documents as proof of his sincerity. He promptly did so and I turned the papers over to Florrie who assured me that they were, indeed, very good and important. Florrie then passed them on to Michael Collins who was evidently quite impressed and instructed Florrie to go right ahead and develop that contact. Tommy Herlihy acted as go-between and passed on what [56] ever he received. Florrie O'Donoghue's promotion to Divisional Adjutant came late in April 1921, a and as soon as the 1st Southern Division was newly formed under Liam Lynch. While we were all delighted for Florrie on his promotion, it also meant an almost irreparable loss to us. Florrie had so many contacts and his knowledge of codes, "safe" houses for our messengers to call, and scores of other important details, in all that he was simply unmatched. As a matter of fact, I doubt that there was a single officer in the entire nine Battalions of Cork, No. 1 Brigade whom he had not alone met, but knew intimately, and the same held true for many company officials of lower rank, and even for a great many individual volunteers. Florrie's promotion, as great a loss as it was for us, yet, found us on the side of fortune soon after, when he was replaced by George Buckley, an equally dedicated, untiring, and splendid officer. Special assignments, during these troubles times, were too plentiful to be remembered in detail yet, a few of some remain important enough to be recalled. There was the night we set aside "to get" two particularly infamous Black and Tan Intelligence Officers. With Mick Murphy in charge, George Bourke, Bob Caniffe, Pat Collins, Sean Mitchell, John O'Connell, and I were assigned to the job; Sean Riordan was acting as our scout. Vital information had come to us partly through outside connections and partly through our own Intelligence Officers. Taking up strategic positions on Cook Street, we held out until 9:30 p.m. but had to leave after that owing to the 10 p.m. curfew. So, and running along the South Mall in Cork, towards Parliament Bridge, we suddenly spotted a Black and Tan posse and, we literally froze in our tracks. Being caught, under the circumstances, would have spelled severe questioning, and after that certain imprisonment and possible torture or even execution. Our luck held!! Tip-toeing gingerly across the bridge, we remained undetected, and once across, we heaved a big sigh of relief because we knew we would be safe. Although our mission failed that particular night, the two wanted Black and Tans were caught and killed sometime later. It must be made quite clear here, and right now, that such executions were by no means "wanton murder", nor could they even be called "reprisals'; they were nothing but a form of simple, desperate defence against a relentless and most cruel British spy system whose members tortured, maimed, and murdered mercilessly, running rampage amongst the civilian, Irish population until such [57] time that we were finally able to hit back and to match their effectiveness and their efficiency. Up to that time, many of our young companions had fallen victim to the far more experienced and ruthless British spies, who, one regrets to admit, were aided, in some cases, quite considerably by Irish informers. It was around this time that a young Volunteer, Charlie Daly, of G. Company, 2nd Battalion (a cousin of mine), was caught at Glanmire Railway Station in Cork City. He was granted no hearing, no trial, but taken right then and there into the railway tunnel, which runs underneath the city, and murdered by members of the Black and Tans stationed at the Empress Place Barracks. Another man, also named Charlie Daly, who was attached to D. Company, 2nd Battalion, was arrested by the British Military and taken to Cork Barracks. His body badly mutilated by innumerable bayonet wounds, was then found in a field on the outskirts of Cork. In both cases, the British gave the usual excuse "shot, while trying to escape". It so happened to see both corpses when they were found, and our doctors gave us entirely different reasons which caused their deaths! Then there were six of our young lads, all attached to C. Company, 1st Battalion who were cruelly murdered by the Black and Tans at Ballycannon, Blarney Street, Cork City. Not satisfied with savagely murdering them, the Black and Tans even appeared at their funeral, brandishing their guns, and tried to break up the solemn funeral cortege. It was also during that time that Sean Culhane, our Brigade Intelligence Officer, and Dan (Sandow) Donovan were caught in Evergreen, Cork. Sean had no chance, as Kelly, the British Intelligence Officer, identified him right away; Sandow, however, had a prepared alibi which the British checked and found in order, so, he was released. So often, we were puzzled at the method in which the British operated. In this case, for example, Sean's position was more than enough to prove Sandow guilty by association. This, incidentally, was the same
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