Tag Archives: Impartial Reporter

1915 – The war and other events as reported by three local newspapers with additions from the national press.

My most recent book is called Sleepwalking Into War. Fermanagh and Surroundings in 1914. The news items were chosen from three local newspapers who cover Fermanagh and surrounding counties and reflect the war news and local events to give an insight into what people were thinking and feeling at the time. The book costs £12 plus £5 P&P.
Similarly I have read and taken notes from the same newspapers for 1915 and intend publishing them throughout 2015 as a blog reflecting life and death as it was a hundred years ago this year. The items include the Christmas Day truce, the high price of potatoes, feeding Belgian refugees with horse meat, recruiting (or the scarcity of recruits), the purchase of remounts, firsthand accounts of the fighting, optimism that the was would be over by the summer etc etc.
Enjoy!

1915 Fermanagh Times, Fermanagh Herald and Impartial Reporter.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. ONE DAY OF PEACE AT THE FRONT. The following is a remarkable description taken from the Daily Mail by an officer at the front of how the British and Germans ceased hostilities on his part of the line on Christmas Day.

Christmas will remain engraved in the memory of many British soldiers who were in our trenches here as one of the most extraordinary days of their life. For on that day British and Germans ceased fighting with each other for an interval, came out into the open between their respective firing lines, buried their dead and held a short service in their memory.
Our chaplain had come with the colonel to officiate at the funeral in a trench of one of our Scottish soldiers. During the programme of the solemn writes it was noticed that one or two fellows were standing outside. No attention was paid to this to the service ended, when the colonel shouted, “Come inside men!” The reply was that some Germans were standing outside. Gradually more and more of the enemy – some of them officers, by their uniform – appeared, none of them armed.
FOOTBALL MATCH WITH A HARE. At last our commanding officer resolved to get out and see for himself. The chaplain jumped up into the open at his heels, and crossing a ditch which runs down the middle of the field between the lines cried “Does anyone speak English?” As reply a private stepped forward and then to our amazement we saw our chaplain cross the ditch, salute the German commander and his staff, and begin to talk with them. Almost at the same time a hare burst into view and ran along between the trenches. All at once Germans came scurrying from their trenches and British from theirs, and a marvellous thing happened. It was all like a football match, the hare being the football, the grey-tunicked Germans the one side, and the kilted “Jocks” the other.

The game was won by the Germans who captured the prize. But more was secured than a hare – a sudden friendship had been struck up, the truce of God had been called, and for the rest of Christmas Day not a shot was fired along our section. Dotted over the 60 yards separating the trenches were scores and scores of dead soldiers and soon spades were flung up by comrades on guard in both trenches, and by instinct each side set to dig graves for their dead. Our padre had seized his chance and found the German commander and his officers very ready to agreeing that, after the dead had been buried, a short religious service should take place. He told us that the German commander and his officers were as anxious as the British could be to keep Christmas Day as a day of peace. That was quite in keeping with the behaviour of the Germans, who had kept up only an occasional firing on Christmas Eve and were very busy singing carols and glees.

