Tag Archives: Roslea

Should have been entered for FEARmanagh or at least the Olympics.

Should have been entered for FEARmanagh or at least the Olympics.
14-9-1946. EXCITING MAN HUNT. SCENES IN FERMANAGH. TWO TINKERS CAPTURED. A four-day man bunt, in which 100 police were engaged on both sides of the border, was started on Wednesday in Co. Sligo by news of the arrival in the vicinity of two tinkers, Patrick Joseph Cauley and Martin Ward, who had been over a fortnight at liberty following their escape from Victoria Barracks on the night of the 20th August.
The hunt lasted nearly four days and brought the fugitives and the police through three counties before the two men were captured by the Fermanagh R.U.C., under Head-Constable Gregg, on Benmore mountain, between Letterbreen and Belcoo, on Saturday as darkness was falling.
Cauley and Ward, who are natives of Roscommon, are aged twenty-one and eighteen years respectively. They are both married. At a special court at Rosslea on 20th August they were charged. before Mr. Crawford J.P., with having broken and entered the house of a man named Lynch, of Mullans, Rosslea, on the night of the 10th, 11th August, and taken nearly £40 and, on the same night, broken and entered the shop of Hugh McMahon, of Dernawilt, Rosslea, and stolen £3 in cash and a number of articles, including a pair of boots, cake and some cigarettes. Both accused were returned for trial and on that evening they were conveyed to Victoria Barracks, Derry, prior to being lodged in Derry Jail.
In the early hours of the following morning they escaped from their cell through a ventilator, and, despite intensive police efforts to effect their capture, got across the border to Donegal within twenty-four hours. It is thought they got across somewhere near Bridgend.
Knowing every inch of all the North-Western counties from their travels around as tinkers, they were able to keep to the mountains, only coming into the valleys after dusk each day to call at various houses and get meals. They told many stories, posing as escaped smugglers and deserters from the British Army. Thus, although their descriptions had been circulated and a close police look-out was kept for them, they avoided pursuit for more than a fortnight, until they had made their way to County Sligo.
SWAM A LAKE. On Tuesday of last week (it was reported to the Guards) two shops had been broken and entered in the Ballintrillick area of County Sligo, one owned by Mrs. Gallagher and the other the Co-Operative Stores. Money and articles, had been stolen.
Cauley and Ward were suspected, and detectives and Gardaí commenced a manhunt in the mountains between Grange and Ballintrillick. The two men narrowly escaped through the net—one by swimming a lake—and the chase continued through Kinlough and Glenade in County Leitrim, with forty Gardaí and detectives operating under Inspector P. J. MacNamee (a native of Cavan).
NARROW ESCAPE. On Thursday evening Gardaí Mulvey and Woods almost had their men, seeing them jump out of a bunch of whins forty yards away on Kilroosk mountain, about ten miles from the border. Exceptionally fast runners, the two fugitives made good their escape as dusk was falling. But the Gardaí were hot on their trail and the net was closing. On Friday morning, the hunt was intensified. The men’s route was traced by a house at which they had called in Brackberybog on the Manorhamilton-Garrison road, eight or nine miles from the border. The chase brought the Gardaí to a house much far¬ther-on, in Aghavanny, near the border village of Kiltyclogher.
OVER THE BORDER. By noon, the Gardaí had moved in and there was no escape except across the border. An hour or two later, Inspector MacNamee and Sergt. Feighan, of the detective force, Sligo, who had charge of the detective party, learned that the two men had made their way into Co. Fermanagh.
R.U.C. men under Head-Const. Gregg, Enniskillen (a native of Clontivern, Newtownbutler, who had been transferred to his native Fermanagh only two months ago) took up the chase, all available men being mobilised to the number of twenty, from Belcoo, Letterbreen, Enniskillen, Garrison and Derrygonnelly.
THE NET CLONES. When darkness fell that evening, the fugitives had been trailed to the area between Belcoo and Letterbreen, roughly a distance of ten miles from the place at which it is thought they crossed the bor¬der. Men were stationed at key. points and mobile patrols operated during the night. It was discovered next morning that Cauley and Ward had slept at a haystack beside an unoccupied house at Moneyargan between Letterbreen and Belcoo.
On Saturday morning, at 4 o’clock, forty constables from all over the county from Kesh to Newtownbutler were mobilised under Head-Constable Gregg, with Head-Constable McHale, Enniskillen, second in command, and a comb-out was started of thousands of acres in the wild mountain country lying from Belcoo and Letterbreen towards Boho and Cashel. Kinawley and Florencecourt also were thoroughly searched.
Civilians gave great assistance, twenty co-operating in the actual search. At four in the afternoon, after twelve hours combing, a trace of the two men was again found, this suggesting they had made for Benmore mountain, three miles away from their resting place of the pre¬vious night. Twenty more constables were called in to assist, and about five-thirty a cordon had been drawn behind the Benmore mountain area with one in front. The ends of both lines went forward t» meet each other, and thus a net was formed. This gradually closed and over three hours later, in the gathering dusk, about 8.50 p.m., the fugitives were discovered, hiding in clumps of whins.
They made a dramatic dash to elude capture, but rushed from one party only, to run right into the arms of another as the net was tightly drawn, leaving no loop¬hole of escape. The men offered no resistance and were brought to Enniskillen barracks after a manhunt by Fermanagh police lasting thirty hours.
“In all my experience, I have never met with such co-operation from the civilian population” said Head-Constable Gregg, in a tribute to the active assistance rendered by the people of the neighbourhood in the capture of the two men.
COURT CHARGE AT DERRY. The two young men who escaped from a cell in Victoria Police Barracks, Derry, on August 21st, and were re-captured at Letterbreen, County Fermanagh, on Saturday night, appeared at Derry Petty Sessions on Monday, charged with breaking prison while on remand in custody. The men, Patrick Cauley, aged 19, and Martin Ward, aged 20, both of no fixed abode, had been remanded in custody to Enniskillen Quarter Sessions on breaking and entering charges.
Giving evidence of arrest, Head-Constable Carson said after being cautioned in Enniskillen Barrack, Cranley said: “We just broke out,” and Ward said: “That’s right.”
Both (men were remanded in custody until September 23.

1942 Fermanagh Herald. Belleek Attack.

8-8-1942. SMUGGLER ESCAPES BY RIVER SWIM. LARGE LOAVES SEIZURE BY NEWTOWNBUTLER POLICE. A seven a.m. chase of smugglers on the Monaghan-Fermanagh border last week led to the capture by Sergt. Blevins and Constable Freeman, Newtownbutler, of a large quantity of loaves. Sergt. Blevins, newly transferred to Newtownbutler from Belleek, where his customs work had gained him a wide reputation, surprised two men on the banks of the River Finn, which at this point is the border between the two States. The men were conveying loaves to a ‘’cot,” which is a large unwieldy float for carrying cattle across lakes and rivers in Fermanagh. On the arrival of the police, the cot, drawn up at the Six-County side of the river, already held a large consignment of loaves. As the police rushed to the “cot’’ one man made off across fields in the direction of the border. The other man, divesting himself of his clothes, put his pants around his neck and plunged into the icy-cold water and swam the thirty yards of river to Twenty- Six County territory. Both men made good their escape. The police seized all the loaves and the “cot’ which was later conveyed to Enniskillen. They also found and seized the jacket, waistcoat, boots and other clothing, excepting the trousers of the swimmer.

8-8-1942. TYRES SEIZED AT ENNISKILLEN. Seeing a man dragging two large bags along a railway line at Enniskillen, Sergt. McNally and Constable Walker investigated and found in the bags several doz. bicycle tyres which they seized.

8-8-1942. CUSTOM ACTIVITIES INTENSIFIED. Customs officers along the entire stretch of the Border (on both sides) from Pettigo to Clones are redoubling their efforts to prevent smuggling and the quantity of goods finding their way across from either side must have fallen to such an extent as to be a very small proportion of the former quantities. Trains and buses are gone through almost “with a fine comb” and many cross-border time schedules have been completely upset by the customs delay for months past, but more particularly of late. The intensified efforts, while naturally showing fair returns in seizures, are not producing nearly the same proportion of captures as in former times, the reason probably being that those with an inclination to smuggling are being ‘‘headed off” by the knowledge of what awaits them on arrival at the Customs post. This, of course, refers to ordinary travellers, and does not affect the professional smugglers who presumably have other means of getting across their consignments of prohibited goods. But even these find the more intensive police watch on both sides distinctly more discouraging.

5-9-1942. GLENFARNE NEIGHBOURS’ DISPUTE. AN ASSAULT CASE. “ Jealousy Over Land ” CASE AT KILTYCLOGHER COURT. At Kiltyclogher District Court on Tuesday, before Mr., Flattery, District Justice, Patrick McDermott, a minor, through his father, Peter McDermott, Lougnross, summoned Peter Clancy, of the same place, for alleged assault.

Mr. Alfred McMorrow, B.A., L.L.B., appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. P. O’Flynn, solicitor, Manorhamilton, appeared for defendant. Patrick McDermott, in evidence, stated that a few evenings before the alleged assault had taken place, Mrs. Clancy was milking a cow on the road and the cow had .its head across a gate leading into his (plaintiffs) father’s field. There had been some words between defendant’s wife and himself on that occasion about trespass, and a few days later, when he (plaintiff), was riding down the road on a donkey, Peter Clancy had come down the road meeting him and had knocked him off the donkey with a blow of a spade shaft and had got on top of him, pounding him with his knees. He had to take through another man’s land to escape as he could, not pass Clancy’s house.

Mr. O’Flynn—-Were you not prosecuted some time ago in this Court for stealing Clancy’s fowl?

Witness—It was my brother took the fowl; I only accompanied him.

Mr. O’Flynn—You were along with your brother, and for that reason you have spite in for Clancy. Do you know anything of a well between Clancy’s land and the land of a man named Flynn?—There is water in a shough; it is not a well.

Mr. O’Flynn — Why did you put bushes around that well from which the Clancy’s get water ?—I did it to stop trespass of cattle.

Mr. O’Flynn—On the evening of this terrible assault was Clancy thatching? — He was not.

Mr. O’Flynn—I put it to you that Clancy was thatching, and when you came down the road he came down the ladder and asked you what filthy language you had used to his wife. – He was not thatching.

Did you call Clancy a grabber?—-No.

You didn’t go home to tell your father about this terrible assault? A slap was all you got.

Peter McDermott, father of plaintiff, in evidence, stated that he suffered a lot with Clancy, all owing to jealousy over a bit of land he got. Clancy’s cattle were always on his land.

Mr. McMorrow-—You were going to town on the day of the assault? — I was going to the town, and I went to Clancy’s house and asked for a drink of water. Clancy came round the house with a knife in his hand, and said to me “When I get up to that son of yours it won’t be good for him.”

Mr, .O’Flynn — You went to the house of your greatest enemy and you asked for water. Did you get milk? — I did.

Mr. O’Flynn — You got more than you asked for. Was Clancy thatching?—I don’t know.

Mr. O’Flynn — You say he had a knife in his hand? Of course that knife was for cutting the scallops. Did he complain about the language your son used to his wife, and did you tell him to correct your son every time he heard him because he uses language like that at home?—I don’t remember.

5-9-1942. Clones Call for Reprieve—At the meeting of Clones Urban Council on the motion of Mr. McCabe, seconded by Mr. O’Connor, it was decided to send the following telegram to  the Duke of Abercorn:—“The newly elected Urban District Council of Clones composed of all shades of religion and politics, begs your Grace to use your prerogative of mercy for the reprieve of the six young men under sentence of death. By doing so you will ensure goodwill and friendship amongst the people on both sides of the border.”

 

5-9-1942. BELFAST YOUTH EXECUTED. WILLIAMS BORE UP WELL TO THE END. EARLY MORNING SCENES. POUCE PRECAUTIONS IN VICINITY OF PRISON. Thomas Joseph Williams, aged 19 was executed at Belfast Prison on Wednesday morning at 8 o’clock, all efforts to secure his reprieve having failed. At 8.15 a.m. a notice intimating that the death sentence had been carried out in their presence was posted on the prison gate and signed Robert Henderson, Sheriff for Belfast, George Stewart, Justice of the Peace, Thomas Moore Stuart, Governor of the prison, and Rev. T. McAllister, Chaplain.

Young Williams bore up well to the end. He had been visited by relatives a short time prior to the execution and his spiritual comforts were attended to by priests in attendance. Precautions against a demonstration were taken by the police and crowds who gathered at various points at the approaches to the jail and knelt in prayer.

No people were allowed into Crumlin Road for a distance of about 200 yards in front of the prison. A police car patrolled the area around the prison and a strong cordon of police was also drawn around the district.      .

As eight o’clock was striking there was an opposition demonstration in Old Park Road when about 100 women and girls gathered and sung ‘’God Save the King” and British songs and engaged in cheering. They were forced into side streets by the police.

Williams, with five others was convicted and sentenced at the Assize Commission in August on the charge of causing the death of Constable Murphy, R.U.C., by shooting in April. An appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal over a week ago was dismissed. A Nationwide appeal for the reprieve of the youths was without result in the case of Williams. On Sunday last Lord Abercorn’s statement announcing the reprieve of five of the youths was issued but it stated that the law must take its course in the case of Williams.

LORD ABERCORN’S STATEMENT. The statement issued at Stormont Castle said that the Six-County Governor had considered the cases of Thomas J. Williams, William J. Perry, Henry Cordner, John T. Oliver, Joseph Cahill and Patrick Simpson, ‘’prisoners lying under sentence of death in His Majesty’s Prison Belfast,” and decided that in the case of Williams the law must take its course, that the sentences in the cases of Perry, Cordner, Oliver and Cahill be commuted to penal servitude for life, and that Simpson’s sentence, be commuted to15 years’ penal servitude. The Governor’s decision was conveyed to the parents of the five reprieved men by Mr. D. F. Marrinan, their solicitor.

 

5-9-1942. …. and that such consecration as may be desired by the Church of England or the Catholic Church should be carried out on the individual grave. It was found that this principle met the wishes of the fighting Services better than the use of denominational plots and that it corresponded to a very deep conviction that the graves of men of very different faiths, who died, however, in a single cause, should be side by side. “If the local conditions make it necessary for a Separate Catholic plot to be formed, will you please arrange this through our District Inspector.’’ The Chairman—I suppose the Council would have no objection to that. Mr. William-Kelly—It is all the same, I think. The Council decided to grant Archdeacon Gannon’s request.

