ft 8ins high, and not less than 30 nor more than 45 years old. They are to receive the same pay as regular patrol men.

 

Impartial Reporter, February 19th 1914. 2410 PIGS. At the recent pig market in Birmingham there were no fewer than 2410 pigs from Ireland – a number twice as large as that from England. Unquestionably there is a big market for pigs of the right kind and prices are very good. Sows especially, command a very high figure, no less than £14 being paid for a fat sow in Derby recently.

 

Impartial Reporter, February 19th 1914. PETTIGO. SOIREE IN CASHELINNEY. The annual soiree in connection with Lettercran L.O.L. 1269 was held in Cashelinney Orange Hall on Friday evening the 13th. After a liberal supply of tea and cake on the motion of Br. John Johnston, W.M., the chair was taken amid applause by Br. J. S. Collins, district secretary, who delivered a very forcible instructive address on the Home Rule Crisis. The Rev. A. Duff, Presbyterian minister Pettigo also addressed the meeting.

Afterwards songs were contributed by Miss E. A. Hillard, and Mr T. Hilliard, Gortanessy, Mr William Rutherford, Ederney, Mr J. Forsythe, Killeter, Mr R. Bell, Tievemore, Mr D. Johnston, Lettercran, and Miss H. Falls, Tievemore. All were heartily encored and kindly responded. Miss Eva Bell and Miss E. A. Hillard played the accompaniments during the evening.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 21st 1914. IRELAND. STRIKE IN LIMERICK.—Some thirty carmen and porters employed by Messrs. J. and G. Boyd, Seedsmen etc., struck work on Saturday, owing to the dismissal of one of their number. It is hoped a settlement will be arrived at

STRIKERS’ DETERMINATION continues at Wilson’s Sawmills, Athlone. Two thousand workmen paraded the town on Saturday. In speeches at a meeting it was declared that the men would not go back to work with non-unionists even if they had to live in fields and subsist on turnips. If labourers were imported from England they would know how to deal with them. The chairman of the company is endeavouring to arrange matters.

ON THE FOYLE — The largest vessel ever built on the Foyle in Derry was successfully launched on Saturday. The vessel is named the San Francisco; the owners being the Isthmian Steamship Company, of London and New York. The San Francisco has a dead-weight capacity of nearly 9,000 tons, and when in commission is expected to maintain a speed of twelve knots per hour.

 

Impartial Reporter, February 26th 1914. TWO POLITICAL DEPUTATIONS FROM GREAT BRITAIN CALL AT ENNISKILLEN TO SEE THE ENNISKILLEN HORSE. Two political deputations visited Enniskillen last week; one from the city of Lincoln (composed of two unionists, two Liberals and two Socialists and one from four constituencies in Ayrshire consisting of four Unionists and ten Liberals. The Lincoln party arrived from Sligo at 12.30 like previous deputations. They had visited Cork County, Limerick, Galway and came by Sligo to Enniskillen; but, however, diverse were their political views they were all of one way of thinking when they left Enniskillen – that they had no idea of Irish affairs till they visited Ireland, that they found boycotting a more dreadful thing than they expected; and that they had no conception of the reality of the Volunteers till they came to Enniskillen and saw things for themselves.

Mr Trimble, Commander, met the Lincoln party at the train and as he escorted them to their hotel they saw Mr Kerr’s (A) Squadron of the Enniskillen Horse at drill on the Goal Aquare. The visitors immediately became interested and wished to see the Volunyteers. They saw them. They heard the Commander address the squadron and learned that there were two other squadrons of like character – all with horses, equipment and uniform provided by the men themselves out of their own resources; and that these men contributed their money, their energy and time to acquire some degree of proficiency in training on account of the grave national and local issues at stake.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. VICTIM OF “PENNY HORRIBLES.” At Belfast Police Court a young man named Hugh Baillie was charged with housebreaking. The defending solicitor said Baillie’s parents attributed his outbreak to reading “penny horribles.” He had been reading this class of literature since he was fifteen. The magistrates allowed him out under the Probation Act.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. ON VERGE OF STARVATION.

DONEGAL ISLANDERS EXPERIENCE. PANIC STRICKEN PEOPLE. The latest particulars regarding the submerged island off the Donegal coast show that the disaster was even more calamitous than at first reported.

