Any stories/info from 1916 -1922

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

Are we talking about 1916?
Do you know the name of the road he was from either in the 1911 or in 1916?

[margnip2]

Hi Turvey, my granddad was also in E Company 2nd Battalion Dublin Brigade during the War of Independance.  I have been trying to find information about this brigade, but there does not seem to be any.  All I know for certain is that it was involved in the burning of the Custom House in 1921.  There is a seperate thread about that if you care to have a look.

[turvey]

many thanks for reply.  He lived on the Malahide Road in 19lland then moved to
Claremount Lodge Donnycarney( which is now a housing estate). Then moved to
Fairview about 1918. I didn,t know about Custom house thread so will take a look.
I aim to speak to my uncle this weekend to see if can remember anything abut the
Custom House.  He is very old but is all there.  Will post any information. Many thanks again.

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

He may have applied for a pension.
The dept of Defence keep them.
If he applied there would be loads of info on that about what he got up to.

I think if you are looking for the pension its a fairly long wait.

[dc51]

I have an interesting image I'd like to post. it's the notice of internment my grandfather received the night he was arrested. As far as I know, it's the only one left in existence.The problem is, its in two pieces each over 800kb. Any suggestions?

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

No takers on the chance of doing up a historic picture?
I don't for a minute think that there isn't some knowhow about that on this site.

I have the software for doing this type of thing. But I'm no expert.
I have a tutorial to help though.

I'll give it a go if nobody better turns up.
Send a private message if that's the case.

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

Ok to keep the ball rolling here on the stories I'm going to post my grandfathers account of a raid on the Great Northern Railways depot.
I don't know what age he was giving this account. If there are any inaccuracies I'll be glad if they are discussed. He just left an account with his children. He left no Witness Statement.
It's long so it might be in a number of parts.

In August 1918 I was ordered to go to Oriel Hall. I was to be there at 12 midnight. I told my wife Margaret I would be late and she should not wait up for me. I was given a gun when I arrived at the hall. The hall was situated beside the wall of the Great Northern Railway Goods Yard. Leo Henderson was in charge of the operation. He told us that there was 100lbs of gelignite in one of the sheds and our job was to take it. We climbed over the surrounding wall. Inside the wall it was very dark.
In the distance we could see a British Sentry outlined as he passed by a very well lit office. As a young boy I had worked in the bookstall on the station and I was very familiar with the layout of the Railway yard. Mick Mc Donnell was in charge of my small group. He told two men to go and take charge of the well lit office. At this time the sentry had moved over to the engine shed. In the distance we could see the two men go into the office and come out again and stand outside. Mick Mc Donnell said "What the hell are they doing?" He turned to me and John Comber and told us to go to the office, take it over and send those two fools back.

We went back to the office and sent the men back. As we entered the office a railway guard who was writing in  a  ledger looked up. I told him to put his hands up. The guard who was badly shaken did so. Minutes later a stoker came in the door. We told him to put up his hands which he did.  He then said "I don't know what you two are up to, but I'll have you know my train has to leave at 2.30 am. We told him to stand beside the guard and shut up. He did so. Outside we heard the sound of running feet. There was a thud and a groan as if someone  had hit the ground. Tom comber and I looked at each other. I tightened the grip on my gun and pointed it towards the door. A fireman entered followed closely by Tom Keogh who had a gun stuck in the firemans back. There was blood coming from the firemans face. Tom explained he tried to get away and I had to stop him. We put him over beside our two other prisoners. The door opened and a foreman came in asking "what the hell is going on here?" He was an aggressive sort of man we put him beside the other three. Minutes later this man was moving closer to me I pointed my gun at his head and told him if he moved another inch I would shoot him. He moved away and sat on an upturned fire bucket. The small office was getting very crowded now. Thirty minutes had now passed since we first entered the office it felt like two hours. As we did not know what was happening outside I was feeling a bit nervous.

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

(cont.)
Our lads had removed their boots and moved silently towards the gelignite shed which contained 1000lbs of gelignite. It was guarded by a policeman. Martin Savage crept up behind the policeman and stuck a gun in the back of the neck telling him to put his hands up. He was then bound and gagged and tied to a girder which supported the roof.
The work then started. We had to get the gelignite over to the wall where we entered the yard. It took one hour to get it outside and on to a truck. It was then taken to a derelict ashpit where it was concealed. The job now finished, we separated and made our way home. I made my way home through the back streets to avoid British army patrols.
I lived in a flat over a shop on Summerhill Parade. I found it hard to sleep that night. My mind kept going over the nights work. Next morning I went to work very tired. I worked as a coach painter in a garage in Donnybrook. That evening when I returned home from work a British soldier was standing outside my halldoor. My wife who was standing on the opposite side of the street beckoned to me to come over to her. When I did she told me she had taken the ammunition which we had in our house and put it in the baby's pram underneath the mattress. She then placed the baby on top of it. There were soldiers placed every few yards along the street. They were backing up detectives who were searching all the houses in the street. We decided we would go to my wifes mothers house until the search was over.
My mother-in-law's house was situated on the banks of the Royal Canal. Her family had a haulage business using four canal boats. We had our tea and after tea my brother-in-law and myself sat on one of the boats and talked of the days events. It was a lovely sunny evening and as we talked I noticed a man looking down from the bridge who I recognised. It was detective Johnny Barton. He had been watching us for some minutes now. To my relief minutes later he moved away. 

Michael Smith E company.

[turvey]

E Company 2nd Battalion was involved in the raid on Jacobs Biscuit factory as well as the Custom House.
My grandfather gave talks on his experiences to some schools on the North side during the 1950,s, some one might remember him.  There was another Thomas Reilly involved who was shot (also with a brother called patrick).  My family thought he was killed for a couple of days until he got word he was still alive and it was the other Thomas Reilly.