Galway In Days Gone By
1920
City raids
For the third time the premises of Mr. P. Moylett, grocery and general wholesale and retail warehouse, at Williamsgate-st., Galway, were entered during Curfew hours on Saturday night.
A safe was burst open apparently with some high explosive which made a large hole in the ceiling overhead. It is alleged that a sum of over £160 was taken from it. Glass cases were broken.
A case inside the door containing Abdulla and other cigarettes, perfumes, etc., was completely rifled. A quantity of American twigs, groceries, jellies, and other articles are missing. It is reported that the premises were again visited on Sunday night, and further damage done.
Entry was gained by smashing through the windows which are now protected by galvanized iron. Mr. Moylett had entered a claim for compensation for a previous attack on his shop.
Bicycles belonging to Mr. Moylett and his accountant (Miss Gavin) are reported to be missing after the raids. One of the assistants at the shop informed our representative on Monday morning that Mr. Moylett had left the town, as he had received notice to clear out immediately. The police say they have no knowledge of this.
District-inspectors Sugrue and Williams with a number of police visited the scene of the wreckage on Sunday, and took away a list of missing articles.
Fleeing for safety
Mr. John Steel, telegraphing from London to the “Chicago Tribune” (Paris edition) says: “Whether Ireland will be governed in the near future by the orderly processes of law and the Anglo-Irish question settled by peaceable negotiations or whether Ireland will continue to be ruled by assassination and by burning and looting of towns, will be decided in the next few days.
“The decision will depend not upon an agreement between the Irish and the English, but upon the outcome of the present struggle between the military and civil authorities of the British Government in Ireland. Only a great struggle succeeded in inducing the military chiefs to sign orders to end the reprisals.”
In a despatch to the “Chicago Tribune” (Paris edition), a correspondent telegraphing from Dublin and quoted by the “Irish Independent” says: “I spent this last Sunday afternoon in the company of three refugees from Galway. Two of them were professors in Galway University, and the other a leading lawyer. All three believe that the ‘Black and Tan’ police are seeking their lives and this is why they left their native town. Whether this is true or not, it is a fact that the home of the Galway public solicitor was recently bombed twice and wrecked.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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