necessary for us to leave Cork at about 8 p.m., and we W walked to Waterfall. Arriving there, we dropped into a house whose owner we did not know, so and right away we calmed down the occupants telling them not to worry and that we would be gone long before they would get up in the morning. Then we sat down and began our long wait of many hours. At first, and quite understandably so, the people in the house were very sceptical and nervous, they had no idea who we were and what we wanted. It so happened that I had left my cap on the coat stand outside in the hall, and after one of the family detected the Dan Hobbs label on it, they guessed that we were members of the I.R.A. Had we known at the time that the owner of the place, Joe Lynch, had already been burned out once before by the British, losing his previous home, a fine well-kept farmhouse, we would have better understood their initial suspicion and nervousness! Around 1:20 a.m. some of us set out for the railway station there held up the signal man, and told him to stop the goods train that was due about 30 minutes later. He did not give us any argument but promptly followed our order. Next, we ordered the engineer of the train to take it west on to a siding, about one mile away, and there we searched the train. Right enough, we soon located the military supplies and started, immediately, to throw them off the train. That completed, we then drenched the whole lot liberally with a can of petrol, which was on the train and set everything on fire. Fortunately, there was also a lot of timber loaded on that train and, helping ourselves to a generous supply of it, we soon had a lovely "Bonfire” going. For a final "artistic touch" we drained a certain quantity of petrol from some of our tins, thereby creating a vacuum. Flinging them into the blaze, these tins exploded with the force of so many bombs, indeed, a grand improvement to our initial nine efforts! We were nine that night and our party included Pat Collins, George Bourke, Bob Caniffe, Sean O'Riordan, John O'Connell, Jeremiah Keating, John Horgan, Sean Mitchel, and myself. Many years later, Joe Lynch told me that a local worker there had, for safety's sake, buried the sum of one hundred pounds - his "nest-egg" - in a tin, and, of all places, the good man happened to pick the very ditch for his "private bank" where we had dumped and set afire the military supplies. He neither trusted the British-owned banks with his [63] savings, nor did he want the locals to know anything of his accumulated wealth and one hundred pounds - at that time - really did represent a very considerable sum! So, when he saw the big blaze, the poor man got terribly worried, obviously, and, biting his fingernails down to the quick, he kept pacing the floor throughout the night that must have seemed interminable to the unfortunate fellow. In the grey hours of dawn, and while our "bonfire" was still smouldering, he was found diligently searching the ditch. Lo and behold, he found his precious tin with the contents all intact except for a bit of singeing alongside one edge of the banknotes! Joe told me, that one could literally see the colour creeping back into the deathly- white, haggard face of the poor man with a happy sparkle of life returning to his eyes. [64] 1921 The elimination of the anti-Sinn Fein, British murder gang in Cork, late in March of 1921, and our detection of the British policy of using young boys of the Y.M.C.A., to trail some of our most important I.R.A. members, caused the British grave concern. The leader of this Anti-Sinn Fein murder gang which was notorious for its vicious campaigns of terrorism and murder - was living in G. Company, 2nd Batt. area. He was dealt with in a much more civilised manner, than the poor victims he and his companions maimed, tortured, and killed, had experienced and suffered from him and his henchmen! His companions, ten of them in all, were eliminated soon afterwards, and the only one who managed to escape our net, committed suicide on a train bound from Fishguard to London. Goods which were manufactured in Belfast and intended, by the British, for sale in the South of Ireland, were confiscated by our people until finally, the trade was practically wiped out. The Republican Police Force were, at that time, under the command of Denny Barry - a very active, fine soldier, and an All-Ireland hurler for Cork and Blackrock - who later died on hunger strike. This Republican Police was an extremely effective and efficient force. Although they had to exist and operate under the close scrutiny of the British, working often under the most difficult conditions, they did outstanding work apprehending and bringing to trial criminals and maintaining law and order for the civilian population. In this respect, the Republican Courts cooperated in full, despite the many tricky problems which they had to contend with under the constant interference of the British authorities. For this reason, too, they almost always had to meet in secret, for they were open to raids and even arrests by the British at any time since the British did not want or acknowledge any kind of Irish civil administration. White Cross Committees continued to operate in all parishes, the personnel
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