That Little Chap of Mine.

Variations and reduced versions of this poem are to be found on the Internet usually related to a temperance theme and all are described as anonymous. This seems to be the original from which the rest are drawn and it does have a recognised source.

Impartial Reporter. April 1 1915. 

 

THAT LITTLE CHAP OF MINE.

 

I know I’m just an ordinary, easy going cuss,

‘Bout the common run of men, no better an’ no wuss.

I can’t lay claim to anything as far as looks may ago,

An’ when it comes to learning, why, I don’t stand any show. 

But there must be something more in me than other folks can see,

‘Cause I’ve got a little chap at home that thinks a heap of me.

 

I’ve had my ups and downs in life as most folks have, I guess,

An,’ taken all in all, I couldn’t brag of much success,

But it braces up a feller and it tickles him to know

There’s someone that takes stock in him, no matter how things go,

An’ when I get the worst of it, I’m proud as I kin be

To know that little chap of mine still thinks a heap of me.

 

To feel his little hand in mine, so trusting and so warm,

To know he thinks I’m strong enough to keep him from all harm,

To see his loving faith and all that I can say or do

That sort of shames a feller, but it makes them better too,

An’ so I try to be the man he fancies me to be,

Just ‘cause that little chap of mine, he thinks a heap of me.

 

I wouldn’t disappoint his trust for anything on earth,

Or let him know how little I just naturally, am worth,

And after all, it’s easy up the better road to climb,

With a little hand to help you on an’ guide you all the time. 

And I reckon I’m a better man than what I used to be,

Since I’ve got a little chap at home that thinks a heap of me. 

 

Ida Goldsmith Morris.

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.

 

Fermanagh Crime 1839.

July 25th 1839.  ENNISKILLEN PROSTITUTION. Owing to the highly creditable exertions of George Speare Esq., Senior magistrate, three of those unfortunate females who have so frequently disturbed and annoyed the peaceable and well-disposed inhabitants of this town and neighbourhood were brought at our last assizes before Judge Torrens; tried and convicted under the vagrant act of being idle, dissolute characters – having no settled place of residence.  They were each sentenced to three months imprisonment – to give a bail at the end of that time, themselves in £10.00 each and two sureties in £5.00 each; to be of the peace and good behaviour to her Majesty’s subjects, in default of which to be transported for seven years.  The example set by this respectable gentleman cannot be too highly appreciated, in endeavouring to free our town and suburbs from the gross scenes of obscenity and drunkenness constantly practised by groups of depraved females who infest and prowl about the streets, seducing others of their own sex and gathering to themselves kindred spirits of iniquity which we exceedingly regret cannot be apprehended. It gives us pleasure to learn that it is this gentleman’s determination to cause such characters to be taken up from time to time, and lodged in gaol want and disposed of at next quarter sessions or assizes.

August 9th 1839. Farmers should see that their servants would not leave home unprovided with double reins to their horses. It is an infraction of the law, for which the police had several persons fined at Petty Sessions on Monday last.

August 9th 1839. On Monaghan Assizes, John Meehan was found guilty of rape on the person of Anne Hughes. Sentence of death was recorded.

September 5th 1839. A MOST DIABOLICAL ACT was committed on the lands of Mullaneeny, barony of Knockninny, sometimes since by cutting off the tails of three cows, the property of Francis Maguire, a tenant of Mr Creighton’s property. A large reward has been offered for the discovery and apprehension of the misguided persons who committed the offence. The only cause suspected for the wanton outrage, is that of paying his rent before his neighbours!!

October 10th 1839. One of the most extraordinary species of theft was committed on the Rev. James Sheil, P.P. of Enniskillen a few nights since. In a field near Castlecoole, the Rev. Gentleman had a quantity of wheat in stooks, and some person or persons unknown carried off several sheaves out of many of them.

The Night of the High Wind from the Impartial Reporter newspaper.

January 10 1839.  For the last 40 years this country was not visited with so furious a Gale of wind, or one as generally and awfully destructive in its effects, as that which took place on Sunday night last.  At about 10.15 we felt the first symptoms of it from the south and south-east from which it continued to increase in violence until past 12, when it blew a tremendous hurricane from the east; about 3.00 AM in the morning it chopped about to S.S.E. again for  half an hour, after which it flew round ten points of the compass in as many minutes, blowing with terrific force from west by north where it continued until 8 o’clock when it shifted a point or two more northwards: it blew very fresh during Monday until the afternoon, when it lulled and a heavy fall of snow came on which continued all night and part of Tuesday.  A strong frost has since set in.

