On This Day / May 12, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210512
Reference Date
19210512
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 12th May 1921, a Belfast youth was charged after shooting a girl, IRA volunteer Seán McCartney was buried and Joe Devlin rallied opposition to Partition. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Youth Shot Girl | On This Day – 12th May 1921
MR JOHN Gray, RM presided in the Belfast Custody Court yesterday when William Gillespie, a respectably-dressed youth, was charged with attempting to murder Jane Mitchell, Jerusalem Street. District Inspector Nixon prosecuted.
Constable Saunderson deposed to seeing the accused being held by a crowd in Atlantic Avenue the previous evening.
He took Gillespie to the Antrim Road police barracks and proceeded to a house in Ponsonby Avenue where he found the girl, Mitchell with her head bandaged and her shoulders covered in blood.
Witness had the injured girl conveyed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. He charged the prisoner with attempted murder.
Mr Graham (defending) said the boy was an apprentice draughtsman. District Inspector Nixon said that the bullet lodged in the girl’s head but it was extracted.
The chairman said that bail could not be granted as the girl was very nearly murdered.
Belfast Funeral of Ambush Victim
THE funeral of the late Mr John [Sean] McCartney (23) of Norfolk Street, Belfast who was killed in the recent ambush in Cavan took place yesterday from St Peter’s Church to Milltown Cemetery.
Heading the funeral procession was an armoured car and at the rear were two lorries filled with soldiers.
The coffin was draped with the Sinn Fein colours and the cortege was a very large one.
Raids in West Down
THERE was considerable police activity in the Laurencetown district of Banbridge on Monday.
A large force of RIC Specials searched houses at Chapel Row and also at Kernan and Ballydougan. Three young men were arrested.
Fight Against Partition
MR JOSEPH Devlin, who is the Nationalist candidate for Antrim County [as well as West Belfast], delivered a great speech to a huge and enthusiastic audience at Ballycastle.
He asked for their cooperation in the fight against the establishment of a six- county parliament.
He called for Nationalists to transfer their votes to Mr Louis Walsh, the Sinn Fein candidate.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: IN HIS efforts to maximise the nationalist vote against partition, Joe Devlin urged his supporters to honour the election pact with Sinn Fein against partition.
Meanwhile, the funeral took place of Sean McCartney, a Belfast IRA member killed in an ambush in Co Cavan to which a ‘flying column’ had been sent from the city.
The Belfast court case features District Inspector John W Nixon. A Cavan man posted to Belfast in 1920, he was a leader of a ‘reprisal’ gang within the Belfast RIC. He became an independent unionist MP and a scourge of the Craigavon government.)
On This Day – 12th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210512
Reference Date
19210512
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 12th May 1921, a Belfast youth was charged after shooting a girl, IRA volunteer Seán McCartney was buried and Joe Devlin rallied opposition to Partition. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Youth Shot Girl | On This Day – 12th May 1921
MR JOHN Gray, RM presided in the Belfast Custody Court yesterday when William Gillespie, a respectably-dressed youth, was charged with attempting to murder Jane Mitchell, Jerusalem Street. District Inspector Nixon prosecuted.
Constable Saunderson deposed to seeing the accused being held by a crowd in Atlantic Avenue the previous evening.
He took Gillespie to the Antrim Road police barracks and proceeded to a house in Ponsonby Avenue where he found the girl, Mitchell with her head bandaged and her shoulders covered in blood.
Witness had the injured girl conveyed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. He charged the prisoner with attempted murder.
Mr Graham (defending) said the boy was an apprentice draughtsman. District Inspector Nixon said that the bullet lodged in the girl’s head but it was extracted.
The chairman said that bail could not be granted as the girl was very nearly murdered.
Belfast Funeral of Ambush Victim
THE funeral of the late Mr John [Sean] McCartney (23) of Norfolk Street, Belfast who was killed in the recent ambush in Cavan took place yesterday from St Peter’s Church to Milltown Cemetery.
