BRITISH ATROCITIES IN IRELAND

...We have not yet heard the last of it...

...The Commission during the last month has heard Irish witnesses, American witneses, and English witnesses...

...The most remarkable feature of this testimony is that the story is the same, no matter what the nationality or religious affiliation of the witnesses may be...

...His story in substance is as follows: On the morning of September 27 a body of volunteers of the Irish Republican Army attacked the local military barracks in a raid for arms and ammunition...

...The fires appear to have been an organized attempt to destroy the most val-uable premises in the city, and we do not think that the arrangements could have been carried out if they had been hastily made after the unfortunate occurrence at Dillon's Cross...

...They acted as a volunteer fire department, and although they were interfered with by some of the drunken soldiers, they succeeded in keeping the flames from spreading, and limited the destruction to the houses which had been set on fire by the soldiers, all of which were burned to the ground...

...Burning of Mallow •T'HE burning of the little town of Mallow, as *• related by Frank Dempsey, Chairman of the Mallow Urban Council, is even more vivid and more clearly fixes the responsibility on the British military authorities...

...Under the ruling which the State Department has succeeded in having the President establish for all future cases, the Secretary of Labor is deprived of jurisdiction in all such cases, and the Department of State is given power to order immediate deportation...

...The colonel in command of the regiment promised protection to the people of the little town, and they began to hope that they might be spared the fate which so many Irish towns had already suffered...

...The difference is just a matter of three-quarters of a century, during which all the glorious traditions of our revolutionary struggle against England and our aspirations to lead all of the nations of the world toward freedom have been forgotten...

...To insure its destruction, it was first sprayed with gasoline and incendiary bombs were then thrown in from outside...

...Catholic witnesses and Protestant' witnesses...

...Fermoy is the military headquarters for this district, and the messages dropped at Mallow and Buttevant were undoubtedly orders from the general in command...

...The City Library adjacent to the Hall was also destroyed...

...This factory, which employed more than 6O0 persons, was owned by the Cleve Brothers, not interested in politics, One of whom had been knighted by the British Crown...

...OTHERS, AGAIN, SAW THEM ENGAGED IN LOOTING...

...The Commission was impressed by the sense of disaster which overhung the city of Cork during the time it was staying there...

...But a few days previously the Commission had taken evidence in the City Hall of the unfortunate occurrences in Cork during the past few months...

...It was completely gutted...

...We would point out that the fires occurred after the Crown forces had driven the people indoors, and that during the greater part of the time that outbreaks of fire took place the curfew regulations were in operation...

...The State Department immediately used all its powerful influence to have Lord Mayor O'Callaghan deported, but fortunately Secretary of Labor Wilson, himself a native of Scotland, stood valiantly against the pressure of the State Department, and gave Lord Mayor O'Callaghan the best status that our narrowly drawn immigration law would permit, namely, that of a seaman...

...The total destruction of property during this night of terror was valued at nearly $1,500,000, according to itemized statements submitted by Mayor Dempsey...

...Conditions in Ireland NO better picture of present conditions in Ireland can be given than by describing the burning and sacking of two Irish cities, Cork and Mallow, by the British soldiers and "Black and Tans...

...The Town Hall, an old historic building which served as a nocial center for the people of Mallow, wa3 one of the first places burned...

...None of the British soldiers in the barracks except this Sergeant-Major was injured in any way, although a large amount of arms and ammunition was carried away by the Irish volunteers...

...Terence MacSwiney died in prison...

...A jewelry store and other shops containing articles of value were broken into and looted, as were many of the private residences before they were set on fire...

...witnesses born with a passion for the freedom of Ireland, and witnesses born in Unionist families, where even the desire for Home Rule was denounced as verging on treason to the British Government...

...There were, in addition, attempted arrests vhich were unsuccessful, much indiscriminate shooting, and many minor outrages upon the people of Cork...

...At 4 a. m. the City Hall was fired and the efforts of the firemen failed to save it...

...IN SOME CASES EXPLOSIONS OCCURRED...

...SOME PERSONS HAD WITNESSED THE ENTRY OF MEMBERS OF THE FORCES INTO BUILDINGS WHICH SHORTLY AFTERWARDS WERE ON FIRE...

...As a result of the exposure she contracted pneumonia and died shortly afterwards, as did also a very old woman who had taken refuge in the same place...

...If one-tenth or even one-hundredth of the spoken and written words which were used in the propaganda concerning German atrocities had been used in condemning the British atrocities in Ireland, Great Britain would today be forced to face a world-wide protest and rebuke, and by the very pressure of public sentiment would withdraw from Ireland the forces which have now disgraced England beyond redemption and stirred up hatred, both in Ireland and in the United States, which will not be forgotten for many generations...

...Here, too, gasoline sprays were used to drench the floors and walls before the incendiary bombs were thrown into the doomed building...

...The streets were soon entirely deserted and the work of destruction begun...

...On the way over the Lord Mayor worked out . his passage as a common seaman, scrubbing the decks and scraping paint...