SOUVENIERS EXCHANGED. We did not know all that was being said, but afterwards we asked the padre two questions. The one was, “Why did you and the German commander take off your hats to one another?” What happened, as we learned, was: The German took his cigar case out and offered the padre a cigar, which was accepted. The padre said, “May I be allowed not to smoke, but to keep this as a souvenir of Christmas here and of meeting you on Christmas Day?” The answer, with a laugh was, “Oh yes, but can’t you give me a souvenir?” Then the hats came off. For the souvenir the padre gave was a copy of the “Soldiers Prayer” which he had carried in the lining of his cap since the war commenced, and the German officer in accepting it took off his cap and put the slip in the lining saying as he did it, “I value this because I believe what it says and when the war is over I shall take it out and give it as a keepsake to my youngest child.”
The second question was what was in the notebook the German commander showed you? The answer was that he had been shown the name and address in England of a certain brave British officer. He had been killed, and as he was dying the commander happened to pass and saw him struggle to get something out of his pocket. He went up and helped the dying officer, and the thing in the pocket was a photograph of his wife. The commander said “I held it before him, and he lay looking at it till he died a few minutes after.” Our padre took down the name and address and has been able to pass on the information to the bereaved home.
A FINE SPIRIT OF RESPECT. The whole German staff showed a fine spirit of respect during the service for the dead. On one side of the ditch halfway between the two lines stood German officers with their soldiers about them, on the other the officers of the British regiments in the section with their soldiers about them, and between were our Chaplin, an interpreter, and a German divinity student serving with their army. Our chaplain read the 23rd Psalm in English, the German student reading it after him in German. Then a short prayer which the Chaplin had written on a postcard and the interpreter had turned into German was read sentence by sentence by the student after the English form had been recited.
It was a memorable sight to see officers and men who had been fighting, and as I write are fighting against one another as fiercely as ever, bare headed, reverend and keeping sacred truce as they did homage to the memory of the dead on Christmas Day 1914.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. HIGH PRICED POTATOES. A NOVEL AUCTION IN BELFAST. 600 bags of specially selected potatoes had been kindly given by members of the Killylea, Killinchy, Kilmood and Tullynakill farming societies, the proceeds of the sale being in aid of the Belgian Relief Fund, and also for the provision of gifts for local battalions serving at the front. Altogether the sale realised the handsome sum of £106 11s 7d of which £78 12s would go to the Relief Fund, while £27 19s 7d will be utilised in providing comforts for men who have left our midst in answer to the call.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. HORSE FOOD FOR REFUGEES AND OTHERS. To the Editor of the Fermanagh Times, December 29, 1914. Dear Sir – there are many thousands of Belgian Refugees in our midst and it has been announced that others will be arriving in the near future. Many of these are destitute, and as the present widespread distress will tend to increase progressively so long as the war continues, the provision of cheap and suitable food is sure to become an important and an urgent problem.
It is well known that in Holland, Belgium and France horse flesh is used as a staple article of food and in times of peace not less than 1,000 lives horses are exported each week from this country to the Continent. Owing to the war this trade with its attendant hardships is temporarily at least at an end, and strenuous efforts are being made to create a market for the products of the bodies of the horses in this country to save them now, and in the future, from the miseries of the Continental traffic. There is hardly any part of the body of a horse that is not commercially valuable but at the present time in this country the flesh which is the most important item is not used as human food, whereas in Paris and Brussels it is sold for this purpose at an average of one franc per pound. Here we can buy horses at 12 shillings and sixpence per hundredweight and the meat could be sold at a few pence per pound or less than half the present price of beef.
We are extremely anxious to develop a scheme by means of which our Belgian guests could be provided with the form of food which the appreciate; and we think that this provision would be accompanied by an enormous diminution in animal suffering, in that it would enable us to rescue and put to a painless end a far larger number of older horses than is possible to us at present. Those who are willing to combine humanitarianism to horses with benevolence to their fellow men are invited to apply to us for particulars of our work and especially of the scheme adverted to above.
We think that it would not be long before the example of our Belgian guests would be followed by our own people, and bearing in mind the fact that horses are clean feeders whose flesh is wholesome, nourishing and palatable – the meat derived even from older horses is tender owing to the shortness of the muscle fibres and it is regarded as a preventative of consumption and cancer by Continental physicians – the introduction of horse flesh as food into our own country would be a gratifying achievement. HORSE AND DRIVERS AID COMMITTEE, LONDON.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. EDITORIAL. ULSTER BETRAYED AND SOLD was under no obligation to the Government. Nationalist Ireland having received its wages stood bound in honour to return its services as pledged by Mr. Redmond. What has been the result? From the beginning of the war to the end of the year Ireland sent 40,000 recruits to Lord Kitchener’s army. Of these over 28,000 came from Ulster and about 12,000 from the rest of Ireland. We make no accusation against Mr. Redmond’s sincerity as regards recruiting. But when he is vainly striving to obtain one small Irish Brigade of three or four battalions from the National Volunteers, the Ulster Volunteers within a week or two will have completed the whole of an army Division containing four full brigades, each with four battalions, as well as the proper complement of medical, transport, veterinary, engineering and other necessary services.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. THE PUPILS OF SEVERAL SCHOOLS IN BELFAST have voluntarily relinquished their prize money this year, as did the boys at Portora School, in aid of kindly public objects. The Methodist College lads devoted theirs to the Belgian Relief Fund. Other Schools have contributed to the U.V.F. hospital. Most excellent self-denial!