5-9-1942. £100 FOR ENNISKILLEN GRAVEYARD CARETAKER. The caretaker of Enniskillen new Cemetery—Mr. Jas. H. Kerr—applied to Enniskillen Rural Council for an increase of salary. The application, made last May, was adjourned till Tuesday, when the members had received the report of the Committee relative to the acquisition by the Catholic people of their hitherto unused plot. Mr. Kerr, who has £50 a year with free house, coal and light, plus £7 10s 0d a year war bonus, said he was afraid of the extension throwing so much additional work on him that, with the scarcity of  labour, he would find it difficult to cope with it. On the proposal of Mr. J. J. Bowler, seconded by Mr. A. Wilson, the Council unanimously agreed to increase Mr. Kerr’s salary to £100 a-year and to make him wholly responsible for the carrying out of all work at the Cemetery. -The Clerk pointed out that on many occasions the Registrar was not given sufficiently early notice of burials.

Old Graveyards—Caretakers’ Replies. Recently complaints were made as to the state of the old graveyards in Enniskillen rural area under the care of the Rural Council, and the Clerk was directed to write to the caretakers drawing their attention, to the complaints. Here are three replies received by the Council from caretakers :— From the caretaker of the old graveyard in Kinawley—‘‘I have mowed it twice this summer—the last time less than a month ago—and am now going to mow it a third time. It is quite possible that the person or persons who complained to you about the appearance of the graveyard, made a mistake about .the identity of .the plot. You can enquire off  some local person around the village about the  appearance of the old graveyard.’’ Devenish graveyard caretaker stated  that he never had failed to mow the graveyard, while the caretaker of. Pubble cemetery, Tempo, said: ‘‘I mow it once every year, and at the same time I remove the weeds, and trim the hedge.”

5-9-1942. GARVARY PENSIONER’S ESCAPE. An old-age pensioner named Mary McQuillan, of Shankhill, Garvary, had a remarkable escape when she was knocked down by a military lorry. Found lying in a pool of blood, she was rushed to hospital where it was found that her injuries were superficial. When knocked down she was going for a jug of milk, and on reaching hospital she was still clutching the jug.

5-9-1942. CAVAN FARMER FOR TRIAL. At Cavan District Court, before District Justice Lavery, Patrick Greene (24) farmer, Enniskeen, Kingscourt, was charged with maliciously burning a quantity of hay, value £100 the property of Patrick Tinnelly, Enniskeen, and maliciously burning a cart and harness and other property, value £50. Accused was returned for trial.

5-9-1942. Rossinver Convent.—The Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement of the Mother Lurana Mary Francis House, Rossinver, County Leitrim, have pleasure in announcing that permission has been given by the Holy See to make the Mother Lurana Mary Francis House a Temporary Novitiate for the duration of the war. The time of receptions will be announced later.

5-9-1942. £2 5s for Graveyard Caretaker.—At Enniskillen Rural Council on Tuesday, Mr. J. Murphy enquired if the salary of the caretaker of Cleenish Old Graveyard had been increased recently. The Clerk (Mr. J. Brown) said originally the salary was 30/-. Then about two years ago the salaries of all graveyard caretakers were increased by 50 per cent.

5-9-1942. Catholic Burials — Enniskillen Rural Council on Tuesday, Hon. C. L. Corry, J.P., presiding, instructed its engineer, Mr. James Donnelly, to prepare a specification for carrying out certain works at the New Cemetery, where the local Catholic community are utilizing their plot in future owing to lack of space at the Catholic Cemetery.

5-9-1942. NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS. THE DERBY CAFÉ,ENNISKILLEN, WILL BE CLOSED ALL DAY THURSDAY,10TH SEPT. RE-OPENING FRIDAY MORNING.

5-9-1942. BUNDORAN LADY DIES IN COUNTY FERMANAGH. The death occurred of Mrs. F. Maguire, late of’ Ocean View, Bundoran. Since the death of her husband she had resided with her son and daughter-in-law at Lattoon, Belcoo, Co. Fermanagh. At the funeral last week the chief mourners were—James Hackett, Clogher (brother); Mrs. P. Carty (daughter); John and Freddie Maguire (sons); Peter Carty (son-in-law); Mrs. J. Maguire and Mrs. F. Maguire (daughters-in-law); Miss M. Maguire (sister-in-law); Nano, Packie and John Maguire, Jose, Jack, Frankie, Paddy, Peter and Michael Carty (grandchildren).

5-9-1942. AMERICAN SOLDIER SENTENCED. SEQUEL TO FATAL STABBING. Found guilty by secret ballot of the manslaughter of a member of the British Pioneer Corps, an American soldier, Pte. William Davis (23), of Texas, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by a United States Army courtmartial in the Six Counties on Tuesday.He was also ordered to be dishonourably discharged from the American Army. Davis, who was found not guilty on the original charge of murdering the Pioneer Private, Owen McLoughlin, of Motherwell, will be sent back to America to serve the sentence in a penitentiary. McLaughlin was fatally stabbed on August 1st during a row at a dance in Randalstown Orange Hall.

5-9-1942. THREE TYRONE SISTERS ENTER RELIGIOUS LIFE. Miss Agnes Murray (Sister Mary Laurence) was finally professed, and her sister Winnie (Sister Bernard Therese) made her first profession at La Sainty Union Convent, Bath, on 15th August. Another sister Miss May Murray, H. Dip., has entered the Loreto order in Llandudno, North Wales. She was educated at St. Louis Convent, Carrickmacross, and University College. Dublin. Miss Winnie Murray was educated at Loreto Convent, Omagh, and the Convent High School, Southampton. They are daughters of Mr. .and Mrs. Patrick Murray, Rathfragan, Fintona.

5-9-1942. TO FIGHT TUBERCULOSIS IN BRITAIN. A number of sets of miniature radiography apparatus-the new weapon to combat tuberculosis—has been ordered and may be ready about the end of the year, Mr. Ernest Brown, British Minister of Health, disclosed on Monday opening a sanatorium at Nottingham. We have many difficult problems to solve in finding how the best use can be made of this new weapon, he said. Ideally everyone ought to undergo a regular examination and look upon it as a normal health measure. The fight against tuberculosis—that scourge happiness and destroyer of manpower has a definite, and by no means unimportant, place in the nation’s war effort.

5-9-1942. TRANSACTIONS IN BRANDY. TWO MEN FINED AT BELFAST.

CASE AGAINST ENNISKILLEN MAN. Fines totalling £125 or in default three months imprisonment were imposed by Major Dickie, R.M., in Belfast Summons Court on Desmond McGratty, Ormond Road, Dublin, in Customs prosecutions arising out of transactions in brandy. Samuel Moore, Down St., Enniskillen, was fined in sums aggregating £101 and ordered 12 months’ imprisonment without hard labour. Immediate warrants were issued against both defendants. The summons against McGratty was for being concerned in dealing in 59 bottles of brandy and a bottle of wine, with dealing wholesale in .spirits without a licence, and for causing to be harboured 446 bottles of brandy. Moore was summoned for dealing in 59 bottles of brandy, delivering spirits without a permit, dealing wholesale in spirits without a licence, and causing spirits to be harboured.

Fines of £10 were imposed on R. M. McLane and John Watters, publicans, Belfast, for failing to make an entry in their stock books and other cases against them were dismissed. The former was summoned for being concerned in dealing with 59 bottles of brandy and a bottle of wine, with receiving spirits without a permit and failing to make the necessary stock book entries, and the latter for being concerned in harbouring 446 bottles of brandy, for receiving spirits without a licence, and for failing to make the necessary stock book entries.

Mr. T. J. Campbell, K.C., M.P. (instructed by Messrs. J. Donnelly & Co.) for the defence, said if there was any offence at all it was a Customs offence, and he submitted that his clients were innocent even of the Customs charge. Mr. R. F. Sheldon (Crown Solicitor), for the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, gave notice of appeal in the Excise Cases against these two defendants.

5-9-1942. POLICE RAIDS IN BELFAST. 200 PERSONS DETAINED. Belfast police raided various districts in the city early this week and as a result 200 men have been detained. The raids began at five o’clock on Tuesday morning and the district covered include Falls Road, Ardoyne, North Queen Street, the Dock area, the Markets area, and portions of Ballymacarret and Short Strand. A very large force of police was engaged and the swoop was made simultaneously in each district. The majority of the suspects were taken from their beds, and the men, having been allowed to dress, were removed in cage cars and taken under strong escort to the cells at Chichester Street. There was intense police activity in the Falls Road area of Belfast all during Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A number of houses were raided. One man is known to have been detained. In Lisburn district there were also extensive police raids and a number of persons taken to the local barracks were questioned and afterwards released. There were many raids on Thursday night and early on Friday morning. After a night of patrol activity by armoured cars, police in tenders and on foot carried out concentrated raids at dawn. It is understood that the people detained are mostly youths, but a number of girls are also under detention.    In one case a father and his five sons were taken, leaving the mother the only remaining member of the family. . Police waited outside factories and mills and questioned young men as they left at lunch hour. Some on arriving home were detained.

In one street in the Falls, police with drawn revolvers followed a number of youths and later another chase developed when a young man jumped out the back door of a house when the police entered, and ran across the Bog Meadows. The men detained comprised dockers, factory, mill and munition workers and some A.R.P. wardens and fire watchers were taken to the barracks.

12-9-1942. BELLEEK BARRACKS ATTACKED. BOMBS FAILED TO EXPLODE, SHOTS FIRED. ENNISKILLEN HOUSE SEARCHES. At 4 o’clock on Friday morning the R.U.C. Barracks at Belleek, a short distance from the .Border, was attacked. A homemade time bomb or bombs placed near the building failed to explode. Shots were fired at the barracks and to these the police replied. The telephone wires to Enniskillen were cut but the police got a message through to Kesh from which a police party under Head-Constable  Conlin rushed to the assistance of their Belleek colleagues. After less than half an hour, however, the firing ceased and the only damage caused was a few windows broken in the barracks. About fifty shots in all were fired. Considerable police activity followed, several men in the Belleek district being questioned. Police from County Head-quarters at Enniskillen, under County Inspector Gorman for several hours investigated and received reports on the occurrence.

ENNISKILLEN SEARCHES. In Enniskillen district during Friday six houses were visited by a party of armed police and detectives. Nothing was found it is believed. One mart, Mr. Bertie Love, of Mill St., Enniskillen, was painting on the roof of a hut several miles from the town when he was taken into custody. He was later released. In the interval, he was lengthily and closely questioned by several police officers. His house was one of those searched. Other houses raided included that of Mr. Sean Nethercott, Paget Square, well known Fermanagh Nationalist, and Mr. W. J. Monaghan, U.D.C., P.L.G. Several hours were spent in each search.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT. On Friday night R.U.C. headquarters issued this statement:—“At 4 a.m. to-day Belleek barracks, Co. Fermanagh was attacked by fire and bombs. About fifty shots were fired. Police returned the fire. After calling on the police to surrender, the assailants disappeared.

RANDALSTOWN AFFAIR. The explosion at Randalstown barracks, caused by a bomb placed on the sill, blew in one window and the surrounding brickwork, cut the heavy steel bars over the window, badly damaged adjacent houses and broke windows for a hundred yards on either side of the barracks. One of the injured policemen, Sergeant McCammond was flung across the day room and through a door opposite the window. He had been doing clerical work at the time. Constable Bunting, the other injured man, who was standing in the centre of the room was blown against another door and knocked semi-conscious. The sergeant was found to have a fracture of the left arm and severe abrasions to the left leg when he was removed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was stated last night to be comfortable. The constable was not .seriously hurt. The day room is only 9ft. by 12ft. The floor was littered with bricks and other debris, while the walls were pitted with holes.

12-9-1942. ROSLEA COURT BORDER MERCHANT FINED. At Rosslea Petty Sessions before Major T. W. Dickie, R.M., John Maguire, merchant, Lackey, Roslea (near Clones), was charged on three counts with being in possession of the following goods with intent to evade export prohibition— 8 cwts. rice, 5 cwts. barley, 2½ cwts. S/R flour, 3 cwts. currants, 2 stones sultanas, 96 tins salmon and 42 lbs. soap powder. Mr. J. Cooper, Crown Solicitor, prosecuted, and Mr, Herbert, solicitor defended. Martin Shaw McMullen, of McKay and Leetham, Belfast, deposed to selling the goods to defendant on September 23rd, 1941. He had never seen defendant before. Cross-examined by Mr. Herbert, witness said there were no restrictions on the goods at that time.

Sergeant Moffatt deposed to visiting defendant’s premises, which were about 20 yards from the border, on Oct. 29th. Defendant had a very small stock and the goods which were seized were found in defendant’s dwelling-house. At that time witness could find no trace of baking soda or lentils which defendant had purchased in Belfast. In a statement defendant said half the goods were for a Mr. Somerville who owned a shop about 1½ miles away. Defendant refused to sign the statement.

Defendant, in evidence, stated he was an ex-serviceman and had served in the British army in France and in the East during the last war. He had been in business for himself since 1934 and was on friendly terms with Mr. Somerville, Clones with whom he had previously been employed. His purchases from January, 1941 to August, 1942, were £910. Witness had never any intention of smuggling these goods across the border. Convicting, defendant of being in possession of the goods for export, the R.M, imposed a fine of £60, with time to pay. He dismissed the other two charges. He ordered the forfeiture of 2 cwts. of barley and 2 cwts. of currants.

12-9-1942. MISCONDUCT AT WEEKLY DANCES. AMERICAN OFFICERS’ COMPLAINT.  A letter was read from the officer in charge of U.S.A. military police, regarding dances held in the Minor Townhall—particularly those held on Saturday nights, under the auspices of the football club. It stated: “The door keepers have no limit in admission; the result being that the atmosphere is appalling. There is no room to dance and when evilly disposed. There is no room to dance and when evilly disposed persons start a “brawl’ the hall is so crowded it is impossible to pick out the participants. We suggest that the number of persons admitted be limited to 150 at the outside. We are agreeable to place joint police patrols at the door, who will be responsible for seeing that the service men do not gain admittance after the correct number had been reached, and also our patrols will enter the hall if there is any disorder among the service personnel at the request of the door keeper or a member of the dance committee. We take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation to all classes in Enniskillen for the hospitality and cooperation we have invariably received.” In a subsequent letter it was stated: “We can no longer provide police patrols for duty at the above mentioned dances as we are not getting the cooperation of the organisers.’’

The Chairman (Mr. Johnston) said the difficulty was 200 to 300 people go to this dance and the place gets choked up. One dance last week had to be stopped on account of the conduct. There was only one thing they could do and it would be a drastic remedy—close the hall altogether to these dances. The Council made an order that the number of persons to be admitted to a dance in the Minor Hall be limited to 150.

12-9-1942. LEITRIM COUNCIL SYMPATHY. THE BALLINAMORE TRAGEDY. Mr. Mooney proposed a vote of sympathy with the relatives of the victims of the Ballinamore drowning tragedy. He happened to be in Ballinamore the previous Tuesday, and he witnessed a scene of sorrow there which he hoped never to see again. It was a consolation to know that the children who lost their lives were daily attenders at Mass and communicants. Therefore they were well prepared to meet their Creator, and their parents had the whole-hearted sympathy of the Council in their bereavement. Mr, P. J. Reynolds, in seconding said it was his intention as a member of the Council for Ballinamore area to propose a vote of sympathy as he thought according to procedure the agenda had to be finished first before taking up consideration of such a resolution. The parents had the wholehearted sympathy of the Leitrim County Council in the great loss which they had sustained. The Chairman said the sad occurrence had cast a gloom not alone over the Ballinamore area but it caused a painful shock throughout “Eire.” They sympathised deeply with the relatives of those children.