It was not a tidal wave but a terrific sustained gale, accompanied by abnormally high spring tides, that caused the destruction on the island of Iniskeragh. The entire resident population were driven from their .homes, and are only recovering and are only recovering from an absolutely panic stricken condition.

Upon the islet there are a couple of dozen residences protected from the Atlantic by an embankment. The population of Iniskeragh is 130 persons who gain their livelihood by gathering from the rocks seaweed for the kelp manufacture.

During the recent gale a succession of waves  swept over Iniskeragh submerging the greater part of its area of 52 acres. The inhabitants were asleep when the ocean burst through the embankment and in a few moments the water reached the dwellings.  Heartrending scenes ensued.

Fathers carrying children on .their backs rushed from their homes through the icy water.

The bulk of the population managed to reach high ground, but for a time it was feared that three men had been drowned. It was ascertained after, however that the men had escaped by clambering into a boat which been loosed from its moorings.

When day broke the famished people saw their houses surrounded by water reaching nearly to the roofs, while the entire fruit of their industry for kelp making were swept into the sea.

The men managed to drive the cattle, to a place of safety, but two beasts were drowned while this operation was being effected. For three hours the waves continued to pour over the embankment and were rapidly approaching the eminence upon which the famished population was; huddled, when the gale subsided and the ebb set in.

The unfortunate residents with ruined homes, damaged boats, and kelp stores swept away, are upon the verge of starvation. They declare that unless help is forthcoming to enable them to reconstruct the embankment, residence on Iniskeragh is impossible.

Thirty-three years ago the same island was similarly ravaged by the seas.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. ITEMS FROM ABROAD.

RUSSIAN. BANDITS’ COUP.—The St. Petersburg ‘Gazeta” reports that bandits have ambushed forty vehicles on the Lodz Road and robbed over one hundred passengers, three being seriously wounded.

LABOUR WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. Mr. Tom Matthews, the miners’ leader in a speech at Fordsburg said the men should not go down the mines until, the deported leaders had been recalled.

MIDNIGHT BAPTISMS IN THE ICE.— Thirteen converts to Mormonism, five of them servant girls, were “baptised” at midnight by immersion in the river at Wattbach, near St. Galen, Switzerland, after the ice had been broken.

PREPARING PARIS FOR WAR. — At the French Cabinet Council, the Minister of War stated he had made changes in the military, aeronautic organisation, and he was taking steps for the provisioning of Paris in the event of war.

MADE £20,000. — The “Sydney Bulletin” says:—It’s genuine that John McCormack, the famous Irish, tenor, made £20,000 here. He deserves it. Bigger men than he is, or ever

will be; have only scored modestly for they came to sell the last remnants of their musical stock. McCormick gave us the pick of his goods – fresh and yet ripe. Some of that £20,000 was for the complement. It will do us good in bringing us more artistes in their golden prime.

TRAGEDY OF DISOBEDIENCE.—Guiditta Scarsella, a dressmaker, aged 17, has died at Tivoli, near Rome, as the result of an act of disobedience. Three days .ago the girl, disregarding her mother’s prohibition, went to a cinema palace to see a film representing the.  tango. When she returned home she assaulted her mother, and the latter struck the girl so , violently with a stick that she fractured her collar bone and inflicted serious injuries on her skull causing death. The mother has been arrested and will be charged with manslaughter.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. JOTTINGS; At a special court in Clones on Saturday a youth named John Blessing was returned for trial on the charge of stealing a silver watch, a gold ring, and a pair of trousers, the property of a farmer named Edward Greenan, with whom he was employed.

The Master (Mr, McKenna) was granted permission at the meeting of the Manorhamilton, Board of Guardians on Thursday to prosecute a woman on the charge of vagrancy. He said she had been admitted eleven times within fifteen days and would not submit to any rules.

“Children get too old-fashioned when they are awhile here and are not much use when they go out to the country,” remarked Mr James Murphy at the meeting of the Lisnaskea Board of Guardians on Saturday.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. FERMANAGH BREACH OF PROMISE CASE SETTLED. This case drew a great deal of interest and the prospect of revelations drew a large number of expectant visitors, especially women to the galleries. It was held in Dublin before Mr Justice Kenny.