On my Monday morning the town presented a frightful aspect; the shops were all closed as if death had visited the inmates of each; the streets were covered with broken slates, thatch and rubbish from the different chimneys blown down and the roofs taken of.  An awful extent of damage has been done; windows broken and blown in; trees uprooted; roofs blown off; chimneys thrown down; floors forced in; cattle maimed and killed, and hay and corn blown away.

Providentially we have heard of no human lives lost, except one man who, living near the edge of the lake, went upon the roof of his house during the night to preserve it by putting weights on it, and he himself was blown away and perished in the angry waters.  Mr. Marshall, an inmate at Eden, the residence of the George Rankin, Esq., narrowly escaped with his life, he having been but a few minutes left his room through the entreaties of Mr. Rankin, when a stack of chimneys fell through the roof: it would have crushed him to death!  It would be impossible for us to enumerate in detail the losses sustained, but, we may mention of three houses have been blown down in the Castle lane.  The large ballroom in their rear of Mr. Willis’s hotel, is in ruin, there is scarcely a pane of glass left in the front of the town hall, the roof and window of the Church have been much injured, the Roman Catholic Chapel is partly unroofed and the stone cross shattered to fragments; the greater part of the old distillery of the Messrs. Innis and Armstrong is level with the ground, and their brewery much injured; the massive lead sheeting and roof of the jail was rolled up and stripped off by the wind, like so much tissue paper; £2,000 pounds we learn will not repair the damage sustained by Portora Royal School.  One of the lightning conductors, formed of a thick pole bound to an immense strong bar of iron, in the Castle barrack, was beaten to the earth like a twig.  The sentry boxes were upset in all directions.  There is not a house in the town but has suffered less or more from the effects of the Gale.

Hay and corn are mostly blown away and scattered for miles through the hills: their prospects are most melancholy, may God pity them and assist them under this awful visitation of his wrath.  The Belfast mail, which left this on Sunday night, was upset three times, and we learn that the coach man had his thigh broken in two places.  The Shareholder coach which left this for Dublin on Monday morning had returned the passengers and coach man expecting it to be blown of the road and into the fields.  The mails due here have lost several hours every day since Sunday, the Belfast particularly.  Nearly behalf of Kells is correct burned to the ground.  Part of Navan was also in flames on Monday.  Monaghan has suffered – a dreadful fire has added its horrors to those of the Gale, and the town is nearly depopulated: a party of the 38th marched from this on yesterday morning en route for it to protect the property of the unfortunate sufferers which had been saved from the flames.  Up to the hour of going to press we continue to hear occurrence of the dreadful ravages that have been engender by the storm in all directions which has been one of the most desolating and awful in its consequences that ever visited us.  The foregoing account does not contain a tithe of the damage which has been done.  It would be impossible at present to estimate it, for none have escaped.

1839 Advice on Australian Emigration.

Newcastle Courant February 15th 1839. The Hand-Book for Australian Emigrants. — “We have read not a few publications on the same subject; but there is no previous publication, so far as we know, that contains so full, ample, extended, and minute an account as ‘the Hand-Book.’ The author has no crotchets of his own to support. He seems to have read, and to have courted verbal or written information with a single eye to truth. We never read a book more free from bias or prejudice of any kind or more determined to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The Night of the High Wind – in England.

In Ireland the Night of the High Wind 6th January 1839 has been remembered vividly in Ireland. Local histories and many books have chronicled this momentous hurricane which caused so much damage and filled the newspapers for weeks afterwards. Even a Pettigo couple who married on that day were nicknamed afterwards as “the Medole McGraths” that being the Irish word for a hurricane.

As an experiment to see if this terrible event had been mentioned in English newspapers I checked in Newcastle upon-Tyne and found that with unroofed houses, churches and falling factory chimneys they had enough of their own troubles without bothering about the woes of the Irish.

Newcastle Courant January 10th 1839. DURHAM. This city was visited with a complete hurricane on Monday last, the wind blowing strong from the south west. It commenced early in the morning and continued nearly the whole of that day. The injury done to property in the city and the neighbourhood is immense, many of the houses being totally unroofed; some losing their chimneys and others much injured. The engine chimney erected at the carpet manufactuary of Messrs Henderson, fell with a tremendous crash on the roof of one of their warehouses which it totally demolished, but otherwise doing no harm, as the workmen and others usually employed in that establishment not being suffered to work for fear of any serious accident happening. The large chimney at the glass works also fell, but without doing much damage except to the adjoining garden. Two large trees standing on the Palace Green were completely torn up by the roots, the whole of the houses in the College are more or less injured, and the damage done to the Cathedral is estimated at about £100. All the shops in the town were either wholly or partially closed, and business of all kinds was completely put a stop to. Not one single life has been lost.