12-9-1942. DEARER 26-CO. BREAD. The price of the 41b. batch loaf is to be raised in the 26 Counties from ls to ls 1d, delivered, as from September 21. The price will be Is when sold at bakers’ shops. The price of flour (including wheaten meal) will be increased South of the Border from 52s 6d a sack of 280 lbs. to 60s free on rail at port mills, as from September 14th. The flour price increase is attributed to the new guaranteed price of 50s a barrel for Irish wheat,

12-9-1942. GLANGEVLIN TRAGEDY. MAN FOUND HANGED. A distressing tragedy was discovered in Glengevlin on Friday afternoon when Peter McGovern, Bealballie, Glangevlin was found dead, suspended from a rope, in his home. A niece of deceased, who had acted as housekeeper for him, had left on the previous evening to visit her sister’s house, some miles away. On her return on Friday afternoon she found the door bolted and. was unable to gain admittance. Securing assistance the door was forced .and the grim discovery made. THE INQUEST. At an inquest held on Saturday a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was returned. It was stated that deceased had not been in good health since a recent illness. Sympathy was extended to his relatives. The funeral, which took place to Glangevlin, was largely attended.

12-9-1942. BALLYSHANNON COURT. JAIL SENTENCES FOR ASSAULT. At Ballyshannon District Court, before Mr. J. O’Hanrahan, D.J., Patrick and John Rooney, Single Street, Bundoran, were each sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour for assaulting Charles Gorman, who said he was cut in several places, Lieut. James Mahony, National Army, said one of the Rooneys held Gorman as the other beat him. Witness interfered and took the man away. John Rooney said Gorman started the row.

12-9-1942. KESH MAN GETS DECREE. A decree for £25 was given in a civil bill brought by Francis Maguire, Derrynieve, Kesh, against Lena Gallagher, Tourist House, Bundoran, for that amount due for. cash lent and advanced by plaintiff to defendant on the 20tk October, 1938.

12-9-1942. 60 DOZEN EGGS SEIZED. Imposing a penalty of £100 with a recommendation that it be reduced to £5 in a case in which James McGonigle, Corlea, was convicted of attempting to smuggle 60 dozen eggs across the Border, the Justice said he hoped it would serve as a warning to people on this side of the Border not to be catspaws for those outside the jurisdiction of the State. Garda McGarvey said when questioned McGonigle, who was carrying three boxes of eggs, in a donkey cart in the direction of Corlea, said he was conveying them for a day’s pay from a shop in Cashelard to a man who lived in the Belleek district. The eggs were seized.

12-9-1942. DRUMKEERAN DISTRICT COURT LICENCE APPLICATIONS. Mr. M, J. C. Keane, District Justice, presided at this Court on Wednesday. DANCE LICENCE. Mr. H. Murray, solicitor (Mr. C. L. Flynn), Carrick-on-Shannon, applied on behalf of Mrs. Celia Crowne, Drumkeeran, for an annual dance licence in respect of Crowne’s Hall, Drumkeeran.

Superintendent McNamara, Carrick-on-Shannon, said there was no objection to the licence and the Justice granted the application as asked by Mr. Murray— twenty dances in the year from 8 p.m. to 12 midnight. Mr. Thomas Dowd, Gluckawn, was granted a licence to hold a dance at Gluckawn National School, the guards having no objection.

ANNUAL LICENCES. The publicans in Drumkeeran and district had their annual applications listed for the renewal of their licence and as there was no objection the applications were granted, as also exemptions for early opening on fair mornings.

Mr. Patrick Dolan, .Drumkeeran, applied for the renewal of his spirit grocery wholesale and retail licence, and the Justice inquired if there was any proof of valuation with regard to the wholesale licence. Mr. Early, court clerk, said the applicant was within the limitation and had been granted a licence on a previous occasion. The renewal of the licence was accordingly granted.

12-9-1942. D.J. SUGGESTS TRANSPORT FACILITIES TO COURT. MINERS’ ABSENCE HOLDS UP CASE. Fifteen miners, summoned to give evidence at Ballyfarnon in a series of cases under the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1939, against Michael Leydon, managing director Arigna Collieries, Ltd., failed to appear, and Mr. Keane, D.J., adjourned the summonses for a month for their attendance. It was alleged that Mr. Leydon had failed to give workers annual leave and public holidays, and had failed to pay, assessor pay when they quitted his employment.

Mr. M. Lavin, Inspector of Mines and Factories, said Mr. Leydon had told him that he thought the Act did not apply to his mines. Mr. Leydon, after the issue of the summonses, sent a letter to the Department enclosing receipts from the persons concerned stating that they had got payment in respect of assessor pay, annual leave and holidays. Mr. C. E. Callan, defending, said the inspector had prevented Mr. Leydon increasing the men’s wages. The men could not be present at court owing to transport difficulties. Mr. Keane thought that some effort to transport them to court might he made.

12-9-1942. SMALL FINES PROTEST. CROWN SOLICITOR AND R.M. When at Tynan Petty Sessions on Saturday, Mr. Austin, R.M., fined Patk. Carbery, Balteagh, Middletown, £15 for having been concerned in carrying 35 bottles whisky, uncustomed goods, Mr, J. P. Best (Crown Solicitor) said it was no use the Commissioners getting small penalties like that.He again protested when Fras. Hughes, Lislanley, was fined £3 in respect of two cycle tyres.

If these penalties were to continue he suggested to the Commissioners that they make the minimum fine £100. Mr. Austin — If you want to fill the prisons well and good. Mr. Best—Small penalties encourage smuggling. Mr. Austin—I don’t believe in imprisonment unless it is absolutely necessary. Mr. Best — You don’t seem to think there is a war on.

SUING FOR £1,000 FINE. When Patrick Hamill, John St., Portadown, was charged in respect of 2 lbs. tea. Mr. Best said that under a new Order the authorities were suing for a. £1,000 fine. The R.M.—Very well, I will fine him £1,000. Then he goes to jail. Defendant—I’ll go to prison rather than pay £1,000. Mr. Best, (to the R.M.)—If you want to make yourself ridiculous you can impose the fine. A fine of £3 was imposed.

12-9-1942. BLACK-OUT WARNING. “I would like people clearly to understand that penalties will be very heavy in the coming winter if they don’t blackout, said Major Dickie, R.M:, at Enniskillen Petty Sessions on Monday. Addressing District Inspector Peacocke, his  Worship said: “At the same time, Mr. Peacock, I might suggest, that it would be well to draw, the attention of the military authorities to the practice of military cars and lorries not only passing through Enniskillen, but parking in Enniskillen, with unscreened headlights full on. I counted six of them at midnight with blazing headlights. . The whole town of Enniskillen must have been blazing with lights visible from the air for miles away,” he said. D. I. Peacocke—That matter has been given attention already. Of course you understand we must approach the authorities. In, the black-out cases before the Court, his Worship imposed fines of 5/- and costs in the majority and in one a fine of 20/- and costs was ordered.

COCOA SALE: £31 FINE. Thomas Coogan, merchant, Ballybay, was fined £20 and his brother, Patrick Coogan, £5 when summoned at Ballybay for charging 3/9 for a lb. of cocoa. They were also fined £2 each for selling the  cocoa to a non-customer For refusing to give a. receipt a further fine of £2 was imposed on Patrick Coogan.

12-9-1942. ROSLEA DROWNING TRAGEDY. FATHER’S STORY AT INQUEST. How a horrified father watched his son drown in a lake a short distance from the shore was described at an inquest held in Rosslea on Wednesday of last week into the circumstances of the death of a boy named Frank Morton (18) son of Constable Francis Morton, R.U.C., Rosslea, who: was drowned in Drumacritten Lake on the previous evening. The inquest was held by Mr. James Mulligan, Coroner, sitting without a jury. District Inspector Smyth, Lisnaskea, conducted the proceedings for the Crown. The death of young Morton, who was a general favourite with everyone, caused a pall of gloom in the district. A lad of fine physique, measuring six feet in height, the deceased was about to be accepted in the police force, and his untimely death has evoked widespread sympathy. A native of Co. Armagh, his father was transferred from Derrylin about five months ago, Deceased was his second eldest child, fond, of all kind of sport and a remarkably strong swimmer.

At the inquest, Constable Horton, who was obviously overcome with grief, stated that on the evening of the tragedy witness left his home about 6.30 to have a shot with his gun. His sons, Frank (dead) and George, asked him where he was going, and witness told them so that they would know where to get him. Later witness shot two wild ducks rising off  Drumacritten Lake. Witness tried to get his setter dog to go out for the ducks, but the dog would not go, as it had not seen the ducks on the water. Witness gave up trying to get the ducks and was going away when his two sons arrived. Frank said he would go in for the ducks, and started to take off his clothes. Deceased was a strong swimmer. His son entered the water, and when he was about halfway turned to come back, shouting for help. Witness ran up to a .field to get assistance, but when, he returned he could only see bubbles where his son had disappeared. A verdict of accidental death was returned and sympathy expressed with the bereaved family and relatives.

12-9-1942. SYMPATHY WITH POLICEMAN. When Constable Frank Morton, R.U.C., was giving evidence in a black-out case, Major Dickie said he would like to mention how much they all sympathised with Constable Morton on the occasion of his recent sad bereavement. They were all extremely sorry. Mr. Cooper also, associated himself with the expression of sympathy and Constable Morton, returned thanks. Constable Morton’s 18-year-old son had been drowned in a lake hear Roslea a couple, of days previously. Fines were imposed in a number of cases against householders for not having their premises effectively blacked-out, and Major Dickie said the .penalties would be much heavier this winter if there were any complaints from the R.A.F.

1942. May. Fermanagh Herald.

9-5-1942. £50 FINE TO STAND. DERRYGONNELLY MERCHANT’S APPEAL DISMISSED. HARBOURING COFFEE, BEANS, RICE. At Enniskillen Quarter. Sessions on Thursday, Deputy Judge Ellison, K.C., dismissed the appeal of William Barton, merchant, Derrygonnelly, against the conviction, fine of £50, and forfeiture of the goods, for knowingly harbouring 6 cwts. ground coffee; 30 cwts. rice; 7 cwts. American navy (haricot) beans, with intent to evade the prohibition applicable.

Sergeant J. A. Law gave evidence of visiting defendant’s premises arid inspecting his stocks and seizing 7 cwts. of ground coffee, 33 cwts. rice and 10 cwts. American Navy (haricot) beans. Of this quantity the magistrate ordered the forfeiture of the amounts set out in the summons; the balance was to be returned to the appellant.Mr. Barton informed him that he sold 14 lbs. of coffee a week, and at that rate the quantity found would last him for three years. Barton said he sold 4 stone of rice weekly, so that his supply was enough, to do him for 66 weeks.Mr. Cooper—-Do the people in that locality drink coffee at all?Judge—I don’t think the witness knows their tastes for breakfast. Mr. Cooper — You inspected other, shops in the district? Yes. Judge—-Are you showing that appellant had monopoly of the coffee trade and therefore required a large Quantity? (Laughter). Sergt. Law said of the other shops, none had coffee, one had half a ton of rice, and the others two to four cwt. At the time neither, rice nor coffee were rationed. Mr. Cooper— Did you hear a pronouncement by Mr. De Valera as to what haricot beans were used for? Judge—I thought they were used for eating. Mr. Cooper— They are not used for eating. No one who eats them, once is likely to do so again. Mr. Ferguson— Was that why we had so many of them? (Laughter) Mr, Cooper—Did you hear Mr. De Valera’s’ statement? Witness—No. .

The appellant said he was fortunate in having such a small supply when Sergt. Law called. Rice became more popular because cereals were unobtainable at the particular time. In 1938, pre-war, one of his purchases of rice was of a ton in respect of which he produced the invoice. Green peas being off the market since the war, a. substitute was found in haricot beans, which were palatable and good to eat. If a person had his dinner of them he would require nothing else. Witness had always bought peas and beans in large quantities. Coffee was not rationed, and since tea was rationed the sale of coffee had increased considerably. Before the war he had a very big trade in tea as it was a good tea-drinking district— it was a mountainous country, and they knew that meant a good tea-drinking country. When tea was cut down a substitute beverage had to be found and he supplied coffee. Mr. Ferguson (for appellant), — The sergeant says there is a good price for coffee in the Free State?

Witness—I am in informed you cannot give it away to-day in the Free State. Mr. Cooper— Did you hear Mr. De Valera’s pronouncement that beans were to be ground up and mixed with flour? — I never heard it mentioned. Didn’t you tell us at the Petty Sessions that no one ate haricot beans?—No; – you suggested it- and I certainly changed the tune. Mr. Cooper cross-examined the witness as to his large purchases, and Mr. Barton replied, “A man must have some foresight and make some provision for the public if he is to live in business to-day, and right, well you know that. Provided you could not get tea, you would be interested in coffee. Mr. Cooper—I am very interested in coffee. Mr. Barton—You are and I know why, but if you could not get tea and wanted some other beverage, would not you be interested in coffee?—I think you would. Witness said in peace time his stock of rice was two tons. The Judge said he thought the stocks were very large, and that the magistrate’s order was right. He affirmed the conviction.

MAY 9, 1942.R.M. AND BORDER TRIPS. MOTORISTS FINED AT ROSLEA. Strong comments were made by Major Dickie at Roslea Petty Sessions in a case in which Patrick McEntee, Clonfad, Newtownbutler, was fined £3 for driving a car without being properly covered by insurance. A summon for having no driving licence was dismissed. John Hasson, Kilrea, Co. Derry, was fined £3 for permitting McEntee to drive the car without being insured. Mr. J. B. Murphy said Mr. McEntee lived near the Clones Border, His wife was a niece of two old people named McDermott, who were over 80 years.

These people lived 12 miles away and both of them died. . There was no one to look after them. but Mrs. McEntee. Mr. Hasson was a hardware salesman and came to Clones, leaving his car on the Northern side of the Border. He was advised it was dangerous to leave his car there, and went to Mr. McEntee’s house and got permission to leave his car there. Mr. McEntee asked Mr. Hasson to have the car to go to see his wife, and Mr. Hasson agreed. Mr. McEntee, who had a car in “Eire,” went in Mr. Hasson’s car to see his wife, leaving his car on the roadside. Sergt. Williams came along and seized the car as there were some goods in the back of it. Mr. Hasson had lost his car, which was a severe loss. Mr. Hasson lived 16 miles from Coleraine, where he was employed, and had since to cycle to his employment. He was an. entirely innocent party. There would be a Customs prosecution in connection with the goods, found in the car. Hasson, in evidence, stated he had been staying with friends in Clones. He thought McEntee was licensed to drive.

