On This Day / September 11, 1920

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Reproduced with permission from The Irish News.

19200911

Reference Date

19200911

Publication Date

Terror in South

THERE was a reign of terror at Tullow, Co Carlow on Thursday night where on the previous night two constables were killed and wounded.

Two of the principal business places were burned to the ground and the Irish Bar broken into and looted. The disorder began about eleven o’clock when a shot was fired, apparently as a signal, and then a volley was fired, followed by a bomb explosion and the outbreak of a fire in the establishment of Messrs Murphy, spirit grocers.

At this point the people, filled with terror, ran into the streets from their houses, in some cases carrying pieces of furniture under the fear that the destruction of the whole town had been planned.

Raiders in the Glens

EARLY on Thursday morning there were raids for arms by a number of masked and armed men at Cushendun and Cushendall districts, Co Antrim.

A number of arms were seized in several farmhouses in these districts. The police made a raid in one house in Ballycastle but nothing was found.

On a search for arms a party made a raid on the gatekeeper’s lodge at Captain Crommelin’s estate at Cushendun.

The raiders fired two shots at the house but the gamekeeper quickly replied from inside. The raiders decamped.

Investigations yesterday showed that one of the visitors at least was wounded, a trail of blood being observed leading to the roadside.

Meanwhile, masked men raided a number of Unionist houses in Carrigans district near Derry [in East Donegal]. In one house they seized a shotgun and an old dagger.

They seized a gun and 25 cartridges in the house of Mr White, land steward, whom they threatened to shoot unless he told them all about the Ulster Volunteers. White refused to tell anything.

Tyrone Partition Proposal Lost

AT THE meeting of Tyrone County Council, Sir H de Fellenberg Montgomery, DL moved that Mr T J S Harbison [Nationalist MP] should be appointed to the Council of Ulster County Councils.

Mr Harbison replied – ‘We all know why this association was formed. It was part of a scheme to sever this county from the rest of Ireland and I will not be part of an association whose aim is to divide Ireland.’ The motion was defeated.

[Dr Phoenix notes: By the autumn of 1920 the increase in IRA attacks was matched by British reprisals, such as the ‘Carlow terror’ – often involving the newly-arrived Black and Tans, ill-disciplined ex-soldiers from Britain drafted in to reinforce the RIC.

In the North Unionists and Nationalists clashed over the dawning reality of partition and the imminent creation of a Unionist state.]

19200911

Reference Date

19200911

Publication Date

Terror in South

THERE was a reign of terror at Tullow, Co Carlow on Thursday night where on the previous night two constables were killed and wounded.

Two of the principal business places were burned to the ground and the Irish Bar broken into and looted. The disorder began about eleven o’clock when a shot was fired, apparently as a signal, and then a volley was fired, followed by a bomb explosion and the outbreak of a fire in the establishment of Messrs Murphy, spirit grocers.

At this point the people, filled with terror, ran into the streets from their houses, in some cases carrying pieces of furniture under the fear that the destruction of the whole town had been planned.

Raiders in the Glens

EARLY on Thursday morning there were raids for arms by a number of masked and armed men at Cushendun and Cushendall districts, Co Antrim.

A number of arms were seized in several farmhouses in these districts. The police made a raid in one house in Ballycastle but nothing was found.

On a search for arms a party made a raid on the gatekeeper’s lodge at Captain Crommelin’s estate at Cushendun.

The raiders fired two shots at the house but the gamekeeper quickly replied from inside. The raiders decamped.

Investigations yesterday showed that one of the visitors at least was wounded, a trail of blood being observed leading to the roadside.

Meanwhile, masked men raided a number of Unionist houses in Carrigans district near Derry [in East Donegal]. In one house they seized a shotgun and an old dagger.

They seized a gun and 25 cartridges in the house of Mr White, land steward, whom they threatened to shoot unless he told them all about the Ulster Volunteers. White refused to tell anything.

Tyrone Partition Proposal Lost

AT THE meeting of Tyrone County Council, Sir H de Fellenberg Montgomery, DL moved that Mr T J S Harbison [Nationalist MP] should be appointed to the Council of Ulster County Councils.

Mr Harbison replied – ‘We all know why this association was formed. It was part of a scheme to sever this county from the rest of Ireland and I will not be part of an association whose aim is to divide Ireland.’ The motion was defeated.

[Dr Phoenix notes: By the autumn of 1920 the increase in IRA attacks was matched by British reprisals, such as the ‘Carlow terror’ – often involving the newly-arrived Black and Tans, ill-disciplined ex-soldiers from Britain drafted in to reinforce the RIC.

In the North Unionists and Nationalists clashed over the dawning reality of partition and the imminent creation of a Unionist state.]

19200911

Reference Date

September 11, 2020

Publication Date

Terror in South

THERE was a reign of terror at Tullow, Co Carlow on Thursday night where on the previous night two constables were killed and wounded.

Two of the principal business places were burned to the ground and the Irish Bar broken into and looted. The disorder began about eleven o’clock when a shot was fired, apparently as a signal, and then a volley was fired, followed by a bomb explosion and the outbreak of a fire in the establishment of Messrs Murphy, spirit grocers.

At this point the people, filled with terror, ran into the streets from their houses, in some cases carrying pieces of furniture under the fear that the destruction of the whole town had been planned.

Raiders in the Glens

EARLY on Thursday morning there were raids for arms by a number of masked and armed men at Cushendun and Cushendall districts, Co Antrim.

A number of arms were seized in several farmhouses in these districts. The police made a raid in one house in Ballycastle but nothing was found.

On a search for arms a party made a raid on the gatekeeper’s lodge at Captain Crommelin’s estate at Cushendun.

The raiders fired two shots at the house but the gamekeeper quickly replied from inside. The raiders decamped.

Investigations yesterday showed that one of the visitors at least was wounded, a trail of blood being observed leading to the roadside.

Meanwhile, masked men raided a number of Unionist houses in Carrigans district near Derry [in East Donegal]. In one house they seized a shotgun and an old dagger.

They seized a gun and 25 cartridges in the house of Mr White, land steward, whom they threatened to shoot unless he told them all about the Ulster Volunteers. White refused to tell anything.

Tyrone Partition Proposal Lost

AT THE meeting of Tyrone County Council, Sir H de Fellenberg Montgomery, DL moved that Mr T J S Harbison [Nationalist MP] should be appointed to the Council of Ulster County Councils.

Mr Harbison replied – ‘We all know why this association was formed. It was part of a scheme to sever this county from the rest of Ireland and I will not be part of an association whose aim is to divide Ireland.’ The motion was defeated.

[Dr Phoenix notes: By the autumn of 1920 the increase in IRA attacks was matched by British reprisals, such as the ‘Carlow terror’ – often involving the newly-arrived Black and Tans, ill-disciplined ex-soldiers from Britain drafted in to reinforce the RIC.

In the North Unionists and Nationalists clashed over the dawning reality of partition and the imminent creation of a Unionist state.]

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.

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* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.