RYHOPE. —The gale here was most tremendous. The parsonage seems to have suffered most severely. The garden wall on the east was levelled with the ground; most of the glass in the windows of the western front was blown in; one of the outer doors, a large and massy one, was lifted from its hinges, and removed to a distance, and other damage done to a considerable amount. The chapel was partially unroofed. The chimney of one of the cottages belonging to Mr Benson fell through the roof, and the inmates narrowly escaped with their lives. Many of the corn stacks in and about the village were overturned, and , in some instances dispersed to the winds. The unroofing of houses was so general, that few have escaped a greater or less damage. A gale so violent and long-continued has not been experienced in Ryhope within the memory of the oldest inhabitant.

At Jarrow, a chimney and part of the gable end of the house of the Rev. Hugh Nanney, vicar of that place, fell, coming through the roof into the bedroom, in which Mr Nanney was sleeping, and forced the under part of the bed stock through the flooring; but, fortunately, the Reverend gentleman escaped without having sustained any injury.

Fermanagh in Space. One of Fermanagh’s Cassidys is the 500 person in space.

Neil Armstrong. Armstrongs from Fermanagh of which Neil Armstrong is perhaps the most famous of that family. His family link is this: – Armstrongs evicted as Border Reivers from Scotland to Ireland came to Fermanagh and among their descendants was Robert Armstrong of Lisnaskea, a brother of the grandfather of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon. In addition to Lisnaskea he also has Irvinestown ancestors in County Fermanagh.

Neil Armstrong1Neil Armstrong

Christa McAuliffe nee Corrigan, U.S. Astronaut. The name Corrigan is a Fermanagh name centered to the south and east of Enniskillen from whom all the Corrigans of the World take their name. If you are a Corrigan anywhere you originate in Fermanagh. Christa McAuliffe (September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. She received her bachelor’s degree in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970, and also a Master of Arts from Bowie State University in 1978. In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the spacecraft disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. After McAuliffe’s death, schools and scholarships were named in her honour, and also in 2004 she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honour.

Christa

Major General Harry George Armstrong, physician and airman, recognised as a pioneer in the field of aviation medicine, the ‘Armstrong Limit’ being named after him. This refers to the altitude; about 12 miles up in the atmosphere, where the pressure is so low that water boils at body temperature and airmen would die without a pressure space suit.

Christopher John “Chris” Cassidy (born January 4, 1970, Salem, Massachusetts, United States) is a NASA astronaut and Navy SEAL. He resides in York, Maine with his wife, Julie Byrd, and their three children. His first space flight was on Space Shuttle mission STS-127, and his second was on Soyuz TMA-08M. He is currently (31 March 2013) in space as a flight engineer for Expedition 35/36. His specializations in military tactics include long-range special reconnaissance (vehicular and foot patrols), direct action building assaults, non-compliant ship-boardings, desert reconnaissance patrols, combat diving, underwater explosives, and a variety of air operations, including parachuting, fast roping, and rappelling. He made four six-month deployments: two to Afghanistan, and two to the Mediterranean Sea. Cris Cassidy

NASA career. Cassidy was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in May 2004. He was a Mission Specialist on STS-127, and performed a total of three space walks to help install and complete components of the Japanese Experiment Module. Cassidy has been assigned to the Expedition 35 crew as a flight engineer and flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-08M (US designation: 34S), which launched on March 28, 2013. He is scheduled to participate in two US space walks from the ISS in June/July 2013.

Chris Cassidy is also the 500th person in space. He achieved this by being the designated crew member by the rest of his crew mates, during the STS-127 mission. In June and July 2013 in two space walks he will be looking down on Fermanagh, his ancestral homeland – home also to the 2013 G8 Conference.

Fermanagh’s Impartial Reporter – January 1920.

Impartial Reporter, January 8th 1920.  ROMANCE OF A PICTURE.SAID TO BE WORTH a £1,000. FIRST SOLD IN SLIGO FOR £1. A remarkable story centres round a picture which is now estimated as worth thousands of pounds, and is believed to be Russell’s long-missing work, “The Recording Angel.” The picture was taken to the Town Hall, Sligo, some six months ago with another collection, and offered for sale but attracted little attention.

It was old and worn-looking, and after repeated calls for a bid, the auctioneer bought the picture himself for £1, land the “old thing“ was stored in a warehouse and finally in the window. Then Mrs. Jackson, wife of Mr. Arthur Jackson, of Sligo, was attracted by the canvas, and eventually suggested that her daughter should buy it.

The latter did so for a sum of about £5, and subsequently took her purchase to her home in Belfast. As the picture, however, occupied too much space—being about 4 ft. by 3½—she decided to sell it, and called in a dealer in old pictures to value it. The dealer offered £50, remarking, it is said, that he was taking a risk in buying the picture at that figures as it might prove to be valueless.