To Dist. Inspector Smyth —He drew a supplementary petrol allowance. Major Dickie — Is that what you travelled to Clones on? Witness—No. Major Dickie—The journey would be about 250 miles. Witness—I had some petrol saved. Major Dickie—-It is time the police looked into these cars at Coleraine and the cars this defendant is associated with. The sooner these 250 miles-per day trips to the Free State are stopped the better. This is a very different thing from a person running out a few miles on a picnic. Mr. Smyth said .he would communicate with the police in Coleraine.

9-5-1942. PRETTY DEVENISH WEDDING. MR. CHIVERS AND MISS MAGUIRE. A pretty wedding was solemnised in St. Mary’s Church, Devenish, on Thursday of last week, the contracting parties being Mr. Thos. Chivers, L.A.C, R. A.F. and Miss Eileen Maguire, youngest daughter of Mrs. Maguire and the late  Mr. Peter Maguire, Devenish. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. P. Monaghan, C. C., Devenish. Mr F McGovern, ‘The Hotel” Devenish was best man and the bride was attended by her sister Miss Kathleen Maguire. The bridegroom is a native of Wales and the happy couple are spending their honeymoon in that enchantingly beautiful country. The bridegroom who made a host of friends during his stay in Devenish was recently received into the Catholic Church.

9-5-1942. PROTESTANT APPOINTED WATERWORKS CARETAKER. Enniskillen Rural Council Party Vote. Applications for the position of caretaker of Tempo waterworks (£6 a year salary) were received by Enniskillen R. D. Council on Tuesday, from the following, James Rice, junr., Albert Spratt, Reginald Allen, Robert Woods, John Gilliland, all of Tempo.  Rice, a Catholic, was proposed by Mr, E. Callaghan (N.) 2nd seconded by Mr. T. McLaughlin (N.). Allen, a Protestant, was proposed by Mr, J. Beatty (U.), seconded by Mr. T. Bothwell (U.). On a party vote, Allen was appointed by 5 votes to 2. Mr. Beatty as a later stage in the meeting said £6 a year was useless. Mr. J. Burns— There are six people who like it. Mr. Beatty — Starvation wages! The other day 1 saw in the town four guineas for a pair of boots. You would not run very long in them to the reservoir and to fix bursts till they would be worn out. Mr, Crosier (late caretaker) said it would take £16 to pay him for the work. Mr. A. Elliott—Why is it there are six men in. for it, Mr. Beatty? Have a bit of wit.Mr, Beatty—£6 a year is useless. Chairman (Mr. J. J. Coulter, J.P.) — If this man you voted for does not accept it are you agreeable to the matter being brought up again and giving the job to one of the others? Mr. Beatty—All right I know it is useless. The discussion lapsed.

9-5-1942. DROWNING TRAGEDY. Fate of American Soldier. Ralph R. Helbing (22), a private with the American troops in the Six Counties, was the victim of a drowning tragedy on Tuesday evening. With four companions he was fishing on a raft, when the raft overturned throwing the five into the water. Apparently .the fishing line became entwined around the clothes and legs of the deceased. He was a strong swimmer and he disappeared immediately.

At an inquest on Wednesday morning, Private J. F. Genther said at 7-10 p.m. the previous evening he was standing near the water’s edge when he heard shouting from the direction of the water, and ran down to the edge of the water. He saw four men in the water and one man clinging to a raft. The four men were swimming towards the shore, and witness shouted to men in boats not far away. Two boats arrived and picked up three of the men in the water. He told the rescuers that there was another, but that he must .have gone under. A search was made for the deceased, whose body was recovered after an hour and twenty minutes. Private William Nain also gave similar evidence. Major Fred H. Beaumont said that when the body was recovered at 8.30 he applied artificial respiration, which was continued for two hours. The deceased did not show any sign of life when the body was taken ashore. It was found that the fishing line was entwined, around his clothes and legs. Death was due to drowning. The verdict was recorded of accidental drowning.

9-5-1942. LETTERBREEN HOUSE POSSESSION. At Enniskillen Quarter Sessions, Deputy Judge Ellison, K.C., upheld the appeal of  Mrs. Margaret Maguire of Brockagh, against the dismissal in the lower Court  of her ejectment proceedings against, John Fallon, Cornagee, in respect of a house at Cornagee, let as a weekly tenancy at a rent of 3/6. Mrs. Maguire stated she required the house for occupation by a person engaged in work necessary for the proper working of her farm. The defendant and his wife stated, the first they heard of the notice to quit was after Mrs. Maguire had asked and been refused an increase of rent. A decree for , possession was granted, with 8/- expenses and two guineas costs.

9-5-1942. KESH PETTY SESSIONS. At Kesh Petty Sessions on Tuesday week, before Major T. W. Dickie, R.M., Ernest Stewart, Irvinestown, for using an unauthorised motor headlamp was fined £3. Patrick Wm. Molloy, Tullyhommon, was fined £2 in each case for driving a motor car without due care and failing to produce insurance.

George Walshe, Oghill, for riding a bicycle without due care, was fined 1/- and £1 2s costs.

Joseph McAlynn, Doochrock, was fined 1/- and £1 12s and costs for riding a bicycle without due care at Ederney.

John Cunningham, Dullaghan, was fined £4 in a case of eight sheep affected by scab.

Charles Simpson, Edenticrummon, was fined £5 in each case for importing eight head of cattle at Ederney without a licence and giving false information.

9-5-1942. £1,500 TO LEITRIM BOY. Fergus O’Rourke. (16½), Ballinamore, Co., Leitrim, who lost a foot in a shunting accident at Ballinamore railway station last June, was awarded £1,500 damages against, the. G.S.R. Company by a High Court jury,

January 1942. Fermanagh Herald.

Pettigo News. Fermanagh Herald. 17th January 1942. The death has occurred after a short illness, at her residence, Tievemore, Pettigo, of Miss Elizabeth Reid. There was a large attendance at the funeral.

On Saturday R.U.C. from Tullyhommon, Pettigo, made a search of a number of farm houses in the Cloghore and Camplagh districts along the Lettercran border, and seized a quantity of flour and bread. They also seized a quantity of sugar in bags, which had been smuggled from Donegal.

Blacklion District news. 17th January 1942. The wedding took place at Killinagh Protestant Church of Sergeant Alfred Brady R. I. F. Dungannon, a native of Florencecourt, and Miss Elizabeth Sheridan, Gola, Blacklion. Mr. George Sheridan, cousin of the bride, was best man, Miss Annie Sheridan, sister of the bride, was bridesmaid. Rev. Mr. Coleman, B. A. performed the ceremony.

There was a 90% attendance at meetings of the L.D.F. at Blacklion, Glenfarne, Barran and Glangevlin Groups during the week. At a meeting of the Locality Security Force arrangements for extending night patrols were made.

During the week 160 men started to work under the minor relief scheme in the different parts of the area.

When returning from milking cows at Drumcow, Mrs Leonard, Belcoo, fell from a foot style and had her leg broken. She was removed to Enniskillen Hospital.

FINTONA. Butter jumps 1s 7d per lb.; pork 23 carcasses; young pigs 85s to 95s each, potatoes 6s to 7s 4d per cwt.

CASTLEDERG. Pork, 40 carcases; young pigs 65s to 80s each; chickens 4s 6d to 6s 6d, hens 3s 6d to 5s 6d, ducks 3s to3s 6d each; potatoes 7s to 8s per cwt retail.

24th January 1942. CAR ON CONCESSION ROADS. QUESTION OF LIGHTS NOT “ BLACKED-OUT ” A point affecting thousands of motorists who use the Clones-Gavan Concession Road, was raised at Newtownbutler Petty Sessions, before Major T. W. Dickie, R.M., when Patrick McEntee, Clonfad, Newtownbutler, was summoned on three counts for not having the lights on his motor car properly blacked-out.

Mr. J. B. Murphy, solicitor, who appeared for defendant, said the case raised the point of black-out on the Concession- Road, on which defendant resided. The road was in and out of Monaghan and Fermanagh at points. Cars in Monaghan could use undimmed lights while the Six-County cars must be blacked-out. District Inspector Smyth, Lisnaskea, said defendant’s car was found in the Six Counties. Mr. Murphy — Any person using that road could be stopped in the Six Counties. Major Dickie—I am afraid they could. The real trouble is that Six-County “cars meeting headlights are helpless. Major Dickie said he thought it was a very proper case to be brought, to- see what would be done. Constable W. H. Walker—I brought it for that purpose. Mr. Murphy —‘What is Mr. McEntee to do in future? ‘ Major Dickie – That is the trouble with, all of us. I would suggest he should have a dipping headlight and drive with one headlamp dipped. I think if the defendant and all other Free State drivers used that form of light on the Concession Road there would be no objection by the police. Mr. Murphy asked to have the Probation of Offenders Act applied with costs, and said they in Monaghan would dip their lights. The Probation Act was applied.

24th January 1942. POPULAR ENNISKILLEN WEDDING. MAGUIRE — SMYTH. A pretty and popular wedding was solemnised in St. Michael’s, Church, Enniskillen, on Wednesday morning of last week, the contacting parties being Mr. Peter M. Maguire, the well-known Gael and secretary of Enniskillen Gaels G.A.A. club for the past 15 years and Miss Margaret (Gretta) Smyth, Wellington,, secretary of the Fermanagh County Camogie Board. The best man was Mr. James Donnelly, and the bride was attended by her sister, Miss Mary T. (‘Dot’) Smyth, P.E.T.

The ceremony, with Nuptial Mass, was performed by Rev. E. Rhatigan, C.C., Terenure, Dublin, cousin of the groom, assisted by Ven. Archdeacon Gannon, P.P., Enniskillen. The reception in the Railway Hotel, Enniskillen, was attended by a large number of relatives and friends of the happy couple. Father Rhatigan presided, and those present included Rev. Father Vincent, C. P., the Graan. The honeymoon is being spent in the South and West of Ireland.

24th January 1942. CALL FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION ON WIDER BASIS. Mr. J. J. Coalter, J.P., urged Fermanagh Regional Education Committee to appeal to the Government to place secondary education on the same basis as primary education so that all might be able to obtain the higher standard of education without extra cost. Mr. Coalter said the time had arisen when they should press upon the Government the absolute necessity of providing the same facilities for secondary as for primary education. Secondary education was not available to all pupils. It was lack of a proper secondary education that had caused the dearth of properly trained young men that were now wanted by the country in time of war. It was impossible for the ordinary man, after providing the necessities of life for children, such as food and clothing, to provide a proper secondary education.

24th January 1942. LEITRIM LADY’S DEATH IN WICKLOW. Mrs. Alice Clancy, proprietress, Grand Hotel, Wicklow, who died, was a native of Manorhamilton and was widow of Mr. Patrick Clancy, Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim. Formerly of the Bellevue Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, she took over the Grand Hotel, Wicklow, in 1918. She was sister of Sister Mary Therese, O.P., and Sister Mary Patrick, Holy Faith Order, both in South Africa, and mother of Mr. Joseph Clancy, who has been managing the Grand Hotel for some years; Rev. R. Clancy, C.C., Donabate, and of the late Rev. Berchmans Clancy, O Cist., Mount Melleray.

24th January 1942. DROVE WITHOUT LICENCE. John P. Brannigan, 6, Henry Street, Enniskillen, was fined 20s at Enniskillen Petty Sessions for driving a motor lorry without a licence.

January 10th 1942. RAILWAY LINE CLOSED. LAST RUN IN THE CLOGHER VALLEY. The close of the old year coincides with the passing of the Clogher Valley Railway, which has served the district for 65 years and was closed down on Wednesday of last week in accordance with an Order of the Ministry of Home Affairs. To mark the occasion members of the office and locomotive staffs with a number of local folk took a joy ride on the last train from Aughnacloy to Fivemiletown and back, the arrival home at Aughnacloy being signalled by the hooting of the engine whistle. Competition was keen as to who would have the honour of punching the last ticket issued and this distinction was credited to Dr. Gillespie of Tynan.

Some 70 employees are affected by the closing of the line, but most of them, will receive compensation on a varying scale. Although: no trains are now running the head office staff at Aughnacloy carry on as usual and will continue to do so for the present as a lot of clearing up work has to be attended to before the liquidator proceeds with the dispersal of the property.

The Ministry’s cattle grading centers at Aughnacloy, Clogher, and Fivemiletown will be carried on at the railway premises as usual, the Clogher Rural Council having made arrangements for the use of the railway weighbridges for the purpose.

It is interesting to note that the first ticket issued on the railway is retained by Mr. W. D. Graham, solicitor, Fivemiletown, having been purchased by his father, the late Mr. D. Graham, on the first run 56 years ago.

January 10th 1942. MANOR HAMILTON NEWS. Roses in Bloom. — Roses in bloom are to be seen in Mr. M. O’Donnell’s garden at Boleyhill.

L.D.F. District Command Dance. — The L.D.F. District Command Dance held on Sunday night was well patronised.

January 10th 1942. ROSLEA POTEEN CHARGE. BARREL OF WASH FOUND. JAIL SENTENCE. At Roslea Petty Sessions on Friday before Major T. W. Dickie, R.M., Thomas Beagan, farmer, Tonnaghaboy, Roslea, was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment without hard labour when he pleaded guilty to having 20 gallons of wash in his possession, on Dec. 6th. A further charge of having a bottle in his possession containing a few drops of poteen was dismissed without prejudice. Defendant was not professionally represented. In reply to District-Inspector Smyth, Lisnaskea, Sergt. Ryder, R.U.C., Fivemiletown, stated that while accompanied by Sergt. C. E. Williams, Roslea, he assisted in searching the house of defendant. In the sitting-room he found two empty 141b. tins which had contained syrup. He then went to a hayshed and with the assistance of a graip he found a barrel in the hay which contained 20 gallons of ‘wash’. The wash had matured and was ready for running. Witness heard Beagan saying it was his wash. Defendant then informed the court he admitted having the wash.

Sergt. Williams deposed to finding a large bottle which smelled strongly of poteen. When questioned about the bottle defendant stated it had been left there by a girl called Lena Murphy. In fairness to defendant he would like to say he tested that statement and found there had been a bottle left there some days previously. When questioned about the wash defendant said it was his. When asked to account for the syrup defendant’s wife said it was used for making cakes. Later after the barrel was found defendant admitted the syrup was used for making the wash. Witness destroyed the wash and kept a sample. Defendant (told the court he admitted the wash but not the poteen. In reply to his Worship, the District Inspector said there were no previous convictions. In imposing the sentence stated Major Dickie said he would not impose hard Labour, although actually he believed it made no difference. Defendant was then removed in custody.

