Custom House Burning - Part 1 / John Wilson

[seanod]

Not to mention the facial furniture. Some of them look as if they've detached the wings from a small bird and stuck it to their upper lip. 

[Gary Deering]

John Wilson - I don't know if this is at all relevant but I'll put it up anyway.  Part of the documentation from the Allen library is the transcript of a statement by a Mary O'Doherty taken around 1940.  It is stated that this relates to her and her sisters (Teresa) activities as Irish White Cross nurses during 1923 - though the time span has to be wider because of a reference to Patrick Doyle (execeuted 1921).  This is rambling and doesn't flow very well but there is a reference to a young man Wilson who they took to a couple of hospitals to have shot removed from his knee (no first name, no date).  Could this be a reference to John Wilson?  Did he ever have a knee/leg injury?

I will look into the Knee/leg injury I have never heard of this before but I will ask his daughter, plus his daughter had applied for his pension app, so it may say if he was injuried.Thanks for that.

[seanod]

Hi Gary, I happened on this today:

FJ of Jan 13, 1922. “OUT OF MOUNTJOY: Men Who Were Under Sentence of Death and Others.
…
Jas Flood, Ml Watchhorn, Joseph Murphy, J.J. Wilson, John Sliney, Ed Breslin, Patrick Brunton. – These 7 men were arrested at the Custom House.”

[seanod]

I should point out that these individuals were not under sentence of death - I have just missed out all the names on the list which don't relate to the Custom House. If anyone's interested I'll post the whole list.

[Gary Deering]

Cheers Sean, now heres a question ! was everyone that was picked up at the Custom House sentenced to death? or was it just a few?

[seanod]

As far as I know, I don't think any of them were sentenced to death, Gary. Although the Republicans thought they had killed some of the Auxiliaries in the engagement, my research suggests that they didn't kill any, and they weren't able to identify the ones who shot Davis. Lawless was shot by the Auxiliaries and the other two could have been shot by anyone, or just hit by stray bullets. I think all the captured republicans were just imprisoned or interned (I don't think they were actually tried or sentenced either) and then released from December to January.

[seanod]

Hi, re-reading those last items I don't think I explained myself very well. There is a longish list of names under the heading about sentenced to death and others, maybe forty of them. About half way down is the list of seven names and the note about them being Custom House prisoners. There is no information about where most of the others were captured, apart from the few at the top who had been under sentence of death. As for the question of the Custom House captives being sentenced, when I was talking about the death of the Auxiliaries and of Davis the caretaker, the point is that the British wouldn't have had any evidence of any of them being involved in murder, but the fact is, I don't think they even bothered trying them. It was a Guantanamo job - they were enemy combatants interned after being captured in action. And of course, after a few weeks it became clear that the war was over anyway and that eventually they would be released under the terms of the peace.

[Gary Deering]

Seanod, I was talking to one of my Aunts last night on the phone, she told me that Johnny Wilson was on the run for a long time,Possibly from around 1919.So I would say when he was picked up they already had him on something else.

[seanod]

I suppose that could be true of a lot of them. If they did give them trials it would have been a military court but I presume there would be a record of them somewhere. I hope to get to the archives some time in March and have a look at a few things but it's hard to find the time.