The purchase was completed, and now it is reported that the painting really is Russell’s “Recording Angel,” and it is stated that the dealer has refused an offer of £1,000 for it.

The picture was taken for auction from the house of Mr. Palmer, of Shriff, Dromahair, Co. Leitrim.

 

January 8th 1920.  UNDERTAKING. I THE UNDERSIGNED withes to draw attention to the fact that he is prepared to execute orders in the undertaking, promptly and efficiently, the motto being promptitude and moderate charges.

Good horses, good hearse, coffins, stained and unstained, floral wreaths, & kept in stock.

GEO. M’CREA, Corner House, Pettigo.

 

January 8th 1920.  LUCAS D. GRAY, J.P., COMMISSIONER OF DEEDS, BALLYBAY, Co. MONAGHAN. LEGACIES AND PROPERTY IN AMERICA RECOVERED. ENQUIRIES MADE AND ESTATES WOUND UP IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD.

 

January 8th 1920.  MANORHAMILTON. £500 DAMAGES AGAINST FARMER. At a Sheriff’s Court in the Grand Jury Room, Green Street Courthouse, Dublin, Mr. Lorcan Sherlock presided with a jury to access damages in two cases in which judgement had been entered against Robert Acheson, Garrison, Co. Leitrim. (Fermanagh?)

Mr, Adam Cox (instructed by Mr Robert Macready, of R. Lonsdale & Co., Manorhamilton), who appeared for the plaintiff said, in the absence of the defendant it was only a question for the jury to access the amount of damages. Kate Ryan lived in Manorhamilton, and in 1916 she went to Garrison where she was employed in a hotel belonging to Mr. McGovern.

Her Pay and Tips..

She was paid £5 a year with her board and she also got tips. Out of this she sent whatever she could to her mother. The defendant had a farm near Garrison of about 30 acres, which was bought out. He knew the girl slightly before she went and after she went there he frequently went to see her and kept company with her.

Joined the Army Next Day.

In February, 1917, he visited her, and joined the army the following day and later came back and saw her several times. She first noticed her condition in August.  A Dr. Maguire, who visited the hotel engaged her as a servant, and Kate Ryan went with him and Mrs Maguire to Chorley, in Lancashire where they resided, and where they are still. Kate Ryan gave birth to a child in the Workhouse there in 1918. She had to pay 10s per week for the upkeep of her child.

Kate Ryan was examined, and bore out Counsel’s statement. She said the defendant offered her £50 first, and then £100 and costs, but her solicitor would not accept it.

 

January 8th 1920.  Daring Outrages in Cork.. Four Police Stations Stormed. One Blown up and “Captured” POLICE PUT IN HANDCUFFS. Three Hundred Raiders Take Part.

During Friday and Saturday nights four police barracks in the Co.,  Cork were attacked by armed men, who fired on the policemen through the windows. In one case a policeman was slightly injured.

In the neighbouring county of Kerry a police constable while walking from his lodgings to the police station in village of Ballylongford was shot and dangerously wounded.

The attack on the little police station of Carrigtwohill, in Cork, was one of the most daring outrages that have occurred in a long time. Between two and three hundred men arrived in the village at night and having cut the telegraph lines, proceeded to carry the station by storm. It was defended by a sergeant and five men, who gallantly replied to the fire of the attackers until their ammunition was exhausted.

The attack which began; at 10 o’clock and lasted until two o’clock in the morning, when the attackers blew out the gable of the barrack with gelignite and rushing through the breach, over-powered the little garrison, handcuffed them, stole all the guns in the place as well as a considerable sum of money belonging to the policemen, and marched off cheering.

It is stated that the police at Carrigtwohill observed indications of developments before the attack took place, and got a message through to Midleton which was transmitted to Cork, whence armed aid was despatched, which reached the scene too late.

Some of the raiders are reported to have left the scene in motor cars.

At South Kilmurry the police, after a sharp fight, succeeded in driving off the attackers with hand grenades. Attacks are also reported at Inchigeela, (West Cork), Carrignavar (five miles from Cork), and Rathcormac (near Fermoy). In the former place one policeman was wounded slightly, and this is the only casualty reported to have resulted from the whole series of attacks. The attacks on the three other stations of Inchigeela, South Kilmurry and Carrignavar, appear to have been beaten off. While one of them was in progress a medical doctor was held up for several hours on the roadside.