BLACKLION NEWS. In accordance with custom, groups of ‘Wren Boys’ travelled the district in the days prior to New Year’s Day.

The annual Xmas Tree was given in the Blacklion School by Mrs and the Rev. Mr Coleman on Wednesday night. A big number of children were entertained.

A dance in aid of funds for the new band was held in the MacNean Hall, Belcoo, on New Year’s Night. The spacious Hall was packed. The music was by the Sunny Melody Band.

A special meeting of the Group Staff of the Local Security Force was held in Blacklion on Friday night. Group Leader Wynn presided. Sergt Rock and D. S. O. Maguire, N. T. were in attendance. A letter from the Minister for Justice was read, thanking the group for their services for the past year. The question of the formation of a branch of the Red Cross was discussed and it was decided to assist in forming a branch as soon as possible. The appointment of Mr. John Jas. Grane as Section Leader was sanctioned. Mr Michael Foley was appointed Asst. Section Leader. An Intelligence Officer was also appointed.

PETTIGO NEWS. The poor in Pettigo village were provided with food, clothing and fuel by a number of charitable gentlemen and ladies in the vicinity during the Christmas season. The donors include: – Guard J. Treanor and Mrs Treanor, Mr. James Gallagher, Postmaster, Mr Michael Fullerton, Customs and Excise, Mr and Mrs Thos. Bradley, Sic-Co., Customs and Mrs Dora Wrenn, C.M.B.

On Tuesday night of last week Lettercran B. Group of the L. S. F. under Squad Leader T. Haughey assembled at the local hall and underwent instruction in squad drill.

On Thursday night of last week a very enjoyable dance was held in St. Patrick’s Parochial Hall, Agheyarron, (sic) the proceeds being in aid of Parochial Funds. The music was supplied by Messrs Eddie McHugh, Corgary, and Edward Lynch, Mullinabreen. Mr. James Neill McNally was M. C.

On Wednesday night of last week a dance was held in Letter Hall, Pettigo, the proceeds being in aid of charity. The music was provided by the Trio Dance Band. Mr. William H. Marshall, Skea, was M. C.

June 1915.

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  AN OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN.  There is one sphere which is particularly women’s province, and where their talents should find official recognition and employment.  Prodigious sums of money are being spent on food at the military camps throughout the kingdom, and it is said that the amount of food thrown away at these places every day exceeds even the limits of British thriftlessness.  We should like to see a committee of women formed under the auspices of the War Office, in the neighbourhood of every camp, and charged with the duty of ordering and preparing all the food eaten in it.  They would do it too far more economically and carefully than it is done at present, and the health and digestion of the troops will be all the better for it.  Daily Mail.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  LISNASKEA GUARDIANS.  FEVER HOSPITAL CROWDED.  THE CHAIRMAN AND RECRUITING.  Dr. Knox wrote and stating that the Fever Hospital was crowded with different forms of infectious diseases, so much so that the old kitchen had to be utilised for a diphtheria case.  How he asked in future will any emergency be met if the apartments for nurses were cut off the Boards?

The Chairman said his attention had been drawn that morning to a comment made by Mr. Trimble on what he said after the Board on that day fortnight.  He did not think Mr. Trimble had any right to make such a comment or to throw mud at him.  The mud, however, would not stick, but would only give him a gloss and show that he was a true Irishmen at heart.  He ( the Chairman) had said nothing to interfere with recruiting, but only that they wanted more men in Fermanagh to raise and mature their crops so that when the wings of Famine spread over the country as they surely would do, the it would be seen that the men who had laboured on the land and had gathered in the crop would be more honoured and more appreciated than those who had gone to bleed in Flanders.  They would be more appreciated by the Government and by the people, and by Mr. Trimble too, although everything Mr. Trimble did was against the Irish people.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  SUMMER TRIPS ON THE LAKE.  Notwithstanding the grim outlook of the war and the pathos of the general suffering it entails the Directors have thought it well to keep up this season also the running of the Lady of the Lake.  We must not, as a people, give way to gloom and depression.  That would ill-fit us for the desperate struggle in which we are involved.  To keep up the health is to sustain our physical vigour and a sound tone of thinking, and there is no pleasanter way of obtaining these much prized ends than by spending as many sunny days as possible in the open air sailing in and out amongst the lovely islands of Lough Erne.

The Lady of the Lake will, therefore, commence the service to Castle Caldwell, on Monday the 14th Inst…  We regret that the response of the public to the appeal made to them by the company was not too encouraging.  But probably now, when the Directors display so enterprising a spirit many of those who were disposed to hold back will change their views and send in a request for season tickets.  They are marvellously cheap.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  THE REAL CULPRITS.  The Daily Mail has been attributing a good deal of our lack of high explosives to Lord Kitchener.  Now we have a great deal of traditional admiration for that gentleman.  He is a great soldier.  As an organiser he is supposed to be unsurpassed.  We do not know whether he has taken upon himself more than he can fulfil or on what other shoulders blame should be located.  The plain, bald fact is that our men have suffered terribly and our position has been much weakened for want of a proper kind of shell for which Sir John French has been writing time and again.  Now the  Mail is a shrewd paper with ample resources of information, and if it is honestly satisfied that this dire and most calamitous shortage is the fault of Lord Kitchener it was its duty to speak out plainly and boldly.  This is no time for mealy-mouthedness.  Men and their reputations must not be considered for a moment, when the country is in danger.  We have been greatly impressed by the logic of the Mail, by the irresistible logic of all the circumstances of the situation.  In attacking Lord Kitchener the Mail knew it was assailing a popular hero, and that in these sentimental times a great deal of venom against itself would be evoked.  We do not see that it had anything to gain by adopting the course it did.  The motive and action would seem to us to be patriotic.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  DEATHS.  ELLIOTT – May 27th, at the residence of his son-in-law, Moses Maguire, Cashel, James Elliott, aged 77 years.

TYDD.  On the 24th of May, at the Rectory, Inver, Co., Donegal, Louisa Leslie Tydd, wife of the Rev. A. P. L. Tydd and eldest daughter of the Rev. W. Steel, D. D. late Headmaster of Portora Royal School.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  WANTED.  Henry Lyons & Company Ltd.  Sligo, require immediately several first class COAT MAKERS.  Society wages.  Healthy and well ventilated work rooms.  Good prospects for suitable men.

RAILWAYMEN – Steady Men wanted as Porters at Buchanan Street Goods Station, Glasgow.  Wages to start, including war bonus, 25 shillings per week.  Apply Mr. Cooper, Goods Superintendent.

WANTED an Apprentice (Protestant) to the Hardware and Grocery.  Good opening for smart youth.  Apply 3157, this office.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  LOCAL MILITARY NEWS.  The recruiting party of the 11th ( Service) Battalion Inniskilling Fusiliers under Lt.  William Knight, which has been in this district for the past fortnight concluded their tour on Saturday.  Altogether about 100 men were attested by Lt. Knight and so pleased were the authorities with the admirable work done by him and his men that they granted them five days’ leave.

Pettigo was the most responsive town visited for here Lieutenant Knight secure 24 men.  Lisbellaw came next with 15 men.  It may be mentioned that we understand that other recruiting parties visited Pettigo without success.

On Friday the party in visited the Ballyconnell.  They were most heartily entertained by a number of ladies to an excellent repast in the Courthouse.  Afterwards a meeting was conducted on the steps of the Courthouse and addresses were given by General Tennyson, Colonel Rowe, and Rev. Mr. Rogers.  Later a smoking concert was held in the Markethouse where music was supplied by the band and the local ladies.  Lieutenant Knight spoke here, but it must be regretted that a certain section of the audience was of anti-recruitment sentiments and kept up a continual interruption.  “Where are Carson’s men?”  shouted one individual.  The attitude of the interrupters was such that it is only a pity they could not be individually identified and punished.  Next morning the band played selections through the streets and the Bank Manager distributed cigarettes among the men.

Official intelligence has been received by the parents of Private James Maguire, son of Francis Maguire, Roslea Road, Clones, and Private John McCormack, son of Thomas McCormack, Analore Street, Clones, that they have been killed in action at the front.  News has also reached Clones, but as yet no official confirmation is to hand of the death in action of Private John McElroy, Clones.

Mrs. Lynch, Dame Street, Enniskillen, has been notified by the War Office that her son Private James Lynch, 4th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment was killed in action on the 11th of May.

Lieutenant Edward Crawford, 3rd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers attached to the Royal Irish Regiment, died on the 27th of May from gas poisoning received in recent fighting in Belgium.  Lieutenant Crawford was a son of the late Mr. Robert Crawford, D. L., of Stonewold, Ballyshannon, and was educated at Portora Royal School and Cheltenham College.  He had been invalided home with frostbite before Christmas and had only recently returned to the front.

We observe the names of two members of the same Fermanagh family, the sons of Mr. Hugh Crooke, Glenwinny, Cosbystown.  One of them Sergeant William H. Crook, 1st Battalion Inniskilling Fusiliers was killed, while his brother Private Montgomery Crooke, was wounded both on the same day, the 8th of May, at the Dardanelles.  It appears that Sergeant Crooke was sent out on a “listening patrol” with a few of his section, and one of his men got hit; he went over to bandage him and in doing so got hit himself, both of them dying in a short time.  About two hours before this Private Crook had got shot through the shoulder while another bullet passed through his coat, but without touching his skin.  He is now in hospital and progressing favourably.  Sergeant Crooke had served through the South African War, while both brothers had been in India for about eight years.  The sad news of the death of one and the wounding of the other has caused deep regret throughout the Cosbystown district where their family is well known and much respected and sincere sympathy is being extended to them in their loss.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  MR. W.  R.  WHYTES’S BROTHER KILLED.  Much sympathy will be felt in Enniskillen and district with Mr. W. R. Whyte, J.P., manager of the local branch of the Scottish Co-Operative Wholesale Society, in the loss he has sustained by the death of his brother, who was killed in France on Sunday the 23rd of May. Quarter Master Sergeant Whyte was in the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Infantry Brigade, 51st Division, and was transferred to France about a fortnight before he met his death.  The Germans it appears, shelled the billets behind the trenches and it was while in one of these that Quartermaster Sergeant Whyte was struck.  He died the same day.  He was only 32 years of age and unmarried.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  SERGEANT MICHAEL O’LEARY, V.  C.  READS AN ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN DEATH.  A report having been widely circulated that O’Leary, V. C. was killed, the Sergeant himself removed any doubt as to his condition.  In a letter, dated May 29th, he writes “I have seen by today’s paper is that I have been killed in action.  No, I am still in the firing line, doing my bit for my King and country.  I trust God is not going to call me so soon until I have done a bit more for my country.  I came out of the last battle with only a few scratches, thank God.”

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  THE THINGS PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW.  Are the only really active branches of the Catch–My–Pal Society in Fermanagh those in Kesh, Newtownbutler and Brookeborough?  Will the Enniskillen branch ever be revived?  What practical work is being done by the Churches in this country in the cause of temperance?

What response has there been by the public to the appeal made by the Enniskillen YMCA for funds to provide a reading and recreation rooms for our soldiers?

Is it true that soldiers in Enniskillen are to be provided with a dummy hand which will be kept constantly at the salute, owing to the fact that they have to perform that ceremony every 10 yards they walk through our streets in the afternoons?

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  FELL OUT OF THE TRAIN AN ACCIDENT ON THE G.N.R.  A woman named Boylan, the wife of a solicitor, who was on her way from Ballyshannon to Londonderry on Tuesday night, accidentally fell out of the Great Northern Railway train between Fintona and Omagh with a child in her arms, the accident being caused through the carriage door having been opened.  The communication cord was pulled by another passenger, and the train brought to a standstill.  The woman, who was found sitting on the railway bank, escaped without injury, but the child was slightly injured.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  BELTURBET CASUALTIES.  Already a number of soldiers from the Belturbet District have laid down their lives in the great cause, and almost every day adds to the alleged list of casualties.  Mr. Ebenezer Fraser, coach builder, Belturbet, has been notified of the death of his son, Private E.  Fraser, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers and Mrs. Shellin, Bridge Street, Belturbet, has received a letter from her son, Private J.  Shellin, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, stating that he is been wounded during the operations in the Dardanelles.  He is cheerful despite his wounds, and hopes to have another crack at “the Lusitania murderers soon.”  Private Fraser, who was a fine strapping lad of 19, was only about a month in France when he met his death.

 

Fermanagh Times June 3rd, 1915.  THERE ARE EIGHT MILLION MEN OF MILITARY AGE.  The appeal issued by the War Office for 300,000 men includes an analysis of the census figures of men between the ages of 18 and 39.  There are altogether 6,513,938 in England and Wales.  Scotland has 803,434 men, and Ireland 735,707 making a total of 8,053,079 men of fighting age in the United Kingdom.  Two million men of all ages are stated to be engaged in the manufacture of war munitions.

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS AND THE GAS ATTACK. Mr. G.  A Valentine Williams, the Special Correspondent of the Daily Mail says: – Private Frank O’Brien of the Dublin Fusiliers, one of the men gassed, whom I found convalescent in the “gas ward” of this casualty clearing station this afternoon gave me a dramatic account of his experience.  “I had my respirator on,” he said “but the gas came full at me the way I could not see or breathe. I went all weak.  We couldn’t hold the trench at all.  We had to fall back.  I was staggering down the road just strangling.”

“There was one of our police there.  He stopped me.  “Get back to your trench, he says, or I’ll shoot you.”  I was that weak by this that I went down there in the dust at his feet.  When he saw I was bad he leant down to me and though fair strangling as I was I just begged him to shoot me.  But he says I see how it is with you.  You’re a brave lad and we’ll get you to the ambulance.

Private O’Brien was not the only man that had prayed that day that his life might be ended.  For 4½ hours the Germans poured out dense fumes of their deadly gas, which, fanned by a brisk north-easterly breeze spread over an area of 6 miles beyond Ypres.  “It would have brought the tears to your eyes,” the doctors say, “to see these splendid men, great brawny fellows – many of them tearing at their throats, rending their tunics, screaming to us in hoarse, rattling voices to put them out of their misery.”

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 3 1915.  GAS-POISON WAR.  A 40 FEET WALL OF VAPOUR.  A correspondent near Ypres says: – Within 20 yards of me a score of gas patients are lying struggling for breath in a ward, the last batch of the several hundreds of victims sent down on Monday as the result of the great German gas attack.  Of these 17 are dead; the rest have been sent to the base.  It was in the half light of dawn on Monday morning that the Germans delivered their attack.  The men on the watch at the parapet saw what they first took to be smoke of fires rising at frequent intervals all along the German lines.  Almost before the men could warn their comrades, many of whom were asleep, the fumes were upon them in an immense wall of vapour 40 feet high.