The plaintiff was Miss Sara Donegan, the daughter of a farmer residing at Newtownbutler, County of Fermanagh, and the defendant, Deegan a hotel proprietor and publican in Ashford, Co. Wicklow. The association between the parties arose from the publication of the following advertisement which appeared in the “Daily Independent” on the1st April last “Matrimony.—Farmer, 37′ (R.C.), worth £1,200, desires correspondence with a farmer’s daughter, County Wicklow, with fortune; about 30. Genuine. Box No. 9,175 Independent Office. The plaintiff, who claimed £500 damages alleged that the promise to marry her was made on the 13th August verbally, by the defendant. The latter pleaded that assuming the promise to have been made, the plaintiff was not ready and willing to carry out the promise. It was said that the case arose from an advertisement on April 1st (laughter and that the pair had fallen in love with each other’s photographs (laughter.) The case was settled by a payment of £25 to the plaintiff and a similar sum for costs.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. LEFT WORKHOUSE WEARING UNION CLOTHES. MAN AND WIFE SENT TO PRISON. At Enniskillen Petty Sessions Mr. F. J. Duffy, workhouse master charged Ellen McCaffery: an inmate of the house with disobedience. The Master stated that the defendant, after being admitted to the house on the 10th inst., ran out of the boardroom and remained away for some days wearing the Union clothes. She had been guilty of similar offences recently, and he cautioned her.

He also charged Hugh McCaffery, husband of the defendant, with a similar offence. He left on Friday evening, the 13th inst., and remained away for some days wearing the Union clothes. He got no permission to leave. The magistrates sentenced each of the defendants to one month’s imprisonment with hard labour.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. POULTRY AND FISH. NEW ESTABLISHMENT OPENED IN ENNISKILLEN. Mr James Gillen, a member of an old and respected Enniskillen family has opened a poultry and fishmonger business at 34 Darling St., Enniskillen. Mr Gillen has a large and extensive experience of the trade. He has received a large consignment of salt herring in barrels, kegs and firkins which will be sold cheaply to traders in town and country.

 

Fermanagh Herald. February 28th 1914. IRISH DISASTER. LIFEBOAT LOST AND 10 MEN DROWNED. The disaster occurred off the Saltee Islands to the south of Wexford ten miles from Carnsore Point. The three-master schooner Mexico with a cargo of mahogany for Liverpool was driven ashore on the Kerrig Rocks. The Fethard lifeboat was first to the rescue but was capsized and the crew flung into the sea. Five bodies have been recovered so far.

1914-1918 news in Fermanagh – January 1914.

January 1914.

Fermanagh in WW1 from the newspapers of the time – the Impartial Reporter, owned and edited by William Copeland Trimble (Pro Unionist, Ulster Volunteer Force and anti-Home Rule under the leadership of Sir Edward Carson, whose other chief topics were in support of Temperance and Protestantism in all its various religious forms in the locally) and the Fermanagh Herald (strongly Nationalist, pro Home Rule, Roman Catholicity, Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Ireland news, the Irish National Volunteers and the Irish Party under John Redmond.)

 

In the highly charged political situation of Ireland at the time the pro and anti-Home Rule debate raged in both papers often to the great exclusion of local material from Fermanagh and surrounding counties that is until WW1 breaks out in August when war news takes precedent. Neither newspaper has a monopoly of the truth and exaggeration and hype takes over on many, many occasions to the degree that a reader of this present era might easily reach the conclusion that a plague on both their houses would not be a bad thing. But then these newspapers did not have the benefit of hindsight so we have to take what they published and make the best of our own conclusions.

 

Impartial Reporter, January 1st 1914. All future orders for linen are now being booked in America with a “riot clause” in accordance with the notification of the Belfast manufacturers that they cannot be responsible for delays due to disturbances over the Home Rule Bill.

The hatpin as worn by ladies is now banned in Paris. The protruding hatpin is forbidden in public places unless furnished with a guard or sheath.

Latin was the subject of an English Headmasters’ Conference at Reading; and it was resolved that every member of the conference should pledge himself to adopt the reformed pronunciation throughout the schools. One speaker said that at Oxford the pronunciation was a “farrago” – a cacophonous jargon.

