[36] Quite soon, there were ten of us in all amongst the approximately 350 criminal prisoners. I remember Sean Nolan and myself from Cork, as also Don O’Sullivan; then Joseph 0’Connor, Tom Crawford, C Crowley and Connie McNamara from Limerick; H Keavney and J. Langan from Belfast and a boy from Kilmallock. The two lads from Belfast I did not know until later neither, I am sure, did the others. One morning, while on exercise, and marching in the usual single file at ten feet apart - with warders placed at vantage points - I was suddenly pulled out. We marched in three circles, and we were on the largest outside one. So, I asked why I had been pulled out of the line and one of the warders said, “Because you cannot walk behind another Paddy;" And as he pointed to the man who had been in front of me, and was now moving away, I took keen stock of the lad committing every smallest detail to my memory. The following morning I saw to it that I was, once again, walking behind this man and then whispered to him, "Hold your hands behind your back and fold one fist over the other. Drop your fists when it means yes but lift them higher when it means No” (Needless to say, we were not allowed to talk to each other, at any time, in the prison.) Next, I told my friend in front of me to have a very close look at me, then to try and get in back of me the next day and to tell me where he came from, what the charge was against him, etc. As soon as I found out that he was one of ours, I had already told him where I came from and other details about myself. All went according to plan the next day, he managed to be in back of me in line and he told me that he and his pal had been in Birmingham Prison for more than two months; that he had been unable to make any contact even with the other Irishmen who were before me; that his name was Hugh Keaveney from Belfast; and that he and his pal were sentenced to two years. One Sunday morning Hugh happened to walk in front of me again but with two convicts between us, however, there were only a few warders around. Since we were not aloud to speak to each other in the conventional manner we had all acquired the usual prison tactics Of throwing our voices from our throats [37] without moving our lips or being heard. It's not easy, yet one acquires and then develops the trick. However, Hugh was too far away and I had to lift my voice which immediately aroused the interest of the two prisoners between us. The one, in a very surprised voice said "Sinn Finners" (this being the British way of pronouncing "Sinn Fein"), the other, in a very disgusted and disparaging tone adding, "Yeah, wish we had some REAL ones in ‘ere, they'd blow the place up!" Hearing that wishful remark, Hugh and I just burst out laughing. That brings back to my mind another incident when we were still in Wormwood Scrubbs. One day, all twenty-nine of us were called before the Governor and his staff, with Frank Glasgow of Limerick standing on my right. When they came to him, he gave his name in the Gaelic language. The Governor, asking Frank to repeat it, got exactly the same reply; next, Frank was asked to spell his name. With that, I whispered a message to Frank but, not yet having mastered the "prison method" of talking, the movement of my lips gave me away. Right away, the Governor pounced on me, wanting to know what I had said to that "boy' and, sensing that the sympathy was on his side, the Governor added, "I insist that you tell me! How dare you intimidate another prisoner." When I hotly replied, "You are the only one in this room trying to intimidate people", one of the warders roared at me to "Shut up" Still, a few seconds later the Governor again insisted that I tell him what I had said. Disregarding all dire consequences, I told him determinedly, "I refuse to tell you under order but, I am fully prepared to make the statement voluntarily." The Governor, badly stung, again barked at me that I was under order to tell him to which I, again, replied, "If I do speak, I do so because I wish it but NOT at your command... : I simply said to my friend here to ask YOU that, 'if you didn't even know HIS NAME, then WHY IS HE IN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??”.
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