 

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  CLIFF FATALITY AT THE CAUSEWAY.  AN ENGLISH VISITOR FALLS 250 FEET.  The victim was Mr Fred Blackshew, aged about 34 years belonging to George Street Coventry.  Accompanied by three companions, the deceased drove from Portrush to see the Causeway arriving there about 3.00.  Two of the men went in by the toll-gate but Blackshew and Bush, the fourth, decided to walk along the cliff head.  Shortly afterwards a local resident named James Martin, and his wife were returning home from gathering seaweed, and they were horrified to find Mr. Blackshew lying on the footpath at the bottom of the amphitheatre cliff, from the top of which he had fallen, a distance of about 250 feet.  The injured man was carried to Mr. Frank Kane’s hotel, but notwithstanding all that medical skill could do he never regained consciousness and passed away about 1.00 yesterday morning.

 

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  FERMANAGH BRAVERY RECOGNIZED.  The Trustees of the Carnegie Hero Fund have awarded certificates and the sum of £5.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, Kesh, in recognition of their prompt and plucky action in saving from drowning last December William Snow and Thomas McCabe.  These two men were crossing to Bow Island in a boat with William Gibson.  The boat overturned and hearing cries for help Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, who are herds on Bow Island went in tempestuous weather to their assistance, Gibson being drowned.  The Cullens are in poor circumstances and have 12 children.

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  WAR CASUALTIES. We regret to announce the death in action of Private Berty Emmet, Strand Street, Enniskillen.  Deceased was attached to the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was stationed at Dover with his regiment when the war broke out.  Two of his brothers, Sergeant Emmet and Private  Emmett are at present serving in the Dardanelles.

Official intelligence has been received by the parents of Private James Maguire, son of Francis Maguire, Roslea Road, Clones, and Private John McCormack, son of Thomas McCormack, Analore Street, Clones, that they have been killed in action at the front.  News has also reached Clones, and as yet no official communication is to hand, of the death in action of Private John McElroy, Clones.

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  WOUNDED ENNISKILLEN MEN.  Private Frank Fitzpatrick, Inniskilling Fusiliers, writing from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, to his sister in Enniskillen, says “as for myself I could not be doing better, though I thought I would never see you again.  I will never forget it during my life.”  He then describes an engagement in which he took part, and says he was hit, in both feet and on the left hand, and got a slight wound on the side.  He lay on the ground the whole night, the bullets cutting his trousers and his pack “I had,” he adds, “my mind made up for death.  I tried to crawl but it was no good.  There was a poor fellow moaning beside me, and the bullets hit a box of matches in his pocket, and he went on fire, and I could do nothing for him.  It nearly broke my heart I thought I would have bled to death, but thank God and his Blessed Mother for it.  The priest gave me absolution that evening.  He started to cry, but he told us to fight for all we were worth, and so we did.  We get everything one could ask for in this hospital.”

 

Fermanagh Herald June 5th. 1915.  THE PASSING OF A GREAT GOVERNMENT.  After 9 ½ years of glorious crowded life, the great Liberal Government which came into office in December 1905, has ceased to be.  The end has not come the way Liberals we have wished.  It came stealthily, silently, ingloriously.  A blast of war’s mephitic breath killed in a night a government that had emerged scathless for many a furious storm.  But they can take pride in the reflection that the government which is just passed away has to its credit a noble record of accomplished work, and that it has left a deep and an enduring mark on the history of our time.

 

Fermanagh Times June 10th, 1915.  DESTROYING ZEPPELINS.  A DARING FEAT.  AIRMAN AWARDED THE V. C.  News was received this morning of two daring attacks by British naval aviators on enemy airships, which resulted in the destruction of a Zeppelin  and the setting on fire of an airship hangar.  For daring and skill the destruction of the Zeppelin which was accomplished by one naval airman alone and unassisted, can rarely, if ever, have been excelled in the annals of British flying.  When over the German lines between Bruges and Ghent early this morning the airman encountered a German Zeppelin.  Rising above it he reached a certain height, and then swooping down upon the aircraft launched a bomb which fell true to its aim, and pierced the envelope of the dirigible.  A loud explosion followed, and the Zeppelin fell crippled to the ground, a mass of smoke and flame.  The force of the explosion, however, with the consequent disturbance of the atmosphere, caught the aeroplane as it was passing (its mission accomplished) over the wrecked dirigible.  The machine was travelling at a very rapid pace, and as the result of the upward blast of air was forced to loop the loop.  During this manoeuvre petrol escape from the rear tank of the aeroplane, and it was compelled to come down within the German lines.  With extraordinary daring and quickness, however, he managed to refill the empty tank from reserve tins he had with him, and then resuming his seat in the craft he soared up again and returned safely and unhurt to the British lines.

(Ed. Reginald Alexander John WARNEFORD. “The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Alexander John Warneford, Royal Naval Air Service, for the conspicuous act of bravery specified below: —

For most conspicuous bravery on the 7th June, 1915, when he attacked and, single-handed, completely destroyed a Zeppelin in mid-air. This brilliant achievement was accomplished after chasing the’ Zeppelin from the coast of Flanders to Ghent, where he succeeded in dropping his bombs on to it from a height of only one or two hundred feet. One of these bombs caused a terrific explosion which set the Zeppelin on fire from end to end, but at the there for the same time overturned his Aeroplane and stopped the engine. In spite of this he succeeded in landing safely in hostile country, and after 15 minutes started his engine and returned to his base without damage.” (London Gazette – 10 June 1915).

 

Fermanagh Times June 10th, 1915.  FROM THE FRONT TO CLONELLY.  SILENT SUE.  Mr. Harry Hart is a stepson of Mr. Folliott Barton, J. P., Clonelly.  A medical student in Australia he was a member of the University Scouts and came to this country in September last.  In April he went to London and joined King Edward’s Horse one of the first in Pettigo District to join the colours.  Within six days of joining he was sent to the front.  He has since been in France and seen a great deal of active service.  He writes frequently to his mother, Mrs. Barton, and judging by the tone of his letters he is full of the splendid Colonial spirit we have all learned nowadays to greatly value.  He is certainly not downhearted and the grit he exhibits is a grander and more patent element in the British trenches than the cement and steel with which the Germans fortify theirs.  Here is one of his latest communications from the front.

  1. E. H., A. S., About 3rd of June. My Dear Mother, we shifted again last night, but not into the trenches only to new billets on a new part of the line, where they say the trenches are much more comfortable. I have just been reading an account of the trenches by some academic bespectacled correspondent.  My advice to him, whoever he may be, is to come and have a look at one, then I guess he won’t feel like waxing poetic over the beauty of the night and the brilliance of the star shells.  The new billets are a trifle exciting, the German guns drop a few shells round here now and again, don’t know why they do it, we’re not doing anything to them.  Now, all we want is sleep and they try and stop us from getting it by kicking up as much row as they can.  I think I forgot to tell you of a friend we made while in the trenches; we called her “Silent Sue”, she is one of our big guns.  She has a tremendous range, but it was only when the wind was with her that we could hear her report though we could see the shell passing over our heads and burst in the German lines with a terrific bang.  It was awfully soothing to hear her quiet purr just after a Germans shell had burst close to you, and to know that she had a straight eye behind her.  Thank God she wasn’t shooting the opposite direction.  I am sending you home the five franc note I got as my first pay on active service, it will do as a curiosity to stick in the collection of notes.  It is a week’s pay worth 4s 2d, so you see the British Tommy depending on his pay out here is well paid.  I might scrape of a few other things for the museum for instance my valise is well marked with shrapnel holes.  Love to all, Harry.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 10 1915.  A BREEZY LETTER. SIDELIGHTS ON THE CAMPAIGN.  The following breezy letter from the Dardanelles has been received by a gentleman in Dublin whose brother is a naval officer.  The Army is safely landed and are steadily battering its way to Constantinople.  By Jove if you had seen those Australians shining up the hills, (cliffs in places) with the bayonet alone, and ripping up the Turks, (those who stayed), it would have done your heart good. The enemy are most stubborn and are well led.  We have a few prisoners on board, and the officers among them are well dressed and hard looking.  The men are mostly scaly-wags and very badly fitted out.  Their foot gear is poor being, either rope-soled boots or Turkish slippers.  Their rifles are of the very latest German pattern, except in the case of Greeks and Arabs pressed in to fight and they have only old Lee Enfields taking German ammunition.  Von Sanders is in command of their whole army on the peninsula and he is a good hand and very ruthless.  He has issued an order that no prisoners are to be taken.  The worst enemy we have got to fight against are the snipers, whose name is legion, and his bravery is magnificent.  Many of them have been found dug in holes with ammunition and provisions for six weeks!  One man had painted himself green all over, and had branches of trees round him and it took a long time to catch him.  His end was swift.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 10 1915.  ROLL OF HONOUR.  CROOKE.  Killed in action, May 5, 1915, at Gallipoli Peninsula, Dardanelles, Sergeant W.  H.  Crooke, 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and dearly loved son of H. Crooke, Glenwhinney, Derrygonnelly.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 10 1915.  WORK FOR PRISONERS.  The War Office’s decision to make use of prisoners of war for working on the land has been welcomed with general approval throughout the country. Farmers are already suffering badly from lack of labour, and have been seriously wondering how their various crops are to be harvested at all if the rural exodus to the trenches continues. The German military authorities have from the first pursued the wise policy of getting all the work they can out of their prisoners and it is stated on good authority that the vast majority of the prisoners themselves infinitely prefer the healthy life of a labourer in the land to lounging about in the concentration camps.  He also fully appreciates the advantages of being enabled to earn a little money to purchase the small luxuries which their canteen offers.  Doubtless our German prisoners will view the matter in the same light.  Whatever his many vices, the Teuton is not constitutionally a loafer and he outvies the proverbial Scott in his appreciation of the bawbees.  There will no doubt be many efforts to escape made by the prisoners in the early stages of the experiment.  There should however be little anxiety as to the ultimate result of such attempts.  It is difficult enough for loyal British citizens to leave the country at the present time, and for an alien enemy the task is practically an impossibility.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 10 1915.  THE GERMANS RAN BEFORE INNISKILLING BAYONETS.  A CHURCHILL MAN’S AWFUL EXPERIENCE.  FOUR DAYS WOUNDED ON THE BATTLEFIELD.  Sergeant James Hassard, one of two sons of Mr. Hugh Hassard, Whiterock, Churchhill, County Fermanagh, serving in France in a letter home to his parents gives an account of a night encounter with the Huns and how after he was wounded lay helpless on the battlefield for over four days till found by Indian stretcher bearers.  Sergeant Hassard is in of the 2nd Inniskillings, and says that on Saturday, May 15, the Battalion got the order to take the first line of German trenches at all costs.  The attack was made by night and they moved off at 10.30 p.m.  We moved out in the open in front of our own trenches and took up the position in three lines.  I was in the front line and at 10.30 p.m. we got the order: ‘fixed bayonets.’  ‘Advance’ an order which every man seemed eager for.  We had about 350 yards to go till we reached the Huns’ trenches. No doubt, they did let us have it with machine gun and rifle and also shell fire.  All of a sudden as we were about 20 yards from the trench it stopped then we rushed, but all the Germans were gone.  So we got the position quite easily.  Then the Germans started and shelled us for all they were worth.  It must have been a about 11.45 p.m. that I got hit.  I was struck by the nose of a shell and I thought it was the Kaiser that hit me with a sledgehammer.  On that spot I fell and there I lay till early on Thursday morning when four Indians carried me to the dressing station, and O, what a relief it was!  It had rained nearly all the time but I was in no way  downhearted as I knew God would send somebody to take me to safety.

 

Fermanagh Herald June 12th. 1915.  COMING VICTORY IN THE DARDANELLES SAYS MR. CHURCHILL.  Addressing a non-party meeting of his constituents at Dundee, Mr. Winston Churchill spoke in a very optimistic vein.  In a reference to the Dardanelles he said we were separated only a few miles from a victory such as this war had not yet seen.  Reviewing the work of the late Liberal Government, Mr. Churchill paid a great tribute to Lord Haldane, than whom, he said, no more sincere patriot had ever served the Crown.  He added that he was sure that conscription was not necessary, and referring to the new national government he said that what the nation required of it was action.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  MOTOR ACCIDENT AT CLONES.  On Sunday a Gaelic football match was held at Clones, and a large number of people came to the town by motors and bicycles.  A number of cyclists were riding abreast of from the direction of Newtownbutler, and a motor was approaching from behind.  One of the cyclists named John Murphy aged 27 of Knocknacreeve, Kinawley, Co., Fermanagh, in attempting to get out of the way of the motor, was knocked down and before the car could be stopped it caught him and dragged him along for some distance.  He sustained rather serious injuries to the head, ribs, and legs, and was at once conveyed in the car to Clones Infirmary, and medically attended to.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  THE CAT AND MOUSE ACT.  Mr. Sheehy Skeffington who was sentenced to six months imprisonment on Wednesday last under the Defence of the Realm Act for an anti-recruiting speech at Beresford Place, was released from Mountjoy Prison on Tuesday evening.  Mr. Skeffington had gone on hunger strike from the date of his committal.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  FIRE AT BUNDORAN JUNCTION.  Bernard McManus, signalman at the station, discovered that the fire had broken out in two small houses immediately behind the main building about midnight on Thursday last.  One of these contained the plants for generating the Acetylene Gas used on the premises, and the other was a tool and lumber room.  All possible efforts were made by Mr. George Bell, stationmaster, and other willing workers to extinguish the flames, but owing to the inflammable nature of the articles in the houses – coal, paints, oils, etc.  all they could do was to confine the fire to the place of the outbreak.  The damage is estimated at over 100 pounds.  The Trillick Constabulary investigated the occurrences, but could find no clue as to the origin of the fire.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  OUTRAGE AT AUGHER.  A dastardly act was perpetrated by some evilly-disposed individuals at Augher on the occasion of the Methodist Excursion last week.  A large number of cyclists accompanied the party from Fivemiletown and Brookeborough and store their bicycles in Mr. Johnson’s yard.  And on going for them in the evening it was discovered that the tyres on 35 of them had been hacked and cut up by some sharp instrument in an atrocious manner, patches being actually cut out of tyres and tubes in some instances, leaving the machines quite unfit for use.  The matter was officially reported to the police and it is likely more will be heard of it.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  CLONES MAN GASSED.  Private Francis Cooke, Royal Irish Fusiliers, a native of Clones, is in hospital in France in a very serious condition from the effects of having inhaled the poisonous gas fumes of the Germans in a recent engagement.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  WAR NEWS.  Mrs. John Boyle, Maguiresbridge, has received for their information from the War Office to the effect that her son, Lance-Corporal E.  Boyle, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, previously reported wounded, has died from the effect of his wounds, received in action in the Dardanelles on 14th of May.  Lance-Corporal Boyle was 24 years of age and had eight years of service in the Inniskillings.