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. THE PROGRESS OF THE GREAT STRUGGLE. CONTINUED GOOD NEWS FROM THE FRONT. ENEMY REPULSED AT EVERY TURN. SPLENDID WORK BY THE FRENCH AND RUSSIANS. WHAT THE BRITISH TROOPS ARE DOING. NOTES, INCIDENTS, AND STORIES FROM THE FIRING LINE.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. IN THE TRENCHES AND ON THE RETREAT many of the soldiers lost their hats, and the various headgear called into use was most curious, nearly all contributed by local inhabitants. Some were woolen sleeping caps, then there were straw hats, slouch hats, green “trilbies”, and one soldier went as far as a glossy top hat. The latter was too much for his officer, who ordered him to discard it. So it was thrown into the ditch, only to be seen later on, badly concertinaed, on the curly head of a kilted Scotsman. The climax came when the same Scotsman went to the aid of one of the thousands of refugees that were marching with us. A poor greybeard was wheeling his old wife along the road in a wheelbarrow, and the next thing I saw was the Scottie in his top hat wheeling her along, pathetic and yet ludicrous.

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. THE ENNISKILLEN COUNCIL AND THE VICEROY. LORD ABERDEEN’S RESIGNATION AND AN EXPRESSION OF REGRET PAST BY A SMALL MAJORITY. The chairman Mr. J.F. Wray, LL.B proposed that “We, the Enniskillen Urban Council have heard with extreme regret the announcement of Lord Aberdeen’s decision to resign and we desire to place on record our keen appreciation of the invaluable services rendered to our people by His Excellency and the Countess of Aberdeen in their untiring and self-sacrificing labours for the improvement of the health of the people and for promoting the welfare of the industrial working classes and alleviating the lot of the poor and the destitute. They had been the first in Ireland to take up a position like that and they had come into close contact with the people of Fermanagh. To carry on the work of fighting the scourge of consumption had been met by Lady Aberdeen by the establishment of Rossclare Sanatorium. Since the establishment of that institution many a victim of that scourge had received treatment and attention there which would have been unavailable to them otherwise.
The proposal was opposed by Mr. Trimble who said that there was a weakness and inefficient Irish Administration. They had Dublin itself, seething in crime, labour was held up, ship stopped, strikes in the city and in some of the railways and during this they had a feeble, weak, old-womanly administration in Dublin Castle. In regard to the local associations referred to by the Chairman, Mr. Trimble continued, the town of Enniskillen received the Lord Lieutenant in silence. He had not been invited and he came without been asked. With reference to the Lady Aberdeen he recognised the great energy she threw into the movement for the prevention of consumption and it was through her efforts that the country people had learned the value of fresh air. It was letters written by Lady Aberdeen however, that contributed largely to the removal of the Lord Lieutenant. For the very little Lord Aberdeen had done, and for the great deal that he had left undone, he was adequately compensated by the salary he received which was equal to that of the President of the United States. In conclusion Mr. Trimble said – “I am delighted to hear of his departure from Ireland.”

