Decoding the IRA (25 page)

The trial finally opened in December 1927, with the two IRA men defended by the barrister, Joseph O'Connor. Seán MacBride (a distinguished lawyer in his own right) later said that O'Connor was ‘the best criminal law advocate at the Irish Bar'.
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Though several of the villagers from Hollyford had witnessed the attack, many of whom were only a few feet or yards away from the perpetrators, none could identify the attackers. The prosecution's case therefore depended on Garda McTigue. McTigue pointed out O'Reilly and Ryan as the two raiders who entered the barracks. O'Connor next cross-examined him and McTigue clarified that O'Reilly pointed a revolver directly at his face. However, when questioned by O'Connor he admitted he had originally said O'Reilly's eyes were brown, which he now knew to be incorrect. O'Connor addressed the jury, arguing that, given McTigue's inability to identify the colour of O'Reilly's eyes, they couldn't rely on the remainder of his evidence. As for Ryan, an acquaintance testified that he was with him the evening in question. With this the foreman of the jury said that they didn't need to hear any more and, to applause in the court, the judge acquitted the two defendants.

Though O'Reilly and Ryan had an excellent barrister, and the state's case was hampered by the lack of evidence and the obvious fear of the witnesses in the village, it's interesting to wonder whether or not the IRA had succeeded in getting at McTigue.
⁵⁷
O'Reilly later emigrated to America only to return with the onset of the Great Depression in 1930. Not surprisingly the gardaí in Tipperary didn't forget him and after three letters sent to him with a job offer were returned, marked ‘not known', he went to the garda station to complain, where he alleged he was ‘abused'.
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Prisoners

Most IRA prisoners were incarcerated at Mountjoy jail in the centre of Dublin city or Maryborough prison in Portlaoise. Among those in Mountjoy were senior officers such as George Gilmore and Mick Price, serving short sentences or on remand, while the IRA group at Maryborough included
a small number of men convicted of serious offences, frequently dating back to the Civil War. The IRA on the outside was able to easily communicate with the Mountjoy men, but those in Maryborough were more isolated and appeared to have endured harsher conditions.

Mountjoy prison

Mountjoy, or the ‘Joy' as it's known, is a nineteenth-century prison in Dublin city. The IRA headquarters communicated with the prisoners largely by way of visitors or prison warders.

The IRA was prepared to pay for the services of corrupt warders, such as Bob Glynn, a
‘stout dark man, clean shaved, full faced, a native of Ulster'
. He already did
‘a bit of traffic with the lags [convicts]'
in cigarettes, and the IRA proposed to test his reliability by asking him to smuggle in cigarettes to
‘a man named Johnson, who could then give them to George [Gilmore] in church'
. Another likely recruit was
‘warder Bailey, who has or had charge of parcels, this man is always prepared to work for money'
.
⁵⁹
On the other hand, warder Collins, who probably worked for the IRA, was reported by one prisoner to be
‘untrustworthy'
.
⁶⁰

Most warders were, naturally enough, not going to cooperate with the IRA, and Frank Kerlin warned Mick Price and George Gilmore to be careful of a
‘warder, pale, thin face and dark complexion, who brings [the] prisoner[s] to [the] visiting boxes, and watches [the] visits, [and] is CID
[
sic
]'.
⁶¹
Price's brother, Charlie, was cautioned to avoid chatting to warder Folan, as he was a
‘CID tout'
.
⁶²
Warders who abused or beat up IRA prisoners were liable to be threatened, and in 1928 the IRA shot and wounded the chief warder, Robert Grace.
⁶³

A Fr Fitzpatrick had contact with George Gilmore in the prison and also knew Charlie Price, which made him of potential value to the IRA. However, Moss Twomey dismissed the idea:
‘Fr. Fitzpatrick is just courteous, but could not be depended on much.'
⁶⁴
One of the IRA's most valuable contacts was a truck driver
‘prepared to do anything required'
, who delivered coal to the prison as part of a regular convoy of four to five lorries. He took in a message to Gilmore, and Kerlin was hopeful that if they could come up with an escape plan he'd assist.
⁶⁵

Figure 19. The department of intelligence wrote to ‘Mr Campbell' discussing what prison warders at Mountjoy could be used to smuggle in items for the IRA:

 

The following two sections describe the experiences of George Gilmore and Michael Price during their imprisonment in Mountjoy.