Heading the funeral procession was an armoured car and at the rear were two lorries filled with soldiers.
The coffin was draped with the Sinn Fein colours and the cortege was a very large one.
Raids in West Down
THERE was considerable police activity in the Laurencetown district of Banbridge on Monday.
A large force of RIC Specials searched houses at Chapel Row and also at Kernan and Ballydougan. Three young men were arrested.
Fight Against Partition
MR JOSEPH Devlin, who is the Nationalist candidate for Antrim County [as well as West Belfast], delivered a great speech to a huge and enthusiastic audience at Ballycastle.
He asked for their cooperation in the fight against the establishment of a six- county parliament.
He called for Nationalists to transfer their votes to Mr Louis Walsh, the Sinn Fein candidate.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: IN HIS efforts to maximise the nationalist vote against partition, Joe Devlin urged his supporters to honour the election pact with Sinn Fein against partition.
Meanwhile, the funeral took place of Sean McCartney, a Belfast IRA member killed in an ambush in Co Cavan to which a ‘flying column’ had been sent from the city.
The Belfast court case features District Inspector John W Nixon. A Cavan man posted to Belfast in 1920, he was a leader of a ‘reprisal’ gang within the Belfast RIC. He became an independent unionist MP and a scourge of the Craigavon government.)
On This Day – 12th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210512
Reference Date
May 12, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 12th May 1921, a Belfast youth was charged after shooting a girl, IRA volunteer Seán McCartney was buried and Joe Devlin rallied opposition to Partition. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Youth Shot Girl | On This Day – 12th May 1921
MR JOHN Gray, RM presided in the Belfast Custody Court yesterday when William Gillespie, a respectably-dressed youth, was charged with attempting to murder Jane Mitchell, Jerusalem Street. District Inspector Nixon prosecuted.
Constable Saunderson deposed to seeing the accused being held by a crowd in Atlantic Avenue the previous evening.
He took Gillespie to the Antrim Road police barracks and proceeded to a house in Ponsonby Avenue where he found the girl, Mitchell with her head bandaged and her shoulders covered in blood.
Witness had the injured girl conveyed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. He charged the prisoner with attempted murder.
Mr Graham (defending) said the boy was an apprentice draughtsman. District Inspector Nixon said that the bullet lodged in the girl’s head but it was extracted.
The chairman said that bail could not be granted as the girl was very nearly murdered.
Belfast Funeral of Ambush Victim
THE funeral of the late Mr John [Sean] McCartney (23) of Norfolk Street, Belfast who was killed in the recent ambush in Cavan took place yesterday from St Peter’s Church to Milltown Cemetery.
Heading the funeral procession was an armoured car and at the rear were two lorries filled with soldiers.
The coffin was draped with the Sinn Fein colours and the cortege was a very large one.
Raids in West Down
THERE was considerable police activity in the Laurencetown district of Banbridge on Monday.
A large force of RIC Specials searched houses at Chapel Row and also at Kernan and Ballydougan. Three young men were arrested.
Fight Against Partition
MR JOSEPH Devlin, who is the Nationalist candidate for Antrim County [as well as West Belfast], delivered a great speech to a huge and enthusiastic audience at Ballycastle.
He asked for their cooperation in the fight against the establishment of a six- county parliament.
He called for Nationalists to transfer their votes to Mr Louis Walsh, the Sinn Fein candidate.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: IN HIS efforts to maximise the nationalist vote against partition, Joe Devlin urged his supporters to honour the election pact with Sinn Fein against partition.
Meanwhile, the funeral took place of Sean McCartney, a Belfast IRA member killed in an ambush in Co Cavan to which a ‘flying column’ had been sent from the city.
The Belfast court case features District Inspector John W Nixon. A Cavan man posted to Belfast in 1920, he was a leader of a ‘reprisal’ gang within the Belfast RIC. He became an independent unionist MP and a scourge of the Craigavon government.)
On This Day – 12th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.