Mrs. Sarah Camping, Queen Street, Enniskillen, has, we are informed, received word that her brother-in-law, Private Arnold Campling, Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers has been killed in action in the Dardanelles.  Deceased was well known in Enniskillen before joining the army.  When his body was picked up a postcard addressed to Mrs. Campling was found in one of his pockets.  The Captain under whom he served has written, paying a high tribute to the deceased fine soldierly qualities.

Mrs. Shaw, New Road, Enniskillen, has received a letter from the front informing her of the circumstances of her husband’s death in action. The letter which was written by Sergeant F.  Hodd, “C” Company Royal Irish Fusiliers, contains the following: – “I was the next man to him at the time he was killed.  It was on the 25th of April, where we were attacking the Germans, and we were under a very heavy fire, when he was hit. The bullet passed through his forehead death being instantaneous.  I can vouch for this, for as soon as he was hit I went to render any assistance I could, but he was dead.  I have known your husband since he came out here, and I can say that he was a man of whom his country should be very proud as he was absolutely fearless, and every man in “C” company with myself, join in sending our sympathy to you.

With the departure of the 12th battalion Enniskillen Barracks is now empty.  They have gone to Finner Camp, Bundoran on Wednesday last.  The Battalion, which is now 800 strong has been stationed in Enniskillen since its inauguration some months ago.  They left in two detachments, one by special train at 10.20 o’clock and the other by a special at 11.00 and on their march through the town from the Main Barrack to the Railway Station, each detachment was headed by the Battalion’s fife and drum band.  Although hastily formed they nevertheless were a surprisingly competent body of musicians.

Will the resolution passed by the Fermanagh Recruiting Committee in regard to opening the Ulster Division to all denominations help or retard enlistment for that military body?

What did Mr. W.  J.  Brown really mean when at the annual meeting of the Enniskillen Board of Guardians he declared that the war had been caused by the idolatry of the nations professing Christianity?

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  The things people wish to know.  Will grocers throughout Fermanagh reduce the price of flour now that there has been such a substantial fall in the price of wheat?  And if not why not?

How can butchers in Lisnaskea and other towns sell beef from 20 to 25 per cent cheaper than the butchers in Enniskillen and still make a respectable prophet?

Why he is Fivemiletown so far behind other places in not having a weekly half holiday, a privilege which is now enjoyed by most towns and villages in Ulster?

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  LISNASKEA GUARDIANS.  DEATH OF A CHILD.  EXPLANATION BY NURSE.  The Master, Mister P. Lunny, reported that an inmate named Rose Lowry give birth to a child on the 6th inst. The child died about 5 ½ hours after birth without having been baptised.  The coroner was not communicated with.  The Chairman said it was a horrible state of affairs to let a child die without having been baptised.  Mister T. Molloy said this child may have received a private baptism which has the same spiritual effect when the circumstances of the case render it necessary.  Mr. Burns said it was a very serious matter.  The chairman stated that it was a terrible state of affairs in the 20th century.  Miss McCusker, temporary nurse, was brought before the Board, and when the Master’s report had been read for her, she stated that both the mother and the child were healthy and not very ill.  The child was not a delicate child.  The maid and herself were up with the mother and child about 4.45 o’clock, and at that time they were all right.  She was back again about 5.00, and the mother in the meantime had fallen asleep, and the child might have been too near the mother’s breast and got smothered.  It was not quite dead at the time, and she with the assistance of Nurse Bogue gave it a private baptism and the child died.  The chairman thanked Nurse McCusker and said her explanation was very satisfactory.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  THE AUSTRIAN EMPEROR IN DOTAGE.  A correspondent of a Paris journal, who has recently passed through Austria, says the aged Emperor is now completely in his dotage.  His present state is the result of shock.  During his last visit to a hospital, he was speaking a few kind words to the wounded soldiers, when he saw in one of the beds a major who used to be a member of his household.  He was a terrible sight.  Both legs and both arms had been amputated.  Francis Joseph was horrified.  Was there anything he could do, he asked, and promised to grant any request the poor fellow liked to make.  The major said he had one request to make, and hoped it would be granted.  Asked to name it, he replied – “Have me shot.”  The Emperor, it is said, cried like a child and fainted.  He has never been the same man since.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  THERE HAS BEEN AN 8 SHILLINGS DROP IN THE PRICE OF WHEAT.  The world abundance is the cause of reduced prices one of the largest dealers in London informed the Daily Mail representative that the drop was the natural result of a fall in the prices in the United States, which he said, govern the world prices.

 

Fermanagh Times June 17th, 1915.  KILLING OUR MEN BY COTTON.  Before this war most people imagined the cotton was used principally for the manufacturers’ of calico and cotton fabrics in Lancashire or the bandaging of wounds in hospitals.  They are gradually coming to understand that cotton is the chief ingredient in modern gunpowder and that the substance with which men are killed in the war of today, the explosive which propels the bullet from the rifle and a high explosive shell from the field gun, is not, as in Napoleon’s time made of charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur.  It is made chiefly of cotton.  To convert cotton into an explosive it is dipped in nitric acid, washed and dried.  The resultant is gun–cotton.  Unless extreme care is taken in its manufacture, and unless the cotton is pure and clean, there is an early end of the explosives factory and all employed in it.  When properly made, however, it is stable and trustworthy.  The British powder, cordite, his 2/3 composed of gun – cotton and the other third of various ingredients.  The German and Austrian powders are much the same.  Without gun-cotton the German guns and rifles would be silenced.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 17 1915.  ODDS AND ENDS.  Eighty-three per cent of the Presbyterian ministers in Ireland are total abstainers.  The aged and infirm ministers of the Irish Presbyterian Church can now receive at least £100 a year

The acreage under wheat in Canada is nearly 15 per cent greater than in 1914 owing to the patriotic effort to produce a war crop.

The price of bread has been reduced in Enniskillen by one farthing for the 2lb loaf.

Lady postmen are now going the rounds at Epsom to relieve the men

Lunacy has increased in Westmeath owing to the war to the extent of 10 over the corresponding period of last year.  Some former and older patients say they are afraid of conscription.

School holidays are being granted much before the usual time in Wrexham to allow the children to gather the strawberry crops as the men are in the army.

The Archbishop of Malta has ordered a cessation of bell ringing in the Churches of the Valetta District so as not to disturb the wounded from the Dardanelles.  The Governor has thanked his Grace.  Those who know of Malta’s many church bells will appreciate the Archbishop’s thoughtfulness.

Three hundred butchers in Glasgow have been obliged to close their shops owing to unprofitable trading and the remainder close during dinner hour.  Beef brought £5 14 shillings per hundredweight liveweight last week, or nine shillings more than the famine rates of 40 years ago.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 17 1915.  INNISKILLINGS REFUSE QUARTER.  GERMANS AND THE BAYONET.  Private John Milligan, Strabane who belongs to the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskillings writing to a friend from a hospital in Wales confirms the truth of the report that the Germans do not appreciate bayonet charges.  In the engagement in which he was wounded the Inniskillings took some trenches at the point of the bayonet, and so terrific was the slaughter the Germans on their knees appealed for mercy, and begged to be taken prisoner, but the gallant Inniskillings, shouting “Revenge for the Lusitania,” refused to give any quarter, and drove home their charge with decisive effect.  Private Milligan had a narrow escape, and his clothes and straps were torn into ribbons.  He has been at the front since November last and has seen a great deal of fighting.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 17 1915.  THE 12TH INNISKILLINGS LEAVE FOR FINNER CAMP.  MILITARY AND THE DRINK TRAFFIC. SHEBEENING CARRIED ON.  Yesterday Wednesday morning the 12th Inniskillings under the command of Colonel Leslie,  left Enniskillen.  There were about 800 men on parade, and they went to the station in two parties about 10.00 a.m. to journey to Ballyshannon by two special trains and from there march to Finner Camp.  The battalion has now a corps of drums and the fifes playing the “The girl I left behind me,” “Red, White, and Blue” and other patriotic airs headed the battalion as it marched through the streets.  The drums have been lent by the Enniskillen Unionist flute band and this kind action has been much appreciated by the battalion.

 

Though there have been restrictions as to the sale of liquor to the troops quartered in Enniskillen, certain individuals have evaded by order and in isolated cases men during the day have been set drunk.  This state of affairs has given considerable trouble to the military authorities and caused the departure of the old battalion for it had been intended to keep permanently in Enniskillen or one or perhaps two companies.  Shebeening has been prevalent, and it is notorious that women in some of the houses in Queen Street and this neighbourhood reaped a rich harvest from the sale of beer and cheap whisky which had the effect of converting quiet and peaceful men into troublesome characters. Complaint was made to the police authorities but this had no deterrent effect on the evil traffic.  To show the extent to which some people would go, drink was sold openly in the public street at 3.00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon!

Regret at the departure of the battalion is general – and it is due to the practice mentioned above that has caused the removal of every man and will delay the return – if the battalion do return under the circumstances that have prevailed in Enniskillen.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 17 1915.  DEATHS IN ACTION.  Mrs John Boyle, Maguiresbridge has received further information from the War Office to the effect that her son Lance Cpl. E.  Boyle, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers previously reported wounded, has died from the effects of his wounds received in action in the Dardanelles on the 14th of May.  Lance Corporal Boyle was 24 years of age, and had eight years’ service in the Inniskillings.

Private Francis Harren and Ernest Campling, 1st Battalion Royal Inniskillings are reported killed at the Dardanelles.  Both belong to Enniskillen.

News has been received in Belturbet that Private John McPartland, Inniskilling Fusiliers, only son of Mr. P.  McPartland, Deanery Street, Belturbet has been killed in action.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  LISBELLAW PETTY SESSIONS.  Terence Conlon, Toneyglass, was summoned by Sergeant Hughes for having been drunk in the Roman Catholic Church, Tempo on the evening of the 27th of May.  The Sergeant said that defendant kept speaking and muttering during prayers, and did not seem to know our realise where he was.  Witness went and sat beside him, but he started to mutter again and witness had to take him out by linking him to the door, where defendant fell and was taken to the barrack.  A fine of 10 shillings and 1s 6d costs or in default a week in prison was ordered.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  RECRUITING IN DONEGAL.  THE COUNTIES UNPLEASANT PRE-EMINENCE.  His Honour Judge Cooke, K.  C. at the opening of Lifford Crown Sessions on Friday said “You must know that nothing stands between you and your property but the British Fleet to prevent the Germans taken possession of Donegal.  The only reason I mention this is the Donegal has the unpleasant pre-eminence of being the county in Ireland which up to the present from all sections has returned the fewest number of recruits. Of 21,000 men of recruitable age in the county less than 500 have joined the colours since the commencement of the war.  The proportion of recruits to the population is only about a quarter to the proportion in Ireland as a whole. The fact is said that there are 8,500 Nationalist Volunteers and 3,000 Ulster Volunteers in the county of Donegal and of those of military age there have been only 500 recruits. It is up to you to make an effort to induce your sons and labourers of military age to join the colours in defence of their country.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  FERMANAGH COUNTY COUNCIL.  Mr. R. L. White reported that with reference to the motor licence duty in county Fermanagh the amount at present collected for the year was £261 12 shillings as compared with the sum of £343 4s 6d for 1914 which meant a deficit of at £81 12 shillings.  The number of motorists who paid duty in 1914 was 127. The number paid for the year was 89, showing that at least 38 motor owners in the county have not yet paid duty for the year 1915 Mr. E. M. Archdale said the more of this money that was collected the more that comes back to the county to be utilised for the good of the county. It was a great shame that a lot of motor owners in the county had not yet paid their duty.  There were 89 motor owners short this year, notwithstanding the fact that there were a lot more motors in the county.  He supposed are there would be 50 more in the county instead of 89 short.  He proposed that Mr. White be directed to be to take legal proceedings against motor owners in this county who have failed to pay their motor licence for the year 1915.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  ENNISKILLEN WORKHOUSE.  The ratepayers of the union will be very much interested indeed in the fact that Enniskillen Workhouse has just now the smallest number of inmates recorded on its books since at any rate 1887.  It is probable that never before have the staff had to administer relief to so few paupers as 97 – the full figure on the books on Tuesday last.  We are not prepared to analyse the cause of this decrease, but we fully welcome it.  The poor we will have always with us, but paupers helpless and homeless would not be the burden they are on the working and self-reliant public were it not for the encouragement they receive in these big demoralising institutions.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  ANOTHER WAR LOAN.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that in spite of the late war loan with other methods of borrowing the time had come when it was necessary for a further loan to be asked for. They proposed that the war loan should be issued at par and should carry interest at 4 ½ per cent.  They proposed also that the lender should be entitled to have his money back by 1945.  It must be borne in mind that the State required not a few millions but many hundreds of millions.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  THE FESTUBERT BATTLE AND THE CHARGE BY THE INNISKILLINGS.  A graphic description of the charge of the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Festubert on the 16th ult. is given by Private R.  Thornton.  Thornton escaped with a bullet wound in his thigh, and in the course of his letter he says:- “I thank God  that I got off so well, as many a gallant Inniskilling fell in that charge never to rise.  I shall never forget that day or rather night.  We were in the frontline trenches under heavy shell and rifle fire.  During the week before and on Saturday afternoon we had a lecture from a company officer as to the coming advance.  After that some of the boys had a sleep.  Then we had tea about 5.00. All the conversation was about the charge, and the boys were as jolly and light-hearted as if it was play, saying what they would give the Germans.  At 8.30 p.m. we went to our trenches, and an hour later we were ordered over the parapet and lay in front of the trench on till 11.30, when we got the order to advance.  We started very slowly so as not to let the Germans know, but had only gone 100 yards when the enemy sent off rockets, but I think they were so much surprised they could hardly think it was us.  They then sent up hundreds, and made the night as clear as day.  They could see us quite plainly, and opened a terrific shell, rifle and machine gun fire.  We began to rush amid this shower of hail and shrapnel, the men falling in dozens.  The King’s Royal Rifles were luckier than we were, meeting with very little opposition.  They gained their first line and started for the second.  The Worcesters, who were beside us, could not advance at all.  Our fellows, shouting and yelling rushed on, but were pushed back.  They came a second time, and by this time we were all mad and angry at our losses, and thinking of nothing rushed the first line of the enemy with bomb and bayonet.  As soon as we gained the first line we rushed off to the second, and had a good deal of fighting to get them out of the second trench.  At one time half the trench was full of Germans and us but we soon cleared it.  After that we started to prepare for a counterattack, but none came during our stay in the trench, and on Sunday night we were relieved.  When we were coming down out of the trenches along the supporting trench it was thick with dead and wounded.  Our stretcher bearers when carrying the wounded back were killed, and the wounded buried alive with the trenches being blown in on top of them.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  RECRUITING IN FERMANAGH.  A LADIES COMMITTEE IS APPOINTED.  That a meeting of the Joint Fermanagh Recruiting Committee the following ladies were appointed to act on a ladies Committee representing the different districts of the County: – Mrs. E M. Archdale, Riversdale; Mrs. A Collum, Bellevue; Mrs. Archdale, Castle Archdale; Miss Reade, Castletown; Mrs. D’Arcy Irvine, Castle Irvine; Mrs. Irvine, Killadeas; Mrs. Wray, Enniskillen; Mrs. Patten, Ederney; Mrs. Donnelly, Enniskillen; Miss Morris, do; Miss R.  Barton, Waterfoot; Mrs. Stack, Tubrid; Mrs. Naylor,  Belleek Rectory; Mrs. Packenham, Carrickreagh House; Mrs. Mulhern, Enniskillen; Miss Coll; Mrs. Betty, do; Mrs. W.  P.  Maguire, do; Lady Teresa Corry, Castlecoole, Mrs. W.  H.  West, Mullaghmeen, Mrs. W.  Maguire, Ederney; Miss Lee, Irvinestown; Mrs. Cleary, Belleek; Miss Cleary, do; Mrs. Porter–Porter, Belleisle; Miss Porter, do; Mrs. Falls, do; Mrs. Maguire, Munville; Miss Gavin, Lisnaskea; Miss O’Donnell, Brookeborough; Mrs. Taylor, do; Lady Brooke, Colebrooke; Mrs. Richardson, Lisbellaw; Mrs. James Eadie, Lisbellaw;  Miss Ida Henderson, do; Mrs. Crozier, Blacklion; Mrs. Smith, Derrygonnelly; Miss Johnston, Belleek; Miss Arnold, Lisnaskea and Miss King, Enniskillen.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915.  THE NATIONAL EGG COLLECTION. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MAGHERACULMONEY PARISH (KESH).  The parish of Magheraculmoney has so far had done splendidly in connection with the National Egg Collection having already sent the truly gratifying number of 191 dozen (2,292) eggs for the use of our wounded soldiers and sailors.  The first week 42½ dozen were sent, the second week 44½ dozen, and last week the magnificent contribution of 104 dozen was made by the parishioners who also give a sum of £1-13 shillings for the same purpose.