 

Barracks almost in Ruins. DETAILS OF THE ATTACK. Further details of the elaborate attack on Carrigtwohill police barracks, Co. Cork, on Saturday night show that the affair was planned in a most determined manner, and speak volumes for the pluck and tenacity of the little party of police—a sergeant and five men—who held at bay for over four hours a band of over 100 Sinn Fein ruffians. Inspection of the wrecked building revealed ample evidence of the desperate character of the battle. Every window is smashed, the ………

GRENADES IN CLARE. Doctor and Constable Wounded. On Saturday night while a police patrol was on duty protecting a local farmer in N. Clare its members were ambushed from both sides of the road from behind.

Many shots were exchanged, and on the police flinging some hand grenades – this being the first time they were used in Clare — the assailants fled. One of the constables was wounded twice, in the back and shoulder. During the conflict, Dr. Keane, Ennistymon, appeared in a motor car on a visit to a patient in the neighbourhood …..

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. The Inniskilling Dragoons. Recruiting Centre at Enniskillen. Major Fleury-Teulon arrived at Enniskillen last week to arrange for a recruiting centre of the Inniskilling Dragoons being formed at Enniskillen, and two sergeants from the mother regiment have arrived from Cologne to specially attend to this matter. Smart young men of good bearing and character are desired, so that the regiment may partake of more of the Inniskilling element, and we venture the expectation that good young soldiers from this part of the world  may look forward to a speedy rise from the lowest pay of 2s 9d per day, and many things found free for him, to a sergeant’s pay of £5 per week. The regiment now is on what may be termed holiday, in the army of occupation on the banks of the Rhine, at Cologne, and a soldier’s life there would be a delightful holiday. Already some young answered the advertisement in the Impartial Reporter and have been accepted, and it is expected that a fresh Enniskillen troop to be developed into a special Enniskillen squadron, will be formed to include Fermanagh, Tyrone and Donegal men. Several Donegal men were enrolled at the original raising of the regiment in 1689.

As Major Fleury-Teulon was educated partly at Enniskillen Royal School, it is fitting that he should come here on such a mission.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. The Dublin Union estimates are up this year by the sum of £70,000.

The Mayor and First Lady Magistrate of English town signalised her first presidency of the local police court by dismissing three cases of chimney-firing.

The New York Police seized 18 barrels of the poisonous wood alcohol, which was sufficient to kill 20,000 persons. Another sort of makeshift whisky has caused blindness where it does not kill.

A League is being started in Ireland to protest against immodest fashions in dress.

The first batch of recruits from London for the Royal Irish Constabulary arrived in Dublin from London.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. LIVELY FIGHT IN GALWAY. Onslaught on Police Barrack. Raiders Taken in Rear, Decamp. A large party of raiders attacked the police barrack at Castlehackett, Co. Galway, on the night of Thursday and Friday, with gunshot and bombs. There were only two policemen in the barrack at the time, Sergeant Higgins and Const. Gormley.

The raiders opened a fierce fire from a position behind a wall facing the barrack, but it is said that some of the shots apparently came from tops of trees surrounding the police station, some of the missiles lodging in the floor and in Sergt. Higgins’ bed, where he was when the attack commenced, and he received some gunshot pellets in the face, but his injuries are not serious.

TAKEN IN THE REAR. All the windows and doors in the building were riddled, while a bomb blew away a portion of the back wall, but it did not penetrate fully.

Another bomb which, had it exploded, would probably have demolished the whole structure; it is stated, was found subsequently. The fuse had extinguished within two inches of the explosive.

The two defenders kept firing at the attackers, but as far as the former were concerned the situation was saved by a party of four policemen guarding a patrol motor car two miles off, who heard the shots.

Taking a short cut across the fields they returned to the vicinity of the barrack, and taking its assailants in the rear opened fire. The raiders then found themselves between two fires, and they were called on to line up and they retired precipitately and Col. Bernard, of Castle Hackett compared the fusillade to that of a battle in Flanders. Police from surrounding districts were afterwards drafted into the village. In the course of the onslaught cries of “Will you surrender now” followed each volley of shot at the barrack.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. The Drumlish Affair. There is great activity by police and military throughout Co., Longford following the raid on Drumlish barrack. It is now generally believed that one of the raiders was wounded, as a shot-gun was left behind and traces of blood were observed on the roadside. The barrack during the raid was garrisoned by five policemen and six soldiers who returned the fire of the attacking party.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. DISTURBED DUBLIN, MILITARY RAIDS. Highway Robbery and Strikes, Sinn Fein and the Elections. Several incidents in connection with political unrest took place in Dublin last week.

The first was a raid by military and police on the headquarters of the Sinn Fein “Parliament” in Harcourt Street. The premises were closed, the rooms being nailed up by the soldiers. The caretaker and his wife were allowed to remain, and to gain admittance and exit to the house by the back door.