...We are of opinion that the incendiarism in Cork on December 12 was not a reprisal for the ambush which took place on the same date at Dillon's Cross...

...pie to their homes earlier than the curfew regulations required...

...But the story is in all cases the same, with this striking difference, that the American and English use far stronger language in denouncing the policy of the British Government in Ireland than the Irish witnesses, to whom centuries of oppression have made the ordinary forms of British misrule seem commonplace...

...In 1775 France welcomed Benjamin Franklin, who came to plead the cause of American independence, although he bore no British passport...

...It then ascended and flew to Buttevant, another army post about seven miles away, and there dropped another message...

...Unless Congress acts to upset this ruling, no person will be allowed to enter the United States unless he is able to secure from the autocratic government against which he is struggling a passport and certificate of character...

...There can, therefore, be no claim that the destruction of this factory was an act of retaliation against Sinn Fein except as its destruction threw the entire town into unemployment, want, and misery...

...Eye-witnesses observing the fires from adjacent premises positively state that the incendiaries were agents of the British Government...

...Robinson, who investigated conditions in Ireland for the Women's International League, displayed far more indignation over British atrocities in Ireland than either Lord Mayor O'Callaghan of Cork or Mayor Dempsey of Mallow, whose cities have been burned and sacked by the incendiary "Black and Tans...

...The newspaper reports of the Cork fires conveyed but a faint impression of the terrible havoc wrought in the city...

...Thus we have the extreme types of the Irish cities and towns which have suffered destruction at British hands...

...At the beginning of the Commission's activities British Ambassador Geddes formally assured the Commission that no obstacle would be placed by the British Government in the way of any witnesses who they might invite to testify before them...

...During all this time of burning the drunken troops were firing their revolvers and rifles indiscriminately, and throwing hand grenades through the windows of residences...

...Furthermore, these were not ordinary motor lorries of soldiers being transfered from station to station, but were equipped with a large supply of incendiary bombs and hand grenades, and, even more significant, with special spraying devices and cans of gasoline...

...The story of the burning of Cork is told with almost judicial calmness in the following extracts from the report of the British Labor Commission on Ireland, which has just been published in this country: "The atmosphere of Cork prior to the latest acts of incendiarism was beyond description...

...Cork is a prosp:rous seaport with 80,000 inhabitants, while Mallow is an inland village of about 4,000...

...seven men shot dead, a dozen men dangerously wounded, fifteen trains held up, four publicly placarded threats to the citizens of Cork issued, and over 500 houses of private citizens forcibly entered and searched...

...Under the law a seaman does not require a passport, but is allowed to remain the United States a reasonable time to secure employment on some outgoing ship...

...Some went to a local convent, some fled to the nearby fields, while many women and children in terror had taken refuge in the graveyard, where they watched the town being burned...

...His present successor is 'on the run' and carrying ont his duties as best he can...

...As the "Black and Tans" have raided his home and the City Hall of Cork more than twenty times in an attempt to arrest him, and as it is generally understood in Cork that there is a price upon his head, Lord Mayor O'Callaghan naturally inferred that any further attempt to secure a British passport would be dangerous...

...This airplane circled over the barracks at Mallow and dropped down a message...

...When his ship landed at Norfolk, a British-controlled State Department saw what seemed to be its opportunity to suppress the Lord Mayor's stcry of the burning and sacking of Cork by the British forces, and at the same time to create a precedent which might be available Jo {h«m in the future in other attempts to prevent those who are struggling for freedom in other countries from securing a hearing in the United States...

...After they had drunk their fill, they went into the streets, roaring like madmen, firing into homes and business houses, and burning certain places which had apparently been definitely marked for destruction...

...One of these women who fled to the graveyard and spent the night there was a mother with a baby only three days old...

...Within the past twelve months there have been three Lord Mayors of Cork...

...Houses Are Looted THAT night at about nine o'clock a motor lorry loaded with soldiers arrived in Mallow from Buttevant, and within five minutes two other lorries rolled in from Fermoy, although the two cities are nearly twenty miles apart...

...They telegraphed the commander of the British forces in Ireland and the District Commander, situated in one of the nearby towns...

...Lord Mayor O'Callaghan therefore decided to come to the United States in the only way open to him, namely, as a sto-,7-away on American grain ship then anchored in Cork harbor...

...The attacking party was made up of Irishmen from outside Mallow, but as soon as the citizens of the little town heard of the attack, they immediately feared reprisals, and took steps to secure protection...

...During the time we were in the city terrorism was at its height...

...Disgrace to England AS soon as the people of the town had heard the motor lorries approaching, all of the women and children and many of the men had fled from their homes...

...This was followed by the burning of about ten houses and places of business on the main street, and then, the soldiers went to what had been evidently marked out as the strategic point for their vengeance—a large condensed milk factory, the principal place of employment for the citizens of Mallow...

...In other words, America has ceased to be an asylum and place of refuge for those struggling against imperialism and autocracy in other countries...

...The barracks was surprised while half of the garrison were out exercising their horses, and consequently no resistance was made except by a Sergeant-Major, who attempted to fire on the attacking party but was himself shot...