 

Fermanagh Times June 24th, 1915. A PRIEST’S EXTRAORDINARY PROTEST.  THE BURIAL OF LUSITANIA VICTIMS.  Several bodies have been picked up off the Aran Islands, County Galway which is supposed to be those of victims of the Lusitania outrage.  One was that of a lady clothed in expensive garments, and with a wristlet watch.  At the Galway Board of Guardians meeting on Wednesday, Mr. O’Flaherty, R. O., wrote stating that he had the bodies interned in Killeany Graveyard, as far from the other burial ground as space would permit.  The R.O. in his report, added: -Father, Farragher, P. P., says I had no right to bury the bodies in consecrated ground, that he would have to write to the Bishop, and that probably the bodies would have to be exhumed.  I wrote to Father Farragher that I did not know to what denomination they belonged, that I had no other place to bury them in, and an I saw Protestants buried in Inishene Graveyard, and at the new cemetery in Galway.  Mr. Cooke said these unfortunate victims of the Lusitania were human beings, and why should they not be interned as such?  (Hear, hear.)  The Board expressed concurrence with the action of the R. O.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915.  EMIGRATION AND CONSCRIPTION.  FARMER’S SONS RUN AWAY.  The rumour that certain to influences are at work to induce young Irishman to emigrate has caused considerable discussion, and correspondents in different parts of the South and West of Ireland give evidence of how general has been the rush of emigration within the past few weeks.  It is said that these young men, mostly farmers’ sons, are running away to avoid military service, and they are described by those who have travelled across the Atlantic with them as being well supplied with money.  These young men belonged to the type associated with Mr. Redmond’s volunteers.  They cry for “Home Rule and ask to be armed, but they rush away from the country because of the prospect of being forced to fight against Prussian militarism.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915.  IRISH COWARDS AND THEIR TREATMENT BY SAILORS.  The arrival at New York on board the American liner St. Paul of 300 young men from, Connaught has served to direct attention to the apparently organised efforts being made to induce Irishman to avoid enlistment by transporting them.  During the voyage the sailors forced many of the biggest of the emigrants to march about the decks carrying broom sticks over their shoulders and wearing tin saucepans on their head.  An officer of the ship observed that what puzzled him was where the lads got the money for the passage. They all carried gold. (Ed. A bit of an unlikely story with 300 Irishmen on board.)

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915.  SOLDIERS FOR THE HAY HARVEST.  The Board of Agriculture announces that it has been informed by the Army Council that in view of the possible shortage of agricultural labour for the harvest furlough will be given at the discretion of the military authorities to a limited number of soldiers of the New Armies and of the Territorial Force for weeks in the hay harvest as circumstances may permit. The furlough granted to each soldier will last only for such number of days, not exceeding 14, as he is actually required for hay making.  The employment of soldiers in the hay harvest will be subject to the following conditions: – 1. That suitable labour cannot be obtained in the locality.  2. That the farmer will undertake to pay each soldier sent at his request (a) 4 shillings a day if the soldier provides his own board and lodgings or (b) half a crown if board and lodgings is provided by the farmer. 3. That the farmer would provide conveyance to and from the nearest railway station.  No charge would be made to the farmer for railway travelling expenses.  Every endeavour will be made to ensure that the men released have been accustomed to farm work, but no guarantee to this effect can be given.  These arrangements do not apply to the corn harvest.  The farmers’ applications for soldiers for the harvest are to be made to the Labour Exchanges.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915. DONEGAL RECRUITING.  AN UNENVIABLE REPUTATION.  In his address to the Grand Jury at the opening of Lifford Crown Sessions on Friday afternoon, Judge Cooke, K. C., said: Donegal has the unpleasant pre-eminence of being the county in Ireland in which up to the present, from all sections, has returned the fewest number of recruits.  That is something for you to consider.  A few moments before I came into court here a return, which led me to make these observations, was put into my hand showing the recruiting in Donegal up to the 1st of April last out of 21,000 men of recruitable age in the county less than 500 have joined the colours since the commencement of the war. The proportion of recruits to the population is only about ¼ of the proportion in Ireland as a whole.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915.  BITS AND PIECES.  Skibbereen is shaming other places in the south west of Ireland.  It sent off 120 recruits of last week.

Six girl postmen are acting in New Ross, and one in Tipperary, where there is already a lady bank clerk.

Mr. Schumacher, chairman of the Rand mines, speaking at Johannesburg, said that Germany must be made to pay the cost of the war to the utmost farthing.

Over 85 per cent of the horses treated in hospitals at the front have been returned fit for duty.  This is a great tribute to the hospitals.

The Pope has three nephews serving in the Italian army, the youngest of them only 18 years, and when his mother seemed in doubt as to the wisdom of this course the lad’s uncle, the Pope, said, “Quite right your place is with your friends at the Military Academy in Turin.

 

Impartial Reporter.  June 24 1915.  THE CENTENARY OF WATERLOO.  HOW THE INNISKILLINGS FOUGHT.  Friday was the 100th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.  It is a curious coincidence that the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons and the 27th Inniskilling Foot – now the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers – were the only Irish regiments at Waterloo.  The 27th had marched in very bad weather all the way from Ghent, making a short halt for refreshment in the market place of Brussels, and then on they trudged through the rain and mud for Waterloo.  The 1st battalion of the 27th regiment was then composed of veterans inured to war (says the Sprig of Shillelagh).  They had made the acquaintance of the Mussoos under their choicest generals in Spain.  They had the honour and pleasure of crossing bayonets with them.  It was rough on the Mussoos. Wellington knew the stuff the Inniskillings were made of, and they were assigned what might well be called the post of honour in the centre of the British line, with the other two regiment of Lambert’s Brigade, the 4th and 40th, covering the road which Napoleon’s Army would have to pass in order to reach Brussels.  The 27th took up position early on that Sunday morning, and a hot spot it was.  During the day they were pounded by artillery, then dense columns of steel clad cuirassiers charged them, the earth shaking under their ponderous weight, then another dose of shot and shell from the French batteries, and so on succession they had to stand artillery and cavalry through that long day.  Then Napoleon in person led his Imperial Guards, numbering 12 battalions, and a corps that up to this had never been beaten, and were supposed to be invincible up to within a short distance of the La Haye Sainte.  They were then led on by Ney the bravest of the brave

 

“But on the British hearts were lost

The terrors of the charging host:

For not an eye the storm that viewed

Changed its proud glance of fortitude. “

 

At the close of the day the 27th Regiment lay dead in square; their loss was much heavier than that of any other British regiment engaged.  They nobly held the position they were order to maintain, and not a man flinched.  Their loss after La Haye Sainte had fallen was awful.  A British officer who was an eyewitness of the gallant conduct of the 27th said – “If ever the Sovereign gives them another motto, it should be muzzled to muzzle, for so they fought at Waterloo.”  The strength of the 27th in the morning was 693 – only 218 were able to march of the field.  Total of all ranks killed and wounded was 480.

“We are Seven.”

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

April 1st 1905. SEVEN ROSSLEA (Ed. Literary) DRINKERS. Patrick Sweeney, Thomas McAloon, Michael Cassidy, M. McCloskey, Patrick Murray, Charles Rooney, and James McQuaid recited “We are seven” at the Rosslea Petty Sessions on Saturday last. The magistrates were:—Messrs. McLean, R.M., and B. Whitsitt, J.P. They had nothing to do beyond extracting sums ranging from 1s to half-a-crown from the above-named gentlemen, all of whom had been drunk.

“We are Seven” is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1798 and published in his Lyrical Ballads. It describes a discussion between an adult poetic speaker and a “little cottage girl” about the number of brothers and sisters who dwell with her. The poem turns on the question of whether to count two dead siblings.

 

Wordsworth claimed that the idea for We are Seven came to him while traveling alone across England in October 1793 after becoming separated from his friend, William Calvert. This solitude with nature he claimed encouraged him to reach a deeper understanding where the experience was no longer just for pleasure, as it was in his earlier days, but also hinted at a darker side. Immersed in these feelings, Wordsworth came to Goodrich Castle and met a little girl who would serve as the model for the little girl in We are Seven. Although there is no documentation on what the little girl actually told him during their conversation, she interested Wordsworth to such an extent that he wrote:

    I have only to add that in the spring of 1841 I revisited Goodrich Castle, not having seen that part of the Wye since I met the little Girl there in 1793. It would have given me greater pleasure to have found in the neighbouring hamlet traces of one who had interested me so much; but it was impossible, as unfortunately I did not even know her name.

 

Wordsworth began to write the poem in early 1798 while working on many other poems modelled on the ballad form for a joint poetry collection with Samuel Coleridge. The collection was proposed in March because Wordsworth needed to raise money for a proposed journey to Germany with Coleridge. These poems were included in Lyrical Ballads and A Few Other Poems with a few written by Coleridge. Wordsworth describes the moment of finishing the poem:

 

    My friends will not deem it too trifling to relate that while walking to and fro I composed the last stanza first, having begun with the last line. When it was all but finished, I came in and recited it to Mr. Coleridge and my Sister, and said, ‘A prefatory stanza must be added, and I should sit down to our little tea-meal with greater pleasure if my task were finished.’ I mentioned in substance what I wished to be expressed, and Coleridge immediately threw off the stanza thus:-

 

        ‘A little child, dear brother Jem,’ —

 

    I objected to the rhyme, ‘dear brother Jem,’ as being ludicrous, but we all enjoyed the joke of hitching-in our friend, James T —’s name, who was familiarly called Jem. He was brother of the dramatist, and this reminds me of an anecdote which it may be worthwhile here to notice. The said Jem got a sight of the Lyrical Ballads as it was going through the press at Bristol, during which time I was residing in that city. One evening he came to me with a grave face, and said, ‘Wordsworth, I have seen the volume that Coleridge and you are about to publish. There is one poem in it which I earnestly entreat you will cancel, for, if published, it will make you ever lastingly ridiculous.’ I answered that I felt much obliged by the interest he took in my good name as a writer, and begged to know what was the unfortunate piece he alluded to. He said, ‘It is called “We are seven.”‘ Nay! said I, that shall take its chance, however, and he left me in despair.

 

The collection, including We are Seven, was accepted by Joseph Cottle in May 1798 and was soon after published anonymously.[5] In 1820, the poem was republished as a broadside and titled “The Little Maid and the Gentleman”.

 

Many guidebooks and locals in the city of Conwy, Wales claim Wordsworth was inspired to write the poem after seeing a gravestone in St Mary and All Saints Church. The gravestone is marked “We are Seven.”

 

WE ARE SEVEN

          ——–A SIMPLE Child,

          That lightly draws its breath,

          And feels its life in every limb,

          What should it know of death?

 

          I met a little cottage Girl:

          She was eight years old, she said;

          Her hair was thick with many a curl

          That clustered round her head.

 

          She had a rustic, woodland air,

          And she was wildly clad:                                  

          Her eyes were fair, and very fair;

          –Her beauty made me glad.

 

          “Sisters and brothers, little Maid,

          How many may you be?”

          “How many? Seven in all,” she said

          And wondering looked at me.

 

          “And where are they? I pray you tell.”

          She answered, “Seven are we;

          And two of us at Conway dwell,

          And two are gone to sea.                                 

 

          “Two of us in the church-yard lie,

          My sister and my brother;

          And, in the church-yard cottage, I

          Dwell near them with my mother.”

 

          “You say that two at Conway dwell,

          And two are gone to sea,

          Yet ye are seven!–I pray you tell,

          Sweet Maid, how this may be.”

 

          Then did the little Maid reply,

          “Seven boys and girls are we;                             

          Two of us in the church-yard lie,

          Beneath the church-yard tree.”

 

          “You run about, my little Maid,

          Your limbs they are alive;

          If two are in the church-yard laid,

          Then ye are only five.”

 

          “Their graves are green, they may be seen,”

          The little Maid replied,

          “Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,

          And they are side by side.                                 

 

          “My stockings there I often knit,

          My kerchief there I hem;

          And there upon the ground I sit,

          And sing a song to them.

 

          “And often after sunset, Sir,

          When it is light and fair,

          I take my little porringer,

          And eat my supper there.

 

          “The first that died was sister Jane;

          In bed she moaning lay,                                    

          Till God released her of her pain;

          And then she went away.

 

          “So in the church-yard she was laid;

          And, when the grass was dry,

          Together round her grave we played,

          My brother John and I.

 

          “And when the ground was white with snow,

          And I could run and slide,

          My brother John was forced to go,

          And he lies by her side.”                                 

 

          “How many are you, then,” said I,

          “If they two are in heaven?”

          Quick was the little Maid’s reply,

          “O Master! we are seven.”

 

          “But they are dead; those two are dead!

          Their spirits are in heaven!”

          ‘Twas throwing words away; for still

          The little Maid would have her will,

          And said, “Nay, we are seven!”