BONNICONLON
CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION
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(Ballina Herald, February 9,
1922)
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At Ballina Quarter Sessions last
week, Edward Durcan, from the
Bonniconlon district, applied for compensation for personal injuries received
in January 1921.
Applicant gave evidence that on the 23rd
January, auxiliary police came to his mother’s house at about 1.30 a.m. and
smashed the windows and fired revolver shots. His brother opened the door and
they rushed in and pulled him out of the bed and beat him with rifles and
knuckle dusters. They afterwards threw a bucket of water on him and a pail of
milk. They knocked him down and jumped on him. They then took him up and fired
several shots around him. At this time he was undressed. They brought him back
to the house, when he dressed. They brought him out again and spanked him with
knuckle dusters and revolvers, and knocked him down and jumped on him and fired
shots around him. They afterwards offered him bribes but he would not give
information. The threatened him with death several times, and finally brought
him to Ballina in a motor and kept punching him all the time on the journey. In
Ballina barracks they subjected him to similar treatment. He was afterwards
interned in Galway and the Curragh.
Dr. F. Keane, Ballina, gave
evidence as to the condition of the applicant. The effect of the beating might
be permanent.
His Honor awarded £100 and costs.
Mrs.
Durcan, mother of the last applicant, who was also a claimant for damages
to her house, gave similar evidence to that of her son in regard to the
smashing of the windows of the house. The auxiliaries stole a coat and a lot of
knives and forks and teaspoons and two geese. Her health was affected by the
shock she received on that night. She was laid up for three months and was
attended by Dr. Macaulay.
Martin Durcan, son of the
applicant, gave corroborative evidence. His mother was health before this
occurrence, but since it she was laid up every other day.
His Honor awarded £20 and costs.
Patrick
Lawrence, Bonniconlon, applied for compensation for personal injuries.
Mr. Carson, B.L. (instructed by Mr. Bourke),
for applicant.
Applicant deposed that on the 4th
April Crown forces came to him on the street in Bonniconlon and asked him about
the ambush that occurred the night before. The subsequently, with others,
brought him towards the river, and on the way he was hit by rifles. When they
got as far as the river he refused to go into the river and they shoved him in
and fired several shots over his head and jumped on him while he was in the
water. They dipped him several times in the river, and the officer in charge
hit him several thumps when he would not answer certain questions. He was not
able to work at his father’s business for some three months.
His Honor awarded him £200 and costs and £7
expenses.
John
Cawley, Bonniconlon, who also had a claim for ill-treatment on the same
occasion, deposed that he was subjected to the same treatment as young Mr.
Lawrence. They kept him in the river for about half an hour and fired shots
over him and beat him with the butt end of rifles.
Dr. Walsh was examined in this and the
previous case, and gave evidence as to the injuries sustained by the
applicants. Lawrence suffered from pleurisy as a result of the wetting or the
rifle blows he got on the sides. The pleurisy is now chronic. John Cawley
suffered from pneumonia. He recovered, but was now not able to work.
His Honor awarded £450.
CROSSMOLINA
BEATINGS
John
Flynn, Grange, Crossmolina, claimed £297 compensation, £73 of which was
taken out of the house by armed and masked men.
Applicant deposed that on the occasion in
question the two doors of his house were broken in by about 20 armed men with
flash lights. They then entered the house and took £64 out of his coat pocket.
The broke two doors and three windows The said they wanted to get the firearms
that were in the house, but witness said there were no firearms in the place.
They afterwards took his son out on the road, but he did not see what they done
to him.
Applicant’s son, John Flynn, deposed that on 14th January, when the Crown
forces came two or three of them on him in the bed. When he got up to dress he
was knock down and kicked. He was afterwards punched in the head. He asked them
to be allowed to lace his boots, and they said not to mind that, he could the
trouble of others opening them later on. They afterwards brought him out about
150 yards from the house and his chest exposed “to receive the bullets” when he
would not tell them where the rebels were hiding. He was then beaten again and
lashed with whips. Witness was employed by Messrs.
Riley and Boland at between £3
and £4 a week, and since the beating he had not been able to do any work.
Mr.
Carson submitted a certificate from Dr.
McGuinness stating that Flynn was suffering from neuritis of both legs as a
result of the beating he got.
Another witness, named Flynn, gave evidence as to the treatment meter out to John Flynn.
He was in the house that night and saw Flynn being taken out.
His Honor awarded £233 and costs and
expenses.
John
Flynn, Lahardane, applied for compensation for personal injuries.
Applicant deposed that on the same night his
house was raided by masked men. The doors were burst in and they asked if there
were any rebels in the house or any ammunition. They then pulled witness from
the bed and began kicking him, and afterwards brought him out about 150 yards
from the house with his brother. They questioned witness about ammunition and
asked him who was captain of the local volunteers, and when he did not tell
they put on his knees and bared his chest and put revolvers to it. They then
kicked and generally maltreated him. They afterwards brought him towards the
house of John Flynn, and subsequently he was brought in a motor car as far as
Ballina road, and they shoved him out of the car on the road and left him
there.
Mr. Carson submitted a certificate from Dr.
McGuinness as to the condition of the applicant on the day after the assault.
His Honor awarded him £80 and costs and
expenses.
“YOU
CATHOLIC DOG”
John
Joseph Browne, Lahardane, applied for compensation for personal injuries.
Applicant deposed that on the 23rd
June he was taken to barracks and put into a cell. The police afterwards took
him out of the cell and asked him certain questions, which he refused to
answer. They then beat him, and he was badly injured. He was taken on the train
to Galway, where his face was burned with a lamp.
His Honor—I have only jurisdiction as regards
what happens in Mayo.
Witness further stated that as the result of
the beating he got in Ballina he was in a very nervous condition. His arms were
all black. He was afterwards interned and he was released on 26th
August, 1921. He could not lift a weight owing to the beating on the arms, and
he had lost his memory. He could not sleep at night. He was also subject to
vomiting since the affair. The lamp was put to his face at Renmore barracks,
Galway, and burned his face in different places. He was brought out to a garden
and told that seven of his comrades were there and that he would be the eighth.
They asked him was he prepared to die, and he said he was but that he wanted to
see a priest first. They said he would not see a priest, “you Catholic dog.”
His Honor awarded £245 and costs.
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