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THE FUNERAL

'The funeral was all prepared and we were ready until news came along that the authorities had put up road blocks on the bridge. Knife rests,they call them barbed-wire entanglements. They also made an order that only fifty people would be allowed follow the funeral to the cemetery.Of course there was ageneral rush down the 'Inches' and across the viaduct others went up Barnane and crossed by boat. From all points there were fellows moving towards the cemetery even through the graveyard was surrounded by military also. I crossed the viaduct with Sean Casey, Paddy Collins,Dick,Bill and Paddy Desmond and several others. We went across the fields to the Pike Boreen, there we could see the military ahead so we broke into small groups. We were at the grave a good bit before the funeral arrived.

It was the first funeral to the Republican Plot. The funeral came to a halt at the old gate and the coffin was shouldered into the graveyard. Paddy Ahern, John Fanning, Con Leddy and I think Lar Condon were under the coffin. There were some officers inside the graveyard but they kept a bit away. Father Michael Fitzgerald, who had also received the corpse at the Church was at the graveside and said the prayers. My wife, who was then Margaret Murphy, was among the crowd who walked to the graveyard after the funeral and her sister Statia, who was OC Cumann na mBan was also there. You could almost feel the tension as the coffin was lowered in the grave.It was decided that we would have a Firing Party to fire a volley over the grave later in the day. They were to be, Paddy Ahern, John Fanning, Con Leddy, Lar Condon and myself. Alas, I never made it as I was arrested that day. The others went up alright and fired the volley with revolvers. That happened between five and six and I was arrested at four o'clock.

The whole town closed for the day with the exception of the public houses.During the day Lar Condon sent me around to clear the pubs in case there would be trouble.Of course I didn't know that Lynch had told Lar not to put me on any job , but Lar had forgetten it in the excitement."Whatever you do,don't put Matt Flood on any duty around the town because we want him" Lynch had said, and Lar told me all about it in Cork Gaol, when he was arrested four or five days after me.'Twas equal if Lynch didn't shoot me over you anyway" said Lar to me.

'We went up and cleared all the public houses in the Cork Road area and then we started down King Street, we were just passing where Fitzgibbons Bar is now when a group of policemen armed with revolvers came up to me."You'll pay for your carry-on",said one. I looked at him and replied "Your law is finished in this country, we only recognise Republican Law, now".

"I'll put you in a place where you'll know what the law is like". He was a sergeant and there constables,Burke, Donoghue and Norris.We were taken into the barracks and put in the cells below stairs. There were seven of us, Sean Casey, Daniel Fitzgibbon, David Fitzgibbon, Jackie Murray, Jack Cullinane and Tim Ahern who came from the Araglen side. Well two hours later we heard a military truck coming in and we shifted to the New Barracks,where the Show Grounds are now. They all got eighty-four days hard labour and I got one hundred and twelve. We were put in a building at the back near where the Ball alley was as one looks for the south side. The ground floor cells where we were, were very cold,I remember, (the Pencil Factory have a store there now).

'We weren't there too long and the following day or so we were shifted to Cork to the Detention Barracks which was a part of Victoria Barracks. We used to exercise in the yard where Tom Kent was executed. There was a mark on the wall like a cross as if some fellow had scraped it there, and we accepted from the lads that it was here he was executed. We were left for about seven or eight days and then we were court martialled. The first question always asked was"Are you a memder of the I.R.A."? and the answer generally would be, "As a member of the I.R.A. I refuse to recognise the authority of this court,I have no personal objection to any man here but I refuse to recognise the authority". I started up and all the boys answered up in the same way when it came to their turn. This old Sergeant Gleeson was there and he gave me a good character. He said that any trouble that happened in the town I was the ring-leader of it. There was also a Sergeant-Major there too and he gave us a very hard time. He thought we were Military prisoners and that we would move around up and down the stairs, at the double as his own lot did. We refused of course, took our time and started singing when he passed. That was the pattern at the time; you had to do everything contrary to what they expected. We were kept in the Detention Barracks for about four days and after the court-martial then we were transferred about ten o'clock at night to the County Gaol. When we arrived there an officer came along to our cells about eleven o'clock and read our sentences to us. There were a couple of Kilkenny fellows, one in particular, James Walsh, Windy Gap, he was in the opposite cell to me and he got six months hard labour. I remember the lads saying, "Oh!Oh!Oh!. I had a hard labour sentence as well but I refused to work. We did our first eight days in solitary confinement where we were kept inside and only got bread and water, no exercise and we were locked in our cells all day.

I used to do a bit of physical training, inside the cell for a time and maybe at other times I'd count the cracks in the wall. You'd do anything you could to keep your mind busy for they wouldn't give you anything. After about ten days a Doctor O'Flynn, a Corkman who was a bit hard of hearing, and he had an ear trumpet came in. We were brought before him and he said to me "Are you the leader of this crowd? There are some lads inside and their health isn't of the best due to being kept inside".

"It's up to them. I'm not going to force any of them to stay. Everything we do is voluntary-we are not forced to do anything".I replied.

"Well,will you let those young fellows out and let them do what they want, we'll give you ten minutes to decide"he said.

'Then we were all put in one cell together. The warden came in and said "Lads, the hardest thing you'll be asked to do is to open the parcels belonging to the others, check them and tie them up again".

'I knew then that we would be able to get in contact with the un-tried prisoners so that we could get cigarettes and others things from them. You weren't allowed anything on hard labour. They were very friendly lads because they would offer twenty or forty cigarettes to us and I would be able to dish out the cigarettees to our lads.

'Hipwell, a friendly warder asked me one day would I like to go and see the prisoners who had just come back after doing over seventy days on hunger strike. I said "Yes" so he said "We'll make up a few mock parcels and we'll go over to that wing". I had a look into each cell where the prisoners were lying. I remember some of the names, Christy Upton from Ballylanders, Tadgh Crowly and his brother, Mick Reilly from Ballylanders. I have an idea there was a Joe Murphy, who died there. Their condition was terrible and I never thought any one of them would live through it, just skin and bone. Strange, but Christy Upton visited Fermoy a few years back at the unveiling of the Monument to Mick Fitzgerald near the Courthouse. That night too I saw the cell where Mick Fitzgerald died. It was empty.