Castlerea Killings
Introduction from Chronology
Over these two days, there are six people killed in the vicinity of
Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. Three
civilians, two IRA men and one member of the BA are killed.
More Detail
In the early morning of April 6th, two men call to the door of John
Gilligan in Loughglinn or Loughglynn,
Roscommon and ordered him to get dressed.
Half an hour later, his wife heard some shots. She found his body a few hours later with a
sign tied around his neck saying: “Spies and Informers this is your fate.
IRA.”. Gilligan was an ex-BA
soldier. Nearby, there was a knock on
the door of John Wymes, an ex-member of the RIC. His body was later found by his sons with a
sign saying: “Spies and Informers this is your fate. IRA.”. Both men were killed by the South Roscommon
Brigade of the IRA.
In the early morning of April 7th, Pat Conry
from Tarmon, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon is taken from
his home by masked raiders. He is shot
and battered to death with rifle butts. He was a member of the 1st (Castlerea)
Battalion of the South Roscommon Brigade of the IRA. The same gang then go to the house of James Monds from South Park or Knockmurray,
Castlerea. They say that they were looking for John’s son (William) who was 14
or 15 years of age. But, instead, they
take James from his home and, next morning, his body is found nearby.
Both Burke and O’Halpin & Ó Corráin say that the RIC reported that both these men were
killed by the IRA for wanting to leave the IRA and emigrate. However, Burke states that “IRA testimony and
local memory strongly assert that the men were killed by the Crown forces and
deliberate misdirection cannot be ruled out”.
It would seem that both killings were carried out by the RIC ‘murder
gang’ from Castlerea. (What is unusual
is that Monds was a Protestant and, although he was
not a member of the IRA, according to the O/C of the South Roscommon Brigade,
he “identified with the Volunteer movement”.)
(O’Callaghan mentions the killings of Conry
and Monds but does not mention the killings of
Gilligan or Wynes.)
In retaliation for the killings of Conry and Monds, the ASU of the South Roscommon Brigade went into
Castlerea on the night of April 7th looking for suitable targets. The kill the BA’s Lance Corporal Eugene
Weldon of the Leicestershire Regiment on the Main St of Castlerea. A female civilian, Mary Anne McDonagh, is
also fatally wounded. According to
O’Callaghan, she was wounded in an exchange of shots. O’Halpin
& Ó Corráin quote the O/C of the BA in Roscommon
(Major E.S.W. Tidswell) as saying that she was hit by
shots meant for the Crown Forces. Burke
notes that “Major Tidswell was reprimanded by Colonel
Commandant Lambert for framing McDonagh’s death as inadvertent. It allowed ‘Sinn Féin propaganda reports’ to
assert that the Crown forces killed her”.
O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
summarise that McDonagh’s death “brought the death toll in the vicinity of
Castlerea to six within six days”. There
would soon be more deaths in this area – see Apr-18-21/3.