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The Killing of Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain (Irish War of Independence - First Cork Brigade) |
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Tomás MacCurtain was shot dead at
his home at The
circumstances of the murder were the subject of a historic inquest,
conducted by Coroner James J. McCabe, in which ninety-seven witnesses were examined, sixty-four of them being police, thirty-one civilians, and two military. The
inquest was opened on March 20 and concluded on April 17 with the
following unanimous verdict: We find that the late Alderman MacCurtain, Lord Mayor
of Cork, died from shock and hemorrhage caused by bullet
wounds, and that he was willfully murdered under circumstances of the
most callous brutality, and that the murder was organised and carried out by
the Royal Irish
Constabulary, officially directed by the British Government, and we return a verdict of willful murder against
David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of
England; Lord French, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Ian McPherson, late Chief Secretary of Ireland;
Acting Inspector General Smith, of the Royal Irish Constabulary; Divisional
Inspector Clayton of the Royal Irish Constabulary; District Inspector
Swanzy and some unknown members of the Royal
Irish Constabulary. We strongly condemn
the system at present in vogue of carrying out raids at unreasonable hours. We tender to Mrs. MacCurtain
and family our sincerest sympathy. We
extend to the citizens of It was the
first, though not the last, premeditated murder of a Republican public representative holding a
post of high honour, and, even for the
abnormal conditions of the time, the
circumstances surrounding it were unusual and shocking. The police evidence at the inquest revealed that the Lord
Mayor was to have been arrested on the
night he was murdered. County Inspector Maloney said that
on March 19 he 'received certain verbal
orders from the Military Authorities—namely to detail three men to meet a military lorry at District
Inspector Swanzy swore that he was told in Union Quay barracks
'about mid-day on March 19' by Mr. Clayton, the County Inspector who had just
been appointed Divisional Commissioner, and
Mr. Maloney, the County Inspector who had 'arrived in Cork only at twelve noon on Thursday and knew nothing
of local conditions' that the Lord
Mayor was to be arrested. 'He was ordered to detail some policemen to
point out the Lord Mayor to the military.' Later in his evidence he said: 'I was not ordered to arrest the Lord Mayor, but I was ordered to detail police to indicate
the house of the Lord Mayor to a
military party.' He 'told the Head Constable to detail two of the night men to carry out the military
order'. That seems
sufficiently clear and definite, but for some reason, not apparent from the evidence, there was a further
consultation between police and military on
the matter. Swanzy says': 'At five o'clock
on the afternoon of March 19, at King Street Barracks', a military officer showed him a document 'directing' the
arrest of the Lord Mayor, but that
the military officer took the document away. 'The hour of arrest was arranged at Head Constable
Cahill, King Street Barracks, in his evidence said that 'he got orders from the competent Military
Authority on March 19, relating to the late
Lord Mayor, and he communicated these
orders to Sergeant Beatty at about The obvious
discrepancies between the evidence of Swanzy and Cahill are important in so far as they reflect the unreliability of the police evidence as a whole. Both Maloney and Swanzy appear
to create the impression that there
never was a police document in relation to the
proposed arrest; there was a verbal request at Union Quay for police to accompany a military party, and a
document at King Street, the purpose of
which is by no means clear, but at least
it was a military document, brought and taken away by a military officer 'at five o'clock' after having been shown to
Swanzy. This evidence tends to dissociate the police from any responsibility
for, or approval of, the proposed arrest. Against it
there is the evidence of Head Constable Cahill who was shown 'a type-written document' by Swanzy in his
office in King Street 'probably between
three and four o'clock'. It related to
others besides the Lord Mayor; 'four or five persons were referred to but the
Lord Mayor was the only person we were concerned with'. That might mean that the others referred to were not
in Head Constable Cahill's district. But
if that is so, why was it that no other arrests
were carried out on that night? The evidence of
Sergeant Beatty of St. Luke’s station, who was on beat duty in King Street, is to the effect that the military
lorry-arrived at King Street Barracks about 2.15 a.m. or 2.20 am., that he, with Constables Sullivan, Murphy and Walsh, went
with the military party to the Lord Mayor's house and found he had been shot dead. Major General
Strickland, commanding the British 6th Division with headquarters in Lieutenant D.