Fermanagh Times January 7th, 1915. THE DURATION OF THE WAR. OVER BEFORE SUMMER CHANGES INTO AUTUMN. Quite the most comforting New Year’s message that I have seen (says a London Correspondent) is in the speech of Sir George Buchanan to the British and American colonies in Petrograd. He spoke of the war being over “ere summer has changed to autumn.” As the British ambassador is doubtless fully acquainted with what is going on in the eastern theatre, and is also pretty well posted as to the progress of the Allies on this side, his hopes may be assumed to have a substantial basis, or he would not have given utterance to them.

Impartial Reporter. January 7 1915. THINGS MILITARY. One of the many mistakes made by the War Office was in not adopting the offer of the town of Enniskillen to accept the old prison premises. The offer was not favoured, and now when the County Council have demolish the old prison, and converted the new prison into a fine hall and the old prison hospital into a Technical School – all heated with hot water pipes, lit with gas, and newly floored, the War Office are only too glad to make use of the premises which might have been their own. These premises now house 270 men of Captain Sproule Myles’s Donegal Company of the 11th battalion of the Royal Inniskillings comfortably. There is need for more room to accommodate more men and it has been proposed to put 150 more men within the walls of the old prison, or 420 men in all. If the County Council had allowed the second gallery to remain in the building (and it could be replaced) it would accommodate two full companies, or over 500 men. The probability is that the She Barracks in Queen Street, which have been undergoing repair, may be utilised to house the 150 men, and the surplus room of the County Building kept available for the incoming recruits till the battalion reach the 1,150 standard.

Impartial Reporter. January 7 1915. PICTURE HOUSE ENTERTAINMENT. On Tuesday night the proprietors of the Picture Theatre placed their entertainment at the service of the local reception committee, with the result that the hall was crowded with soldiers. Canon Webb, in a short address wished the men God speed and a safe return and told them that when they got to Berlin to let the Germans know where they came from, a sentiment that evoked loud cheers. He also on behalf of the committee and the men of the 11th battalion thanked Mr. Casey of the Picture Company for his kindness and generosity in placing the pictures at their disposal.

Impartial Reporter. January 7 1915. PURCHASE OF REMOUNTS. On last year I sold a horse for £36 10 shillings to one of for local dealers from whom the army purchases, and delivered him next morning as arranged at this gentleman’s stables, just as one of the Government gentlemen who was there purchasing mounts was viewing his other horses. He requested me to give him a ‘show’ which I did and had the ‘pleasure’ and satisfaction of seeing him put up with the other horses purchased at £50.00 each. Not a bad profit of £1310 shillings – more than he made me for 12 months care and feeding. I am quite satisfied that this is not an isolated case. Some may say I was a duffer to sell him at the price. Well, I sell a few horses, and generally know what I’m about but when it is impossible for me to meet the Government purchaser we are obliged to sell to the middleman, and worse still, at his price. No wonder we have given up horse breeding, nor will any scheme induce us to rejoin it so long as we cannot get the value of our horses by selling direct to the Government. Let the Government appoint places and dates in each county, same as they did at the beginning of the war last August where their purchases will attend, and I assure you they will be able to buy cheaper and still give a much better price. CABALLUS.

Impartial Reporter. January 7 1915. WHAT A PLUCKY SOLDIER SAYS. Writing to Mrs. A. Taylor, Druminchin, Newtowngore, Co., Leitrim, Trooper Thomas Bryson, North Irish Horse, says – the first of the sad sights I saw when I landed in Belgium was of the Germans shelling a town. I went about not thinking or fearing, picking up bits of shell for curiosity. Then our officers shouted to get into the house. We had no sooner obeyed orders when a shell burst in the yard and smashed the windows of the house where we were standing. The bullets and shells were falling as quick as hailstones on the three roads leading from the town. I saw one shell bursting which killed two of the Lancers, eight horses and three others. We could not leave until it got dark, and then we were riding over men and horses lying dead as thick as they could be.

