On This Day / January 14, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210114
Reference Date
19210114
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 14th January 1921, a Special Constable became the first USC fatality in South Armagh ambushes, the Whiteboy Act resurfaced at a Belfast court-martial, and two Dublin girls vanished mysteriously. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Special’ Shot Dead | On This Day – 14th January 1921
A DUBLIN Castle report states that a police party was ambushed yesterday morning at Cullyhanna, County Armagh and one constable was seriously injured.
At 2 p.m. a second ambush took place at Cullyhanna in which one Special Constable was seriously wounded.
Our Dundalk correspondent writes: There was another ambush in South Armagh yesterday. A party of five policemen on bicycles was proceeding to escort the local postman, Patrick Kirk, from Crossmaglen to Cullyhanna.
In addition to the mails, Kirk was also the bearer of Old Age Pension money. A few miles out fire was opened on the party from a disused house.
Patrick Kirk, the postman, was shot through the lung and Constable Philip Boylan was wounded. The postman crept into shelter and the police brought Constable Boylan to Crossmaglen.
Meanwhile a Crossley lorry had been sent for the wounded postman. When nearing the disused house a rifle shot rang out and Constable William Compston was shot and died later. It is not expected that Kirk will recover. Compston was a Special Constable.
Whiteboy Act Invoked
A COURTMARTIAL was held in Victoria Barracks, Belfast yesterday at which Henry Carragher of County Armagh was charged with riotous assembly and firing into a dwelling house. He was also charged with demanding money with menaces and maliciously wounding.
The Prosecutor said the first charge was under the Whiteboy Act. The witness stated that she was aroused by the barking of a dog and a cluster of men demanded admission ‘as soldiers of the Irish Republic’.
The occupants were an old lady, her niece and a manservant. Two shots were fired. Witness identified the prisoner by his broad features, build and voice. She had no doubt as he had been at her brother’s wedding.
Defending, Mr Richard Best KC said the evidence of identification was not sufficient. The accused had served for almost two years in the Irish Guards and was wounded. He was totally opposed to Sinn Fein.
The accused was found not guilty.
Dublin Girls Disappear
TWO Dublin girls, Miss Nora Relican and her companion, Miss Julia Brady, mysteriously disappeared on Monday and have not been heard of since.
Mrs Relican said, that some time ago. A man called at the house representing himself as a plainclothes policeman.
One of Miss Redican’s brothers, Seamus, was on hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Constable William Compston was the first USC member to die. IRA suspects from counties as far away as Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo faced military trial in Belfast by 1921 while the archaic Whiteboy Act (1765), which carried the death sentence for riotous assembly, was used in IRA cases.)
On This Day – 14th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210114
Reference Date
19210114
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 14th January 1921, a Special Constable became the first USC fatality in South Armagh ambushes, the Whiteboy Act resurfaced at a Belfast court-martial, and two Dublin girls vanished mysteriously. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Special’ Shot Dead | On This Day – 14th January 1921
A DUBLIN Castle report states that a police party was ambushed yesterday morning at Cullyhanna, County Armagh and one constable was seriously injured.
At 2 p.m. a second ambush took place at Cullyhanna in which one Special Constable was seriously wounded.
Our Dundalk correspondent writes: There was another ambush in South Armagh yesterday. A party of five policemen on bicycles was proceeding to escort the local postman, Patrick Kirk, from Crossmaglen to Cullyhanna.
In addition to the mails, Kirk was also the bearer of Old Age Pension money. A few miles out fire was opened on the party from a disused house.
Patrick Kirk, the postman, was shot through the lung and Constable Philip Boylan was wounded. The postman crept into shelter and the police brought Constable Boylan to Crossmaglen.
Meanwhile a Crossley lorry had been sent for the wounded postman. When nearing the disused house a rifle shot rang out and Constable William Compston was shot and died later. It is not expected that Kirk will recover. Compston was a Special Constable.