George Gilmore

George was the best known of the three Gilmore brothers, George, Harry and Charlie, all of whom were in the IRA. They were from Dublin and, unlike
most of their comrades, were of Protestant stock. George was a leading republican socialist and was at one time OC of the Dublin brigade.
⁶⁶
In November 1925 he organised a jailbreak from Mountjoy, when he entered the prison disguised as a garda sergeant accompanied by five other armed IRA men – two ‘policemen' escorting three ‘poachers' under arrest. They managed to release nineteen men, including such well-known republicans as Mick Price, Jim Killeen, Michael Carolan and Jim Nugent.
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Gilmore followed this up three months later with the release of Jack Keogh from Dundrum asylum.
⁶⁸

He was finally arrested in November 1926 and sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour for ‘taking part in the gallant rescue of 19 political prisoners'. Gilmore refused ‘to accept criminal status or wear criminals' clothes' and was confined to a punishment cell in the basement – naked and isolated from the other IRA prisoners.
⁶⁹
At one point he was forced into prison garb and his hands were restrained in muffs to prevent him from ripping the clothes off, or as
An Phoblacht
wrote, he was in a ‘strait jacket'.
⁷⁰

Moss Twomey tried to mobilise public support for Gilmore, writing: ‘We were all very sorry about G.G. [George Gilmore] and the terrible fight he is up against. We are doing our utmost on the matter of publicity and a special meeting with regard to his case is being arranged …
I am hopeful that from action outside [the prison], George will be transferred [from his current cell].'
⁷¹
A mass meeting was held in support of him and the other republican prisoners in Dublin, with de Valera sharing the platform with Art O'Connor of Sinn Féin and Maud Gonne of the Political Prisoners Committee.
⁷²

Following his transfer from the basement cell, George was seen in the grounds of the prison infirmary by the IRA informant who drove the coal truck. Frank Kerlin gave the truck driver a letter to pass along to Gilmore. Kerlin wrote:
‘Leave [a] reply to this despatch at the exact place on [the] ground, where [the] bearer is leaving this note for you, and pin it to a piece of the blue hospital cloth to enable [the] bearer to find it easily. When writing give full details of your location and hours of exercise, also any suggestions re. [regarding an] escape [plan].'
⁷³
Another inmate, Donal O'Donoghue, came up with the bright
idea that the IRA could send a man into Mountjoy for a few days to check up on Gilmore. O'Donoghue wrote to Kerlin:
‘[I] suggest someone be fined for [having] no light [on his bicycle]. Refuse to pay, [and] get seven days [in Mountjoy. He can then] find all about Geo[rge] in B wing. [The person should be a] first offender, [and an] adult.'
74
Moss Twomey replied: ‘George Gilmore's brother is to do 4 days [in prison], for not paying [a] fine for [having] no light on [his] bike. He is trying to arrange to be arrested, today or tomorrow. I gave him verbal messages, if he sees you. Be on the lookout.'
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By January, Gilmore had scored a victory when he was allowed to wear his own clothes, though he continued to agitate for the right to freely associate with the other prisoners.
⁷⁶

Figure 20. Handwritten note from Donal O'Donoghue in prison to the director of intelligence, Frank Kerlin.

[I] suggest someone be fined for [having] no light [on his bicycle]. Refuse to pay, [and] get seven days [imprisonment, so that he can] find all about George [Gilmore] in B wing. [He should be a] first offender [and an] adult. Charlie Price knows Father Fitzpatrick, see other note.

 

In May 1927 Moss Twomey sent a letter to George in cipher. The letter, reminiscent of a Christmas letter to a dear friend, is warm and fuzzy with updates on the IRA ‘family', but with the addition that there was concern about some unaccounted money.
‘Everyone charmed to hear from you, and to hear … how well you looked
. We were all very upset
about Xmas time when you were putting up the fight for your clothes, of course all classes of rumours came through. You would be all right now if you had company. I hope you manage to kill the time without being too fed up.' Twomey filled him in as to how his comrades were doing, including
‘[Seán] MacBride is now running the jam factory'
, and also explained the IRA's position on the recent negotiations for a republican election pact. Then arose the question of the money:
‘At [the] time of your arrest, your accounts were not fixed [up]. There was an apparent deficit of nearly £200 … [I] am sure, you had not some expenditure written up … You got £30 from [the] QMG for [a] purchase last October in S[outh] Dublin. [The] man said he [was] not paid. He has been paid now. £30 were [
sic
] found at your place after your arrest.
I presume this was the amount in question … I do not want to worry you in any way with regard to this as it can quite well wait over until your are out.'
⁷⁷

Gilmore seems to have endured his incarceration well and despite all he went through, his mother reported he was
‘fine and is well'
.
⁷⁸
This may have been due to his personality, described by one fellow prisoner as ‘a withdrawn sort of a man whom you would not intrude on'.
⁷⁹
He spent time reading Gibbon's
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
from the prison library and was released in early 1928.
⁸⁰

Mick Price

Mick Price, another republican socialist, had been OC of the IRA's 1st Eastern division in the Civil War and following that OC of the Dublin brigade.
⁸¹
During the Civil War he styled himself as ‘Comrade Price'.
⁸²
Todd Andrews described Price unfavourably as Napoleonesque and that he had an expression which represented either ‘deep thought or depression'.
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The veteran republican May Ó Dálaigh was more complimentary: ‘Mick Price was the one I like [
sic
] the best', adding that he was the only IRA leader who helped her wash up the dishes!
⁸⁴
Con Casey, who had served under him during the Civil War, said that Price, was ‘very sincere' and was ‘constantly in a state of agitation', adding: ‘I always thought he was a man under stress, so deeply was he concerned about Ireland and its future.'
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