A raid was also made on rooms occupied by the New Ireland Assurance company at Bachelor’s Walk, which were visited by police last week. In this case, soldiers made a thorough search, and it is stated that some of the floors were lifted. So far as was known nothing unusual was discovered.

In connection motor drivers’ “strike” against the permit regulations, it was announced that a military guard had been posted at the premises of the Anglo-American Oil Company at North Wall where petrol supplies are stored. Such petrol as is required for military or police purposes has to be carried by Army motor lorries, and Thursday, when a consignment for petrol for military use was brought to Kingsbridge for conveyance to Cork, an attempt was made by the strike committee to prevent the railwaymen from working the train on which the petrol was loaded. The attempt, however, failed, but the actual handling of the petrol drums had to be performed by soldiers.

Later in the day a motor delivery van belonging to Messrs. Dawson and Sons newsagents, which had been stolen by a gang of unknown men last week, was found in the Liffey. A crane was employed in lifting it out from its petition in the river bed.

It was also reported that while going home from the theatre, a well-known citizen of Dublin—whose name was not disclosed—had been held up by two armed and masked men, who robbed him of all the money in his pockets.

Numerous larcenies are reported all over the city.

With regard to the municipal elections, there have been only four withdrawals, and the total number of candidates going forward for the 60 seats is 154. The Sinn Feiners are conducting a most active campaign and despite the fact that their organisation is illegal, are holding numerous meetings without interference. The plan adopted, however, is to hold “lightning” meetings at street corners without any preliminary notice. No disturbances are so far recorded.

In addition to these features of the general unrest, the strike of public-assistants continues, about five or six thousand young men being affected.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. THE ROYAL MAILS RAIDED. MORE DARING ROBBERIES.

MASKED MEN CARRY AWAY MONEY.

Raids by masked men on post office mails have occurred at Clare, Westmeath, and Galway. That at Cratloe disclosed a cleverly conceived plan, and both there and near Mullingar the robbers secured money intended for the payment of old age pensioners. The raiders in Co. Galway were disappointed the mail ear intercepted carrying merely empty bags.

The porter on duty at Cratloe on Friday morning was warned by a partially disguised man, who presented a revolver at him, not to stir for an hour after the mail train from Limerick to Ennis had passed. The train was due about three a.m.

According to one account, the raider added—“I have accomplices.” On the arrival of the train, the guard unsuspectingly threw from his van to the platform the mail bag containing letters, and £20 in cash to pay old age pensions. Subsequently an official came out to the platform to find a bundle of letters, but the cash and the mail bag had disappeared.

Near Closed Barracks.

Between five and six a.m. on Friday morning, the mail car from Mullingar to Tyrrellspass was held up between Milltown Pass and Rochford Bridge by two armed masked men, who had bicycles. In addition to ordinary mails, the car carried £16 in silver for old age pensions. The raiders seized and carefully examined all the mail bags. These they afterwards handed back, but kept the pension money. Two police stations in the vicinity have, states the Press Association, recently been closed.

The mail oar from Tuam to Galway was held up at Annaghhill, Turloughmore. Masked men jumped over the wall and called on the driver to pull up, and when he failed to do so, he got a blow of an ash-plant on the head. He then halted, and the raiders  searched the car, but found nothing.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. KERRY’S LATEST ATTEMPTED MURDER. Of Mr. Sergeant Sullivan. On Friday night, about 9.30 o’clock, Mr. Alexander Sullivan, K. C., His Majesties  First Sergeant-at-law in Ireland, Mr. H. B. Slattery, solicitor, and Mrs. Slattery were sitting down after dinner in Mr. Slattery’s residence at Clounalour, near Tralee, a knock came to the door. When the door was opened a party of about eight disguised and armed men tried to force an entrance into the house. After a scuffle, in which some shots were fired, they were ejected.

A revolver was pointed at Sergeant Sullivan, but he closed with his assailant and grasped the weapon, and when the shot went off the flash singed his eyebrow.

Mr. Slattery, when grappling with his assailants, slipped on the tiled hall and while on the ground he was kicked. The hall and staircase are riddled with bullets and show that a large number of shots must have been fired.