F. Cooke stated that on March 19 he was detailed to take charge of
a party of twenty men to report at King Street Police Barracks at It may be
accepted on this evidence that there was an order from British Headquarters in The rime at
which the arrest was to be carried out was 'arranged at The police
were well aware that the Lord Mayor was at this time attending assiduously to the duties of his public
office, and that he was to be found at
his desk in the City Hall at any time except when engaged at some public function, at any of which he
could have been located just as easily. The police were also well aware of his
domestic circumstances and of his young family. The question
arises as to why it should have been thought
necessary to invade his private house, to invade it with all the terroristic
display of a mixed armed force of police and military with fixed bayonets, why
it should have been thought necessary
to subject women and young children to this
brutal ordeal at The theory that
the murder of the Lord Mayor was a reprisal for
the shooting of Constable Murtagh at Pope's Quay about Head Constable
Cahill, in charge of King Street Barracks, said that on the night of March 19, 'twenty-four men all told were stationed there . . . one Head Constable, seven
sergeants and sixteen constables'. All
these twenty-four men gave evidence at the inquest. That evidence shows that one sergeant was absent
through illness, one sergeant and
three constables were in lodgings outside the barracks, and
three constables "were on beat duty in It is quite
certain, as will be shown later, that a larger number than eight took part in the crime, and it is a
reasonable inference that some of them
came from some place other than
A direct link to those responsible for the crime was provided by the finding of a button from an RIC tunic at the door of the MacCurtain house on the morning following the murder. It was found by the local postman, Mick Goggin, seen here on a visit to the Kilmichael ambush site in West Cork a number of years lafter the event. Pictured are from left, Bill Goggin (son), Mick Goggin and friend Gerry Healy, all of Kilbarry, Old Mallow Road, Cork city. Tomas was at
his desk in the City Hall on the afternoon of Friday, March 19. Con Harrington, the Town Clerk, was with him
when Alderman Tadhg Barry came in and
said that he had heard if another policeman was shot in
Cork Tomas would be shot in reprisal. The only
comment made by the Lord Mayor was: 'That's interesting'. He went on with his
work, as was his way. He had before then received anonymous letters threatening him with death. He disregarded them entirely. Since his election to the office
of Lord Mayor he felt that his public position demanded the open performance of
his municipal functions, and that
whatever the dangers of arrest or assassination
might be he should not go into hiding or attempt to evade them. One of his last
official acts on the night of his death was to call to Brigade Headquarters at the shop of Sheila and Nora
Wallace at Tadhg Barry
left Wallace's with him, and about
Shocked citizens reading the death notice on the door of the MacCurtain home on the morning of the murder. At about When I opened
the door a man rushed in with a black face and eyes shining like a demon. One man outside the door then asked, where Curtain was, and I said he was upstairs. Six men
rushed in the hall, four tall men
and two small men; the two small men were about my own height and carried
rifles, which they held against their sides. I don't know what the tall men had, they may have had rifles but I
didn't sec them. . . . One gave orders to hold 'that one', meaning me, and the second tall man turned round and shoved me
towards the door, but didn't say a
word. He wore a big overcoat and cap. His face was blackened and he turned it from me immediately. He had fair foxy hair. He was a well built man. Mrs. MacCurtain
described how, while she was held at the door, the men rushed past her up the stairs, a narrow stairs with a difficult turn at the top. 'They seemed to know the house better
than I did myself.' Almost immediately,
before she thought they could have gone
two steps up the stairs she heard the shots which killed her husband. When the men came downstairs they pushed her
before them into the street, where she
began to cry for help and call for someone
to go for a priest. At the same time her brother was calling out from a top window, and she heard the order given
to the group of ten to fifteen men outside the
house: 'Fire again'. Some of the men
faced the door and fired up towards the windows. Marks made by these bullets
were found subsequently. What occurred
upstairs while Mrs. MacCurtain was held at the door is described by her brother James Walsh, and her sisters Susie and
Annie Walsh. Susie was awakened by what seemed at first gentle knocking, and then a sound as if someone was trying
to break in the street door. She
called her brother who was in an adjoining room. He relates that he partly dressed, took a lighted candle and went down from
the top landing in which his bedroom was to that below. 'I went out on the landing and as I got there I
heard a voice saying: "Come out,
Curtain". This demand was repeated as I was going round the bend of the stairs about three steps
from the top. I saw two tall men, one
had a light overcoat. Their backs were turned to me and they were facing the Lord Mayor's room. As I got there the
Lord Mayor was at the door. I saw the man on the right, who was in a light coat and wearing a brownish cap, let
go, and two shots were fired. He fired a revolver. I don't know what the man on
the left had in his hand. I only got
a glimpse of it. I quenched the candle and
dropped on the stairs. When I was lying down I heard a third shot.' When he went to the window and called for
help he was fired on from outside the
house. Susie Walsh
described how, after calling her brother, she rushed downstairs and saw the two men outside the Lord
Mayor's door. 'One wore a light coat and cap and had his
face blackened.' The baby in the Lord Mayor's
room was crying, and she said to the men: 'Please let me take the baby'. The reply was 'Get back out of that'. She
ran to the bathroom and while there heard the order: 'Conic out, Curtain', repeated twice. Then she heard the
shots. She came out of the bathroom to
find the men gone and her brother-in-law lying outside his bedroom door moaning heavily. Annie was coming down the stairs with a Crucifix and holy water.
They both knelt down and prayed, Annie holding her arm under Tomas' head. He was bleeding from around the region of the heart. Annie describes
how they remained praying until the priest came in response to Mrs.
MacCurtain's telephone call. 'I called on the Sacred Heart to spare him, at least until the priest
would come, and shortly after some one
said: "The priest is coming". When the priest came I went away for a few minutes, but came back then to sec him die. His last words were: "Into Thy
hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit".' When the alarm
was raised Miss Peg Duggan and her sister Anne, who lived close by, ran to the North Cathedral and came back with Rev.
Fr. Burts, C.C., who administered the Last
Sacraments.
A present day picture of the old MacCurtain home at Blackpool.
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