Six IRA men are
hung in Mountjoy Jail.
Introduction from Chronology
Paddy Moran (see Feb-15-21/1) and Thomas Whelan (see Feb-01-21/3)
are hung for taking part in the killings on Bloody Sunday morning (see
Nov-21-20/8). Whelan did not take
part in these killings. Moran did take
part – he led the attack on the Gresham hotel in which two men were killed. However, he was sentenced to death on the
basis of false identification evidence for taking part in the attack on 38
Upper Mount St.
The four other men are hung for taking part in an ambush in Drumcrondra (see Jan-21-21/4). They were court martialled and sentenced to
death on February 23rd and 24th - see
Feb-23-21/2. Their names were Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood
and Bernard Ryan.
Trade unions call a half day strike and over 40,000 gather in
protest outside Mountjoy.
More Detail
Thomas Whelan had been charged, on February 1st (see
Feb-01-21/3) with the murder of Capt Baggally in 119 Lr Baggot St on Bloody Sunday along with
three others – James Boyce, Michael Tobin and James McNamara. A British
Army officer, who occupied the room next to Baggally,
identified Whelan as the man who covered him with a revolver as another man
(who he identified as Boyce) shot Baggally.
Both Boyce and Whelan produced evidence that they were elsewhere during the
shooting. Boyce's evidence was accepted and he was acquitted along with
the other two charged. Even though Whelan had five witnesses (including a
priest stationed in Ringsend) who said he was at 9 o'clock mass in Ringsend
church at the time of the shootings, he was still found guilty. Also, an
architect gave evidence that the layout of the rooms made it impossible for the
British officer to have seen Boyce and Whelan. Whelan was a member of A
Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA but he had not taken
part in the Bloody Sunday attacks.
Moran was charged with the murder of Lieutenant Ames at 38 Upr Mount St on Bloody Sunday along with another man called
Joseph Rochford. Moran was identified by three British soldiers as taking
part in the shooting - they were Major Carew (who lived as 28 Upr Mount St - on the other side of the street from 38),
Private Lawrence and Private Snelling. However, Carew was not prepared to
swear positively that the man he saw was Moran. Snelling was positive
that he saw Moran but he also identified Rochford. Both Moran and
Rochford produced alibi evidence that they were elsewhere during the
shootings. Rochford's was accepted but Moran's was not. Lawrence
said that Moran held him up outside 38 Mount St. However, Lawrence had
given identification evidence at the trial of Thomas Whelan and his three
co-accused and this evidence had not been accepted by the court. (In addition,
there was accusations in the Irish Bulletin of collusion among the
witnesses in identification.) Moran produced a large number of witnesses
that he was in Blackrock at the time of the shootings - that he went to 8
o'clock mass in Blackrock Church, went home and had breakfast and then took the
9.30am tram from Blackrock to Nelson's Pillar. The evidence from these
witnesses was not accepted and Moran was found guilty and sentenced to be
hung. Moran was not in Upr Mount St at the time
of the killing of Ames – he was in the Gresham Hotel in O’Connell St. As noted
above, O’Daly said that Moran led the IRA group who
killed two men in the Gresham Hotel on Bloody Sunday – See Feb-15-21/1.
(Moran was captain of D Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade,
IRA.)
Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood and Bernard Ryan had been
found guilty of high treason after they were arrested in the wake of a failed
IRA ambush in Drumcrondra on the 21st
January 1921. (For details on the four men - see Feb-23-21/2.) What
is interesting about the case against these four men is that no member of the
Crown Forces was killed during the Drumcrondra ambush
and this is why the men were charged with high treason against the King of
England. The IRA, of course, regarded the King of England and his
government as alien and they therefore would have considered it treason not to wage war against the English
king.
Doyle and Ryan were Volunteers with F Company, 1st
Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA. Bryan
was a member of the No. 3 Company, 5th Battalion, Dublin Brigade,
IRA. Flood was a lieutenant in H
Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA. All were in the No. 1 ASU, Dublin Brigade.
Doyle’s wife, Louise, last saw her husband on March 12th. She brought with her their three-year-old
daughter and their newly born twin girls.
On their way back home, one of the twins, Louisa Patricia Doyle, died in
her mother’s arms. She was buried the
same morning that her father was hung.