Mr Lloyd George has gone to the Riviera. We shall have a rest for a time from his tongue.

A League of Politeness has been started in New York, mainly to discourage spitting on the pavement and gum-chewing.

Wax models of female figures in Berlin business houses, displaying corsets, have been deemed so bad that the police have seized some, and photographed others with a view to prosecution of the owners.

Over 800 men and women bathed in the sea at Plymouth on Christmas Day and said they enjoyed it.

Mr. Harold Smith M.P. is engaged to the sister of his brother’s wife, Mr. F. E. Smith, M.P. When the marriage takes place it will be the only instance in the House of two brothers married to two sisters.

The Famine in Japan. In two provinces of Japan the peasants are selling their daughters as “white slaves.”

The death is announced from Australia of Robert Lowe, who was born in Boa Island, Co., Fermanagh, on July 23rd, 1861, and served in the Hong Kong Police before proceeding to Kalgourlie. He leaves a wife and six children.

A water famine in winter is a strange thing, but this state of things existed in Montreal last week-end. The intake of the local water supply failed; and in consequence hospitals were compelled to use aerated waters by the ton, while the poor used melted snow.

Foreign motorists will be taxed at 1s 9d per day for the use of their motor cars in Austria from today. It must be paid in advance. In England or France motorist are allowed four months free of tax.

The Tango has been prohibited by King Victor Immanuel and in consequence the British, Austrian, German and Spanish Ambassadors have decided to forbid the dance at their entertainments. The Kaiser has also banned this dance.

So many cases of poisoning have occurred in the United States by taking of the wrong bottle by sick people that one firm of druggists now put up poison in coffin-shaped bottles, with a spiked surface, so that it cannot be mistaken for any other.

The King and Queen it is suggested may visit Ireland next summer on the advice of His Majesty’s Ministers, but such a visit will not take place if the Home Rule Bill be before the Houses of Parliament.

At Enniskillen, Hugh Dolan, Derrybrusk, was fined 10s and 1s cost for being drunk in charge of a horse and cart on the 23rd December.

Impartial Reporter, January 1st 1914. ENNISKILLEN RAILWAY STATION. An engine ran off the metals during shunting operations. The obstruction which happened near the goods shed blocked all the traffic from 5 until 10 a.m. during which passengers were obliged to change from one train to another. With the aid of a spare engine and screw-jacks the line was eventually cleared.

On Christmas Eve and intoxicated man, Edward Kelly, Lisbellaw, fell off the platform at Enniskillen Station. An engine was about within a yard of him when he was seen. The police removed him to the barrack in a hand cart. At the Petty sessions he was fined 3s 6d and costs.

On Monday evening five persons were conveyed from Enniskillen to Sligo Jail by the 6.40 p.m. train. The departure of  ”the boys” created a stir.

Fermanagh Herald. January 3rd, 1914. ACTION FOR LIBEL AGAINST MR W. C. TRIMBLE, J.P. £5 DAMAGES AWARDED. In court in Dublin Mr John E. Collum, gentleman, residing at Bellvue, Enniskillen brought an action for damages of £500 for libel against William Copeland Trimble, proprietor and editor of the Impartial Reporter, Enniskillen. The matter concerned the Fermanagh Industrial Exhibition and a prizewinning show of apples from Mr. Collum’s garden which appeared under the name of his gardener, Patrick Drumm, who had been employed by the family for over forty-seven years. Mr. Drumm sold and accounted for what he sold and entered the apples from Collum’s garden under his own name. In an article in the Impartial Reporter on 9th October 1913, Mr Trimble alleged that as a member of the committee of the Industrial Exhibition, Mr Collum, should not have competed under someone else’s name and that the matter was in essence committee members awarding cups – to whit the Apple Challenge Cup – to themselves. The following week he published a full apology.

Mr Sergeant Sullivan in opening the case said it had nothing to do with religion or politics but sprang from the discord that arose from the source of all human ills – it was a case about apples. (Laughter.)  Mr Trimble had been an unsuccessful exhibitor and complained afterwards that Paddy Drum had no orchard although acknowledging that the fruit were undoubtedly the best in the show. £5 damages were awarded to Mr Collum. Mr Trimble acknowledged that the previous good relations between himself and Mr Collum would continue.

