On This Day / January 12, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210112
Reference Date
19210112
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 12th January 1921, a young Sinn Féin supporter was murdered in South Armagh, armed raids disrupted rail travel, police commandeered Tyrone villages, arrests continued and a Cork man was sentenced to death. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
South Armagh Tragedy | On This Day – 12th January 1921
EARLY yesterday morning a tragedy was enacted in the townland of Keggall, near Camlough in South Armagh, the victim being a young man named John Doran, aged 26.
He was taken from his bed between twelve and one o’clock by masked men and shot dead outside the house.
The intruders, stated to number half a dozen, went directly to the bedroom in which the deceased and his brother slept and took both of them outside despite the efforts of their father and mother and their sister, Mrs Kearney (the wife of a RIC constable) who was injured in the struggle.
After John had been shot dead, Michael was returned to the house, shots being fired over his head. It is stated that the dead man was prominently identified with the Sinn Féin movement.
Co Antrim Train Hold-Up
THE 6.25 p.m. train from Parkmore to Ballymena [County Antrim] was held up by armed and masked men on Monday evening.
It appears that the raid was made at Islandtown Gates, about six miles from Ballymena, and that the train was stopped by the waving of a red light. One report says police letters were taken.
Police Commandeer Tyrone Houses
LARGE parties of police left Omagh yesterday and took up duty in the villages of Trillick, Gortin and Mountfield [Co Tyrone] where barracks were vacated and burned some months ago.
The authorities commandeered houses in the various villages for the accommodation of the police.
A number of Special Constables in Omagh were allocated to an outlying district and, when informed of the matter, they immediately resigned.
Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor Arrested
COUNCILLOR Denis McCullough, who had been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour and was released last week, has been re-arrested.
He was arrested in Dublin in November on a charge of being in possession of Volunteer documents.
Cork Death Sentence
JOSEPH Murphy of Cork has been sentenced to death for the murder of Private Squibbs in an ambush in Cork.
At a general Courtmartial Murphy was identified as one of the attacking party by four military witnesses who swore they were in a lorry when it was ambushed.
A witness said the accused had a bomb in one hand and a revolver in the other and appeared to be leading some men in the attack. He threw the bomb which killed the soldier.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 Ireland was gripped with violence with IRA attacks swiftly followed by reprisals.
Denis McCullough (1883-1968), the veteran Belfast IRB leader, had been interned with Collins in Frongoch in 1916 and they remained in contact. He recalls his involvement on the RTE i-player.)
On This Day – 12th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210112
Reference Date
19210112
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 12th January 1921, a young Sinn Féin supporter was murdered in South Armagh, armed raids disrupted rail travel, police commandeered Tyrone villages, arrests continued and a Cork man was sentenced to death. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
South Armagh Tragedy | On This Day – 12th January 1921
EARLY yesterday morning a tragedy was enacted in the townland of Keggall, near Camlough in South Armagh, the victim being a young man named John Doran, aged 26.
He was taken from his bed between twelve and one o’clock by masked men and shot dead outside the house.
The intruders, stated to number half a dozen, went directly to the bedroom in which the deceased and his brother slept and took both of them outside despite the efforts of their father and mother and their sister, Mrs Kearney (the wife of a RIC constable) who was injured in the struggle.
After John had been shot dead, Michael was returned to the house, shots being fired over his head. It is stated that the dead man was prominently identified with the Sinn Féin movement.
Co Antrim Train Hold-Up
THE 6.25 p.m. train from Parkmore to Ballymena [County Antrim] was held up by armed and masked men on Monday evening.
It appears that the raid was made at Islandtown Gates, about six miles from Ballymena, and that the train was stopped by the waving of a red light. One report says police letters were taken.
Police Commandeer Tyrone Houses
LARGE parties of police left Omagh yesterday and took up duty in the villages of Trillick, Gortin and Mountfield [Co Tyrone] where barracks were vacated and burned some months ago.
The authorities commandeered houses in the various villages for the accommodation of the police.
A number of Special Constables in Omagh were allocated to an outlying district and, when informed of the matter, they immediately resigned.
Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor Arrested
COUNCILLOR Denis McCullough, who had been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour and was released last week, has been re-arrested.
He was arrested in Dublin in November on a charge of being in possession of Volunteer documents.
Cork Death Sentence
JOSEPH Murphy of Cork has been sentenced to death for the murder of Private Squibbs in an ambush in Cork.
At a general Courtmartial Murphy was identified as one of the attacking party by four military witnesses who swore they were in a lorry when it was ambushed.
A witness said the accused had a bomb in one hand and a revolver in the other and appeared to be leading some men in the attack. He threw the bomb which killed the soldier.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 Ireland was gripped with violence with IRA attacks swiftly followed by reprisals.
Denis McCullough (1883-1968), the veteran Belfast IRB leader, had been interned with Collins in Frongoch in 1916 and they remained in contact. He recalls his involvement on the RTE i-player.)
On This Day – 12th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210112
Reference Date
January 12, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 12th January 1921, a young Sinn Féin supporter was murdered in South Armagh, armed raids disrupted rail travel, police commandeered Tyrone villages, arrests continued and a Cork man was sentenced to death. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
South Armagh Tragedy | On This Day – 12th January 1921
EARLY yesterday morning a tragedy was enacted in the townland of Keggall, near Camlough in South Armagh, the victim being a young man named John Doran, aged 26.
He was taken from his bed between twelve and one o’clock by masked men and shot dead outside the house.
The intruders, stated to number half a dozen, went directly to the bedroom in which the deceased and his brother slept and took both of them outside despite the efforts of their father and mother and their sister, Mrs Kearney (the wife of a RIC constable) who was injured in the struggle.
After John had been shot dead, Michael was returned to the house, shots being fired over his head. It is stated that the dead man was prominently identified with the Sinn Féin movement.
Co Antrim Train Hold-Up
THE 6.25 p.m. train from Parkmore to Ballymena [County Antrim] was held up by armed and masked men on Monday evening.
It appears that the raid was made at Islandtown Gates, about six miles from Ballymena, and that the train was stopped by the waving of a red light. One report says police letters were taken.
Police Commandeer Tyrone Houses
LARGE parties of police left Omagh yesterday and took up duty in the villages of Trillick, Gortin and Mountfield [Co Tyrone] where barracks were vacated and burned some months ago.
The authorities commandeered houses in the various villages for the accommodation of the police.
A number of Special Constables in Omagh were allocated to an outlying district and, when informed of the matter, they immediately resigned.
Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor Arrested
COUNCILLOR Denis McCullough, who had been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour and was released last week, has been re-arrested.
He was arrested in Dublin in November on a charge of being in possession of Volunteer documents.
Cork Death Sentence
JOSEPH Murphy of Cork has been sentenced to death for the murder of Private Squibbs in an ambush in Cork.
At a general Courtmartial Murphy was identified as one of the attacking party by four military witnesses who swore they were in a lorry when it was ambushed.
A witness said the accused had a bomb in one hand and a revolver in the other and appeared to be leading some men in the attack. He threw the bomb which killed the soldier.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: By 1921 Ireland was gripped with violence with IRA attacks swiftly followed by reprisals.
Denis McCullough (1883-1968), the veteran Belfast IRB leader, had been interned with Collins in Frongoch in 1916 and they remained in contact. He recalls his involvement on the RTE i-player.)
On This Day – 12th January 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.