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. (ED. Re. the Impartial Reporter by the Editor.) There have been times when allegations were made that this newspaper was controlled by this one or that one; that it was a League medium or an Orange organ; that there was some joint proprietors &c., and in none of those statements was there one particle of truth. The paper has always reflected the views of one person and been guided by one person only—that person its Editor and sole proprietor, and that individual myself. It has never been fettered by outside circumstances except that of the law; and it still happily in the same condition.  I know perfectly well that my views which the paper reflected —have not always been well received by my readers. I can remember well when it was battling for Ulster tenant right against tremendous power and influence several of my friends thought I might have acted differently and ranged myself with the Orange Press of Ulster in opposing any legislation to protect the people in their homes and enable them to breathe the air of freedom. Opposition mattered not; the paper in this instance as in others was in harmony with reform; it advocated the Ballot Act as well as Purchase of Land, and other reforms; and it has always given its help to the humble and the oppressed and in later years consistently fought as best it could for other reforms, but most certainly not for the rupture of the United Kingdom, most certainly not for separation from Ireland’s best customer, friend, and ally; and most certainly not to divide or disrupt the heart of the world Empire, which would be injurious to  every component part of it, and fatal to Ireland itself.

As the public know, for a period extending over many years I have taken a bold stance in defence of (what I considered to be) high principle and public morality; and in consequence of this expression of my opinions on public topics I have come into collision with magistrate, judge, clergy, and solicitor, &, & and have been vindicated again and again though at great pecuniary lose to myself; for the victor in a lawsuit is only second best to the litigant who loses. I am very far from presuming to claim infallibility: but I can claim this—that public opinion, as openly expressed, has always been with me, and the few dissidents have been lost in the chorus of general approval.

It was not to be expected that a paper like the Impartial Reporter could be allowed to plough its independent course without competition. My father told me that in his day almost 20 papers bad been started in opposition; I have copies of several of them, the Enniskillen Mail, the Fermanaghman, Fermanagh Record, the Enniskillen Advertiser …..

 

JANUARY 15, 1920. BELLEEK POTTERY. Drainage Board to Make an Offer. At Lough Erne Drainage Board on Saturday, Mr. Burke, D.L., presiding, after some discussion it was decided to communicate with the Belleek Pottery Company to see if they are prepared to sell their interest in the Pottery to the Drainage Board. A letter was read from the Secretary of the Belleek Pottery Company stating that the water was considerably below level at periods on certain days in November and December. The gatekeeper at Belleek to whom the complaint had been referred said that a squall or sudden change of wind was quite enough to either give the Pottery temporarily a little too much water or leave it just slightly short. No action was taken relative to a letter from Edward Maglone, Ballyshannon, complaining that his yard had been flooded, the Secretary being directed to reply that the Board had nothing to do with anything that happened below the gates at Belleek.

Fermanagh in January 1905 – nearly 100 years ago.

Fermanagh in January 1905 – nearly 100 years ago in a recently established local newspaper.

Fermanagh Herald and Monaghan News.1905. Price One Penny.

January 7th 1905. LISNASKEA CHILDREN SENT TO AN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. At the Lisnaskea petty sessions on Saturday, Mr. J. Gray, R.M., presiding Head Constable McKinney applied to have two little girls named O’Neill committed to the Monaghan Female Industrial School.

B. L. Winslow, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the mother of the children. It appeared that the mother of the children had just completed a term of imprisonment, and her husband was at present in jail. When the parents were sent to jail the children were taken to the workhouse, where they had been for the previous three months. Mr. Winslow submitted that the magistrates had no jurisdiction to send these children from the workhouse to an industrial school. The mother of the children implored the magistrates not to send them away from her. The majority of the bench decided to send the children to an Industrial School, and Mr. Winslow asked to have a poll of the magistrates mentioning that he intended to apply for a certiorari in the Superior Courts. The voting was as follows: — For sending the children to an industrial school—Messrs. Mulligan, Murphy, Mc Caffery, Tierney, and O’Donnell—5. Against  — The Chairman, Major Haire, Messrs. Arnold and Henderson —  4. The order was accordingly made, the mother of the children crying bitterly.

January 7th 1905. NEW YEAR’S EVE IN ENNISKILLEN. The New Year was ushered in in Enniskillen in the customary manner. When the shops had closed the Enniskillen Grattan Band and Protestant Band alternately paraded the town playing lively airs. Large numbers remained until after midnight on the streets where the best of good humour prevailed. For some time mutual felicitations could be heard on all sides, after which the crowds dispersed and the streets were soon quite deserted.

January 7th 1905. Boating accident on Lough Erne. On Saturday afternoon a boating mishap occurred on Lough Erne. A boat, in which there were five men of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, capsized a little below the Convent grounds, Enniskillen and the occupants were immersed in the river. Some of the men were able to swim ashore, and the others assisted themselves with the aid of an oar to the bank. The men were not apparently much the worse for their involuntary bath.

