On This Day / October 2, 1921

Summary: On This Day – 2nd October 1921, Richard Mulcahy warned the IRA to prepare for renewed war if peace negotiations failed, while a British officer was fatally shot in Galway. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.

IRA leader’s warning | On This Day – 2nd October 1921

THE Publicity Department of Dail Eireann has announced that the plenipotentiaries to the Peace Conference expect to leave Dublin for London on Saturday morning.

Mr Erskine Childers, TD and Mr Fionan Lynch, TD have been appointed as secretaries.

Addressing the Irish Republican Army at an inspection in the Dublin Mountains on Sunday, Mr Richard Mulcahy, Chief of Staff, congratulated the men on their remarkable development in numbers in training in the past ten months.

Their work was that of rapid training as if for war. At present the leaders of the Irish nation were about to enter into negotiations with the government of the enemy.

They had to remember the position was that the enemy, who had his foot on their throat, had asked them to negotiate with him with his foot still on their throat. They must, if necessary, be prepared for a renewal of war.

British officer shot dead

AN investigation is underway into the dramatic shooting in which an English cavalry officer, Lieutenant Souchon of the 17th Lancers, was fatally shot outside Galway Town Hall where a Republican dance was in progress.

On the same occasion, Constable Barnes was wounded. Following Claddagh pony races, a ceilidh was held in the Town Hall in aid of the Republican Prisoners’ Dependants’ Fund.

Everything was going on pleasantly when a fracas occurred outside the hall. Fire was opened and the windows of the building were shattered, panic ensuing and the dancers throwing themselves on the ground.

Lieutenant Souchon was motoring to camp at the time and, coming within the area of fire, was struck by a bullet and instantly killed. The origin of the disturbance is uncertain.

It is alleged, on the one hand, to have arisen through some members of the Crown forces attempting to enter the dance without payment and, on the other, that Crown forces were held up and searched by Republican police near the hall.

Immediately the shooting was heard, the troops were turned out and the IRA liaison officer sent for. He directed the dance to be stopped out of respect for the dead officer. An inquiry is being held.

Belfast IRA man escapes

FOUR more political prisoners escaped from Rath Internment Camp on the Curragh on Friday. Among them was Mr Michael Cardan from [Ardoyne] Belfast.

(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Like the British, the Republican leadership were preparing for a resumption of war if peace negotiations in London broke down.

The Galway shooting was one of few breaches of the Truce in the south, though 70 were killed in Belfast before the Treaty.)

On This Day – 2nd October 1921

Further Reading on Irish History:

List of other On This Day columns

Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive

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