...Lord Mayor MacCurtain was murdered in the presence of his wife...

...During the time that we were in the city there was provocative behavior on the pa^| of Auxiliaries, a large number of searches of individuals, a number of cases of thef% from persons searched, the wanton destruction of property, and the incident of whipping pedestrians in the streets...

...Kossuth and O'Callaghan Cases are Compared By BASIL MANLY THE story of almost unbelievable atrocities by the British forces in Ireland, and their deliberate attempt to destroy the economic life of that unhappy country, continues to be unfolded by eye-witnesses testifying before the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland...

...The two • Irish Mayors regarded the situation philosophically as incidents in Ireland's age-long struggle for independence, but the English and American witnesses, less hardened to daily brutalities, denounced the atrocities of the British Forces in Ireland as worse than those attributed to the German forces in Belgium...

...This is the heaviest blow that has been struck against the worldwide movement for freedom and democracy in many a day...

...Louis Kossuth, the leader cf the Hungarian revolution, was brought to the United States with great honor in an American warship, received by the President of the United States, and heard with respect by members of Congress...

...It should be remembered in this connection that his immediate predecessor, Lord Mayor MacSwiney, died in a British jail, and that Lord Mayor Mac-Curtain was murdered only^nine months ago -by British agents...

...The first act of the soldiers was to break into the public houses and loot them for whiskey and wines...

...This by no means completes the list of incidents which occurred in Cork in the space of a single month...

...The two English ladies, Miss Wilkinson and Mrs...

...The first of the burnings took place at Grant's extensive premises in Patrick Street, and during the night new fires broke out...

...The burning and sacking of Cork and Mallow represent only typical instances of the fate of more than fifty Irish cities and towns...

...THE SMASHING OF GLASS AND DOORS WAS HEARD AS MEN 70RCED THEIR WAY INTO BUSINESS PREMISES FOR THE PURPOSE OF LOOTING...

...Lord Mayor O'Callaghan, chosen by the people of Cork in a Brit-tish-controlled election to be chief magistrate of the third largest city in Ireland, was invited to come to the United States as a witness by the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland...

...The destruction of property and the atrocities perpetrated upon persons in Ireland exceed not only in extent but in brutality the activities alleged against the German forces in Belgium...

...In the same spirit America in 1920 should have received Donal O'Callaghan, who came to plead for Irish independence, although he had been denied a British passport...

...The most valuable premises in the town were utterly destroyed, large business houses and massively fronted shops were reduced to piles of moldering debris, charred woodwork, and twisted girders...

...He was arrogantly notified that if he wanted a passport he should apply to "Black and Tan" headquarters...

...THEY WERE UNANIMOUS IN STATING THAT THE FIRES WERE CAUSED BY THE CROWN FORCES...

...The Case of Louis Kossuth THE point of the situation is that if Lord Mayor O'Callaghan had not been able to claim the technical status of a seaman, he would never have been permitted to enter the United States, but would have been shipped back by American authorities to certain death or imprisonment as soon as he came within the clutches of the British authorities...

...Donal O'Callaghan, one of the leaders in Ireland's struggle for freedom today, is permitted to land only with the status of a common seaman, while one of the great departments of the government uses its powerful influences to bring about his deportation and to place him in the clutches of the imperialism against which he is struggling...

...The whole of the civilian population has been in varying degrees under the terror...

...This uncertainty was ended by the tragic occurrence of Saturday, December 12, when the Regent Street of Cork Was destroyed by incendiaries...

...During the month of November alone we were informed by the Cork City Council that over 200 curfew arrests had been made, four Sinn Fein clubs burned to the ground, twelve huge business premises destroyed by fire, in addition to attempts made to fire others including the City Hall...

...The evidence as to what those messages contained is only circumstantial, but nevertheless convincing...

...The town was saved from total destruction only by the bravery of some of the men, who ventured out of their houses as soon as the soldiers had left the main streets on their way to destroy the milk factory...

...A deputation consisting of the Catholic priest and two Protestant clergymen also went to the officer in charge cf the local barracks to ask for protection...

...This was regarded by the citizens as ominous and increased the nervousness which had been caused by the ambush at Dillon's Cross and the apprehensions of reprisals that were naturally entertained by the people...

...Early in the afternoon, however, a British army airplane was seen to fly from Fermoy, a large military post some sixteen miles from Mallow...

...Shortly after 9 p. m. on Saturday, December 12, Auxiliary Police and Black and Tans appeared in large numbers in the streets of the city, and at the revolver point (before actual firing took place) drove peo...

...Attitude of Government BEFORE proceeding to a review of the sensa-tional testimony which the Commission has heard during the past month, special reference should be made to the attitude of the American government toward Lord Mayor Donal O'Callaghan, which has been grossly misrepresented in most American newspapers, and which very vitally affects the fundamental policies and traditions of the United States...

...Acting in accordance with this pledge, Lord Mayor O'Callaghan applied to the British authorities for a passport to the United States...

...The members of the Commission made special inquiries regarding the origin and cause of the fires and numerous witnesses were interviewed...