Fermanagh Herald. January 3rd, 1914. DUBLIN’S BLACK CHRISTMAS. THOUSANDS ON THE VERGE OF STARVATION. THE DARKEST DAYS OF THE STRIKE.

The Dublin correspondent .of .the “Daily News’ writing on St. Stephen’s Day, says —The sad underworld of Dublin has known neither peace or good will this Christmastide. It has

been a black Christmas—half a city, or a hundred .thousand human souls, on the verge of starvation, worn so thin in body by four months’ turmoil and idleness that their clothes hang on them as on a scarecrow.

The fight goes on while the rest of the world and his wife are merry-making. It is so bitter that it is even impossible to call a truce at Christmas. The weekly food ship, called the Christmas ship, has just saved the Dublin underworld from the mental and physical torture of black despair.

In Liberty Hall, with its frowsy sprigs of holly and mistletoe, there is a warmth of Christmas welcome on the dirty walls and ceilings. The icy winds from the Liffey have driven some of the men and women round a. glowing fire. Here there is a bit of shelter from the winds that’ make wild music in the dead forest of ships.

THE DARKEST DAY.

Christmas Day has been the darkest day of the .strike. “A happy Christmas to you all,” said that peace envoy, Mr. Arthur Henderson, M.P., when he bade the conference good-bye round the crackling fire at the Shelbourne Hotel last Saturday. At the back of his mind he knew what the failure of the conference meant to the slum dwellers. There was just a tinge of sadness and pity in his voice when he spoke those words. Who has ever known a happy Christmas in a Dublin slum?

There is slum I should like you to peep into this Christmas for it is typical of all the miserable warrens in Dublin where the hollow-cheeked men, the wizened-faced women, and the dull-eyed children are pretending to be happy. Some of the slum people live as primitively as the cave-dwellers. You have never heard of Thomas-court, Fitzwilliam-lane, Dublin. It is an open sore of misery and poverty. It is a slum that has been condemned, closed, and reopened. It lies strangely hidden in the midst of wealth and plenty at the back of Merrion Square, where all those fine gentlefolk live who go shopping in their motors in Grafton Street. At one end of the lane there is a big house where the Duke of Wellington used to live— in fact one side of the house stands in this re-opened slum.

Christmas in Thomas-court was very nearly the same monotonous existence as other days of the year. A few extra pence procured an extra meal. Someone had given the children a flag or two such as you see stuck in a plum pudding, but there was no pudding. The smell of the rich man’s Christmas dinner was wafted into Thomas-court, which overlooks the gardens at the back of Merrion-square. Riches and poverty were never thrown so close to each other—there is only a crumbling wall between them,

LIFELESS CUL-DE-SAC. Thomas-court is a slum within a slum—a dark, lifeless cul de sac, where the women are pre-maturely grey and old and where the children have their Christmas games in black corners. You -approach it stealthily, as you would a dungeon …….

 

Fermanagh Herald. January 3rd, 1914. JOTTINGS. We understand that Mr. Thomas Maguire, J.P., Munville House, Lisnaskea, sold about 4000 horses during the year 1913. Nearly 2,000 of these were purchased by representatives of the Italian Government.

No markets were held in Lisnaskea on Saturday, and the town presented a deserted appearance.

Two persons were fined at Lisnaskea Petty Sessions on Saturday for breaches of the Lighting-up Order.

The new hall of the Maguiresbridge Division A.O.H. will be opened to-day (Thursday). Addresses will be delivered by several prominent Hibernians.

Owing to the opposition of some ratepayers to the proposal to strike a rate for the lighting of the streets of Lisnaskea by electricity, it is expected that the Local Government Board will hold an inquiry into the matter.

The new dwelling-houses in the Main Street, Lisnaskea, belonging to Mr. Thomas Maguire, J.P., Munville House have now been completed.

