Hi all
Back from my visit to Dublin (came back a couple of weeks ago). Had a chat with my Aunty and one of the stories she told me was 'Some of the men were allocated to each door of the Customs House. My granddad was at the last door facing onto the railway. He saw the tans coming down in their armoured cars, and they (the tans) started firing. He and the other men started firing back and then it went quite. The fella who was with my granddad (who my aunty called Hands) said he was going to see what was going on. My granddad called him back but was to late and he got killed by machine gun fire.'
Thats the story off my aunty. I told this to Lizzie who works at Kilmainham Goal and she tolds me that the mans name was Daniel Head. It seems he got killed lobbing a handgrenade at the Black and Tans.
My aunty also told me that when my granddad got caught he and some of the others were lined up by a business called T&T Martins near or under Butt Bridge. Before he was caught he had thrown his gun and ammo into the fire so it would not be found on him. He also had a rosary on him that my granny had given to him just before he went on the job. To bring him home safe. He had managed to throw that away before he was searched but one of the Tans had picked it up and marched up and down the line asking who it belonged to. Of course my granddad could not own up to owning them and so lost them.
Gary, thanks for that link made very good reading.
