On This Day / October 11, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
October 11, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 11th October 1921, a Dungannon man described a brutal night-time raid in which he was beaten and his home wrecked, with allegations that Specials were responsible. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Terrorised by Specials | On This Day – 11th October 1921
AT DUNGANNON Quarter Sessions, Patrick Hagan of Woodhill, Dungannon claimed £500 for personal injuries received.
Hagan stated that on 18th May nine or ten men came to his house at night and when he opened the door they rushed in, one of them catching him by the throat. They commenced to wreck the house.
Every time he turned his head to see what was going on he got a blow on the face with the butt of a rifle and one of the party struck him with a revolver.
The men, who were dressed in policemen’s caps and capes, after searching the house ordered him outside and said they were going to shoot him.
Applicant’s wife and children were screaming in the bedroom and he ran into the room and the men followed him and smashed three of his ribs with the butts of rifles.
Some time afterwards the party returned and, bursting in the door, rushed into the bedroom.
They threw the children out of the cot and said they were searching for arms.
They produced a paper which stated they had searched the house for arms and he was compelled at the point of a bayonet to sign it, one of the party stating they would put ‘Popish notions’ out of his head.
Medical evidence was given that the applicant had three fractured ribs and a severely injured arm.
The Judge said that the allegations had been made that the raid was the work of B Specials.
District Inspector Walshe said that he thought the raid was carried out by A Specials.
The Judge said the difficulty he was in was whether the raid was authorised or not.
Mr Maguire [for the applicant] argued that if the raid was authorised it would have been reported.
Instead of that the applicant had been subjected to a night of terror and had received an unmerciful beating. His Honour reserved judgement.
Republican Defaulters in Monaghan
AT MONAGHAN County Council yesterday, the Chief Clerk reported that the arrears of the rates amounted to £41,024.
Mr Patrick Duffy proposed that defaulting ratepayers be proceeded against in Republican Courts.
Dr F C Ward (chairman) added that he wished to emphasise that the impression that Unionist ratepayers were not paying up was wrong. The Unionists were paying better than the Republicans.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: In this case of this brutal attack by Specials on a Catholic farmer near Dungannon, the local District RIC Inspector was clearly disgusted.
Such sectarian activities, as General Ricardo, a B Special commandant in Tyrone put it in 1922, were ‘sowing blood feuds which would last for generations’.)
On This Day – 11th October 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.