I often heard and read of war never expecting to take part in it! But, now, when I have taken part in this great struggle I am not sorry for doing so, although it is a bit hot sometimes. Neither am I tired of it. I never was as happy in all my life as I am at present helping to hold up the old flag, and I believe I could not die happier than to die for it. And I must say that any man or boy fit to hold or help to hold up that flag which we all should love and does not his duty, is a coward and should be deemed a coward. The friends at home and around are so kind in sending me such good things that I want for nothing and trusting in God, I expect D. V., to see you all. (Ed. D.V. Deo Volente i.e. God Willing.)

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. HAVOC IN HOLLAND. Amsterdam, December 29. A violent storm raged last Monday and Tuesday morning over Holland and for hours all communications with the Provinces, with England and with Germany were cut off. Even now – on Tuesday afternoon – only one single wire is working with London. At Amsterdam the rough weather was especially felt.

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. THE SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY makes the following announcement: the battleship “Formidable” was sunk this morning in the Channel, whether by mine or submarine is not yet certain. Seventy-one survivors have been picked up by a British light cruiser, and it is possible that others may have been rescued by other vessels. The “Formidable” was a third class battleship of 15,000 tons, and was launched in 1898 at Portsmouth and completed in 1902 at a cost of over one million pounds sterling. She was 400 feet long and her complement was 718 men, and she was a sister ship of the Irresistible and Implacable. She was a heavily armoured and designed to give a speed of 18 knots. An additional 70 men have been rescued by a Brixham trawler.

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. THE INNISKILLINGS AND HOW OFFICERS AND MEN FOUGHT AND DIED. Private Francis Conway, now a convalescent and on furlough in Sixmilecross, tells the following tale of his two months active service from Mons to Armentieres. Mons – at 6.00 (dawn) we were having some tea in a farmhouse garden when a shell burst among us killing and wounding several. We seized our rifles and advance towards the enemy’s lines. There was terrific firing. Artillery, machine-guns, rifles and cavalry all in action. After half an hour we had to retire 700 yards. We then reformed and advanced again, but somehow both sides had ceased firing, and we brought our wounded to a farmhouse, the ambulance being far in the rear. My cousin, Sergeant McCrystal, Glenhordial, fell in that action having both legs broken. The horrible artillery fire from the enemy drove us back 3 miles. In this fight we lost 500 out of 1,300. The general retreat then began. We were covering that the retreat; we had a bad day at a certain village. The Germans were about 300 yards behind, and as we retreated up the main street they were really get a field gun into position, and began to Moore’s down when halfway up the street. We wheeled and returned the fire, but were being badly cut up. There was confusion owing to orders advance and Retreat, sure that for a time we were mesmerised so to speak and the gun did horrid execution. We then retreated outside of the village, and concealed ourselves as best we could in a turnip field expecting the enemy to come in pursuit but they did not come. After this we were relieved, and did not come into action again till the enemies retreat began. Before the battle of the Aisne we were ambushed by a battery concealed in a wood; Lieutenant and Boyd and several men were killed; when we reach the wood the battery was gone, leaving dead and wounded horses and men behind. The battle of the Aisne lasted several weeks.

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. LIFE IN THE TRENCHES AND FIGHTING IN A SEA OF MUD. 31st of December –Monday, the 28th of December was a day of pelting rain. Towards the evening this give way to a hurricane of wind, followed during the night by a violent thunderstorm. On Wednesday the 30th gradual progress was maintained. The Germans again bombarded Armentières and shelled our frontline. On the left to our north, their aviators displayed more activity than they have latterly been, dropping bombs on Dunkirk and Furness. The day was bright and frosty, favourable to reconnoitring. The last day of 1914 passed equally uneventfully all along our front. The fighting is now taking place over the ground where both sides have for a week past been excavating in all directions, until it has become a perfect labyrinth.
A trench runs straight for a considerable distance and then it suddenly forks in three or four directions. Sometimes when new ground is broken, and the spade turns up the long-buried dead ghastly relics of former fights, and on all sides the surface of the earth is ploughed and furrowed by fragments of shells and bombs. From a distance this apparently confused mass of passages crossing and recrossing one another, resembles a large irregular gridiron. The life led by the infantry on both sides at close quarters is a strange cramped existence, with death always near either by means of some missile from above or some exploded from beneath –a life which has one dull monotonous background of mud and water.