January 7th 1905. ENTERTAINMENT IN ENNISKILLEN WORKHOUSE. At the meeting of the Enniskillen Board of Guardians on Tuesday, Mr. H. R. Lindsay, J.P. (chairman) preceding, the master, Mr. Thos. N. Gamble, reported:—“On Wednesday last, 20th December, an excellent dinner of roast beef and ham was given to the inmates from funds remaining on hands after the entertainment given last year. Mrs. Humphreys and Mrs. Lindsay were unable to come, and no person connected with the board or workhouse attended to assist in any way but four gentlemen from the town: Messrs. R. W. Wilson, R Ross, F Thorpe, and J. Stewart kindly came over and carved the meat, and gave great assistance in distributing it to the inmates, who enjoyed it greatly. It is proposed by several ladies and gentlemen (with the permission of the board of guardians) to give a treat to the inmates this evening. Tea, rich cake, buns, apples, sweets, tobacco, etc. will be given in the afternoon to be followed by a concert.

On the motion of Mr. Thos. Elliott, seconded by Mr. E. Corrigan, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the gentlemen who had assisted at the dinner, and to the ladies, and gentlemen who intended to give an entertainment to the inmates that evening.

January 14th 1905. NOTES. Eggs are being sold in the Kinawley District at 8d per lb.

An inmate of Ballyshannon Union Workhouse, named Roughan, died on Sunday morning, after at least fifty years’ sojourn in that institution. Over twenty-fire years ago he was placed in the dead house as a corpse, and frightened another inmate who was working round the mortuary by sitting up in his shroud on the rude table where the dead are placed.

One of the difficulties facing creamery managers in Ulster, and probably elsewhere in Ireland, is the cost of cartage of milk from the farmsteads to the creameries. The individual supply of the majority of small farmers is not sufficient to induce them to cart their own milk, and, on the other hand, the tax of ¼ per gallon is not sufficient remuneration for man and horse even in the times of the greatest supply of milk. As a result of this many Co-operative Societies are considering the advisability of ceasing the carting system, and compromises between competing creameries have been and are being arranged with this end.

January 28th 1905. LICENSING BUSINESS. Transfers of licences were granted to James Armstrong, Main Street, Kesh, and Thomas Daly, Belleek (ancestor of Bishop Daly of Derry of Bloody Sunday fame). The applications were supported by Mr. W. B. Allingham and Mr. Michael Maguire (Ballyshannon) respectively.

January 28th 1905. As a result of representations made to the War Office, Mr. James Mc Manus, Dame St., Enniskillen has been awarded a pension dating from 1st January last of 9 pence a day for life in recognition for his services to the Empire. Mr. Mc Manus served in the 27th Inniskillings and was one of the 200 men who sailed on the ill-fated Charlotte for the Indian Mutiny. The vessel it will be remembered was shipwrecked in Delagoa Bay and only 60 men were saved of which he was one. After the survivors were landed in India, Mr. Mc Manus saw considerable service there and was in some engagements but was eventually invalided home. He has the Indian Service Medal and treasured it faithfully ever since he received it.

January 28th 1905. Mr. Payne Seddon, proprietor of the Derry Opera House was on a train running to Loughborough, joining express at Stranraer and was asleep in the last coach one night last week when an accident occurred and he was thrown to the floor The first thing he heard was someone shouting—“Run along the line and stop the express.” The coaches were ablaze in a few minutes. Mr. Seddon assisted lads named Kinnock from the train – one boy being found quite dead. Mr. Payne Seddon is well and favourably known in Enniskillen, and his theatrical companies have often times entertained local audiences.

January 28th 1905. Enniskillen Brewery. This old-established Brewery and Mineral Water Factory is about to be taken over by Mr. Mc Donagh (present manager) from Messrs Downes , who are retiring from the business after many years of successful trading. Mr Mc Donagh, who has had a long experience in the management of both branches, had secured the whole concern at less than half selling market price, and has in hands the formation of a private limited liability company to work it. The proposed capital is £10,000 divided into £1 shares, payable as follows: – 5s per share on application, 5s on allotment, and 10s in six months from the date of allotment. The brewery has been pronounced to be one of the most up-to-date of its size in Ireland and the premises and plant are in perfect order.

January 28th 1905. Enniskillen Jail. Arrangements have been completed for the transfer of Enniskillen Prison to Fermanagh County Council. At a meeting of the body on Friday the Chairman, Mr J. Jordan, M.P. remarked that it showed the country was in a peaceable state when the Prison Authorities could close the Jail and hand it over to the County Council; and Mr. H. R. Lindsay said he remembered seeing sixty suspects in it.

The site of part of the Jail which was built in recent years covers a portion of what was formerly a “commons” in which were found buried remains of the “gads” with which criminals had been hanged. The late Barney Bannon a respectable storehouse of local traditions, always asserted that Fermanagh men had a decided objection to being hanged with a rope. They preferred an osier gad.