Whiteboy Act Invoked
A COURTMARTIAL was held in Victoria Barracks, Belfast yesterday at which Henry Carragher of County Armagh was charged with riotous assembly and firing into a dwelling house. He was also charged with demanding money with menaces and maliciously wounding.
The Prosecutor said the first charge was under the Whiteboy Act. The witness stated that she was aroused by the barking of a dog and a cluster of men demanded admission ‘as soldiers of the Irish Republic’.
The occupants were an old lady, her niece and a manservant. Two shots were fired. Witness identified the prisoner by his broad features, build and voice. She had no doubt as he had been at her brother’s wedding.
Defending, Mr Richard Best KC said the evidence of identification was not sufficient. The accused had served for almost two years in the Irish Guards and was wounded. He was totally opposed to Sinn Fein.
The accused was found not guilty.
Dublin Girls Disappear
TWO Dublin girls, Miss Nora Relican and her companion, Miss Julia Brady, mysteriously disappeared on Monday and have not been heard of since.
Mrs Relican said, that some time ago. A man called at the house representing himself as a plainclothes policeman.
One of Miss Redican’s brothers, Seamus, was on hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Constable William Compston was the first USC member to die. IRA suspects from counties as far away as Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo faced military trial in Belfast by 1921 while the archaic Whiteboy Act (1765), which carried the death sentence for riotous assembly, was used in IRA cases.)
On This Day – 14th January 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210114
Reference Date
January 14, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 14th January 1921, a Special Constable became the first USC fatality in South Armagh ambushes, the Whiteboy Act resurfaced at a Belfast court-martial, and two Dublin girls vanished mysteriously. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Special’ Shot Dead | On This Day – 14th January 1921
A DUBLIN Castle report states that a police party was ambushed yesterday morning at Cullyhanna, County Armagh and one constable was seriously injured.
At 2 p.m. a second ambush took place at Cullyhanna in which one Special Constable was seriously wounded.
Our Dundalk correspondent writes: There was another ambush in South Armagh yesterday. A party of five policemen on bicycles was proceeding to escort the local postman, Patrick Kirk, from Crossmaglen to Cullyhanna.
In addition to the mails, Kirk was also the bearer of Old Age Pension money. A few miles out fire was opened on the party from a disused house.
Patrick Kirk, the postman, was shot through the lung and Constable Philip Boylan was wounded. The postman crept into shelter and the police brought Constable Boylan to Crossmaglen.
Meanwhile a Crossley lorry had been sent for the wounded postman. When nearing the disused house a rifle shot rang out and Constable William Compston was shot and died later. It is not expected that Kirk will recover. Compston was a Special Constable.
Whiteboy Act Invoked
A COURTMARTIAL was held in Victoria Barracks, Belfast yesterday at which Henry Carragher of County Armagh was charged with riotous assembly and firing into a dwelling house. He was also charged with demanding money with menaces and maliciously wounding.
The Prosecutor said the first charge was under the Whiteboy Act. The witness stated that she was aroused by the barking of a dog and a cluster of men demanded admission ‘as soldiers of the Irish Republic’.
The occupants were an old lady, her niece and a manservant. Two shots were fired. Witness identified the prisoner by his broad features, build and voice. She had no doubt as he had been at her brother’s wedding.
Defending, Mr Richard Best KC said the evidence of identification was not sufficient. The accused had served for almost two years in the Irish Guards and was wounded. He was totally opposed to Sinn Fein.
The accused was found not guilty.
Dublin Girls Disappear
TWO Dublin girls, Miss Nora Relican and her companion, Miss Julia Brady, mysteriously disappeared on Monday and have not been heard of since.
Mrs Relican said, that some time ago. A man called at the house representing himself as a plainclothes policeman.
One of Miss Redican’s brothers, Seamus, was on hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Constable William Compston was the first USC member to die. IRA suspects from counties as far away as Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo faced military trial in Belfast by 1921 while the archaic Whiteboy Act (1765), which carried the death sentence for riotous assembly, was used in IRA cases.)
On This Day – 14th 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.