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. THE PASSING OF THE HORSE IN MODERN WARFARE. One of the innovations of this war has been the substitution of the motor for the horse. A horse it is a rare sight now except at the stabling stations near the front. Armoured motor cars and motor cycles for scouting, motor wagons and lorries for ambulance and transport work and almost the only branch of activity in which the horse is still indispensable is for rushing field artillery into action, for motors cannot smashed through hedges and over broken ground as our splendid horses can.

Fermanagh Herald 9th January, 1915. NEW LABORATORIES AT MANCHESTER. The new radium laboratories of Manchester Infirmary, which contain radium to the value of £20,000, raised by public subscription a few months ago were formally opened by the Lord Mayor of the city. A staff of experts will specialize in efforts to apply the radium for the arrest and elimination of cancer. The equipment of the laboratories is second to none in the kingdom and in the 16 rooms allotted to the special work there is ample provision for administering the treatment to patients. There is accommodation at the infirmary for the treatment of the 15 patients a day, and although no one has been accepted until this week some 8 or 10 names have already been entered.
The method by which the treatment is administered at Manchester is both bewildering and fascinating to the lay mind. First one enters a strong room guarded by a massive safe door and there on two shells are four glass bulbs containing some £14,000 worth of radium. Already Dr. Borrows, who has charge of the scheme, has discovered a method of measuring the quantity he requires that admits of no error.

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.

Excursion on Lough Erne. August 25th 1864.

Excursion on Lough Erne. August 25th 1864. Impartial Reporter.

On Friday there was an excursion to Belleek on the steamer Devenish. It was the best of the season. The number of persons on board about 320 was not so great as on the 12th of August; but was less crowding, and the day was delightful. Among the strangers present were, Sir James Emerson Tennent and a party of friends consisting of Rt. Hon. James Whiteside, Q. C., M. P., Richard Davidson Esq., formerly the representative of Belfast, John Foster, Esq., a distinguished writer, and now a Lunacy Commissioner, and Mr Dunville of Belfast.

This party with the exception of Mr Davidson on the return trip of the boat, went ashore at Rossfad with Mr Richardson and family to proceed with the Rev. J. G. Porter to Kilskeery. Mr Porter himself was on board as he is during most excursions of his iron child the Devenish, and was as usual, the life of the party It has sometimes been thought that some people ought never to die; and if it were right to give way to such philosophy or sentiment, we would say that Mr Porter ought to be one of the immortal exceptions to Nature’s rule. If “it takes all sorts to make up a world” we have some doubt any world existing without him; for we don’t think there is another of exactly the same sort.

There were on board a large number of the gentry, from the town and country, a number of soldiers of the 29th Regiment, and all together a right good boat-full.

At Belleek most of the excursionists visited the large and handsome porcelain factory and had the different parts of the process, and various products of skill, pointed out by Mr. Armstrong, the manager and by Mr. Bloomfield of Castle Caldwell, who takes so much interest in the go-ahead of Archimedes. The Syracusan sage, if he had the requisites would have moved the world; Mr. Bloomfield would move it. There are many things about the factory worthy of admiration and note, though the presence of the crowd was unfavourable for examining them. But that which struck us most was the beauty of some vases that were in the process of manufacture in the hands of an amateur artist of no mean skill.

A good many of the excursionists visited the bridge which is being built over the Erne at Belleek for the Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway. It promises to be a bold and handsome structure. The return to Enniskillen was very pleasant, and everyone on board, save two or three  roughs who deem themselves commissioned to be locomotive or cacomotive protests against the Band of Hope, seemed to enjoy the trip very much. A good many people lunched and dined on board, and seemed to hesitate in their admiration between the excellent fare and the low fees.