There should be a big attendance at the forthcoming lecture in Lisnaskea by Mr. F. J. Bigger,

M. R.I.A., in aid of the Lisnaskea, Pipers’ Band.

 

Impartial Reporter, January 8th 1914. DEPRIVATION OF HIS PENSION? At Brookeborough Petty Sessions Bernard McElroy, an old age pensioner was charged with drunkenness having previously been let off lightly on a similar charge and a recommendation made that his pension not be forfeited. Defendant said he was in the town at a funeral and said he got a wee drop” too much. Mr Sparrow, R.M. “You have no right to spend public money in this way. Defendant, “I was only at a funeral.” The defendant was let off with a 1s fine, and the chairman told him that if he came up again an order would be made by the Bench that he be deprived of his pension for six months.

 

Impartial Reporter, January 8th 1914. TEMPO – THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK. COMMENTS ON THE HOME RULE BILL. The brethren of Tempo L.O.L. met in the Parochial Hall, recently lit by electricity, on Friday. Bands were present from Ballyreagh, Clabby and Tempo (2), and a flute band from Cornafanog. Brother Frank Armstrong of Ballyreagh, Brookeborough, believed it was the duty of every Protestant to raise his voice in every way possible against Home Rule which would mean ruin to their country. They were passing through a grave crisis which for them would mean peace or war, and it behoved every one of them, as Protestants and Unionists to stand together shoulder to shoulder in the present struggle for in the words of the motto before him “United we stand and divided we fall.” (Hear, Hear.)

 

Impartial Reporter, January 8th 1914. DEATH AND FUNERAL OF SERGEANT MAJOR COLLINS. LISNASKEA. It is with regret that we have to record the death of Sergeant Major John Collins, retired United States Army, which took place at the home of his brother Mr Jeremiah Collins, Derryanny, Lisnaskea. On the day before Christmas he fell attending the funeral of a friend. He sustained fractured ribs and he passed away as a result of pneumonia despite the best attentions of Dr. Knox. He had a remarkable career, firstly, in the Royal Irish Constabulary which he joined in 1865, then the 27th Inniskillings where he spent thirteen years in India and then went to Canada and the United States where he joined the United States Army and served 25 years. For his “valour and ability” in three engagements in Cuba he was made promoted Sergeant Major. He was noted on his return home for his unbounded charity to the poor. “Sergeant Major Collins now lies, (dressed in his martial uniform), in the family burying ground in peaceful Aghalurcher, a large whitethorn standing sentinel over his grave, and which will shed its sweet fragrance each succeeding year as a tribute to the departed soldier’s love of friends and native land.”

 

Impartial Reporter, January 8th 1914. LET SLEEPING PIGS LIE. Pigs should never be disturbed when they are resting. Experience has shown that when a pig is lying down quietly particularly after meals, he is putting on flesh. That, indeed, is one of the secrets of the remarkable success of Adamson’s Pig Powder. When a little of the powder is mixed with the animal’s food, it will be noticed that he soon manifests a marked desire to rest after each feed, thereby assisting the process of assimilation and digestion, resulting in a substantial gain of weight. The powder can be obtained from Messrs Adamson and Co., chemists, Darling Street and Townhall St., Enniskillen at 4s 6d per stone. Post 6d extra.  

 

Impartial Reporter, January 22nd 1914. DROWNED. LOSS OF SUBMARINE SUNK OFF PLYMOUTH WITH A CREW OF ELEVEN. There was no salvage vessel in port when another terrible disaster struck a British submarine. It happened at Whitesand Bay near Plymouth on Friday. The A 7 while engaged in instructional exercises with the rest of the flotilla was returning to Plymouth soon after midday, partially submerged, when her periscope was missed. Search was immediately made for her and divers began work. A hope of saving her crew – two officers and nine men – was abandoned. Divers at first established communication. At first they received answering signals but these ceased for some hours, and the crew have perished. How the A 7 happened to sink is at present inexplicable.

Impartial Reporter, January 29nd 1914. 500 MACHINE GUNS FOR ULSTER. VOLUNTEERS TO WEAR UNIFORM. Among the decisions reached during the recent deliberations in Belfast of the Ulster Provisional Government, over which Sir Edward Carson presided were the following: – To stop further recruiting for the Ulster Volunteers. To provide a distinctive uniform for the 110,000 men enrolled, ninety per cent of whom have been passed as efficient. It was reported that a sufficient number of modern rifles and bayonets were available to arm 80 per cent of the force and the manufacture of an ample supply of ammunition had begun locally and that the materials for the construction of 500 machine guns had reached certain destinations.