BALLYTRAIN
POLICE BARRACKS
ATTACKED
FIGHT LASTS OVER
THREE HOURS
Barracks Blown Up,
and Rifles and Ammunition
Taken.
On Sunday morning there was a daring
attack on Ballytrain Police barracks, situated in the small village 7
miles from the Cavan border, 8 miles from Castleblayney, and 6 miles
from Carrickmacross. The attack, which opened at 2 a.m. appeared to be
carefully planned, all the roads leading to the barracks being blocked
by trees and other obstacles, while telegraph and telephone wires in the
neighborhood were cut.
The garrison consisted of Sergeants
Lawton and Graham. Constables Roddy, Gallagher, Murtagh, and Nelson were
aroused by the breaking of glass and the barking of dogs. The barracks
is situated next door to the lock-up store owned by Mr. Mitchell, who
also has a grocery store on the opposite side of the road. The glass in
the windows of this latter shop were being smashed, and rifle shots at
once commenced against the police, who returned the fire. Another gang
of men took possession of the lock-up shop, and from here directed a
fusillade on the barracks. For three hours a desperate encounter took
place, the raiders throwing hand grenades, and the police replying with
grenades and rifle fire.
Hundreds of shots were exchanged, and at
5 o'clock the leader of the attacking party demanded a surrender. The
police replied by continuing to shoot.
Immediately afterwards a terrific
explosion was heard, which blew in the gable of the barracks; drove iron
bedsteads and other articles in the room through two walls, wrecked half
the building, and scattered sandbags on the main road.
As a result of the explosion the sergeant
was thrown into the passage opening into the street and rendered
unconscious. He was pluckily dragged from this position by one of the
constables, just in time to direct a fusilade of bullets directly on the
passage.
About 50 men, armed with rifles and
revolvers and all wearing masks, entered the breach, and took possession
of the arms and ammunition. They opened all the boxes in the place, and
the result of the raid was the capture of 6 rifles, 4 ordinary pistols,
an automatic pistol, a velrey pistol, 12 hand-grenades, some
ammunition. When the raiders had departed medical assistance was
provided from Carrickmacross, and the four injured men Sergt.' Lawton,
Consts. Roddy, Murtagh and Gallagher were removed to hospital.
Sergt. Graham, interviewed by a newspaper
representative said he had been only three days in the district, having
been unscathed through a period of special service in Tipperary. He
estimated that 100 shots were fired by the raiders before the bombs were
thrown. At least 50 men came in after the explosion and demanded their
surrender. "With four men down." said the sergeant, "we could do
nothing else." They took no money, and said they were glad no one was
killed. The sergeant asked if they had a doctor, and a reply was
received that they had not. They left by the Shercock Road, and Sergt.
Graham was compelled to walk 9 miles to Carrickmacross for a doctor. He
had tried to drive but the road was blocked with felled trees, stones
and an iron gate. He estimated the number of raiders at 150 (but this
has been put by others at 80).
Constable Roddy, who is suffering from
injuries to his feet, gave a grafic account of the attack. The woodwork
in the room nearest the gable was turned into ribbons and he and three
other men were covered with the debris. When the gable was blown in the
constable went to the brink of the room and said that the police were
giving up their arms. The leader shouted "Throw out your arms quick or
we will fire the place". The constable then threw out his rifle, and
the men came in. They put Constable Gallagher, who was badly hurt in
the legs, on a table, and Constable Roddy in a chair. When the raiders
were told that none of the police had been killed the leader said: "I am
glad no life has been lost. None of our men were shot either. We did.
We did not come to do injury, but only for arms."
Constable Roddy told the men that he had
60 [pounds] in his box and asked him not to touch it. The leader said:
We don't want your money. It is too much money we have." The leader
added that there might be a doctor about, and he went outside and
inquired.
Five minutes later he returned stating
that he was sorry there was no doctor at hand. He left some bandages
and said the police could send for a doctor, and that no harm would come
to the messenger. Sergt. Lawton, who was injured on the shoulder, arm
and elbows was complimented by the leader of the raiders on the fight
they had made. The sergeant said: We fought till we could fight no
more. We fought till the barracks was taken over and under us." Why
didn't you surrender asked the leader, and Sergt. Lawton replied: "We
had no notion of surrender."
Sergt. Lawton described the explosion as
awful, and said that he had been present 3 weeks ago at the discharge of
200 lbs. of gelighte in a quarry, but that was nothing to the explosion
when the barracks was blown up.
Constable Gallagher, who is most
seriously injured, was given a little linen packet containing lint and
religious emblems. Before the explosion he had heard two calls to
surrender, but they continued to fire. The leader of the raiders, a
tall man, gave the orders through a megaphone, addressing the various
companies, of which there were 4, by numbers.
During the attack he heard much
whistling, and immediately before the gable fell in three long whistles
were given. This constable, with Nelson, was in the room nearest the
gable and both were thrown clear of the room; the bedstead was thrown
through the ceiling.
On one a disused house was pulled down
and the stones thrown across the road. An iron gate was placed in the
center, making it impossible to pass.
Just before 2 o'clock 20 armed and masked
men knocked at Mitchell's grocery shop, and as the knock was not
answered at once they smashed in the door with a plank. Mrs. Mitchell
and three other occupants of the house were placed in a room with an
armed guard, and kept there until 5 o'clock
The men with the rifles went upstairs,
smashed all the windows with their rifles, and opened fire on the
barracks. Mrs. Mitchell asked that they should not be injured, and she
was told that no harm would come to those in the house. Other houses in
the neighborhood were closely guarded, and a screen of bushes was placed
at an adjoining cross-road.
Another party of raiders liberated some
cattle in a byre behind the lock-up shop, and from there fired at the
police. The barrack presents every sign of the siege. All the walls
that remain standing are punctured with shots. Partitions are smashed
into matchwood, and ceilings are falling in. Many holes around the
place are evidence of the throwing of hand-grenades, and a megaphone and
a military bomb have been found near the place.
Large forces of military and police
visited the place yesterday, and searches were made of many of the
houses in the district. The Inspector-General R.I.C. also visited the
scene.
Const. Roddy is a native of Bunninadden,
Co. Sligo, and Const. Gardiner is son-in-law of Mrs. B. O'Rourke, Cavan.
Mr. Mitchell has lodged a claim for malicious injury.
